Tonight, you're going to revisit Brave New World, looking for a short excerpt (no more than 3 sentences) that strikes you as being intriguing, haunting, and/or well-written.
For your response, type the quotation at the beginning (citing the page number afterwards in parentheses!). Then analyze the following: 1.) What literary devices have been employed in the quotation, and what does their use help emphasize? 2.) How does the quotation serve a larger purpose in the scheme of the novel? Think about theme, characterization, mood...
We will be chatting about this more at length tomorrow in groups, but it would behoove you to think of YOUR answer to this in advance of our discussions. :) And always remember to USE YOUR OWN BRAIN on this. Referencing shmoop or spark notes or whatever other "study aid" sites you might gravitate towards is only helpful up to a point. At some point, you're going to have to think for yourself. It's better for you to train yourself to do so sooner rather than later!
Remember, you have until TUESDAY at 8pm to respond to this prompt.
See you all tomorrow, and be sure to bring your copy of Brave New World with you to class!
Happy hunting, friends!
“‘Well, he manifests himself as an absence; as though he weren’t there at all.’
ReplyDelete‘That's your fault,’
‘Call it the fault of civilization’” (Huxley 210).
John and Mustapha Mond have this conversation when John asks Mustapha about why he does not tell the people about religion. Mustapha then tells him the God is there but he prefers to stay clear of their society. Through a simile, Huxley conveys that the Mustapha wants to control what the people learn about. Mustapha does not want the people outside the reservation to become self-aware.
This leads to the motto of the civilization which is “community, identity, stability.” The World Leaders want a society of conformists, who will do what they are told and when by the government. Mustapha fears that if the people are introduced to a new concept that contradicts the things they already know, they will begin to become self-aware about what is going on in their society. This relates to the conversation John and Mustapha are having because Mustapha is communicating to John that he does not believe society will be able to handle being told that. As a result of Mustapha telling the society about religion, they could begin to contradict the teachings of the world leaders. Then the idea of community will crumble because, like in modern times, people interpret religion differently.
The quote also shows that Mustapha believes that civilization is at fault for how their society turned out. When John blames him Mustapha says,” Call it the fault of civilization”. This shows that he believes since society was not able to handle it then, they will not be able to handle it now, even in their "modern society".
“‘And that,’ put in the Director sententiously, ‘that is the secret of happiness and virtue - liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny.’” (26)
ReplyDeleteI found this quote to be a really intriguing idea because of how unconventional this idea is to us. When I first read this quote, I thought that it was just the standard advice one hears when choosing a job. However, as the full meaning of the quote struck me, I did a double take and had to reread this quote a couple times to understand it. There’s an ancient saying that goes, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” and I believe that the quote I chose is the World State’s variant of this quote. In this quote, the Director explains that for the citizens of the World State to be truly happy, they must like what they have to do and making them like their jobs is the point of the sleep conditioning. I thought that this was almost ironic in that having to do something and being forced to do it generally isn’t associated with happiness and yet it is in this case. In this quote, the literary devices mainly used are irony and antithesis. Irony is used in order to bring out the controversial statements in the quote and to draw the reader’s attention like it did for me. Antithesis is used in parallel with irony in order to bring out how different this society is. It uses the two contrasting ideas in the quote to drive home the differences between our society and theirs. I think that this quote’s purpose in the novel is to immediately establish this different society from the one the reader is used to. It sets up new rules, ideas, and theories that the reader is instantly immersed in. I also think this quote’s purpose was to set a controlling type of mood on this society so that when the end happens, the result would be more dramatic.
"Bottled, they crossed the street; bottled, they took the lift up to Henry's room on the twenty-eighth floor. And yet, bottled as she was, and in spite of that second gramme of soma, Lenina did not forget to take all the contraceptive precautions prescribed by regulations." (pg.77)
ReplyDeleteThere are many literary techniques used in BNW. One strong metaphor is the use of the word "bottled". Both Henry and Lenina were born in test tubes or "bottles". This seems planned and unnatural. They live their lives totally controlled or "bottled" up. Society tells them how to live and what to do. Lenina would never forget to use her birth control even in the heat of the moment. Huxley also uses repetition to emphasize the theme. By using "bottled" to start three different moments in the above quote, he keeps reminding the reader that Henry and Lenina do not have free will. This quotation drives home the theme of the book, which is technology can run society. It also highlights the controlled characterization and somber mood.
“Happiness is a hard master- particularly other people’s happiness. A much harder master, if one isn’t conditioned to accept it unquestioningly, than truth” (227).
ReplyDeleteThe Controller utilizes both a metaphor and an allusion in order to get his point across. Mustapha Mond is trying to explain to John that he had to choose between religion and essentially an autocracy. In this society, any expression of free thought is condemnable. By using the metaphor that compares happiness to a hard master, the Controller is emphasizing that happiness will always be an internal struggle. One must learn to become conditioned to believe other people’s thoughts and ideas. But like any hard masters, happiness will continually nag and be hard to fully subdue if one doesn’t genuinely feel fulfilled.
Mond is also alluding to the fact that happiness is quite difficult to obtain if you have not been conditioned to fully agree with it. When Mond explains that, it shows that he may have had some sort of struggle in the past being able to accept everything. Not only is this surprising to some, but also displays that even the Controller of the District has had internal thoughts and ideas that must never be shared out in the real world. In this way, he can sympathize with John, and the reader now knows that Mond is not completely oblivious to John’s thoughts and beliefs. The mood of the novel can also shift, now that the reader knows a little bit more of what the Controller believes. It makes us bound to think about if the Controller is truly happy, since we can assume that he has felt another form of happiness before.
I also believe that this quote defines a struggle that all of the characters (especially John) have dealt with throughout the novel. This is the first time that any of the characters explicitly speak about one fo the major themes in the novel- happiness. As John is on his quest to return to this utopian world, he expects to feel fulfilled and joyful. But when he realizes that its not the case, he is discouraged. Mond reminds him that in this society he has to fulfill others happiness first, and then learn to obtain the state of happiness second. This displays the constant struggle that the characters must fight with, making the state happy all while trying to find personal and genuine happiness.
“ ‘Eight hundred Simple Lifers were mowed down by machine guns at Golders Green.’
ReplyDelete‘Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending.’ “(50)
In the second line of this passage, Huxley uses alliteration. This is a line of hypnopaedia, so I am guessing that the repeated sounds at the end of ending and mending are used so that the children will remember it easier. The alliteration for the reader helps us understand how much the government does in order to make the people think exactly the same. Throughout this unique chapter, Huxley takes quotations from three different conversations/thoughts and scrambles them between other lines. Huxley makes a point in repeating “Ending is better than mending” several times.
The first line in this passage is an exaggeration when it says they were “mowed down”. The “Simple Lifers” were not literally mowed down by a lawn mower. However, they were a group of people killed all at the same time, similar to how a lawn mower cuts a lot of grass at the same time. I do not know if this is a real thing, but it is like the lawn mower is a metaphor for death in this instance.
Although these two lines are from different conversations, they were all placed together for a reason. In the first line, it is describing how people who lived a simple life (i.e. reading, thinking, and learning) were all killed without hesitation. I believe that “ending is better than mending” comes after that line because it is emphasising the point that instead of trying to at least adapt these “Simple Lifers” into their society, they just killed them altogether. “Ending is better than mending”. Instead of fixing the problem at hand, the people in the society take soma. “Ending is better than mending”. Instead of working out the issues in relationships and families, the government destroyed them. “Ending is better than mending”. Instead of helping Bernard and Helmholts become better at their jobs, the director sent them away to Iceland. “Ending is better than mending”.
“Ending is better than mending” characterizes the government itself. That is what they truly believe is the key to a “stable society” and “happiness”. This just adds to the very dark mood of Brave New World. A theme of this book would be that avoiding your problems leads to destruction to others around you. I now realize that “Ending is better than mending” is the most untrue thing I have ever heard. Sometimes, your favorite shirt is going to rip. That is what a sewing kit is for.
“And that,” put in the Director sententiously, “that is the secret of happiness and virtue- liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny” (16). This quote is said right after the Director shows the group of boys the area where embryos are passed through hot and cold tunnels. They do this to make the babies thrive in heat and hate the cold. Because of their “love” for warmth, the babies will grow up to become miners or acetate silk spinners or steel workers. This quote foreshadows most of the book. It lets us begin to see just how controlled the society is. It also shows how the Director doesn’t care if the people are truly happy; he only cares that they are getting work done that benefits him. It also reveals to the reader that the Director isn’t a very good person, at least to our standards. He may be doing what he thinks is right, but to the reader, he seems like a cruel person who doesn’t care for human life. Then again, most of the people in this book seem to have no regard for human life.
ReplyDeleteThis quote is also very ironic to anyone living in the modern world because most people are told from an early age to do what you like because that will make you happy. But in the Director’s mind, it is the other way around. He thinks people will only be happy if they accept their social status and the work they are forced to do. That being said, it could be an insight to how our world really does work. The author may be trying to convey the message that we’re all mindless drones that are forced to do things from the day we are born for “the good of the society”. The author may be trying to show that so many people aren’t happy with what they are doing in life, because it is what they think they have to do to be happy, not what actually makes them happy. At first glance, Brave New World seems like an impossibly different world from our own, but when you really analyze it, you can find the hidden messages that the author is trying to convey telling us to wake up.
“Swallowing half an hour before closing time, that second dose of soma had raised a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds. Bottled, they crossed the street; bottled they took the lift up...” (77).
ReplyDeleteIn this quote, the effects of using soma are made apparent. The effects of soma are exaggerated to be compared to losing contact between a person’s conscious and the world around them. This shows how soma leaves an individual unaware and remote. While, a person’s bad feelings and thoughts may be forgotten, their other emotions are lost by soma as well. Soma’s consequences are also shown through the imagery of being “bottled”. The term “bottled” is used to show how the users are restrained by the drug. It could also refer to how they are trapped by soma as if soma was a bottle they were stuck in. Another thing that the “bottle” could allude to is how children in “Brave New World” are made in bottles, meaning that the use of soma is childish. Overall, the literary devices help to emphasize that soma is very controlling and detrimental for its users.
