Author: Christina

The illusion of FooD Speech….

Imagine if more than 60% of the food you consume daily is processed, or has been factory farmed. Well… this is the reality for most of us. You may not know but a lot of the food we consume is really bad for us and is slowly killing our bodies. The majority of us want to eat healthy food that fuels our bodies in a positive way, yet we still have these cravings for sweet, salty and fatty foods. These foods all get advertised to look healthy and inviting, to cover up the fact that they are filled with horrible chemicals, artificial flavourings, sugars, and fats. But it is even worse what is put into or on these food to make them more appealing to us.

 

Advertising is a huge factor for popular food companies such as Macdonald’s, Pizza hut, Subway and many other businesses in the food industry. Companies such as these tend to advertise their product on television, billboards, social media and magazines. They use these platforms to target their audiences, such as teenagers and younger kids. The food industries make it their main goal to produce food which contains a good balance of sugar, salt, and fat that will leave us wanting more. This is because food with the right balance of these three things:  fat, sugar, and salt, tend to be the most ‘delicious’ and addicting.It is all an illusion, just like the advertisements you see on television. Have you ever looked at an ad on tv and thought… “that looks so good?” Well did you know that vast groups of editors, photographers, chefs, and designers spend hours! making just one burger look perfect. They create an illusion for their product to be seen as delicious, fast, fresh and healthy, whereas in reality, the burger you buy does not look the same. Most companies would not advertise food that gets served to you. Because imagine if you saw an advertisement with the food you actually get served… Would you still buy that ‘fresh’, ‘delicious’,’healthy’ burger? Probably not!

 

The second point of my speech is why we crave food and what fuels these cravings. We want food such as chocolate, chips, pizza, doughnuts, fizzy drinks and so on because they have sooo many bad chemicals and artificial flavours in them. But why do we desire these foods so much? It is because, for most of us, we have been eating processed food all of our lives, therefore it makes it hard to stop eating sugary foods because our bodies and brains have gotten so used it. This can be backed up by science, according to studies: when you put food high in salt, sugar or fat into your mouth, your taste buds send a signal to the lower part of your brain, which stimulates neurons or endorphins that perceive a rewarding experience. This means that because our brains like the endorsements that get released whilst eating these foods, our brain wants more sugar, salt, and fat. We want to go back for more, once you take a bite of a cookie, you want to keep eating it.

 

 

Ever wondered what’s in your food? or what it actually means by ‘natural flavourings, ‘natural colourings’, ‘sugar-free’, or ‘fat-free’? They all mean soo much more than what it seems and as it goes for your food, well the majority of the food you consume is probably chemicals and antioxidants. In order to protect themselves and their company, the big manufacturing companies have kept a low profile for the past decade, hiding behind the faith of commercial confidentiality, claiming they can’t reveal their recipes because of competition. Anything that comes in a box, tin, bag, carton or bottle has to be labeled with a list of its ingredients. But many of the additives and ingredients that once jumped out as fake or manufactured have slowly disappeared. In some cases it means that the contents of the product have improved, but not for the majority of the labeled food. Over the past few years, the food industry has invested in a new idea called: “clean label’, the purpose of this is to remove the most glaring industrial ingredients and additives, only then to replace them with substitutes that sound more benign and natural. The same chemicals and additives are still in your food, apart from they are just being labeled differently to sound more friendly and eatable. When the companies label their product with ‘natural flavourings’ there is actually a very little difference between natural and artificial flavourings. They are both made using the same physical, and enzymatic,  processes. This is the same for ‘Natural colourings’ since their only difference is that ‘natural colourings’ start with pigments that occur in nature.But then both colourings are made using the same highly chemical industrial processes, including extraction using harsh solvents. 

 

I hope this has made you realise just how little we really know about the food that sits on our supermarket shelves, in boxes, cartons and bottles – food that has had something done to it to make it more convenient, ready to eat, and last longer for better sales. The advertisements often seen on television are fake because they portray their real image of the food they serve to their customers, which could be you. In the food industry, the majority of companies try to get the perfect balance of fat, sugar, and salt when making their product since these three things can be addicting. More importantly, we all need to try to be more aware of what the labeling says on our product and what is really in it because some of the chemicals and antioxidants that are put in our food can be deadly and can even cause things such as cancer and diabetes.Just think, before you take a bite of that delicious looking piece of food, is it worth feeding yourself poison?

