Human Stain Initial Response

My initial response to the "Human Stain" is that this is going to be kind of a scandalous book because of all of the things Philip Roth has already written. For example, he starts out by talking about a nude Miss America in an issue of Penthouse Magazine. Also, he talks about the Clinton/ Lewinsky scandal. I also like the way the story is coming out so far because I can relate to the things occurring since they are all modern day events like Clinton and the other things they talk about, like Nelson Mandela's experience in prison.

Gatsby People and Women

So far, up to chapter 2, in the Great Gatsby, we have met a fair amount of characters, one of them is Miss Myrtle. She is a rich, stuck up housewife that always gets what she wants pretty much. For example, on p.35, she talks about how she was in love with a man and married to him, but as soon as she found out that he is "below her" and borrowed another man's suit for their wedding, she left him. The female characters in this story have pretty much all been portrayed like Miss Myrtle. The men treat them badly and care more about their money (p.31).