This quote is just one example of how soma affects the people that use it. Although, this quote specifically clearly exemplifies how soma controls the society. Soma is one element to the theme of the use of drugs. In this novel, the use of drugs is widely accepted as soma seems to be “perfect”, appearing to have no negative effects. However, it is made clear by this quote and others that soma is used by the government to control the people to make a utopia. This quote shows that throughout the novel soma is used to exploit the masses for the government to have greater power.
“Helmholtz listened with a growing excitement. At “sole Arabian tree” he started; at “thou shrieking harbinger” he smiled with sudden pleasure; at “every fowl of tyrant wing” the blood rushed up into his cheeks; but at “defunctive music” he turned pale and trembled with an unprecedented emotion. (183).”
ReplyDeleteI think that the passage contained some wonderful sensory details as Huxley describes Helmholtz’s response to John’s passage. Each phrase held a deeper meaning that exemplifies how deep symbolism in the novel can run. First, I noticed how Helmholtz quickly starts smiling as John reads the passage. As it talks about emotion and passion (based on a brief review of the shakespearian passage online), Helmholtz feels the literature touching a piece of his soul that nothing in the world state has haver touched. Not even soma, the supposed solution to all pain managed to make him feel. This idea of feeling emotions is already so new to Helmholtz. Further, we see how Helmholtz’s blood starts pumping as John continues. Yet finally, when he hears “defunctive music”, it strikes a chord with him and causes him to tremble with emotion. As the passage concludes, Helmholtz experienced a wide array of emotions that put him through an emotional rollercoaster
Overall, I feel that the novel not only contains symbolism in Helmholtz’s emotions but I also realized that it also provides a different view on the whole situation. Every citizen of the World State have been programmed to become apart of a mindless mass and to not possess any emotions. Yet we see that no matter how programmed a human being is in this distorted future, that they still possess their souls. And literature like that of Shakespeare can touch souls and can bring out emotions. Even if people are indoctrinated into hating the very idea of literature, their minds are manipulated not their souls.
Finally, I feel that the scheme better characterizes Helmholtz’s as someone who was always missing something from their lives. And while Helmholtz goes through this emotional rollercoaster throughout the passage I felt that this was exactly what he was missing in his life. The gaping hole that Helmholtz tries to fill is emotion. Its feeling emotion and it also further shines a light upon this dystopian future. This society believes that they have achieved perfection but by establishing the world state, they sacrifice qualities that made each citizen unique. While BNW may at first seem like an eerie satirical piece on a society nothing like our own, further examination shows us this society will be here sooner rather than later.
“The bruises hurt him, the cuts were still bleeding; but it was not for pain that he sobbed; it was because he was all alone, because he had been driven out, alone, into this skeleton world of rocks and moonlight. At the edge of the precipice he sat down. The moon was behind him; he looked down into the black shadow of of the mesa, into the black shadow of death”(136).
ReplyDeleteThe literary devices embedded within this quote help to emphasize and thoroughly embed the idea of John’s feeling of solidarity and loneliness. The author’s imagery alerts the reader that the shadow is not just a shadow, but a black, consuming, deathly shadow, that depicts the feelings of John's inner soul. The skeleton world of rocks portrays how all John sees now is the inner grotesque wall of rocks that was once a sight to be seen before. The overall dark, morbid, and brooding description of the setting upon the edge of the mesa portrays a feeling of sadness, grief, and pain felt by John after he was banished from the kiva. John’s dark mental state turns his view of the world to see only the shadows and gloominess of the night.
This quote helps the reader to understand just how different this society is than our own. John’s only view of life and others is entirely based off of segregation and discrimination due to his mother’s and his own background of being fair skinned and from the city. John is in this dreary and dismal state of mind from being shut out and alone from all of the other boys without a say in the situation. His mental state also shows who he is as a character. It helps to foreshadow that his downfall may be due to his somber attitude and outlook on life.
“The insults bounced off their carapace of thick stupidity,” (212). During this part of the story, the Deltas in Park Lane Hospital, where Linda had resided for the end of her life, were lining up for their soma rations. John, who had realized the dangers of constant consumption of soma, delivered a heartfelt speech about how the Deltas could free themselves of the poisonous effects of soma by throwing it all out. Despite the countless insults John hurled at the Deltas, they just stared back with blank faces.
ReplyDeleteThis quote struck me as very well written, not because I have experienced this particular situation in which everything I say flies over people’s heads due to their level of intelligence or lack thereof, but I have been in situations where I felt as if I wasn’t able to express my thoughts out loud as clearly as I could in my head. Imagery is one literary technique employed in this quote. Instead of insults, intelligence, and stupidity all floating around as abstract concepts in this sentence, Huxley paints a clear picture of these Deltas being so conditioned to think and act a certain way, that it’s almost as if there is a shell blocking any new perspectives or progressive ideas from penetrating. This quote also emphasizes how oblivious the lower classes in the social hierarchy are to the horrible state of their life. Even after John brings it to the Deltas attention that they are just slaves being treated as babies their whole lives, the Deltas still stare at him as if he were speaking nonsense.
Through this quote, the theme that it is not always a language barrier that prevents communication between human beings, but rather a difference in perspective. In addition to the theme that is brought up in this quote, this quote is also significant because it leads to a series of actions that ultimately end John’s life. At this point in the story, John realizes there is nothing he can do to make these Deltas understand the meaning of his words.This leads to a shift in the mood of the whole story as John’s hope to change the Deltas’ view of the world slip away and are replaced by desperation to do anything at all in order to stop the soma from reaching the Deltas’ hands. This feeling of desperation is joined by hopelessness as John has now been exposed to the terrible conditions of “civilized” life and was unable to stop it from continuing on.
“ I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” (Huxely, 215)
ReplyDeleteThis is a quote from Savage when he’s having a conversation with the Controller. They are talking about the society, and the Controller is trying to convince Savage to accept and enjoy the life under “Ford”. But growing up in an uncivilized reservation and reading literature throughout his life, Savage is not that easily convinced. His mind is not as brainwashed as others in the “civilized” cities, and reserves some objectives that are different from the rest of the world. He’d been dreaming about the “paradise” that his mom had described, but when he really comes to London, he starts to question himself and tries to resist against it. In this quote, Huxely uses repetition of “ I want” to truely emphasize Savage’s feelings. After he comes to London, he realizes that it is a place with no rights, no freedom, and no individuality. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t think this “brave new world” is a happy place. Instead, he is overwhelmed by seeing the frightening consequences of the lack of emotions, the lack of thinking, and the lack of humanity. This line of repeating “I want”s expresses the fear, the anxiety, and the anti-social feelings of Savage to not only the Controller, but also the readers.
The significace of this quote, however, extends way beyond. It reflects the deeper meanings behind the story of Savage and Brave New World. In the world that Huxely creates, everyone is the same. They are “created” as a caste and it never changed. The society is exceedingly brainwashed under the totalitarianism of Ford, where no one ever think about the problems and the corruptions. People are scared of problems, discomfort, and changes, and always escape away from them by just taking in grammes of soma. What Savage realizes but others don’t is that without problems and differences that provoke changes, the society will only regress never progress. Thus, this quote from him not only reflects his feelings but also infers to the theme of the novel. Like what Braden said in our group discussion today, “the closest to a perfect society is by being different”. I believe from this quote and the story of Savage, we as readers can receive the message that Huxely wanted to address more directly, and understand the theme of the book more explicitly.
“‘My Ford,’ she wondered, ‘have I given this one its sleeping sickness injection, or haven’t I?’... In the end, she decided not to run the risk of letting it have a second dose, and moved down the line to the next bottle. Twenty-two years, eight months, and four days from that moment, a promising young Alpha-Minus administrator at Mwanza-Mwanza was to die of trypanosomiasis – the first case for over half a century.” (187)
ReplyDeleteWhile this quote looks simplistic and basic, its meaning can only be uncovered after reading and analyzing these three sentences carefully. First, a theme can be derived from this quote. Carelessness creates mistakes. Because of a simple mistake, forgetting to inject a solution, Lenina indirectly kills an innocent, young man. While not stated in the quote, Lenina forgot the injection because she was too busy contemplating John’s love affair. Her immature thoughts reinforce the fact that the society is too focused on sexual desires. Second, this passage seems to be casually slipped into the text of the novel. BNW mentioned death like it was the norm. While it may seem scary or inhumane in the reader’s eye, this nonchalant attitude towards death has already proliferated into our society. For example, the recent shooting in Jacksonville, Florida at the video game convention was viewed with such disregard as deaths and fatalities are simply accepted as the inevitable. Lastly, the quote slides in the phrase regarding the first death from this disease in over half a century. While it may be viewed as trivial fact, I believe it holds another, deeper meaning. These eight words show that the BNW society is repeating history or made the same mistakes as before. Even with all their great technology and magnificent innovations, a man succumbs to a measly disease. With their carelessness, the whole society of BNW is doomed to crumble to same basic mistakes as before.
Now, within this passage there are a myriad of literary techniques. First, there is the dialogue which changes the reading pace of the novel. The simple tool adds a more depth to the novel as the readers can delve into the mind of Lenina. Next, the passage almost has a reverse foreshadowing. While foreshadowing is telling a previous event to build suspense or tie connections for plot later in a work of writing, the reverse foreshadowing tells the audience what happens to the test tube later in his life. In a sense, reverse foreshadowing is like going off on a tangent.
“I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” (240)
ReplyDeleteThe repetition of desire in this quote plainly states rejection of everything the word “civilization” stands for in Brave New World. The repetition hammers the Savage’s need into your skull and makes you really see his point of view. I believe the most permeating happiness is that of realisation. Made of accomplishment, understanding, and rapport it is what drives me for many of my choices. In Brave New World, all of this is eliminated by relentlessly killing those who seek it.
John, making this proclamation, is showing the belief of Aldous Huxley, and of humanity, and is ultimately setting himself up for death. He is seen as an outsider for being human but he won't compromise his values. This is what leads him to choose suicide over his perverted and idiotic world.
The character of John is that of an uneducated philosopher. He is ignorant, he is naive, but he is also the voice of reason and the voice of the reader, so when he states his views they are largely our views - and thus are the themes of the book. This quote hammers in the idea that happiness is more than lack of conflict and is a plain rejection of all things apathetic.
