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.
Monday, April 9, 2012
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.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Journal #4 Stranger
Meursault and the end of The Stanger comes to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what you do in life because eventually everyone dies. He also believes that you shouldn't be afraid of death but embrace and accept it. I think that Camus wanted people to not be afraid of death. He also wanted them to choose their own path in life regardless of what others think of them.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Journal #3
I believe Camus split The Stranger into 2 parts to show how Mersault acts, behaves, and thinks differently after he murders the Arab. In part 1 Mersault thoughts/actions are based on a day to day mindset, meaning he lives for today rather than the future. This can be seen when Mersault turns down the job opportunity in Paris. In part 1 Mersault neglects to really reflect on his past, but is given plenty of time to do so when he's in jail in part 2. Also in part 2 Mersault essentially gives up life and just goes with the flow of things. By the end of the story Mersault is happy for his upcoming death and hoped that there was "a larger crowd of spectators" and that he is greeted with "cries of hate" (Camus 123)
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Journal #2 Stranger
I believe Sun/light is a symbol for how others views Mersault. The sun is always on Mersault and it seems like he's the only one being affected by it. He is always being "Judged" by the sun and this stresses Mersualt out along with making him confused on what to do. This develops the theme that society has a certian set of standards that are to be followed. The can be tied into how Mersault doesn't have a religion and that society looks down on that.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Journal #1 Stranger
Police officer in the beginning of Chapter 4:
The police officer comes into the story when Raymond is beating up his ex-girlfriend. He arrives to see what was going on in Raymond's room. But instead of taking Raymond to jail he mealy tells him to wait in his room until he was summoned to the police station. The office made no real direct attempt to help the girl. Camus created this character to show how the loose the justice system was at the time.
The strange woman at Celeste's restaurant:
A strange woman walks over to Mersault and asks if she could sit with him. After Mersault says yes she orders her entire meal at once. She then adds up the cost for her meal and gets the exact amount out of her purse. She continues to do other odd things during the meal before she gets up and leaves without a word. Camus created this character to contrast the personality of Mersault. Camus goes into detail on everything the woman does, and creates her to be a very organized person. She also has distinct purpose in her actions.
Raymonds ex-girlfriend
She is being attacked by Raymond early in chapter 4. When the cop arrives he doesn't seem to pay much attention to her. When she told the cop that Raymond had attacked her he basically shrugged it off and gave Raymond a slap on the wrist. Camus also didn't give this character a name. Camus does this to show how little voice women had in society, and to demonstrate what was basically socially acceptable. He did this to also show how women were treated in the justice system.
The police officer comes into the story when Raymond is beating up his ex-girlfriend. He arrives to see what was going on in Raymond's room. But instead of taking Raymond to jail he mealy tells him to wait in his room until he was summoned to the police station. The office made no real direct attempt to help the girl. Camus created this character to show how the loose the justice system was at the time.
The strange woman at Celeste's restaurant:
A strange woman walks over to Mersault and asks if she could sit with him. After Mersault says yes she orders her entire meal at once. She then adds up the cost for her meal and gets the exact amount out of her purse. She continues to do other odd things during the meal before she gets up and leaves without a word. Camus created this character to contrast the personality of Mersault. Camus goes into detail on everything the woman does, and creates her to be a very organized person. She also has distinct purpose in her actions.
Raymonds ex-girlfriend
She is being attacked by Raymond early in chapter 4. When the cop arrives he doesn't seem to pay much attention to her. When she told the cop that Raymond had attacked her he basically shrugged it off and gave Raymond a slap on the wrist. Camus also didn't give this character a name. Camus does this to show how little voice women had in society, and to demonstrate what was basically socially acceptable. He did this to also show how women were treated in the justice system.
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