One of the first characters we, as the reader, are introduced to is Bernard Marx. The society that he and his fellow people live in is divided into different social levels. The top level is the alpha pluses, which is what Bernard belongs to; however, one of the first things you notice about him is that he is somewhat of an outsider, or at least that is how he portrays himself. The farther I got into the book, the more I found that Bernard is really is not the outsider that he makes himself to be.
There are obvious differences that set him apart from him and his fellow people. First of all, he does not look like the rest of the alpha plus males. These other males are all tall and strongly built. Bernard on the other hand, is very small, and “weird” looking as many of the other characters put it. There was a big rumor going around the factory that too much alcohol was put into his incubator when he was being handled as an embryo. Second of all, he claims that he only likes and wants to be with one girl, Lenina, which in the society that he lives in is a horrible thought. “Everyone belongs to everyone,” is what they were trained to believe in. They are all encouraged to be with multiple people, no attachments.
Bernard claims that he is very different from the others. He tries to stay away from soma, doesn’t see the point in the air golf game they play, and likes being alone. This is how he acts for about 75% of the novel. In the last quarter of the novel, when he finds the savage named John, his views on everything change. Suddenly, Bernard has changed from the man who everyone gossiped about and thought was weird to a hero. All of a sudden, he likes being around people and being the center of attention. He begins taking soma again and taking apart in everything that all the other people are doing. Then, when the savage decides to not take apart in Bernard’s plan to show him off to everyone anymore, people’s view of Bernard goes back to what it used to be. Now, Bernard goes back to his old self.
I think the only reason Bernard acts like an outsider is to bring attention to himself. He doesn’t like being the odd one out, but it is the only way that others will give him attention. John was originally Bernard’s way out of the dumpy life and into the fast lane, and Bernard took advantage of that. Finally, once John was out of the picture, he went back to his old sulky self; therefore, I think that the way that Bernard portrays himself throughout the majority of the novel is all self-inflicted. I think that if he really wanted a different life, where he fit in more and was happier, he could find a way to do it. (501)
Friday, April 25, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
When You Are Old
William Butler Yeats’s “When You Are Old,” is more than just a typical story of lost love. At first glance, the poem seems as though it is about an older woman who is reminiscing through a photo album of her youth and beauty, slowly moving to the end, where it seems she has lost a significant other; however, after stripping away the obvious layers, it is apparent that there is a deeper and more personalized side to the poem.
Yeats had one significant love in his life, Maud Gonne. He proposed to her four times, each time receiving a negative response. Finally, Maud married another man by the name of Major John MacBride, breaking Yeats’s heart. Although Yeats realized that he lost Maud to another man, he always saved a part of his heart for her, which I think can be seen through the poem, “When You Are Old.” The speaker of the poem, Yeats, is delivering a message to Maud, reminding her what might have been, if she had chosen him over his rival. Yeats wants Maud to know that his love was deeper than any other and would have loved her through the years regardless of her lost physical beauty.
The three stanzas of the poem show a transition from simplicity to complexity. The first stanza is pretty straightforward beginning with an old woman, by herself, looking back on her life, specifically referring to her eyes—“the soft look…and of their shadows deep.” By using the word shadows, Yeats wants Maud to reminisce through the years, remembering all the choices she had when she was young and the implications they had on her life.
In the second stanza, he moves on to talk about all the people that loved her and her, “beauty with love false or true.” He considers everyone else’s love for her trivial, unknowing of whether they really loved her or if it was that they were simply infatuated with her beauty. He changes tones in the second half, by saying that one man really loved her, no matter what. “The pilgrim soul,” he calls it—he compares her life to a journey, one with happiness and sorrow, with him truly loving her every second of it. His love for her did more than just scratch the surface, his love transcended mere looks—he loved her whole being. No matter what she went through, he never gave up on his feelings towards her.
The third stanza, unlike the first two uses many hidden meanings and personifies love. Yeats uses the poem to tell Maud that by not accepting his love that she has lost a tremendous opportunity. When she wed Major MacBride, Yeats had to take his love for her and leave. As he completes the poem, Yeats seems to be referring more to what he did after fleeing from Maud. His reference to mountains indicates a long journey that put great distance between him and Maud; in addition, using the term “paced” would indicate that he had no real purpose in his journey. Pacing normally is done when one is nervous or expectant and rarely accomplishes anything but passing the time. The final line of the poem indicates he wanted to hide not only from Maud but also from everyone else. Yeats wants to lose himself in the crowd, where he will go unnoticed.
Overall the poem has a very sad connotation, speaking of lost love, unrealized potential, and journeys without purpose. Yeats assumes that both his and Maud’s life were shortchanged due to her decision to marry another, and he wants to make sure she understands the repercussions of refusing his love. (617)
Discussion Questions:
1) After finding out about Yeats’s past with Maud Gonne, do you agree that the poem is addressed to her or do you think that it is talking about lost love in general?