-Connor
“’Mr. Savage!’ Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east...” (259). This excerpt stood out to me as especially haunting. This was not only because of the surface meaning, but also because it showed how the dystopian society in Brave New World banishes anyone who doesn’t conform to their expectations. John, the character who readers would consider relatively normal, was driven to insanity by the differences between the morals of the so-called civilized people and himself. This shows that the typical citizen of the futuristic civilization which Aldous Huxley has created values essentially the opposite aspects of life which we do today.
ReplyDeleteThe writing style of this particular quote struck me as being well-written and added to the impact that that last section had on readers. The author used a simile, comparing John’s limp feet with needles moving slowly around on a compass. His use of repetition was also proven to be effective in this passage. The style allowed me to understand what I would see if I were standing in place of the many citizens who came to watch John “perform” again, to be shocked by the sight of him hanging in his house. In this excerpt, the novel slows down from its complex and fast-moving plot to show a glimpse of what is left of the real world and what the Brave New World has done to it. The story shows that nothing can be done to change the civilization in the novel. With John, what little could be changed in the new world has come and gone, meaning there is no way back to what we would call normal today for the people living under the Ford.
There is no room to express individuality or any wrong emotion in the dystopian society. The civilians will truly kill any abnormalities in their perfectly civilized world. The quote above ends the novel, symbolizing the end of humanity in their universe, seeing that John represents the last bit of any true emotion in any of the characters of the book. Brave New World shows readers what our world is on its way to becoming, and what we must avoid to keep our morals the way they are now.
“But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin”(240). This quote is stated by John during his conversation with Mustapha Mond. From the moment John arrived in the civilized land to his very last breathes, John has despised the values of this “brave, new world”. The Savage Reservation where he grew up and was taught their moral beliefs was a polar opposite to the civilized world in almost every way possible. God, for example, is a huge importance to John since, throughout his life, God was taught as the figurehead and creator of all that exists. So transitioning into a civilization that does not tolerate the main figure in which you pray to in times of distress could really hurt you mentally. Also, another crucial element the Savage Reservation wired into John’s head is the idea of romance and marriage with only a single person. He attempted to do so with Lenina but he was soon to learn the people of this civilized society agrees more with the idea of short-term engagements with multiple lovers. In my opinion, this is the aspect of civilized society he disagreed with the most. When John was a child, he remembered the scarring images of his mother Linda being beaten by several women for being intimate with their husbands. Linda, who is from the civilized world, was accustomed to having relationships with multiple men so, in fairness, it was more lack of understanding than actually being a toxic person. In John’s case, he is haunted by this experience and when Lenina tried to come on to him, a flashback most likely sparked into his mind of the hurt that came with polyamory. Going back to the quote, John is explaining how he does not care about the stability or the constant happiness, he desires personal freedom, real love, the evils and the goods of society. John would rather live a long and conflicted life full of inconveniences than live a shortened yet stable and comfortable life. In this quote, repetition for effect is used in order to emphasize the sincerity of John’s statement. When Mustapha Mond tells John his society likes to do comfortably, John replies by specifying all the elements the civilized society lacks. Instead of listing these elements, John repeats the saying “I want” multiple times. By doing this, he shows Mond the requirements John needs in order to survive in this type of environment. Also, John is hinting to Mond that it is impossible for him to live in civilized land anymore since the inconveniences he is used to having is not present. The quotation also serves the purpose of how technology has completely washed away any of the moral values our modern world currently has. All of the items John mentioned in the quote all exist in today’s world. However, in BNW, technology kept improving and becoming more advanced to the point where other aspects of life changed because of it. For God, He was replaced by Ford, a more appropriate version of God for this setting due to him being one of the first leaders of modern technology. In the case of John wanting danger and sin, the technological discoveries of soma and the advancements of health keep it so this does not occur. Overall, the technology that was supposed to improve the lives of all people ended up hurting the original beliefs that the modern world has today. Although BNW seems like a twisted fantasy that will never happen, the more technology keeps advancing, the closer it seems Huxley’s envisioned world may become a reality.
ReplyDelete“‘But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.’ ‘In fact,’ said Mustapha Mond, ‘you’re claiming the right to be unhappy.’ ‘All right then,’ said the Savage defiantly, ‘I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.’” (240)
ReplyDeleteThe entire conversation that occurred between Mustapha Mond and John the Savage towards the end of the novel struck me as profound and an appropriate representation of some issues in the book. John is the most similar to modern society today and is one of the only characters to seriously question the morality of the dystopian world run by Mustpaha. This quote is partially foreshadowing the unhappiness that John is met with after leaving the Brave New World and eventually John’s fate. Even though he is aware of the supposed happiness that soma provides, John expresses his want to experience the full spectrum of human emotions, literature, culture, and life.
Huxley also continues to narrate the conflict of whether total happiness is worth trading truth and experiences for. John ends up ultimately giving into himself, struggling to deal with his stronger emotions such as regret and guilt. That leaves the reader wondering whether John should have accepted the life of the soma-dependent people and avoided his tragic end all together. Also, the author uses the phrase “I want” multiple times instead of simply listing. This repetition magnifies how desperate John craves these, to us, basic things. We might question anyone that begs for unhappiness or desires danger and sin, which is a theme Huxley is advancing towards. A life lived without freedom or adversity is boring and unfulfilled. The people feeding on soma might exist in a world of sunshine and rainbows but they don’t have the option to make their own decisions or shape as individual human beings. Huxley demonstrated through words and fictional characters the necessity of ups and downs, and the result of taking these away. Brave New World warns future societies of the dangers of creating things to make people happy every hour of the day. Huxley subtly enforces these warnings through the themes in the novel and in the purpose that the character John the Savage serves.
"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."( page 215, Brave New World)
ReplyDeleteThe literary devices employed in this quotation, I think are imagery, foreshadowing, and allusion. Their use helps emphasize John's different views on family and religion, and his decision to stay isolated from the society in BNW. Also, John's death by suicide is exemplified through this quote, showing how society punished him for being an individual, and voicing out his own views. The quotation does however serve a larger purpose in the scheme of the novel. It illustrates free thought, or the ability of the individual to think on his own rather than being part of the hive mind. John has different views/opinions that everyone else in the society of Brave New World, but they are disregarded and ridiculed. Also, this quote shows how John is the only character with any real human emotion has family connection. The World State has erased actual happiness, love, and sense of family in the world for the stability of society. From a young age, people are dehumanized to the point where they are void of feelings for others and themselves. But, John is the only one that wants human connection, love, and deep feelings. He kills himself at the lighthouse partly, because he gets depressed from not being able to attain these.
“‘O brave new world, O brave new world…’ In his mind the singing words seemed to change their tone. They had mocked him through his misery and remorse, mocked him with a how hideous a note of cynical derision!” (210). The word “mocked” is repeated twice in this excerpt as a personification. This goes to show how much of an impact “O brave new world” had on John, it mocked him to an extent that caused him great distress. These words ridiculed John, constantly pounding in the back of his mind.
ReplyDeleteMan vs. society is constantly being brought up throughout the novel. In this situation you see John struggling with society in the World State. John is new to everything in the World State and that takes a toll on him emotionally. With John learning about his family, Ford, soma, and the overall concept of the World State, he breaks down and is faced with society. He reminds himself of the brave new world to make a better understanding of its purpose, but weakens when he repeats the words as they change causing him distress.
“The greater a man’s talents, the greater his power to lead astray. It is better that one should suffer than that many should be corrupted. Consider the matter dispassionately, Mr. Foster, and you will see that no offense is so heinous as unorthodoxy of behavior.” (148)
ReplyDeleteI found this quote to be this dystopia’s so to speak mission statement because it encompassed almost all of what they believe and why the believe it. This quote so greatly captures the use of irony. The author clearly believes that individuality and differences make up and shape a society but in Brave New World he has taken all these concepts and pushed them to the other extreme. One of the overall themes of this book is how differences lead to the function and betterment of institutions. Aldous Huxley continuously takes the opposing side of this theme and throughout the book makes it obvious that is nonsensical to have a society made up of carbon copies.
This quote is such an obvious example of irony especially because of what the Director has to say about differences. He uses language like heinous and unorthodoxy when describing Bernard’s behavior and even goes as far to say that one persons differences can corrupt societies. In our modern world children are constantly taught to strive for originality and the ever so common phrase “be yourself”. As everyone gets older they discover their unique talents and are highly encouraged to embrace them. Since we are conditioned so inversely anyone in this day and age reading this book could identify the irony in this excerpt in an instant. Since the book showed how similarity led to devastation it helped underline the theme, differences make the world better, even more so than if the theme was more directly stated.
His obvious use of opposing knowledge to further emphasize a theme prepares the readers to remain aware of more subtle cases of this same method. For example the theme freedom is important; throughout the book the reader can't help but notice the members of this dystopia have no freedom. We see what no freedom can result in through the course of the book. Then by the end we have a deeper understanding of the theme because we have seen the opposing spectrum of it. Brave New World conveys almost every theme by showing the reader the opposite side of it so you further understand the message.
~Ananya
" 'It makes me feel as though... I were more me, if you see what I mean. More on my own, not so completely part of something. Not just a cell in a social body,' " (80) ( Might be the wrong page because I own a Kindle)
ReplyDeleteThis quote was spoken by Bernard when he was showing Lenina the Channel to see the waves. The quote includes a metaphor, "' a cell in a social body'". This metaphor helps emphasize how Bernard feels about living in his civilization. Bernard does not feel like an individual but like a small, insignificant part of a larger body. Bernard wants to be himself and not just a place in the community. this metaphor helps explain hat Bernard is trying to communicate with Lenina, and even if she does not understand the readers do.
The quote tells us what type of person Bernard is and why he does not fit in with the other people in his community. He does not want to be a robot of this society, but himself with his own thoughts and ideas, not the ones brainwashed and forced on him. This quote also explains the theme of the novel that even though people can seem happy when a civilization takes away their freedom of thoughts and choices, it also takes away their humanity and their ability to be different. The quote helps establish one of the themes of the books for the reader. The quote also opens us to one of the characters that think differently than the rest of the civilization, a character with similar beliefs as our society has today.
Victoria Oginski
“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin” (240).
