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The Good Life, these all share the key concepts of colonization/capitalism…

- - - - Gatsby lives between New Money and Old Money, East Egg and West Egg; although he has achieved the "American Dream" through his wealth, he has not gained entrance into a "high status" realm and therefore does not feel he is "living the good life"
      - The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Changez's family has generational wealth/status but has recently lost much of that wealth.
        
        This could represent the difference in: colonial/imperial wealth and wealth through globalization.
        
        Changez is stuck between two worlds of "old money" and "new money" but is also stuck between his identities as a Pakistani man (previously under British rule) and a "New Yorker" Princeton student, foreigner/local
        
        Changez feeds into the American Dream of hard work and success-- which later creates internal conflicts for him
      - Madame Bovary - Despite having "servants" and lower class people work for her, Emma is discontent with being in the middle class. She longs for more possessions to feel wealthy/show off her wealth and keeps dreaming of what her life would be were she in the "upper class." She feels she is close but not yet in this upper class
    - - The Great Gatsby- Gatsby has experienced his childhood in poverty and his adulthood in (isolating) excessive wealth, and is stuck between the possession of his dreams and the fragility/loss of them. His dreams slip away easily as he loses Daisy, his "friends" and his reputation (as someone respected?). Would he be more grounded/less delusional if he had not been able to acquire so much wealth?
      - The Dispossessed- Living on Anarres, one could question if Anarchism was only possible because of the scarcity present; "abundance" and "accumulation" could not occur because there was barely enough resources for everyone-- it seems this scarcity also inspired teamwork
        
        So this leads us to question: is anarchy possibly in a place with "abundant" resources?
        
        "Abundance" and "excessive" are seen as waste on Anarres
      - Life and Debt - Visually we see the "excess" in the agricultural industry through the FLOODING of cows milk as all this milk cannot be consumed by Jamaicans (because of US economic influences/subsidies on US agriculture); we see this excess in the scale of production at which Jamaican people work for foreign companies; contrasting that we see scarcity in the fields where Jamaican workers used to farm
- - - - The Dispossessed
        
        the work of "imagining" a utopia and discussing what a utopia could look like-- the work of thinking past the societal structures and limitations that are imposed on us begin the work towards a "utopia"
        
        the work towards a utopia is daily/continual/in the present
      - A Small Place and Life and Debt - After watching this film, we see that globalization/capitalism has greatly affected Jamaica
        
        the IMF and wealthier "developed" countries seek to control Jamaica to be able to profit from it as much as possible
        
        the final scenes of this film give some hope though: Jamaicans are seen to be farming locally and claiming to want to produce for themselves (not the US or other countries)
        
        Still though, this film shows how globalization/capitalism seems to have put everyone in a hopeless "parasitic" relationship
      - Parasite - again we are led to ask ourselves "is an end to capitalism imaginable"; in the last scenes of the film we feel ourselves rooting for the poorer "parasitic" family to be able to experience an affluent lifestyle-- we can ask ourselves about morality and how poorer people are perceived as "good;" we can also explore how "capitalism" seems to be the parasite in the film and how it seems pretty hopeless/inescapable
    - - The Reluctant Fundamentalist
      - A Small Place
      - The Great Gatsby
      - A Raisin in the Sun
      - In all these texts we run into the concept of "infinite line vs infinite circle" and we run into feelings of hopelessness/pessimism/optimism. It seems that outside/external forces such as capitalism/systemic racism/globalization feel so unchanging/overwhelming. These texts especially, explore how "the good life" can be approached collectively (instead of just the individual pursuit of the good life). In these texts, we can consider the workers in the "valley of ashes", people Antigua (or Jamaica) and minorities in the U.S.
    - - Antigone "Remember we are women,/ we're not born to contend with men."
      - Madame Bovary
      - The Great Gatsby
- - - - A Small Place Some of the lasting effects of colonialism are that the people living in "A Small Place" and "Life and Debt" speak English (or a colonizers language). Because of this, there is an even greater disconnect/sense of displacement/struggle with identity for those living in these places. Language can be seen as another way people have had to conform and be robbed of their identity, and not be able to participate in "the good life"
      - The Dispossessed - Language in The Dispossessed also shows how language and "the good life" can be related. On Anarres, language portrays closely the values that people have; there is no possession and an emphasis on collectivity/shared responsibility. Similar language on Urras cannot exists because people's way of thinking is "possessive" and "individualistic." A change in words/language represents a change in ways of thinking/culture/beliefs
      - Madame Bovary It seems Emma is limited by her language as she tries to articulate what a "good life" means to her and as she tries to express her emotions. Because of the way society has imposed an ideal view of the good life as one that includes a romantic happy marriage and an entertaining luxurious lifestyle, she communicates through the language of the novels she reads (with flowery, meaningless? words) that romanticize life
    - - The Great Gatsby
        
        As part of Gatsby attempting to take part in his idea of "the good life" he changes his behavior (including his language). To many people, it seems he speaks unnaturally and when communicating with Daisy, it seems he is at a loss for words and instead communicates by showing off his wealth ("the
        piles of shirts")
        
        Daisy also seems to be limited by language; she possibly changes her voice/vocabulary to be more "feminine" and be perceived as "gentle" "accommodating" "enticing"
      - The Reluctant Fundamentalist -Changez states that his language and even accent forms part of his identity as he relates to those around him. It seems that since he has a British accent, he feels he has more privilege and is seen more favorably. Language for him shows that European culture has been imposed on him; which seems to hinder him but also is something he uses as an advantage