2) Assuming Yeats is the speaker, do you think he is talking about himself as the one man that, “loved the pilgrim soul….?”
3) Why does Yeats personify “Love?” Whose love has “fled?” The man or the woman?
4) Do you think that by the third stanza, the man/woman has given up on love?
Yeats had one significant love in his life, Maud Gonne. He proposed to her four times, each time receiving a negative response. Finally, Maud married another man by the name of Major John MacBride, breaking Yeats’s heart. Although Yeats realized that he lost Maud to another man, he always saved a part of his heart for her, which I think can be seen through the poem, “When You Are Old.” The speaker of the poem, Yeats, is delivering a message to Maud, reminding her what might have been, if she had chosen him over his rival. Yeats wants Maud to know that his love was deeper than any other and would have loved her through the years regardless of her lost physical beauty.
The three stanzas of the poem show a transition from simplicity to complexity. The first stanza is pretty straightforward beginning with an old woman, by herself, looking back on her life, specifically referring to her eyes—“the soft look…and of their shadows deep.” By using the word shadows, Yeats wants Maud to reminisce through the years, remembering all the choices she had when she was young and the implications they had on her life.
In the second stanza, he moves on to talk about all the people that loved her and her, “beauty with love false or true.” He considers everyone else’s love for her trivial, unknowing of whether they really loved her or if it was that they were simply infatuated with her beauty. He changes tones in the second half, by saying that one man really loved her, no matter what. “The pilgrim soul,” he calls it—he compares her life to a journey, one with happiness and sorrow, with him truly loving her every second of it. His love for her did more than just scratch the surface, his love transcended mere looks—he loved her whole being. No matter what she went through, he never gave up on his feelings towards her.
The third stanza, unlike the first two uses many hidden meanings and personifies love. Yeats uses the poem to tell Maud that by not accepting his love that she has lost a tremendous opportunity. When she wed Major MacBride, Yeats had to take his love for her and leave. As he completes the poem, Yeats seems to be referring more to what he did after fleeing from Maud. His reference to mountains indicates a long journey that put great distance between him and Maud; in addition, using the term “paced” would indicate that he had no real purpose in his journey. Pacing normally is done when one is nervous or expectant and rarely accomplishes anything but passing the time. The final line of the poem indicates he wanted to hide not only from Maud but also from everyone else. Yeats wants to lose himself in the crowd, where he will go unnoticed.
Overall the poem has a very sad connotation, speaking of lost love, unrealized potential, and journeys without purpose. Yeats assumes that both his and Maud’s life were shortchanged due to her decision to marry another, and he wants to make sure she understands the repercussions of refusing his love. (617)
Discussion Questions:
1) After finding out about Yeats’s past with Maud Gonne, do you agree that the poem is addressed to her or do you think that it is talking about lost love in general?
2) Assuming Yeats is the speaker, do you think he is talking about himself as the one man that, “loved the pilgrim soul….?”
3) Why does Yeats personify “Love?” Whose love has “fled?” The man or the woman?
4) Do you think that by the third stanza, the man/woman has given up on love?
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Brave New World
After finishing Brave New World, I realized that there is a totally different message being given in the novel, which you don’t really get to until the last couple of chapters. The rest of the story is just a build up to the remaining fifty or so pages. The beginning of the story begins with what, at first glance, seems like an idealistic world where war and unhappiness don’t exist. That’s what everyone wants, right? To be happy and have no war or battles going on? But at what cost is everyone willing to wage for it. In Brave New World, society is all within the hands of one man, but everyone is happy with that. No one cares about his or her positions in life, because they have all been “programmed” to like where they are. If anyone ever gets angry, they have pills called “soma” that will make you happy again within a matter of minutes. Death is seen as a trivial matter. “Everyone belongs to everyone.” No emotional attachments to anything. The past means nothing to them—they know nothing of it. They all live in this dreamlike island separated from the real world, which is somewhat interrupted by a man named John, otherwise known as the “savage.”
John, who was born on a reservation outside of the factory, is a dose of reality for everyone from the factory. He introduces things such as pain, suffering, attachment, morals, history, Shakespeare, true emotions, religion. All of which are foreign to the “islanders.” When he first arrives at the factory, he is amazed at their huge advances in technology; however, he soon realizes that these people know nothing about life. In the last couple of chapters, he has this long conversation with Mustapha Mond, the leader of the factory, about why no one knows about the real joys of life—Shakespeare, history, etc..and why Mond hates all of it. Mond explains to John, that he loves all of that, and that it makes up an integral part of life; however, if everyone knew about that, then the factory would become a place of quarrel and strife. According to Mond, in order to have a functioning world, where peace and happiness exist and no war, everyone has to have the same beliefs. You have to make sacrifices. Mond says he chose this new factory life, not because he likes it better, but because it makes for a better world.