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this passage the first time, I immediately highlighted it because I knew it was impactful and would be important. The repetition of the words “I want” is key because it shows how strongly John the savage just wants to be with people like himself. It shows just how truly lonely he is. In both societies he was an outcast. In one he was condemned to being shunned and was different from the others in looks, while in the other privacy was unattainable and his mind worked completely different from everyone else. This passage truly shows the theme that humans want their life to mean something. In this utopian society, everyone belongs to everyone else. This takes away their identity and makes them just another gear in a giant machine that is the brave new world. However, John (who represents the readers) wants to be an individual. Someone with his own hopes, dreams, and fears, rather than having all his thoughts manufactured in a factory, even if it comes with a price of danger, sickness, and loneliness.
This passage also shows how all humans just wanted to belong. John looks like one society but acts like another, and for that he will never truly belong. The only place he might have been happy was the islands, but that was denied for him too. In this passage, he is almost pleading with Mustapha Mond, begging for someone to understand him. The tragic ending was due not only to the fact that reporters will never leave him, but also because humans can never truly be happy if they have nobody. People are social, and even the antisocial people need people around to see just how much they don’t need anyone. John killed himself because he finally learned that even in his best fantasy, he will always be completely, and utterly, alone.
ReplyDeleteAldous Huxley makes heavy use of the literary device of repetition. He uses the words ‘I want’ to show these human characteristics in a society where what we today would view as inhumanity is prevalent. It helps emphasis how much John really cares about his feelings of wanting to have a steady two way relationship, doesn't want to have to take drugs, and doesn't want to be pressured by society to conform to its current ways. He grasps at the feeling of freedom, and dreams of a better future for all people. This quote helps show us his emotion, his drive, about this and why he believes society is wrongful in its ways of coexistence. The author's diction and choice of the words ‘goodness’ and ‘sin’ also helps emphasis John’s want to feel individual and not conformed, as everyone has their good and evil within them. That’s what makes us emotional and empathetic people.
I believe that this quote is extremely helpful in describing the characteristics of John and people who think like him. This quote shows the emotion they feel, the will to be their own uninfluenced people, and their want to be flawed human beings. John doesn't want to get lost in drugs to lose himself, instead he wants the ability to feel bad, and also the ability to recover from that. John is characterized almost perfectly characterized by this quote, and rings true throughout the whole entire novel. Furthermore, this quote further supports the theme of individuality versus efficiency and conformed society throughout the novel, as John and others try to push their individual wants above the instilled ones given by the society. This rings true throughout the novel, as the battle of individuality is consistent and fierce as Mond tries to crush down upon any who think like John.
People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get. They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill; they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they're plagued with no mothers or fathers; they've got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they're so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there's soma. (220)
ReplyDeleteSoma acts as a big symbol throughout the book. It acts as a token of everyone's false happiness. For any problem, they resort to it as we resort to family and friends. It's almost as if soma has taken their mental strength away from them. Though they may regard their society as stable without any pain, I feel that soma has just taken the populations fighting voice away from them. It's just a bigger version of North Korea, with possession of technology that seems extremely unethical right now. Soma is at the lead of the government devastating technology, It disables the general population from ever experiencing pain, protecting the government form any potential revolts and allowing them to continue to create more fellow robotic people that work under them.
People have what they want? How can people ever not have their needs fulfilled when they are taught to want the things that they want. How are those humans any different from robots, in fact, Siri probably has more autonomy than those rigidly defined individuals. Is this what stability looks like? Losing that which makes us human? Following blindly in the footsteps of some instructions distilled to us when we were small fetuses growing in a bottle is worse than not being stable. Is being scared wrong? The agriculture revolution occurred because we were afraid of food shortages. The very reason we have advanced in health, with so many vaccines and cures for diseases is due to the fear of death.
"Curiosity has its own reason for existing"(Einstein). Taking this right away from the population isn't just cruel but is doing them harm. Sacrificing literature, art and families disables them from experiencing life in a way we do. I believe that the time we feel the most happy about something is when we don't have it all the time. Happiness and love hold their importance in todays world because they are often somethings we have to work for. Similarly art holds its importance too. It provides us to share our own thoughts with the world, and express our discontent with that which we believe is unfair.
To conclude, through this set of lines, Aldous Huxley makes us rethink deeply about their society. Highlighting the flaws of the dystopic world he created he once again instills the importance of creativity and individuality. It reveals that Aldous Huxley wanted us to question the ideas brought upon the bool ourselves as self provoked thinking often influences us and stays with us more than if he just gave these ideas directly.
In Brave New World, there were many sections of writing that stood out to be symbolic or intriguing. One such quotation that I find to be particularly captivating is when “John also laughed, but for another reason—laughed for pure joy. ‘Oh brave new world,’ he repeated. ‘O brave new world that has such people in it…’” (139). This quotation contains irony in my opinion because it states that “John…laughed for pure joy. We as readers are well aware that in this dystopian society, true happiness is not a very common emotion that people feel. Instead, they take “soma” in order to feel like they are happy in a “lunar eternity”: another way of describing an escape from reality. In addition to irony, Huxley also used an allusion to Shakespeare’s play The Tempest by using both in the title and in the text the words “brave new world”. In Brave new World, John the Savage is an avid Shakespeare reader and this line is repeated throughout the novel to trace his evolving opinions of the World State. The use of these literary devices help to make the book more interesting by making the reader’s mind connect to sources (in this case Shakespeare) outside of the novel. This causes readers to understand the novel on a more personal level because it contains information that applies to our real lives.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the novel emphasizes the fact that John the Savage laughed out of “pure joy” highlights that their futuristic society is different from ours. Although Huxley gives somewhat of a warning to our current society, he accentuates the main differences such as no true happiness (only through soma). The novel has a slightly sad mood and tone because of the intense caste system, having to take soma to feel happy, and other customs. Before the quotation, John asks Bernard if he and Lenina are married which is an extremely peculiar thing to do in Bernard and most peoples’ points of views. This is why John says “O brave new world that has such people in it.” It is strange to him that these people do not even know about marriage since they cannot imagine being with one person forever. This quotation is repeated by John several times throughout the novel, and as he gets more disgusted by the dystopia society, this line actually provokes him into throwing soma boxes outside the window. John the Savage’s character develops and changes continuously in the book and unfortunately, his pure joy eventually deteriorates.
In my opinion, this quotation explains a lot about Brave New World and its ideas. It emphasizes the fact that pure joy is not a common occurrence in people’s lives and it helps the reader to connect to the book on a more personal level. Most people in our world today have felt pure joy and/or read a work of Shakespeare, so these particular lines are very relatable and intriguing.
“ A very stout blonde squaw stepped across the threshold and stood looking at the strangers, staring incredulously, her mouth open. Lenina noticed with disgust that two of the front teeth were missing. And the colour of the ones that remained. . . She shuddered. It was worse than the old man. So fat. And all the lines in her face, the purplish blotches. And that neck- that neck; and the blanked she wore over her head-ragged and filthy.”(pg.118-119)
ReplyDeleteThroughout novels, authors use what people call literary devices to convey meaning in their story. In Brave New World, we are introduced to a futuristic dystopian society that basically lives in its own bubble. Like we discussed in class the “civilized society’ compared to the savage reservation are night and day. Both worlds are completely unaware that the other exists. In “civilized society”, people know not of age until their death. In the dystopia, nobody knows any of the unpleasant parts in life. Therefore, Lenina visiting the savage reservation was an eye opener to real life. The author uses this imagery to paint a picture in the mind of the reader about the appearance of Linda and Lenina’s disgust.
There are numerous compelling passages throughout Brave New World. When Lenina sees an overweight woman for the first time she judges “And suddenly the creature burst out in a torrent of speech, rushed at her with outstretched arms and--Ford! Ford! it was too revolting, in another moment she’d be sick--pressed her against the bulge, the blossom, and began to kiss her (Huxley, 119). This passage stood out to me as especially intriguing due to its unique word choice and deeper meaning than appears. In addition, this excerpt both contrasts the different societies in Brave New World and touches on various universal themes.
ReplyDeleteA notable literary device in the excerpt above is the metaphor in which Linda, the woman being described above, is compared to a creature. This highlights the difference in how women look in the world-state that Lenina lives in versus how they look in the reservation Bernard and Lenina visit. Furthermore, the word, creature, entices the reader to relate Linda and her body with something unknown and terrible. Thus, this emphasizes how Linda and Lenina’s worlds are so different that Lenina is shocked by Linda’s image. Another literary device that is evident in the above passage is hyperbole. The entirety of the passage is a hyperbole since Linda’s body is somewhat typical of a middle-aged women’s body, yet Lenina continuously describes her disgust at Linda’s image. This ignorance of how average women look further contrasts the two societies.
In addition to containing various literary devices, this passage connects to universal themes, characterization, and the mood of Brave New World. This quotation supports the theme of society likes people that conform, which is evident throughout Brave New World. This universal theme of society likes people that conform is depicted in numerous scenarios throughout Brave New World, including when Bernard shares his unpopular and stigmatic ideas with Lenina, causing her outrage. This theme is portrayed in the excerpt above because Linda’s body does not conform with the body types that are uniform where Lenina lives, resulting in Lenina’s shock. Furthermore, the passage above helps the reader characterize Lenina since it demonstrates how Lenina abides by society. Although Lenina is obviously ignorant, this passage also exposes her as judgmental. Lastly, this excerpt contributes to the dark and depressing mood throughout the middle and end of Brave New World by triggering the reader’s emotions of melancholy and outrage that a woman would be judged so harshly.
Nicole Siembieda
Going back to try to recall a quote that I felt was important to the story and the message of BNW goes as follows. "But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin”(240). I think that this quote helps highlight the themes of the novel because it shows how different views colliding can be destructive. Before this quote is said John is arguing with Mustapha Mond about how the new world is flawed because of the lack of humanity. Mond then argues that with their lack of humanity they have got rid of all the suffering that comes with humanity. Looking back to the quote, John accepts all the suffering if it means people get to be individuals and get to keep their humanity. This this quote and chapter before really show the conflict in the book between the new and old worlds. Personally, I think that John is right. Without humanity you may live better and without pain dieses or war. However, then what is the point of living at all if people don’t get to express their own personality.
ReplyDeleteAs far as literary device that the quote uses I think it is an example of foreshadowing. My reason for this is that in the end its John succumbs to all the faults of being human. John couldn’t take what he had done at the lighthouse because of the morals given to him in the savage reservation. John then thought that suicide was then the best course of action. However, in the new world suicide isn't existent because there is no suffering so why you would need to kill yourself. In John's world though suffering is a reality and, referring to the quote and chapter, he was willing to accept it all. This obviously led to Johns death in the final chapter, signifying that even someone who was fighting for true humanity couldn’t even handle it. In a way it's very ironic.
