Brave New World Pre-write/first draft

Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using
characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender,
race, class, or creed. Choose a play or novel (BRAVE NEW WORLD)
in which such a character plays a significant role, and show how that 
character’s alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and 
moral values.

 Pre-write:
Character alienated: Bernard Max

Why alienated:
-He thinks for himself more than the other characters

• He questions certain traditions that the society has, seen in such things such as reluctance in Ford Day, and not taking soma while at the Savage reservation

-He accepts others such as the savages

• While Lenina is distraught at the sight of the elderly, Bernard takes it in calmly

- He wants to enjoy simple things, such as the ocean and lights among clouds.

• Bernard values little things in life, such as nature, which the others among his society have been conditioned to disregard. Seen through him staring into the ocean and viewing the clouds as beautiful.

-Has more of a sense of being than the other characters

• He feels emotions different than any of the other characters, and accepts these emotions as his own. When sad, he doesn't take large gulps of soma to repress these feelings of sadness, he deals with them more on a personal level.

Paragraphs-
1. Society's tendency to follow orders, and do what is told of them for "the greater good." Following tradition blindly
-Alienation due to Bernard's reluctance to such ideas
- Soma, orgy-porgy, elderly being sent off
- Motifs

2. Happiness. Things that make Bernard happy don't seem to affect others around him. Others seek artificial happiness.
-Use of soma
-Conditioning
-Setting and description

3. Repression. Bernard accepts reality outside as it is. He allows himself to be sad, even angry. Others don't care to feel such emotions, and simply but these emotions off.
-Reservation
-  Lack of use of pathos by any character besides John.

First Draft:


                   Society is an idea born out of the ideas of the people that encompass it. Those who feel attuned to this ideology share commonalities of value with those around them. Those who have contradicting ideals are able to highlight what the society values through the juxtaposition of there own ideas. In the book Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, these contradictions of society can be seen through the character Bernard Marx. Huxley uses Bernard to show a society that has lost its humanity as well as its individuality. As a character, Bernard is seen to struggle through his own sense of being in a society which acts as a single being. Bernard's alienation in the society, seen through the literary techniques of motifs, setting, and a general lack of pathos by others in society, exhibit themes of lack of individual thought, artificial happiness, and repression of feelings within this world.

                  The society thinks as one omnipresent being. Individuals are all taught to enjoy the make things, and to not make any decisions of there own intellectual thought. The use of soma, hypnopaedia, orgy-porgies, and the caste system are all examples of this. These individual things are used as motifs for the author, which with its own individual significance. Bernard is seen as reluctant to these things throughout the book, and the several of these are introduced through Bernard. The society seems to think that it is all working for the greater good, and Bernard is challenging these ideas though reflection.

                   Everyone in the society is conditioned to one thing. To be happy. Happiness is the only care for the individuals in the society. Soma helps keep this up artificially, as does everyone being conditioned to love their individual caste. Bernard is able to see beauty and happiness is ways that others can not. Others are conditioned to hate nature, while Bernard wonders why he still has love for it. The author puts Bernard's happiness in the book through subtle undertones of reaction to the setting around. Bernard's enjoyment of natural beauty shows his potential for true happiness, and the lack of such feeling in the general public.

                  The society as a whole is quite devoid of genuine human emotion in general. They repress their sadness, their anger, their anxieties. Another outcast revealed at the end of the book shows this repression. When John is exiled, and flogs himself, the others don't feel pity or horror. Instead they culminate their efforts through an orgy-porgy to get rid of such poor emotions. Bernard also does not take soma on the savage reservation, and instead allows himself to be exposed to such things as old age. A majority of the characters defend their society through the use of faulty logos, and the use of emotion is minimilized to get rid of any discomfort.

              Brave New World shows a society that is almost inhumane. Not fully enjoying the human experience through the denial of anything negative shows such feelings. The author is able to put forth this message through characters that don't quite fit this mold of inhumanity, such as Bernard and John. The author's use of motifs, setting, and logos, all contribute to his general themes throughout the book. 

