Thursday, April 26, 2012
The Wild Duck Journal 3
Gregers is the character to blame for the events unfolding in act 5. It's because he told Hjalmar the truth about his relationship that Hjalmar feels that he needs to leave his family. Even though the whole event was caused by Gregers, Hjalmar is also to be blamed. His reaction, when he finds out that Hedvig isn't really his biological daughter, is what leads Hedvig to kill herself. Even though she wasn't his biological daughter he raised her from birth and that's what really matters. It wasn't until after her death that Hjalmar realized this and because of this realization that he feels like he's the one to blame for Hedvig's death. Gina in all this seems to be calm and accepting. She doesn't freak out as much as Hjalmar when they find Hedvig dead, and i feel that she should carry more of the blame for he whole situation in general.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The Wild Duck Journal 2
Ibsen uses the motif of decay to represent control. Hedvig has many of her freedoms restricted because of her failing eyesight. "Gregers. But of course you don't have much free time; you do go to school, don't you? Hedvig. No, not anymore. Daddy's afraid I'll hurt my eyes," (162) Hedvig is no longer allowed to go to school because he dad feels it will weaken her eye sight, showing how the decay of her eyesight controls part of her life. Hedvig isn't the only character struggling with control of their life. "I have to spare my eyes, Gregers; they're beginning to fail." (133) Mr. Werle is also loosing his eyesight, making him unable to do his work like he used to. Ibsen also uses the motif of Disease to justify Gregers actions. "Relling. All right, I'll tell you, Mrs. Ekdal. He's Suffering from an acute case of moralistic fever." (178) This makes it seem like Gregers isn't really acting on his own choice but rather being controlled by his "disease".
The Wild Duck Journal 1
In the "Wild Duck", by Henrik Ibsen, Gregors has false conceptions of himself. He believes that he needs to be the hero and do the right thing by telling Hjalmar the truth about Hedvig. He also believes that by telling the truth his conscience will be cleared and his destiny would be fulfilled. Hjalmar on the other hand has misconceptions of everyone around him. For instance Hjalmar believes that Mr. Werle was a good and helpful person when in reality Mr. Werle only helped Hjalmar for his own person gains. Mr. Werle also creates a facade around himself. He keeps people believeing that he is a nice person in order to cover up his past.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Journal #3 Brave New World
One of the motifs of Brave New World can be seen through the thoughts and actions of John. "And as though awakened by her cry he caught her by the shoulders and shook her. 'Whore!' he shouted 'Whore! Impudent strumpet!'" Here Lenina is attempting to seduce John into having sex, but John breaks lose of her hold and retaliates. John doesn't believe in sex before marriage, thinking is was an unholy deed. Throughout the book John resists the urge to have premarital sex until the very end, which, afterwards he kills himself. This shows how strongly he felt about his view on sex and reflects the views of Huxley.
After talking with the controller John decides to leave society behind and live in isolation. He finds a light house surrounded by nature and decides to make it into a home. The area was almost perfect to get away from everyone other then the fact that there was a road that ran nearby. Because of this road society eventually finds its way to John and along with it brings its ideals. In the heat of the moment John succombs to one of their activities and as a result kills himself. This shows how tempting society can be and how easy it is to forget your own morals, no matter how strong they may be.
The language from in the last third of the book shifts from the mechanical, scientific talk of society to the older talk of John. John heavily uses the langauge of Shakespear when he talks, making many quotes and references. This shows how much the works of Shakespear influenced John as a character. Huxley does this to show the importance of books in peoples lives and how much of an impact they can have on a person.
After talking with the controller John decides to leave society behind and live in isolation. He finds a light house surrounded by nature and decides to make it into a home. The area was almost perfect to get away from everyone other then the fact that there was a road that ran nearby. Because of this road society eventually finds its way to John and along with it brings its ideals. In the heat of the moment John succombs to one of their activities and as a result kills himself. This shows how tempting society can be and how easy it is to forget your own morals, no matter how strong they may be.
The language from in the last third of the book shifts from the mechanical, scientific talk of society to the older talk of John. John heavily uses the langauge of Shakespear when he talks, making many quotes and references. This shows how much the works of Shakespear influenced John as a character. Huxley does this to show the importance of books in peoples lives and how much of an impact they can have on a person.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Journal #2 Brave New World
The second third of Brave New World begins with Bernard and Lenina entering the savage reservation. There they are confronted with multiple things deemed disgusting for a "civilized" person. When Lenina sees anything undesirable she gets upset and feels she needs her forgotten soma. Soma is used to give relief and instant happiness to whoever takes it and plays a major role in the civilized society. The re-occurring idea that's tied with soma is that people don't want to face any problems in their lives, but would rather take an easy way out. In the savage reservation all the things people lose, both good and bad, from taking soma.