Cole Bradley
"The overalls of the workers were white, their hands gloved with a pale corpse-coloured rubber. The light was frozen, dead, a ghost. Only from the yellow barrels of the microscopes did it borrow a certain rich and living substance, lying along the polished tubes like butter, streak after luscious streak in long recession down the work tables," (4).
ReplyDeleteIn this portion of the novel, the very beginning, Aldous Huxley uses imagery to convey the darkness and dreariness of the "Brave New World" he created. The white overalls, corpse-like rubber, and ghostly light portray a life devoid of life itself. The world is created to be plain and dull, so much so that even living creatures cannot shed light into the room. They sit in long rows, robotic and far too clean to possibly be human. The picture painted by Huxley is intended to alarm the reader, to drain them, to show them this world he creates is unsettling and blatantly wrong.
The author also makes use of diction in this quote, showing in his use of words the lack of emotion that will be shown throughout the novel. This is especially evident in the last sentence of the quote, in how the "embryos" are described as butter. Calling them butter indicates that they are truly not life-like, that they are seen more as a substance than a human. This translates to the rest of the novel, because in the society of BNW, humans are not really seen as humans, by the readers as well as the characters. The readers see the characters as products of this sad society, while the characters simply view them and themselves as objects. Overall, the imagery and diction emphasize the bleak situation of humanity in BNW, that the world has become a hopeless land of technology.
This quotation states, rather blatantly, the theme of humanity (or lack thereof) in this novel. It plunges readers, in the first page of the novel, into this nightmarish world that is mechanical and lifeless. It is a perfect, literal example of how devoid of life BNW is- it shows how human children are manufactured. Characters work daily, without comprehension or care, or a knowledge of anything else. All humans in BNW are later introduced as such, for they are plain and have no individuality. Huxley creates a dry, and discomforting character with his language, portraying a dark mood although the room is light. The character of the language encapsulates BNW in only three sentences, creating a world well populated, but without humans.
“Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun, Kiss the girls and make them One. Boys at one with girls at peace; orgy-porgy gives release” (85).
ReplyDeleteThe author writes this idea of sexual relationships in a chant to show the readers that the people are open to this and believe it is enjoyable. Repetition of the word orgy-porgy, boys, and girls adds more explanation to the idea of having open sexual relationships with one another. Another word also repeated several times is the word “one”. This adds to the effect of this being a chant that all people of the social classes sing, which creates a “unity” between them. The man named Ford, who is their “god” and leader is also mentioned in the song. This displays that Ford is allowing and is proud of these actions, giving the people a sense of pride of their actions. In addition to this, there are numerous rhymes at the end of each section, (fun and one, peace and release) which creates a more youthful perspective, like a nursey rhyme. This brings up the idea of having the children start very young with sexual intercourse called elementary sex which is completely normal and fun in their world. The author described the chant this way to show the readers that the people in the book enjoy and encourage these types of activities. The chant also because of its almost childish nature, is meant to be more universal and common in the lives of the people.
The concept of having sexual intercourse with many people and the sense of no commitment to one another is exactly flipped in our society now. Although there are people who do not like the idea of commitment, the idea of marriage and dating is a bigger concept in our communities now. Instead, dedication to another individual is seen as abnormal, irrelevant, and in some ways, embarrassing. This idea becomes a conflict to some of the characters like John the Savage and Bernard who do not agree with the society’s way of thinking. They are then outcasted because of this and their ideas of a family which is seen as dirty to the others. The author shows the readers that they have switched the idea of what our society thinks of dirty and what we believe unification is (family). In BNW, the perfect society is when all people from every social class are in harmony and are unified together. The chant provides a communal activity to have the sense that everyone is included and that is completely normal to do these types of sexual actions with one another.
During the falling action of the novel, the controller mentions to Helmholtz Watson and Bernard Marx that, “Happiness is a hard master-particularly others people happiness. A much harder master if one isn’t conditioned to accept unquestionably, than truth”(Huxley 227). The literary devices employed in the controller’s statement is an analogy and a metaphor. The analogy is between the two themes of happiness and truth. In BNW, everyone takes a drug called, stoma, which is supposed to make you feel more “happy.” Contradicting the norm of his society, Bernard Marx always feels lonely and disconsolate, even when he takes the stoma. After Marx and Watson meet John, they are both more interested about the truth of the past. Resulting in their new interest, Marx and Watson have a meeting with the heads of state, one of which is the controller. Marx and Watson express to the controller that the truth of the past will bring more joy and happiness to the world, while the controller believes that it will bring instability. As this quotation is an an analogy, it is also a metaphor.
ReplyDeleteThe metaphor is when the controller says, “Happiness is a hard master…”(Huxley 227). The metaphor is indicating that the controller finds it hard to make everyone else besides him happy. As many parts of the novel are extremely different from the world we live in today, it is also quite closer than you would think. In comparison with the controller, many people, today, find it hard to find the balancing act to make all their surrounding friends, classmates, and family happy.
The quotation not only relates to us, but it also serves as a large purpose in the scheme of the novel. From the very beginning to the end of the novel, the theme of happiness is always incorporated. It is first introduced, when the narrator describes what stoma is and how stoma affects people. Then, then theme of happiness is interconnected at the very end of the novel, when John feels guilty because of Linda’s death and what he did to Lenina. It would be safe to say that some of John’s motives for killing himself, were unhappiness, insanity, and depression.
Overall, this quotation really spoke out to me because it held ideas that were connected to our society, and to BNW’S society. The literary divices used, an analogy and a metaphor, helped me have a deeper knowledge of topics discussed in the novel, such as stoma. Furthermore, I now understand more of the characters and why they did certain things. Happiness is without a doubt, one of the major themes throughout BNW, and the quotation was very helpful in better understanding the character’s perspectives.
In Brave New World the human population has been conditioned to love or hate certain things that will make them better at their job without being distracted. Also, the state has so much control over every bodies freedom that they make sure everyone is as ignorant as the other to make sure no one spills secrets which could cause a rift between the people and the government. When Mustapha Mond was explaining to John why the government ran the state with such an iron fist and not allowing the people to read books such as Shakespeare or the bible. He said the government had to sacrifice art, beauty, and belief that differed from the government so that everyone was happy and safe. In his talk with John Mustapha said” The religious sentiment will compensate us for all our losses. But there aren’t any losses for us to compensate; religious sentiment is superfluous. And why should we go hunting for a substitute for youthful desires, when youthful desires never fail? A substitute for distractions, when we go on enjoying all the old fooleries to the very last? What need have we of repose when our minds and bodies continue to delight in activity? Of consolation, when we have soma?”(pg 233-234) I thought of this as a euphemism because Mustapha is trying to explain in a subtle way that they do not need a god when they can enjoy other people’s company or have soma. Mustapha is telling John that they don’t feel sad about not believing in a god because they never knew there was and that the government provides distractions to help everyone feel happy and blissfully ignorant.
ReplyDeleteThis quote can be used in a most parts of the book because this one of the many things that the government is hiding from the people. If the government takes away people’s ideas and condition them to think that what they do is okay, then the end result would be a Brave New World. They keep the public uneducated in all things that could distract them and only teach about the job that they will take on as an adult. This whole book is about a man who knows that the people have no freedom, but the government has kept them away from such ideas as freedom of speech or individuality that they cannot accept the idea of such a way of recklessness. It is very hard to change the mind of someone who has been doing the same thing for most of thier life that it is just better to let them believe what they want to believe. John doesn’t understand this new world because he himself has been conditioned to believe in what he thinks because of his surroundings which is the same as those of the civilized world. The theme would be that you cannot sway the thoughts of a society that only knows one thing. If you don’t have the majorities population to back, you up then nothing will change and the government will do what it normally does and that is to keep the public happy and ignorant.
“And in effect the sultry darkness into which the students now followed him was visible and crimson, like the darkness of closed eyes on a summer's afternoon. The bulging flanks of row on receding row and tier above tier of bottles glinted with innumerable rubies, and among the rubies moved the dim red spectres of men and women with purple eyes and all the symptoms of lupus. The hum and rattle of machinery faintly stirred the air.” (Huxley, 21)
ReplyDeleteThis quotation comes from the beginning chapters where the children get exposed to the mass production of human embryos in bottles, which introduces readers to the world of this novel. It employs imagery and simile to set the apathetic, ironically life-less mood of the scene. The description adds further emphasis on the separation between human nature and technology, encompassing the greater theme discussed throughout this novel. In our own society, we often hear about childbirth as the miracle of life, associated with powerful yet tender images of parental love at its purest form. However, the line “The hum and rattle of machinery faintly stirred the air” shows the exact opposite, definitively stating that human emotion does not exist within the cells of the “sultry” basement. In addition, the words “men and women” referring to the young embryos irradiates a sense of awkwardness, suggesting an unnatural state of human development and the extraction of purity and innocence of young life.
Alyssa M
(Part 1) “And that,’ put in the Director sententiously, ‘that is the secret of happiness and virtue- liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny” (16). This quotation primarily sheds light on the literary device of foreshadowing. When reading the novel for the first time, I wrote notations in the outer columns, and before even finishing the novel, I wrote in bold next to this quotation “THEME”. Even during my first read, I knew it would foreshadow both the overall theme and problems of the novel, as well as the plot and key events in the novel. The problems explained by this quotation being that there are unlikely negatives to happiness and virtue. The theme that is later shown over the course of the novel is through the lives of Bernard and John, that happiness, freedom, and society will collide. Sometimes fatally, due to the constant pressure to fit the cookie-cutter idea of happiness, freedom, and the rules dictated by society.
ReplyDeleteThe quote was a direct theme for the whole novel. The theme being that although happiness and virtue may be attained, it will forever be an unescapable destiny that you cannot change due to the societal norms placed by the judgemental society we live in. The plot was that both Bernard and John felt extremely excluded and different from society, and were punished for disagreeing with the social norms. The quote directly says, “... the secret of happiness and virtue- liking what you’ve got to do..”. Although at first glance it is a concept accepted by anyone in the present-day. Everyone believes that if you find a job, or hobby you like, then life will be filled with happiness. That is true. However, the statement is perverted in the novel. It says, “.. what you’ve got to do..”, not what you WANT to do. It is explained that everyone is predestined to do something, however our modern definition of happiness is what we want, not what is required or forced upon us.