March Literature Analysis

The current book that I am reading is called the signal and the noise. It is yet another book related to economics, and its general theme is that through all of the information we get now, we have to figure out what is important (signal) and what is not (noise). It is based off of today's technology, and what is available to us, as well as predictions as we know them.

I AM HERE

Explain my process this semester.
My most progressive part of this semester has been the process to my smart goal of reading and analyzing economics books. Being in the last semester of high school, it is nice to transfer work to be very relevant to what is coming up for me in education. I have enjoyed analyzing the literature parts of the books, which try to focus on facts, but have to keep the book interesting for those reading it. My first analysis is out, and I am hard at work on the second one, and on track to finish that goal. Other than that I have kept fairly up to date on the rest of my work for the course, but need to start my collaborative working group up once more.

More Lit Terms

Dialectics: formal debates usually over the nature of truth.

Dichotomy: split or break between two opposing things.

Diction: the style of speaking or writing as reflected in the choice and use of words.

Didactic: having to do with the transmission of information; education.

Dogmatic: rigid in beliefs and principles.

 Elegy: a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead, sometimes contains general reflections on death, often with a rural or pastoral setting.

 Epic: a long narrative poem unified by a hero who reflects the customs, mores, and aspirations of his nation of race as he makes his way through legendary and historic exploits, usually over a long period of time (definition bordering on circumlocution).

 

 Epigram: witty aphorism.

 Epitaph: any brief inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone; a short formal poem of commemoration often a credo written by the person who wishes it to be on his tombstone.

 Epithet: a short, descriptive name or phrase that  may insult someone’s character, characteristics

Euphemism: the use of an indirect, mild or vague word or expression for one thought to be coarse, offensive, or blunt.

Evocative (evocation): a calling forth of memories and sensations; the suggestion or production through artistry and imagination of a sense of reality. 

 Exposition: beginning of a story that sets forth facts, ideas, and/or characters, in a detailed 

 Expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic   representation of an inner idea or feeling(s).

Fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth.

 

   

Literary analysis: Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek

 Introduction to the analysis: This is an analysis on an economics book, but don't stop reading quite yet. This will be an in depth colloquial analysis for your enjoyment and insight.  Though not an AP reading list book, there is still value in the analysis of literary devices used by the author in this particular piece. Enjoy. Page numbers taken from the Nook reading device.


The intended audience of F.A. Hayek was not who actually ended up reading his piece. He wrote the book for a few intellectual economists as a persuasive piece, using very extravagant language expecting the common man to simply pass it up. The common man in fact did pick it up, and it become common reading for the time period for economists, and even caused Hayek to write preludes to his American audience, as he had written specifically to the English, using the phrase "home country" referring to Englad.


"From monarchy, simple and structured, to democratic, relying on the people. Neither evil in the right hands. The nature of our civilization has been seen more clearly by its enemies than by most of its friends". (Page 78)
The book is started revealing an important viewpoint of the author, that there are no wrong forms of government. That success of a system can not simply be declared by its own people, but seen from the outside world.


"Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom. Socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude." (Page 84)
This is actually a quote from another author, that Hayek decided to include. Being an opponent of socialism, Hayek is able to relate to the public good all the same by including this quote. Many times throughout the book he references outside economists in order to further back up his own points with evidence.

"...conclusions of his studies there and in Germany and Italy in the statement "Socialism is certain to prove, in the beginning at least, the road NOT to freedom, but to dictatorship and counterdictatorships, to civil war of the fiercest kind. ""
Having recently fought against Germany and Italy, Hayek analyzes what caused the government to be able to become so corrupt. This particular quote is an allusion to the dictatorships which could be seen in both countries only years before this piece was published. 

"In no system that could be rationally defended would the state just do nothing." (page 97)
In a logical progression, after going against too much government intervention, as in the case of socialism, he balances his views stating that government is indeed needed for balance. He structures his book in such a way that he presents his views, backs them up, then reacts to the possible counter arguments. 


