Saturday, July 31, 2010

Brave New World July 31, 2010 Pages 133-158


In this section of the novel, Bernard's character begins to change again. He loses his pride and his spirit sinks once again. He realizes that all the friends that he thought were real were in reality just an illusion. The Savage is a large factor in the humbling of Bernard. The Savages defiance to be shown at a large party was the ultimate downfall of Bernard's popularity. Bernard's pleadings with the Savage were to no avail and the men and women of the party began to doubt Bernard. The party-goers left, leaving Bernard alone. This helped Bernard come to the realization that these people were not his friends. Bernard began to see the superficiality of the society, seeing that these people were faking their real feelings towards Bernard. This section also shows how Bernard is very superficial himself. He lets fame and popularity influence his actions and thoughts. He himself reflects the societal tendencies.
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Quote From Brave New World July 31, 2010 Page 178


"The golden T lay shining on Lenina's bosom. Sportively the Arch-Community-Songster caught hold of it, sportively he pulled, pulled. 'I think,' said Lenina suddenly, breaking a long silence, 'I'd better take a couple of grammes of soma."
-Brave New World, page 178
This quote illustrates the use of drugs in future society to avoid stressful situations. The drug soma is virtually a cop-out to having to deal with real emotions and the stresses of everyday life. Presently, all human beings are put in stressful situations. Drugs and alcohol are two different methods of dealing with the stresses, but people who use these methods excessively are looked down upon. In the future, using drugs to alleviate stress is commonplace and preached.
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Saturday, July 24, 2010

Brave New World July 24, 2010 Pages 133-158

Bernard's character begins to change in this section of the novel. After he retrieve Linda and John from the savage reservation in New Mexico, his character takes on a new persona. He becomes more confident and is drunk on his success. Other people are very interested in John because of his civilized mother and savage upbringing. Bernard receives much praise for his discovery. He changes from an unsure, almost anti-social government worker, to a man who is very confident in what he does and a man who does very well with his female counterparts. In his head is is still the same man he was before his fame, but his actions reflect those of a new man. His thoughts still show his disdain for social politics and the ways of society. Many of the others in his department begin to doubt his change, even though they act as if he is a great man for finding John.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Quote from Brave New World July 21, 2010 Page 119

"Ford! to kiss, slobberingly, and smelt too horrible, obviously never had a bath, and simply reeked of that beastly stuff that was put into Delta and Epsilon bottle (no, it wasn't true about Bernard), positively stank of alcohol. She broke away as quickly as she could." - Brave New World, Page 119
This quote shows the contempt Lenina feels for the ex-civilized Linda. Lenina hates being around Linda because she is dirty and smells of alcohol. She also disapproves of Linda's affection toward herself and Bernard. In the future, dirt is frowned upon. Since Lenina is not used to seeing any amount of dirt or smelling any kind of unclean smell, she finds the conditions that Linda lives in squalid. Humans are so conditioned that anything that goes against there conditioning is unbearable.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Quote from Brave New World July 20, 2010 Page 111

"The spectacle of two young women giving breast to their babies made her blush and turn away her face. She had never seen anything so indecent in her life."-Brave New World Page 111
This quote embodies the very serious social changes wrought by the future government. Leaders ripped the right to bear children from families and essentially ripped apart the family. The government taught that having and rearing children was immoral and unorthodox. They taught these ideas to very young children in their sleep. Mothers with children were looked down upon in the "civilized world." The government believed that controlling the birthing and minds of its subjects would lead to a public that was totally submissive.

