A City of Ashes

When I first read about the Valley of Ashes, the first thing that popped into my head was Detroit. To me, these two communities are the same thing. The Valley of Ashes is a dystopia where poverty is rampant and hopelessness is absolute and Detroit mirrors this valley.

The apartments from the picture above give a desolate aura and the undernourished land gives a feeling of stagnation. Nothing can grow in the brown land like how nothing grows in the Valley of Ashes' not so glamorous "gray land"(Fitzgerald 23). Just like how no vegetation can grow on the land, none of the people in the valley can grow. George Wilson of the ashes, works at a dead-end job and is a "spiritless man"(Fitzgerald 25). Also, Tom and Daisy's relationship cannot develop. Tom is this scoundrel who is having an affair with Myrtle and Daisy is ok with it. This relationship is going no where. In Detroit, the graduation rate of high school is very low and so many kids aren't able to even get their GED and will have to be stuck in dead-end job like George. They can't grow either. “About half way between West Egg and New York"(Fitzgerald 23). Just like the Valley of Ashes, Detroit is sandwiched by two nice areas, Bloomfield Hills and Grosse Point.

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this week on Friday we had a debate ( I kind of wished for a questioning period and more aggression) about the value of punctuation in the ever changing world in my honest opinion i think both strict and loose punctuation rules are important first if you do not use proper punctuation then your message might become misinterpreted and you can confuse the reader for example let's say you want grandpa to eat with you you would say " let's eat, grandpa" but if you didn't put the comma you would say "lets eat grandpa" implying that you want to eat grandpa rather then eating with him on the other hand all the struture from strict punctuation can make a writing piece feel dull, stiff and makes it feel like a snoresfest at your local retirement home also you can not express hidden meanings as well such as in the beginning of the bluest eye where toni morrison used zero punctuation to convey some mind blowing meanings. Strict and loose punctuation rules are important we need both them in everyday life and based on the writers needs he/she need to write accordingly.

Just another example of why punctuation is important in a real life scenario.

Beauty in The Bluest Eye

Page 135


I think this is the most beautiful passage of the book. Morrison creates this moment of bliss within the black communit. During the church picnic, the little children are scrambling for melon and the women are helping picking the seeds for the young. The small kids are captured with this essence of innonence. They aren't fighting for the bit and pieces of watermelon. The women are loving and very motherly. They make sure the little ones have melon to eat while being safe from choking in the seeds before they have any. All is swell. Then something even more beautiful happens. Blue invites Cholly to share a heart of a watermelon with him. Blue didn't need to invite Cholly, but because of the kindness in his heart, he did. Now you might think a man sharing some fruit with a kid is just a trival thing, but for Cholly it isn't. Cholly's father ditched him before he has born and he had never had a father figure or an experience with his dad. From this moment Blue and Cholly shared, he gets a taste of how it is to actually have a father figure, no matter if it was just sharing a melon.