"The welfare and the happiness of a man, depends on a great many things that can be provided in an infinite variety of combinations." (page 110) " "The attempt to direct all economic activity according to a single plan would raise innumerable questions to which existing morals have no answer and where there exists no agreed view on what ought to be done."
One of Hayek's main arguments was the inefficiency of a government system which was one size fits all.  That you can't take into account everybody's wishes to be happy. He applies ethos is this part of the book, noting that ethical conduct is indeed subjective to any given individual, and the more you bundle everyone's views together, the less of them you are actually retaining.




"It may well be true that our generation talks and thinks too much about democracy and too little of the values which it serves." (Page 120)
Hayek responds to Romanticism in a very pragmatic way. Democracy is often a term that is used to signify all the good in the world, or at least in America. To spread democracy is good. However, democracy in itself is not pure. It can be just as corrupt as any other form of government. Instead he analyzes the pros and cons of what it brings to the individuals that are under its rule. Pure democracy in fact would always rule against the minority on the issue, even if they may be more informed about the given situation. Pure numbers aren't always correct.

"The ultimate ends of the activities of reasonable being are never economic." (Page 134)
As a pure economist money is never the pure overall goal. This ends up being a very morale point brought up. That money is simply a tool used to promote work and competition in a world of scarce resources, not an end goal for any given individual. That money in itself has no value, but what money itself represents.

"We could, of course, reduce casualties by automobile accidents to zero if we were willing to bear the cost - if in no other way - by abolishing automobiles."
This statement responds to pathos often used by the argument for more safety regulations. Even in safer conditions are able to be produced, the rights and conveniences taken away for such safety may not be pragmatic in the long run. In giving more power to the government, you are therefore willing to give up more rights for what is best served in accordance to those ruling.

"There has never been a worse and more cruel exploitation of one class by another than that of the weaker or less fortunate members of a group of producers by the well-established which has been made possible by the "regulation" of competition." (Page 163)
This quotation is particularly interesting due to its outright protection of the upper class. That being able to control competition, and therefore the winnings for those who come out on top, leads to cruel exploitation of the system which is intended to promote winners of competition. In fact, when referencing the upper class, he uses the intense phrase "cruel exploitation".


 "We must not deceive ourselves into believing that all good people must be democrats or will necessarily wish to have a share in the government." (Page 167)
 Why doesn't a representative democracy always work? According the the author, the best people for the job will not necessarily want the job, and at that point you are simply voting for those who are viewed best in public opinion, and also have the drive and will to put forth the effort to obtain the spot to begin with.

"He will be able to obtain the support of all the docile and gullible, who have no strong convictions of their own but are prepared to accept a ready-made system of values if it is only drummed into their ears sufficiently loudly and frequently." (Page 170)
Another threat of democracy is that it is a pure numbers game. No matter how much you know about the process, your vote is equal to a person who knows nothing about that given situation. There are those in this system who will follow blindly no matter the actual issues, and that individual will be gaining free votes, not based on actual policy. 

"The most effective way of making everybody serve the single system of ends toward which the social plan is directed is to make everybody believe in those ends." (Page 181)This is a continuance on a previous chapter which discussed the morality of having a single system to rule over many different viewpoints. The book simply extends on this point, saying that a single system can have control, if it finds issues everybody believes in, or everybody can be convinced to believe in.

"It is most decidedly unwilling to sacrifice any of its demands to what are called economic arguments; it is impatient and intolerant of all restraints of their immediate ambitions and unwilling to bow to economic necessities." (Page 219)
This statement has a striking application to modern day economics in America. When spending isn't cut, and isn't going to be cut, necessities will be put aside, and the government will not run as well due to this. This point can be argued on either side, and constantly is, in today's world. 