The illusion of FoooooD

  • Illusion of “eat a rainbow of vegetables and fruit”
  • What is put into our food : “fat-free” “sugar-free” – means more other bad chemicals and more preserved products
  • “Vegetables are good ” – not unless they are organic or home-grown, because the chemicals used to grow supermarket vegetables are BAD!!!
  • The illusion of how food is advertised, “Healthy” “dietitian, doctor  approved”, Or how food looks ‘fresh’  on adverts but in reality it doesn’t get served to you the same
  • The illusion of food advertisement, for example mashed potatoes are used to advertise ice cream….
  • What really happens in the meat industry and factory farming….. “organic”

Illusion of eating disorders…

  • How the media influences body image and eating disorders such as anorexia.
  •  How people try to hide their eating disorders by saying that they are “ok”
  • The illusion of more people have an eating disorder than you know, it is more common than the society may think.

What eating disorders are…..

Describe what each of the ‘common’ disorders are…

“Even the models we see in magazines wish they could look their own images”

“You don’t have to look like you have an eating disorder to have one”

“Not everyone wiht an eating disorder: is skinny, goes to hospital, gets diagnosed, is anorexic, goes to therapy, exercises, makes them selves sick, or doesn’t eat.”                                                   

Relating allusion with ‘illusion’

Fitzgerald uses many allusions throughout the novel. Select one of these allusions and explain the connection between it and the book. Bonus: how can you link it to our theme of “illusion”.

The Owl-Eyed man alludes to Gatsby being like David Belasco. David Belasco was an actor, play writer and producer. On most of his sets he used props to make the scene look realistic. This is similar to Gatsby because he puts so much furniture and decorations into his mansion for his great parties. Hoping that one day Daisy will wonder in. He rehearses lines and phrases such as ‘old sport’ to create an illusion of himself being a wealthy man from ‘old money’. This reference to Belasco is said by Owl-Eyes in chapter 7 when Nick attends one of Gatsby’s parties and meets the Owl-Eyed man. After he recognises that the books are real he goes son to say: “See!” he cried triumphantly. “It’s a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too—didn’t cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?”  Through this quote we get an insight to what people in the 1920’s were like, they would go buy books to fill up the shelves but wouldn’t go to great lengths to cut the books. This encounter with the Owl-Eyed man is another piece which breaks off Gatsby’s illusion.

Essay

In this novel, one of the main characters, Nick, presents himself as a non judgmental person. However, throughout the book we get to understand that his judgments are presented through his narrative point of view. At the beginning of the book, one of the first things that Nick (narrator) tells us, is some advice that his father told him in his ” younger more vulnerable years”. Nick’s father said that whenever he felt like judging someone he should “remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” His father is basically saying not to judge a book by its cover. Fitzgerald put this quote in as one of the first because he wants it to be misjudged. The entire novel is based on judgment, and miss judgment which many readers do not realise. The fist quote where Nick says in his younger “more vulnerable years” he is suggesting that he used to be very vulnerable and he still is, just not as vulnerable as he once was. The advice that his father gave him is a quote which lays down the foundation for Nick’s character and personality.Nick’s father also expresses that Nick was given all of these opportunities and chances but he never flaunts them , he takes them for granted. 

 

Discuss how “illusion” is a real idea for teenagers…

We can relate The Great Gatsby to illusion because teenagers want to fit in and not be the odd one out and always keep up with the trends to not look weird. This is sort of like Gatsby because he changes himself to suit what Daisy wants and likes which tends to happen a lot in our society today. Teens particularly girls spend a lot of time and money making themselves look beautiful like models. Many girls want to be skinny, tan, pretty and tall which unfortunately according to the media is the “ideal” image. Narrator Nick Caraway becomes friends with numerous people throughout the book, including Gatsby, Daisy and Tom’s friends. Although Nick is exposed to their darkest secrets, he never develops more than a superficial connection with anyone except Gatsby, and Nick is ultimately disgusted by the others’ selfishness. Today, social media creates similar superficial connections, redefining the word “friend” as a process of adding someone to a network rather than an intimate relationship. Just as Nick observes the personal lives of Tom and Daisy’s companions, a social media user might observe a ‘friends’ status updates and activity but never know them on a deeper level.

Essay Planning Grid’s

Describe at least one key character in the written text.                                       Explain how this character helped you to understand an important idea.

Character Idea Evidence
Nick Illusion-You can never fully hide from your true self “I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. I thought it was your secret pride.”

” I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”

 

“I lived at West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable”
Gatsby Illusion-you can not ever reinvent yourself, this illusion he hides behind will fall away “He threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy’s,”

“Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!”

“This fella’s a regular Belasco…What realism… didn’t cut the pages.”
Daisy illusion Not everyone is who they seem to be ” Her voice is full of money,”

“I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything.”

Describe at least one important idea the writer developed in the written text. Explain how this idea helped you to understand an important message for teenagers. Note: ‘idea’ can refer to character, theme or setting.