(Part 2) A direct example from the same quote, that completely counters the previous sentence in the quote is the idea that, “ All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny”. The idea of happiness in the first part of the quote is like a dream, however the second part of the quote shows the perversion of “happiness” portrayed by the characters in the novel. Yes, you can acquire happiness, but you have to be happy with what you’re given, not what you want or choose. You must be happy with the manufactured and meaningless destiny, the destiny that could never even come close to who you are, like Bernard. The destiny that leaves you lonely and isolated in the end, like John.
ReplyDeleteBeing that this was the beginning of the novel, it set the mood for the rest of the story. It gave the book a mysterious, seemingly haunting vibe. This part was slightly after hearing about manufactured peoples, a very odd and futuristic idea. It made the book seem abnormal, different from other futuristic novels. It did not talk about just the idea of flying cars and jetpacks, but more about the societal ideas that would carry over later in the future. It had key phrases like “conditioning aims” and “unescapable social destiny”, which were more than just a few words, but ideas that would provide context to the later events in the novel. These phrases gave the negative conotation to happiness and virtue, which is very unnerving and odd to be able to make happiness and virtue seem scary.
The part where the babies were electrocuted was an intriguing part. The book describes how "there was something desperate, almost insane, about the sharp spasmodic yelps" and "their little bodies were twitched and stiffened" (21). In the quotation, imagery is used to emphasize the disturbance of their practice. The way Huxley describes the babies creates a sense of shock because of his word choice. He portrayed how their yelps were "sharp" and "spasmodic", causing the readers to feel the disturbance (21). The use of words creates a vivid, horrifying image of the scene in one's mind. The quotation serves a purpose in the scheme of the novel by being an example of how this society is not perfect. Controlling the babies depending on their rank may create stability, but it removes freedom. Examples like these show how much people in Brave New World's society are restricted.
ReplyDelete“Bottled, they crossed the street; bottled, they took the lift up to Henry’s room on the twenty- eighth floor. And yet, bottled as she was, and in spite of that second gramme of soma, Lenina did not forget to take all the contraceptive precautions prescribed by the regulations” (77). Aldous Huxley has used a metaphor in which he compares the people in the society of brave new world to bottles. This effect of this is the impression that the people are machine made, and robots. This is enforced when Lenina takes “all the contraceptive precautions prescribed by regulations.” These regulations were pounded into Lenina’s head from a young age, and these regulations are just normal for her. Additionally, everyone in this world is created in test tubes, or “bottles,” so the fact that these characters are “bottled” is a nod to that. Also, Henry Ford was the first major car manufacturer and came up with the idea of assembly lines. Since all of the characters worship Ford, they are his “creations” (or bottles), and he controls them. During the book, I get the vibe that these characters are controlled, and this excerpt really hit that feeling home for me.
ReplyDeleteOne of the themes of Brave New World is how much are humans willing to give up to be happy and have an easy life? This book shows that in this world, the people who decided thought that it would be worth giving up free thinking and individual rights for this. For me, there is no price that can be paid to us as a society to repay this debt. The excerpt shows just how controlled the minds of these people are, and how they were figuratively created on assembly lines. This society has many benefits; including not getting the effects of old age, not getting sick, and loving their jobs, but these people sacrificed free thinking and are simply bottles fresh off an assembly line.
Part 1
ReplyDelete"Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTER, and, in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY. The enormous room on the ground floor faced toward the north. Cold for all the summer beyond the panes, for all the tropical heat of the room itself, a harsh thin light glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure, some pallid shape of academic goose flesh, but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porcelain of a laboratory"(1).
I chose this passage because of all the imagery and detail that was placed in it. This passage also makes the reader question what this book is going to be about, since all they have to go off of so far is the bleak description of a laboratory. In a way, this sets the tone of the book overall, because although it can seem like the mood is happy in some places, in others, especially the end, the mood is very dark and bleak. Personification was the one main literary device that was used throughout the passage. Huxley gives life to the light that was shining into the room. For example, "a harsh thin light glared through the windows...hungrily seeking some draped lay figure"(1). The way the light is described as "hungrily seeking" makes you think that the inside of the lab is very dark and musty. The beginning of the passage also gives you a glimpse of how the world is run.
"Everyone works for everyone else. We can't do without anyone. Even Epsilons..."(74). One literary device used in this quote is repetition. Huxley uses repetition to emphasize the fact that Lenina, along with the rest of society, that everyone is equal. Repetition is also used to show that the community is brainwashed and they are not thinking for themselves. Although there are rankings of castes, starting with the Alphas and ending with the Epsilons, their conditioning leads them to believe that they are all working equally, in unison towards the World State. However, this is not the truth. Alphas are the most intelligent and talented of the World State's population, while the Epsilons and Gammas are the working class, physical laborers. Due to hypnopaedic brainwashing, all castes are led to believe that they produce an equal amount of work in the eyes of the eyes of the World State.
ReplyDeleteThis quote goes along with the theme of using technology to control society. Since the day that they are manufactured in labs, the future population of the World State is subject to being brainwashed to fit the needs of the dystopian society. Members of lower castes are even fed with alcohol in order to cause intentional birthing defects and lower intelligence. All of the children are then put under hypnopaedic treatment as well as "conditioning" to "prepare" them for their future careers. Like John mentioned out, this system benefits only the leaders, not the individuals.
Aidan Kaneshiro
“ ‘Oh Ford!’ He said in another tone, ‘i've gone and woken the children’ ”(29) “Ford Be praised”(214). I choose these quote not because of the actual quote but because of the actual context that it is referring to. The phrase “Oh ford”, “For fords sake” or “ Ford Be Praised” is said multiple different times by many people this was just these were the instances I remembered it being used. I put two quotes to prove the point that the same theme and idea can be expressed in different ways multiple times throughout the same novel.
ReplyDeleteIn this world ford is seen as almost what we would consider God. It goes as far as telling us how they have changed phrase people use to reflect this. I feel that this shows how in this new world god and religion in general has been replaced by technology and scientific innovation. This is quite an intriguing concept and would like to discuss further in class. The literary device used is mostly metaphor because they are using the idea of phrase used with god in it has been changed to reflect the change from worship of religion to technology.
Ewan Macfarlane
Part 2
ReplyDeleteThe three words "COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY" all refer to the key issues/themes that run throughout the entire book. The community aspect of it, as we later find out, is that everything is very structured and laid out for everyone to follow. Identity is a key issue in the book. One of the main characters, Bernard, struggles with this a lot because he is different from the other people in his class. Stability is one of the things about this society that ends up being exposed. Through the thoughts and words of Bernard and John, they show the reader truly how bad and messed up this society is when the government is trying to control every aspect of everyone's life.
“He would have liked to say something about solitude, about night, about the mesa lying pale under the moon, about the precipice, the plunge into shadowy darkness, about death. He would have liked to speak; but there were no words. Not even in Shakespeare,” (236).
ReplyDeleteThe literary devices incorporated in this quote add to the suffering and misery in which John feels. His mother passes away and that leaves John to question everything about the world that Mustapha Mond has created. The mentioning of death in the quote refers to his mother as well as foreshadows his own death. It is quite suggested that he is describing a dreary scene in which he takes his own life by ‘plunging into shadowy darkness’. The lone mesa symbolizes John because it stands out in the plain landscape and its paleness under the moon could represent John’s own weakness and lack of faith. These devices emphasize how John feels like an outsider, hence his wish to speak of solitude (he knows what it’s like to be alone) and his desire to disappear from the spotlight. Under so much publicity and attention, John finds that he is no more than a fascinating specimen to the rest of the city.
This passage occurs when John questions Mustapha Mond of the price people must pay for happiness. It directly follows Mustapha Mond’s statement that John must be familiar with God, which could imply that John considers solitude, the night, and even death to be something close to holy. It greatly contrasts the uniform, tech-ridden landscape in which Lenina and Bernard live in and gives us a glimpse of nature, which is so scarcely described in the rest of the novel. This signifies a shift in the book; as John realizes the true purpose of creating the society that Mustapha Mond did, we also begin to understand what the true meaning of the book is. This quote helps readers recognize the underlying message of the novel, which is that we as humans are supposed to experience happiness, sadness, life, and death, because it is all part of human nature.
A passage that stuck out to me in Brave New World was the ending, where it is revealed that John killed himself. "Just under the crown of the arch dangled a pair of feet. “Mr. Savage!" Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south- west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the
ReplyDeleteleft." (p176). This passage to me was very haunting, as it is revealed that John had committed suicide, unable to cope with what he had done the previous night. I believe this ending was chosen to create an impact in the reader, and it clearly worked with me. I was shocked, even before that with what he did, but even more so when it was revealed that he killed himself. The reaction of the visitors is also disturbing, with them not knowing what to do. There is a simile in the quotation which highlights this, where it says, "Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned right.." John was corrupted by this new alien world he was suddenly exposed to, and he couldn't adapt in time. He was unable to fit in to this society, and was hurt trying to be an individual. I believe that this can be connected to our reality, where different people can be hurt for not conforming with everyone else. Throughout the novel I felt very morbid and depressed, and this moment was the icing on the depressing cake.
The quote from BNW that stands out the most to me is a quote that Mustapha Mond says in the conversation with the Savage towards the end of the novel. He says, “My dear young friend...civilization has absolutely no need of nobility or heroism. These things are symptoms of political inefficiency. In a properly organized society like ours, nobody has any opportunities for being noble of heroic,” (237). The whole conversation between the Controller and the Savage is extremely intriguing and thought-provoking, but this particular quote stands out to me because it is an idea that is extreme, yet applicable to all time periods. Mustapha Mond is a fascinating character because he is perhaps the most similar to us and yet the most intertwined with the dystopian future of BNW. Mustapha makes vast generalizations about the nature of humanity that are entirely true before linking them to how the seemingly grotesque system of society of BNW resolves them. Mustapha’s pattern of speech is very smooth and meticulous. He speaks in firm sentences that display how confident, or perhaps how misguided, he is. Mustapha also speaks from a position of power, showing John his superior knowledge through a steady tone of condescension. For example, in the quote I cited above, Mustapha addresses John as “dear young friend” to assert his age and wisdom over John in an attempt to make John doubt himself and concede to Mustapha. It instead has the opposite effect, though Mustapha does not seem to mind. In fact, Mustapha seems to encourage John’s impertinence, as is evidenced when he says “you’re welcome” at the end of their conversation. It seems that everything Mustapha says is thinly coated in verbal irony. By Mustapha’s words alone, he is trying to persuade John of the benefits of the BNW system. Instead, judging by how positively he reacts to John’s refusal to accept it, Mustapha secretly encourages and respects John’s decision-likely out of regret for having not done the same thing when he was younger. This is an example of verbal irony because he is saying one thing but meaning another.