In this section of the book the setting takes a major change. The savage reservation in a completely different place than the civilized society Bernard and Lenina are used to, and in Leninas case its almost unbearable. The big thing the savage reservation shows is everything that the civilized society has left behind like marriage, religion, and family. This shows the change that society needed to take in order to have a "Perfect" society.
The language of John the Savage is different from any other character in the book. John read as a young boy the works of Shakespeare and as a result began to talk like Shakespeare wrote. This difference in language helps to separate John from both his savage home and the civilized society. Huxley does this to show that it is impossible to have both societies in one. John was born from a civilized parent and was taught some of their ideas and values, but he also grew up in the savage community and learned about family and religion. And because he had a bit of both he was an outsider and was treated terribly.
In this section of the book the setting takes a major change. The savage reservation in a completely different place than the civilized society Bernard and Lenina are used to, and in Leninas case its almost unbearable. The big thing the savage reservation shows is everything that the civilized society has left behind like marriage, religion, and family. This shows the change that society needed to take in order to have a "Perfect" society.
The language of John the Savage is different from any other character in the book. John read as a young boy the works of Shakespeare and as a result began to talk like Shakespeare wrote. This difference in language helps to separate John from both his savage home and the civilized society. Huxley does this to show that it is impossible to have both societies in one. John was born from a civilized parent and was taught some of their ideas and values, but he also grew up in the savage community and learned about family and religion. And because he had a bit of both he was an outsider and was treated terribly.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Journal #1 Brave New World
In Brave New World one of the motifs is the phrase "Everyone belongs to everyone else" which in the case basicly means anyone can have a "relationship" with anyone. There is no marrage and its socially acceptable to switch partners. People are told not to have long relationships with people, and are punished if they do. This is the complete opposite of our own socital views and the fact that people are happy with the way they live is confusing. There are also motifs embeded into all children about the social order of things through means of sleep teaching (Playing a recording while they sleep). Phrases like "I'm so glad i'm an [Alpha/Beta/etc]" teach the children to love their class and be happy that they aren't in another one. They are taught that Alphas are at the top while the elipses are the lowest of the low. This keeps the social order of things running smoothly because there's no chance of a uprising from the lower classes if they love where they are.
The first part of the book takes place in the "Central London Hatchery And Conditioning Centre" (Chapter 1), which from the start is an odd concept. The very first chapter goes into detail on how humans are created in test tubes, and how they are created to be in a specific group (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Etc). They do this to create people perfect for a certian type of job. Huxley starts out the novel in the hatchery in order to set the society apart from our own right away and to show how peoples fates are decided for them. The larger setting for Brave New World is somewhere in Europe, which is controlled by 1 of ten world leaders. Every community is structured in the same way creating this overall equality between nations and societies.
"'Try to realize what it was like to have a viviparous mother.' That smutty word again. But none of them dreamed, this time, of smiling." (Chapter 3) Words like mother, father, and family are considered almost to be taboo because People don't grow up in families anymore and were never taugh by a mother or father. Society doesn't have any family morals or restrictions on them, but instead have the teachings of the govenment to direct their life. Brave New World also uses a lot of scientific terms, mostly when describing the hatchery. This creates life in general to have a scientific aspect to it rather than a natural. Huxley does this because with the idea of nature comes the idea of freedom, and its impossible to control a society if people are free.
The first part of the book takes place in the "Central London Hatchery And Conditioning Centre" (Chapter 1), which from the start is an odd concept. The very first chapter goes into detail on how humans are created in test tubes, and how they are created to be in a specific group (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Etc). They do this to create people perfect for a certian type of job. Huxley starts out the novel in the hatchery in order to set the society apart from our own right away and to show how peoples fates are decided for them. The larger setting for Brave New World is somewhere in Europe, which is controlled by 1 of ten world leaders. Every community is structured in the same way creating this overall equality between nations and societies.
"'Try to realize what it was like to have a viviparous mother.' That smutty word again. But none of them dreamed, this time, of smiling." (Chapter 3) Words like mother, father, and family are considered almost to be taboo because People don't grow up in families anymore and were never taugh by a mother or father. Society doesn't have any family morals or restrictions on them, but instead have the teachings of the govenment to direct their life. Brave New World also uses a lot of scientific terms, mostly when describing the hatchery. This creates life in general to have a scientific aspect to it rather than a natural. Huxley does this because with the idea of nature comes the idea of freedom, and its impossible to control a society if people are free.
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