Idea Message Evidence
American Dream What the higher class or famous lives seem like are different to their reality
Illusion Not everyone is what they seem or who they say they are
Gatsby Hard work and striving for your goals doesn’t mean you will always succeed

Describe at least one important event in the text.                                                             Explain how that event helped you to understand at least one key relationship

Key Event Relationship Evidence
Daisy and Gatsby Reunion – Daisy and Gatsby

The idea of them being together is an illusion

 

 “If it wasn’t for the mist….”
Myrtle’s Death – Tom and Daisy

Materialism holds them together

 “They were happy, yet they weren’t unhappy either”
Gatsby’s Death – Gatsby and Nick

Nick’s Admiration for Gatsby

Describe at least one important event in the written text.                                         Explain why the event had a positive/negative impact on one or more characters.

Key Event Effect Evidence
Daisy and Gatsby reunite Positive effect for Daisy and Gatsby
Nick meets Gatsby Negative effect for Nick because he gets caught up in Gatsby’s and Daisy’s messy love
Gatsby’s Death Positive and Negative effect for Nick because he realised that Gatsby had no one and that Tom and Daisy were not nice people

Great Gatsby Essay

Describe at least one important character in the written text.                         Explain how this character is revealed to you throughout the text.

CHARACTER REVEALED EVIDENCE
Daisy  White -“High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl”

-“The windows were ajar and gleaming white”
Gatsby  American Dream, -“This fella’s a regular Belasco…What realism… didn’t cut the pages.”

-“He stretched out his arms…distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away,”
Nick Narrative point of view, – “I lived at West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two”

-“Whenever you feel like criticising any one,” he told me,Just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

 

“Perfection is an illusion which is needed to disguise the emptiness within”. The world-famous novel  “The Great Gatsby” written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of Nick Caraway’s summer  in 1920’s New York. Throughout the novel there are three main characters: Gatsby, Daisy, and Nick.

Throughout the novel James Gatz better known as Jay Gatsby, represents illusion and how you can not reinvent yourself or the past.

Gatsby is revealed as a rich person who has accomplished the American Dream. He is revealed through his massive mansion that full of materialistic items such as the library with ‘uncut’ books. We know he is rich because he uses phrases such as ‘old sport’ which is often used by rich people from ‘old money’. Whereas in reality he has failed. Gatsby has failed to reinvent his past with Daisy which was his goal throughout the book. The dream of being with daisy and being part of the ‘old money’ society seems so close but is actually out of reach.

In the novel Owl-Eye’s mentions about Gatsby that “This fella’s a regular Belasco.” Gatsby’s illusion is then shown through Owl-eye’s statement of what he sees “What realism… didn’t cut the pages.”  When Owl-Eye’s refers to Gatsby.

In the first quote the reference to David Belasco describes Gatsby’s staged life. David Belasco was a man that set up scenes with props, he was a play writer  and theatrical producer. This relates to Gatsby because he has being setting up his life ( arranging the props) to make everyone believe that he is a wealthy man that comes form ‘old money’. The second part of the quote where Owl-Eyes talks about the books being uncut describes Gatsby himself and his materialistic life. In the era of the book people used to get buy their books uncut and would have to cut the books themselves before reading, meaning that if the book is uncut it has not yet being read. Gatsby’s uncut books represent that a lot of what he presents to the world is a facade. He wants people to believe that he is a well-educated man, an Oxford man, but in fact he only spent a short time there after the war. He has built up this  image of himself that is inconsistent with the reality and facts of his life. These  unopened books represent Gatsby himself: mysterious, undeveloped, closed up and unopened.

We first get introduced to Gatsby when Nick sees that Gatsby “stretched out his arms”. Nick then goes on to say that Gatsby has distinguished a “single green light, minute and far away,”. The green light appears multiple times…

When Gatsby is seen with his arms stretched out it is almost as if Gatsby was trying to reach out for something.

In this novel, one of the main characters, Nick, presents himself as a non judgmental person. However, throughout the book we get to understand that his judgments are presented through his narrative point of view. At the beginning of the book, one of the first things that Nick (narrator) tells us, is some advice that his father told him in his ” younger more vulnerable years”. Nick’s father said that whenever he felt like judging someone he should “remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” His father is basically saying not to judge a book by its cover. Fitzgerald put this quote in as one of the first because he wants it to be misjudged. The entire novel is based on judgment, and miss judgment which many readers do not realise. The fist quote where Nick says in his younger “more vulnerable years” he is suggesting that he used to be very vulnerable and he still is, just not as vulnerable as he once was. The advice that his father gave him is a quote which lays down the foundation for Nick’s character and personality.Nick’s father also expresses that Nick was given all of these opportunities and chances but he never flaunts them , he takes them for granted. 