ReplyDeleteThis quote relates to one of BNW’s major themes: No matter what situation or society they are bred into, humans will always act the same. While Mustapha claims that heroism does not exist in a “properly organized society” like theirs, characters in the novel do in fact display heroism. Heroism is not confined to saving lives on a daily basis- it is the act of doing the right thing even when the odds are against you. Helmholtz is a great example of someone who displays heroism in BNW. He is intelligent and philosophical even when he has been deprived of the resources that encourage him to be so. He decides to use such intelligence to educate others, even if he is technically going against protocol. While Mustapha claims there is absolutely no opportunity for heroism in their society, the truth is that people of their society perform acts of heroism without even knowing they are doing so. It is human nature to be heroic and push the envelope a little bit. Even though Helmholtz was “manufactured” against it, he still acts in his typical human nature and decides to go against society. It is because of the unchanging nature of humans that people are sent to the islands in the first place.
“Swallowing half an hour before closing time, that second dose of soma had raised a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds. Bottled, they crossed the street; bottled, they took the lift up to Henry’s room on the twenty-eighth floor” (77). The author, Aldous Huxley, uses soma as a metaphor for the wall that separates the people, in his dystopian novel, from the rest of the world and from themselves. He also repeats the word “bottled” to add emphasis to the mind-numbing effects of the drug. These two techniques add an eerie sense to two sentences and help to display the true effects of soma. As a whole, the book depicts people as mindless, not knowing a way of living without soma. The book discusses how people are rarely alone but even in the company of people almost all the time, it seems that soma is needed to go about daily tasks just the same as breathing. In almost every page of BNW, there is a mention of soma being used by a character in an average, everyday situation. In contrast, although soma is the “ideal pleasure drug”, it temporarily removes the user from their physical state when used to heavily. This quote shows how distanced all the people in BNW are because of this drug they rely so much on.
ReplyDeleteThe word “bottled” in this quote came off to me as relating to the bottled-up emotions of these two adults who can’t act on their emotions because of the suppressants of society and soma. In select parts of the novel, the emotions of characters who strongly believe in the stability of their society are constantly being suppressed, bottled up, and ignored. The wall between Henry, Lenina, and the rest of society is present with every character in the book because of the widespread nature of soma. Even those not using the drug, feel like an outsider. The idea of a drug so widespread and normal to use on an everyday basis isn’t far from happening in today’s society. Which brings up ideas where anything in BNW could happen in today’s society, it’s simply a matter of it we will let it happen and how far humanity is willing to go in the real world and if any humanity is left in “Brave New World” that can be lost.
To find only one small excerpt that was haunting or endearing was an impossible task when it came to analyzing the pages of Brave New World. It seems as though in every other line, there is unforeseen meaning behind his words, and throughout the novel the author is slowly creating his own form of “conditioning” with double meanings and symbolism to help the reader comprehend some main issues at hand in the novel. Throughout the novel, in my perspective it seemed as though the most fundamental theme was that of comprehending real genuine emotions that were the result of human nature rather than hypnopaedia or soma. I was skimming through chapter three when I came across a quote whose hidden meaning could be deciphered multiple ways. “There was a thing called Heaven; but all the same they used to drink enormous quantities of alcohol.” (47 (in my kindle it may vary)) says Mustapha Mond while he is describing to some of the director’s new students human history and mistakes, both in how they lived and in Christianity.
ReplyDeleteThis quote is short and simple, but it definitely had a deeper meaning pertaining to the present day world inside of the novel than Mustapha may have realized. In this scene, Mond may have been trying to explain a few things; he may have been trying to explain that in the past, people only had faith in such silly things because of alcohol and substances. However, the deeper second meaning is definitely a bit more relevant to the context of the story; he may have also been alluding to the fact that in the olden days, sometimes people didn’t get the support and reassurance that they needed from solely religion alone, and turned to substances to make them feel more at ease. While this quote is only from chapter 3 before we find out a lot about the values and habits of their population, the author uses allusion and symbolism in this quote to foreshadow and highlight similar issues in the novel’s own world. In the “brave new world,” people rely on the suppression of feelings through sleep teaching and soma to keep their society in check and keep things running smoothly. Heaven could be comparable to how happiness is seen in the story, while the alcohol is all the methods used to desensitize the community. The creators of this new world obviously seem to believe that the conditioning leads to a pre-chosen role in society, which subsequently leads to happiness. However, throughout the novel, characters such as Bernard and especially John found that “the alcohol” conditioning is simply poisoning any true emotions or happiness that they can feel. This eventually leads to characters realizing that no matter what you do, some human nature cannot be suppressed; that like drinking alcohol, their training and the use of soma is just a temporary fix until they can figure out how to feel naturally.
“Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left” (259).
ReplyDeleteMy quotation is explaining the directions that John’s feet were rotating as he was hanging from the rope. His feet were hanging and turning very slowly from right to left and left to right. Before this portion of the book, John took his own life because he did not want to live in the dystopian society and he did not enjoy the large amount of attention that he was receiving from news reporters. The quotation contains one simile, which helps emphasize the unhurried speed at which John’s feet were moving. His feet were moving very slowly “like two unhurried compass needles”.
This quotation serves an extremely large purpose in the scheme of the novel. John hated the society due to the way it functioned and he left because he would rather live by himself. He was living peacefully by himself, but was spotted by an Epsilon one day while he was whipping himself. Once more people and the news reporters found and revealed the place where John was living, he got sick and tired of the attention and took his own life. This is extremely significant because it shows that John would rather take his own life than live in a society controlled by technology.
1.) What literary devices have been employed in the quotation, and what does their use help emphasize?
ReplyDeleteMy quote is from chapter 18 and it is by John Cardinal Newman. “We are not our own any more than what we possess is our own. We did not make ourselves, we cannot be supreme over ourselves. We are not our own masters.”
The literary device used from this quote is a metaphor. “we are not our own any more than what we possess is our own. We cannot be supreme over ourselves.” meaning that they should not be growing humans and brainwashing them in their sleep, letting them have “Orgy- Porgies, and stating that everybody is everybody’s”. It’s just wrong! They are messing with what should not be messed with. In the end it is either going to end horribly with the destruction of everything they know, or everything will be fine. Hopefully will go on living like that for years without a major event that would change life for them as they know it.
2.) How does the quotation serve a larger purpose in the scheme of the novel? Think about theme, characterization, mood...
The quote helps sum up what john the savage was talking about. It’s quite important as Mustafa Mond was trying to defend BNW society but he did a horrid job of it as he betrayed his civilization by admitting there is a god, opposite of what BNW society is about. He then stated afterwards that what has been done is the proper idea and should be accepted by all, even savages. The book continued with its ravenous route, making the mood feel dreary of what was to come. In the end the quote helped provide a basic understanding for the reader of what John is and was about religious and righteous.
(RIP JOHN THE SAVATGE. UNKOWN – UNKOWN)
“Their world didn’t allow them to take things easily, didn’t allow them to be sane, virtuous, happy. What with mothers and lovers, what with the prohibitions they were not conditioned to obey, what with the temptations and the lonely remorses, what with all the diseases and the endless isolating pain, what with the uncertainties and the poverty – they were forced to feel strongly.” (Huxley, 41)
ReplyDeleteIn this quote, the literary devices of repetition and alliteration are used to emphasize the significant differences between the pre-modern world and the modern “civilized” society portrayed in Brave New World. Specifically, the phrase “what with” was used several times in order to connect each idea together into one cohesive cluster. Repeating the phrase and the “w” sound commands the reader’s attention and creates a rhythm and flow of ideas that invite the reader to think of further additions to this string of thoughts.
This quotation, implied by the Controller, sets the theme for the rest of Huxley’s novel. The words insult hardship, loneliness, sickness, and pain; these things are then connected to the seemingly horrific pre-modern world without soma or other sources of artificial happiness. While the world may seem better off without this Pandora’s Box of assorted evils, these very evils illicit the emotions and physical experiences that make us human. Without knowing sadness, loneliness, and disease, how can we truly experience elation, health, or camaraderie? Recognizing this conundrum, Dostoyevsky wrote that “Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness.” For Huxley, this puzzle creates impossibility for the citizens of Brave New World. Because they will never understand hardship, they also will never experience a joy or elation that is not fabricated from drugs and hallucinations.
In turn, this inability to feel real emotion is what eventually drives John to end his own life. Fed up with the fictitious sentiments of civilization, John feels he must regain his true human nature by forcing himself to feel something real. In this way, the quotation shows how this “brave new world” of forged life renders those living in it incapable of a true human experience.
-JJ Abele
"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin” (184). This statement said by John when conversing with Bernard shows, that even after experiencing life in the world state, he finds himself flustered and lost. He can’t seem to comprehend this society versus the society he grew up with in the Indian conservation. John refuses to let himself believe that this is what a unified and perfect society looks like. Even though the quote isn’t particularly well written, it provides the readers with comfort ( knowing that someone can disagree with this “ideal” way of life), which inevitable makes the audience more intrigued. Huxley does this to foreshadow that John will never find himself apart of this society, even when forced to be. This quote relates to one of the many overlying themes; the more perfect a society tries to be, the more corrupt it turns out. A society is most unified when the citizens are different, when they experience emotional pain, and are able to have fun and enjoy themselves without having to take a drug. This is what the government in the World State fail to see, though John has already begun to realize.