Brave New World July 20, 2010 Pages 107-132


In this section of the novel, Bernard and Lenina are struck by the ways of life of the savages. Bernard and Lenina both believe that they are civilized and therefore more superior to these people. Lenina looks down her nose at these people because she believes they are unclean. Civilized people believe,"Cleanliness is next to Fordliness." The civilized people are taught this through sleep teaching, thus implanting the fear of dirt, smell, and other unclean things. Lenina is also shocked by the aging of some of the savages. Disease and old age do not exist in the civilized world. This is why Lenina is shocked and horrified by the sight of some of the older savages. The sight of a nursing mother also embarrasses Lenina. Having a raising children is considered vulgar in civilized society, but the savages cling to this custom of the old ways. The pueblo style of houses the savages live in are also foreign to civilization.
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Monday, July 19, 2010

Quote from Brave New World July 19, 2010 Page 84

"Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun,
Kiss the girls and make them One.
Boys at one with girls at peace;
Orgy-porgy gives release."
-Brave New World Page 84
This quote explains the thought processes used by the futuristic society. They would partake in sexual orgies as recreational activities. Large numbers of men and women would gather to join in orgies that consisted of certain rituals, sayings, and sex. This particular quote was one of the sayings said at the orgy. It was taught to children in their sleep, as to cement the idea in the children's brains. Sex and orgies are two of the bases of the future sexually charged society. The pleasure-centered characteristics of the society helped keep the public oppressed and "happy."

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Quote from Brave New World July 17, 2010 Page 88

"For what was there that one could do in private.(Apart ,of course, from going to bed: but one couldn't do that all the time.) Yes, what was there? Precious little." - Brave New World Page 88
This excerpt shows Bernard's feelings towards the socialization of his society. The government had taken away the basic principle of being ones own. Public unity was the word that was preached. This quote also embodies one of the key points of the novel. Huxley attempts to show the dangers of anti-individualism. He shows that the spirit of one does not necessarily need to be dumped into a social being in which each member of society serves as one cell to the body. The quote also shows how the future humans are fearful of being alone. There were very, very few activities one participates in alone or in small groups. This fear eventually led to the demise of affection felt for one other. This, in turn, led to the casual promiscuity of the population. Pleasure worshipped while passion despised. These ideas led to the flawed social structure of Huxley's imagined, sexually-charged future society.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Brave New World July 16, 2010 Pages 81-106

The author Huxley characterizes the "savages" of the reserves as those who did not conform to the created realities of the new world government. They are those who did not forfeit their right to birth offspring and care for their young. This right of keeping and raising offspring which we today feel as an inalienable right and a requirement of being human, was taken by the world government to aid in creating a subservient class of people. The proletariat created questions little and basks in temptations of the flesh. Huxley portrays the general population as ignorant of all ideologies and very attracted to pleasure that serves no real purpose. This revelation reflects the characteristics of current societies as well. Many people are dumbfounded when it comes to current problems, ideas, and policies, but delight in practices that serve no vital purpose. Huxley realized that ignorance is a very real problem in modern society.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Brave New World July 13, 2010 Pages 41-80

The imagination of Huxley in this section of the novel shines brightly as he describes a future of personal, airborne transportation and the promiscuity of the future culture. His inventiveness dreams up the many levels of contraceptives used by the futuristic females. His views of future governments and their controls on the population are also very intriguing. For example, the government disallows any sport that does not use a certain amount of material things. This helps stimulate the economy by forcing people to purchase goods if they wish to participate in a sporting event. The many references to “Ford” also were very interesting. This reference may be to the late Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company. In this skewed future, he may have gained a world dictatorship and enforced new laws to force the proletariat into submission. It is interesting how the whole of the population worships Ford as a kind of omnipotent leader.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Brave New World July 12, 2010 Pages 1-40

Aldous Huxley has a very unique style of writing. He snaps from one character’s point of view to another character’s point of view quickly and without warning. I lost track of the speaker of the different passages quite a few times because of Huxley’s unique style of writing. As the novel progressed, I began to pick up on the rapid changes a little more easily. This style helps show the significance of certain events occurring during the same period of time and how they affect each other. It helps broaden the spectrum of characters and the plot of the novel. It also helps keep the attention of the reader, because the ever-changing, rapid shift from one story plot to another keeps the reader keyed in on events and how these events may eventually come to interact and effect each other in the broader sense of the story.