Annotating and identifying Language Features in passages.

Select three passages from the book (about a paragraph or two in length) that we have NOT annotated as a class. Annotate these passages and identify the language features that Fitzgerald uses. Explain the effect of these features and why he may have chosen to use them.

Passage 1:

“He’s a bootlegger,” said the young ladies, moving somewhere between his cocktails and his flowers. “One time he killed a man who had found out that he was nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil. Reach me a rose, honey, and pour me a last drop into that there crystal glass.”

(1) Gatsby’s guests often speak about Gatsby’s past even though no one is really sure who he was. This statement introduces one of the subjects of this chapter: Gatsby’s biography. These “young ladies” are accusing Gatsby of coming to his money illegally.Despite being between “his cocktails and his flowers,” the ladies have no problem criticising the man who is hosting them. In this line Fitzgerald uses irony to make the readers stop and think about what has just been said, or to emphasize a central idea. He would have used this language feature to add to the idea of people being judgmental at that time but still not caring. The ladies accuse and cliticise Gatsby of illegally procuring alcohol, which is outlawed during this time, while at the same time, they have no problem drinking the beverage they had just criticised him for allegedly smuggling.

(2) The rumours about Gatsby are getting more and more wild. Paul von Hindenburg is the German President at this time, so this is just mindless gossip. So, according to the rumours Gatsby is either:
-Kaiser Wilhelm’s cousin
-A German spy
-An American soldier who “killed a man”
-A bootlegger
-Nephew of Von Hindenburg
-Or second cousin to the devil (The “second cousin to the devil” line indicates that most people are just gossiping about Gatsby’s background for the fun of it, but there actually is very little known about him.)

(3) Fitzgerald uses this passage to show the hypocrisy of 1920s high society. The women are slandering Gatsby and putting him down, but apparently aren’t too good to drink his alcohol or enjoy his hospitality. The decadence and immorality of high society during the 1920s is major theme within the novel.

Passage 2:

“He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher — shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, and monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily.”

(1) In this passage, Gatsby’s shirts represent new life and opportunities for Daisy, and Caraway (Fitzgerald?) lapses into poetry. The alliteration of ‘sheer silk’ and ‘fine flannel’ serves to emphasize the abundance of fabric.Alliteration focuses readers’ attention on a particular section of text. Alliterative sounds create rhythm and mood and can have particular connotations.She realises that she could’ve had this amazing life with Gatsby and compares it to her life with Tom and becomes sad. The shirts are symbolic of nostalgia and Daisy’s past life with Gatsby.

(2) Just as the books in his library are props, in the “play” of Gatsby’s life, his shirts are his costume. He has shirts for any occasion, to fit whichever scene occurs. They represent the scripted aspect of his life, but also the façade behind which Gatsby hides. No one sees the true James Gatz because they are too busy being dazzled and distracted by his “beautiful shirts.”

(3) ‘Stormily’ is an  adverb to describe Daisy’s response to Gatsby, his wealth and the vitality of his life (as symbolised by his fine and colourful shirts). Being reunited with him (and being reminded of his naive dreams?) instigates an emotional storm within her.

Passage 3:

“As I went over to say good-by I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby’s face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness. Almost five years! There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams — not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” 

(1) It is getting awkward again with Daisy. His perfect imagination of the day they would reunite is far off than how it actually is going.Gatsby could be bewildered by his love for Daisy, finally becoming real in the flesh and blood, or it could be revealing the true nature of Gatsby’s feelings. Now that Daisy is with him, she is more real than the Daisy that he’s been building his life up to impress for the last five years. Five years is a long time, and people change, and the Daisy he loved before may not be the same Daisy that is with him now.

(2) The idea of Daisy that Gatsby has been cultivating all these years is an illusion of perfection, of immense “vitality” and life. Daisy may not be living up to the expectations that Gatsby has set for her, expectations that have been built and imagined upon from their love affair from five years ago. It’s possible that Daisy has grown out of the woman that she was then, and isn’t the same girl that Gatsby is so madly in love with.In these five years, Gatsby only knew Daisy through his imagination and memory, so Nick believes that Gatsby built her up to be more than she actually is. Nick suspects there is no way Daisy could live up to Gatsby’s expectations.

(3) On the surface, his love has been intensified by separation, yearning, and illusion; however, it is implied in “beyond everything” that his love has become deathless and surreal, detached from the actual lover. The desperateness in the expressions “decking it out with every bright feather” and “ghostly heart” suggests the dangerous, destructive nature of love.The author is also referring to a typical phenomenon seen in romantic figures: romantic love is very often much more about love as a splendid ideal than the beloved, a particular agent of love. “Creative passion” means that greater passion has been generated with past memories as its raw material.