ReplyDelete“I’ll teach you; I’ll make you be free whether you want to or not.” (213)
ReplyDeleteSymbolism is a major literary device employed in this quotation. In this quotation, it is seen that the author, Aldous Huxley directly points out one of the key issues and even themes in this novel. Throughout the novel it is seen how the government instead of teaching, they indoctrinate the citizens. Education is allowing one to use information to interpret things for themselves while indoctrination is saying to learn certain core beliefs and then follow that exactly, no “grey” area just “black or white”.This quote also points out the issue of having no free say or liberty, that you must live the life that is chosen for you whether you had wanted it in the first place or not in the World State. Comparing to the Reservation, where John, the speaker (in this quote) is from a place where mainly all of the societal norms are opposite from what is followed at the World State. Here, at the end of the novel and in this quote it is seen that John is going back to what he was taught to believe at the Reservation and his own core values. The symbolism that this quotation provides helps emphasize the major fallacies in society. This quote elucidates the concerning matters in the novel that have to do with free choice and awareness. Not only does this quote have great symbolism but the irony of having the Savage say this to Bernard and Ford play a major role to the purpose of such a strong line. The sole purpose, in my opinion, for why Aldous Huxley had the Savage say this was to emphasis how now comparing to the beginning of the novel when John wanted to move to the World State because he did not fit in with the people at the Reservation, and now he is trying to change it by saying they are slaves of the government and he will be the one to change all of this by forcing them to change!When looking at the entire paragraph, you are really able to see the juxtaposition emerging.Though, this may seem as a simple harsh command it has deep underlying meaning that affects the entire novel’s purpose.
Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east…. (231).
ReplyDelete1.) What literary devices have been employed in the quotation, and what does their use help emphasize? 2.) How does the quotation serve a larger purpose in the scheme of the novel? Think about theme, characterization, mood…
In this metaphor, John’s body, but mostly his feet, are described as a compass. This metaphor emphasizes the horrible death of John hanging from the lighthouse. The metaphor makes John’s suicide seem drawn out and gruesome because his feet are like compass, rotating north-east, south and so on. A deliberate unhurriedness whilst describing the hanging of John feels intentional. It is as if describing the death slowly and mundanely, made it exactly the opposite—more haunting and creepy. The juxtaposition of something described so normally but is actually a violent death is very interesting. The juxtaposition of this leads you into a false-sense of security when you first read the sentence, but then leads you into the denial the next. The discovery emphasizes what the crowd of people must have felt when they open the door only to find the savage’s body. John’s death serves a larger purpose in the scheme because in the novel, because he was the only character who had a moral compass in the novel. It is intriguing to see that the only one with the moral compass died like a compass. The mood of his death seemed gritty, and glum. Before hand, it set the mood of a high rising action, only to drop down to a horrible revel that took us all a minute to process.
Tiffany Cha
When looking at the grand scheme of things it is evident that this one quotation serves a large purpose to the entire message. At the beginning of the novel it was seen that the Savage (John) felt displaced at the Reservation and when he finally arrived at World State he felt out of place, but in some manner much more comfortable. Now, when looking at this quote towards the end of the book it is seen that the Savage is not adapting to the change as first imagined he would and that he is now trying to make the society itself change. With this, John saying he will force them to start believing what he wants them to believe is completely contradictory to his previous statement of him saying how horrible it is that the World State “programs” them and uses them as slaves. The whole point of John saying how horrible it is to be controlled by the government is completely disregarded as soon as he says the words “...I’ll make you be free whether you want to or not”. The idea of being free is having the liberties and freedoms, but when he is forcing this upon the citizens, so suddenly it is obvious that it will end catastrophically. The right of freedom has to do with having a choice, and here John is going completely against this, which also contradicts his characterization as previously thought. At this point in time, it is seen that the Savage is at the climatic point and soon enough there will be a falling action as there was, with the known ending of the book.
ReplyDeleteOverall, the purpose of this quotation to the book is to contribute to the messages that Aldous Huxley is trying to convey. One way in interpreting this is: no matter what someone will always try to change things to their idealistic beliefs. This quotation expresses the ideas of something, like freedom can be missed all simply by the personality of a person and to what they believe in. Through the symbolism and irony this quote contributes a great amount to the overall ideas conveyed throughout the novel that have to do with societal norms, control, spread of belief, and change.
part 2!
"stability. No civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability."(42).
ReplyDeleteBrave New World by Aldous Huxley is a truly a piece of art that shows how an author can take a book and enhance it by adding literary devices such as metaphores or foreshadowing to make a masterpiece. A quote that represents this idea and literary devices can be shown above by foreshadowing characters such as Bernard and John and the events that these characters may cause because they themselves dont fit into society's standards which qualifies them as "unstable". Right when we meet these certain characters we are aware that they are not liked by society and they dont like society. However, because they are different this causes many problems throughout the book. For example, John towards the end of the book snaps when his mother dies from Soma and starts dumping Soma bottles outside. Soma is something that is intertwined with society which makes everyone uncomfortable and scared of this action. Opposing society is something that they werent wired to do which can cause social instability and when ideas of revolting enter ones mind it creates fear in the eyes of this societys leader. So with this fear, John and everyone who can cause this instability are called to the controllers and are sent away becuase they are acknowledged as a weak link in their "perfect" world. Throughout the book, theres many characters and actions that we come across that presents this idea and makes one think back to this quote and how difference and uniqueness is feared and considered a threat and how society knows how to deal with this "threat" and unfortunately the book ends with no change which luckily for this distopian society works out in their favor.
“I’d rather be myself,” he said. “Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly” (89).
ReplyDeleteThere are no literary devices in the quotation, but I believe the quote is impactful enough as it is. Bernard says this to Lenina after she insists he takes soma sundae in order to have more fun. Bernard turns down the offer to take part in many collective activities and does not want to be deprived of his own identity with mood or personality altering substances. He insists that to him, it is better to be himself. He would rather be in a bad mood than be deprived of his individuality. He would never want to experience chemically induced pleasure. He suggests that group activities, especially under the influence of soma, are a form of mental and social control that suppresses human individuality. Fordist principles support the idea of suppression of the individual for the purpose of stability of society, but Bernard believes in his own freedom.
Later on in the book, Bernard sees an increase in his popularity. The reasons for the gain in Bernard’s social status is due to the fact that Bernard brought John from the Savage Reservation, which memorizes most people who have never seen a savage. All the sudden attention John receives brainwashes him to lose his individuality. He begins taking soma and partying. Eventually causing John to become more and more inhumane. Bernard is a perfect example of how in BNW soma can consume and create a false happiness for the people in the story.
As John learns how to read on the Savage Reservation, other pure-blood savages taunt him for his talent. The more they taunt him, the hard he dedicates himself to reading, and as he reads, he thinks to himself, “The words rolled through his mind; rumbled like the drums at the summer dances, if the drums could have spoken; like men singing the Corn Song, beautiful, beautiful, so that you cried; like old Mitsima saying magic over his feathers and his carved sticks and his bits of bone and stone--- kiathla tsilu silokwe silokwe silokwe. Kiai silu silu, tsithl---but better than Mitsima’s magic, because it meant more, because it talked to him...” (131). The quotation contains many similes which compare the power in the words he reads to magic some of the natives practice. The use of similes describes how Shakespeare's work speaks to him on a personal level, which instills figurative magical powers in him and also shows the importance of literature to his character.
ReplyDeleteThe quotation builds to help the ending of the novel. The quotation is John’s discovery of fine literature or Shakespeare’s work. Later in the novel, John questions why literature is prohibited in the “Brave New World” which is a crucial portion of the novel. The quote helps build the theme of sacrificing art, literature, and science for happiness which takes place in John’s conversation with Mustapha Mond. He questions why the beauty of this work is not permitted for the enjoyment of the general public and is answered by that if the artform was in free hands, it would lead to the destruction of happiness and the stability of their society as a whole.
"'Did you ever feel,' he asked, 'as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out? Some sort of extra power that you aren't using'"(69)
ReplyDeleteIn this vague statement that Helmholtz makes, multiple things can be analyzed. This leads readers to think that Helmholtz is different than the average citizen and characterizes his personality. It foreshadows him doing something out of the ordinary, letting the "something inside" come out. This phrase is one of the first out of the ordinary thing said in the book besides Bernard's own thoughts, so it leads readers to think that there might be some people that don't follow the social laws of the society.
This quote serves a larger purpose in the scheme of the novel by representing one of the main issues of the book, human tendency and individuality. I believe that although this book can have a lot of unsettling topics and depressing, but relevant, message, it can be perceived to have a hopeful side to it as well. Helmholtz is slightly different than other members of the society and tends to feel more emotions. He doesn't know that they're emotions, but he understands that something is making him different than others. It shows how even in this man-made perfection world, human tendencies and individualities can break through. No matter how hopeless everything might seem, there's always a possibility. Faith and hope is so significant in humanity, and they can always shine through the darkest.
Kiku Shirakata
“Is it any happiness or any comfort, to consider that we are our own? It may be thought so by the young and prosperous. These may think it is a great thing to have everything, as they suppose, their own way – to depend on no one – to have to think of nothing out of sight, to be without the irksomeness of continual acknowledgement, continual prayer, continual reference of what they do to the will of another. But as time goes on, they, as all men, will find that independence was not made for man…” (p. 232, BNW).
ReplyDeleteThis passage uses strong diction with a seeming allusion to Shakespeare in the fluidity and sophistication to which the author structures his words. Using such tactics, this section of the novel allows the author to emphasize a message through the words of the Controller. By composing these strong sentences, readers almost feel persuaded by the words being written on the page, even if they aren’t conventionally what one would find to be accurate.
Personally, I find this quote to express the purpose behind this radical society. The entire novel is spent reading the odd behaviors that people deem as normal, and this allows for further understanding as to why this is the case. We learn through this quote that the Controllers feel that in order to be at peace we’d have to eliminate the individuality of human kind. To them, there is no way for happiness to truly exist if society continues to dwell on the “negative” aspects. This perspective however, is helpful in allowing yourself to understand the opposing view; how once stripped of individuality, there is nothing left. They seize the progression of knowledge, and the peace with having faith, and as humans without motivation or these components of life, we our deprived of our natural ability to simply live. Without motivation, without some emotion, would we be truly happy? This quote allows us to think about that, and how John “The Savage” ended his life. He entered this world that was so different from ours, and once his rights were taken, so was his happiness, therefore life wasn’t worth living for him, anymore. Just as it would be for us, if we entered this "Brave New World". This passage overall sets an existential mood, one that makes readers think.