How can one man decide what a better world would be for millions of people? I think the ideal world would be a perfect balance of everything, not one, where the lives of people are being lead on false terms. It is a tough subject.
JSTOR
-The Two Future Worlds of Aldous Huxley by Rudolf B. Schmerl
-Science and Conscience in Huxley’s Brave New World
-Brave New Worlds: Philosophy, Politics, and Science in Human Biotechnology
John, who was born on a reservation outside of the factory, is a dose of reality for everyone from the factory. He introduces things such as pain, suffering, attachment, morals, history, Shakespeare, true emotions, religion. All of which are foreign to the “islanders.” When he first arrives at the factory, he is amazed at their huge advances in technology; however, he soon realizes that these people know nothing about life. In the last couple of chapters, he has this long conversation with Mustapha Mond, the leader of the factory, about why no one knows about the real joys of life—Shakespeare, history, etc..and why Mond hates all of it. Mond explains to John, that he loves all of that, and that it makes up an integral part of life; however, if everyone knew about that, then the factory would become a place of quarrel and strife. According to Mond, in order to have a functioning world, where peace and happiness exist and no war, everyone has to have the same beliefs. You have to make sacrifices. Mond says he chose this new factory life, not because he likes it better, but because it makes for a better world.
How can one man decide what a better world would be for millions of people? I think the ideal world would be a perfect balance of everything, not one, where the lives of people are being lead on false terms. It is a tough subject.
JSTOR
-The Two Future Worlds of Aldous Huxley by Rudolf B. Schmerl
-Science and Conscience in Huxley’s Brave New World
-Brave New Worlds: Philosophy, Politics, and Science in Human Biotechnology
Thursday, April 10, 2008
I predict...
First of all, I am very happy that I ended up choosing Brave New World! My dad was actually the one who recommended that I read it, and I love it. It is right up my alley in that it has to do with science. I also like the futuristic twist it has to it. When I started reading it, it immediately reminded me of the movie ‘the Island’ with Scarlett Johannsen. The two are very similar. (I was thinking that the movie could have possibly been based off of Brave New World)
It was interesting reading how the characters in the story are not taught about the past, think that being in multiple relationships at one time is normal, and think that a family is a weird concept—such concepts that in the present are portrayed in such different ways. It makes me think of when my parents talk about how they didn’t have such advanced computers or ipods when they were growing up and wondering if the next generation will say how old fashioned both of these are.
One big assertion I made while reading Brave New World is that what if something like the situation presented in the book ended up happening and fell into the wrong person’s hands. For example, what if a horrible leader came to rise, who used the brainwashing and embryo system to create his own army who only answered to him doing his dirty work? As I read, this question keeps coming up in my mind. Although in the book, the hyponaedia is used for only trivial purposes, what would happen if a madman used it to take out a certain race, or people of one stature, etc. I’ll do more research on this, but this book must have been, in my mind, pretty controversial when it first came out, which as of now I think would be an interesting topic to do my paper on. It seems extremely advanced for having been published in the early 1930s.
I think that Adolf Huxley, through what I have read so far, has a very idealistic view on the world. He has everyone taking pills called “soma” which make everyone happy instantly, all the time. He likes the idea of everyone being free and helping out eachother, with the quote, “everyone belongs to everyone,” coming up many times in the novel. He keeps the factory, which is the center of the character’s lives, spotlessly clean and looks down on things that are dirty. He has created in his mind, his own utopia, making a distinct social ladder, where everyone is happy where they are and has everyone in their particular status be the exact same.
It was interesting reading how the characters in the story are not taught about the past, think that being in multiple relationships at one time is normal, and think that a family is a weird concept—such concepts that in the present are portrayed in such different ways. It makes me think of when my parents talk about how they didn’t have such advanced computers or ipods when they were growing up and wondering if the next generation will say how old fashioned both of these are.
One big assertion I made while reading Brave New World is that what if something like the situation presented in the book ended up happening and fell into the wrong person’s hands. For example, what if a horrible leader came to rise, who used the brainwashing and embryo system to create his own army who only answered to him doing his dirty work? As I read, this question keeps coming up in my mind. Although in the book, the hyponaedia is used for only trivial purposes, what would happen if a madman used it to take out a certain race, or people of one stature, etc. I’ll do more research on this, but this book must have been, in my mind, pretty controversial when it first came out, which as of now I think would be an interesting topic to do my paper on. It seems extremely advanced for having been published in the early 1930s.
I think that Adolf Huxley, through what I have read so far, has a very idealistic view on the world. He has everyone taking pills called “soma” which make everyone happy instantly, all the time. He likes the idea of everyone being free and helping out eachother, with the quote, “everyone belongs to everyone,” coming up many times in the novel. He keeps the factory, which is the center of the character’s lives, spotlessly clean and looks down on things that are dirty. He has created in his mind, his own utopia, making a distinct social ladder, where everyone is happy where they are and has everyone in their particular status be the exact same.
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