"Freedom to order our own conduct in the sphere where material circumstances force a choice upon us, and responsibility for the arrangement of our own life according to our own conscience, is the air in which alone moral sense grows and in which moral values are daily recreated in the free decision of the individual." (Page 226)
Instead of having a government decide what is right and wrong overall, Hayek argues that individuals, while motivated by material circumstances, will live according to their own morals and create moral values on their own. 

"It is neither necessary nor desirable that national boundaries should mark sharp differences in standards of living, that membership of a national group should entitle one to a share in a cake altogether different from that in which members of other groups share." (Page 232)
Near the end of the book he begins to talk about international economics. He views the system of countries as unneeded, and that all countries have the potential to be equal economically. 

"But whatever we do, it can only be the beginning of a new, long, and arduous process in which we all hope we shall gradually create a world very different from that which we knew during the last quarter of a century."
(Page 246)
The conclusion ends with what is to come, whether good or bad, things will indeed change...

Dickens Map

1. Review schedule for the rest of the book. At chapter 20 so far. (In chapters)
January 29: 21-28
January 30: 29-35
January 31: 36-41
February 1: 42-47
February 2: 48-52
February 3: 53-56
February 4: 57-59

2. Questions:
1. What role do laws play in Great Expectations?
2. Was the Industrial Revolution a good thing?
3. What portrait of London does Charles Dickens paint?
4. It is widely said that it is far better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Discuss
5. Why do servants run Mr. Matthew Pocket’s household?

Lit Terms Continued

Analysis: A method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny.
We will have to do an analysis on analysis for people to analyze our analysis skills. 

Anaphora: A device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases or segments.
I came, I saw, I conquered. 

Anecdote: A very short story used to illustrate a point.
Once there was a frog and a scorpion. The scorpion stung the frog, and the frog died.
Point: Scorpions are dangerous

Antagonist: A person or force opposing the protagonist
Not always evil. If the main character is evil, the antagonist can be good. Or the antagonist and protagonist can be the same person. I'm looking at you Fight Club. 

Antithesis: a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

Aphorism: a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life 
"Time and tide wait for no man." 

Apologia: a defense or justification for some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action; also apology 
Supreme Court defends the Constitution. 

Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly 
Hamlet talking to his dead, reanimated as a ghost, father. 

Argument(ation): the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself 
Now how could a coconut travel to Europe? By African swallow you say?

Assumption: the act of supposing, or taking for granted that a thing is true
Any movie where there are actors deeply sighing in bed next to each other while waking up. 

Audience: the intended listener or listeners
Why you! You reading this. You are my audience! Feels good doesn't it?

Characterization: the means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality
John's hair is brown. He enjoys smiling. Now you know a little more about John.

Chiasmus: a reversal in the order off words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order 
 They don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care

 Circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have served 
"First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin.
Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less.
Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three.
Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three.
Five is right out.

Classicism: art, literature, and music reflecting the principles of ancient Greece and Rome: tradition, reason, clarity, order, and balance 
The Parthenon. It's in Greece and the architecture fits the time. 

Cliché: a phrase or situation overused within society
I'm not even going to write an example. YOLO

Climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the pint of greatest intensity or interest at which plot question is answered or resolved 
The big Harry Potter vs. Voldemort fight. 

Colloquialism: folksy speech, slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation
Yo dawg waz up? 

Comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending; now a term to describe a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter 
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Conflict: struggle or problem in a story causing tension 
Finding the Holy Grail in the previous term's example.

Connotation: implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition
That last piece of cake sure looks good...(I want that cake.)

Contrast: a rhetorical device by which one element (idea or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity 
I just got a C on my paper. It's not like I created a Death Star or anything.

Denotation: plain dictionary definition 
^

Denouement (pronounced day-new-mahn): loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion
In the end, Harry and Ginny got together, as did Ron and Hermione. 

Dialect: the language of a particular district, class or group of persons; the sounds, grammar, and diction employed by people distinguished from others.
I'm Canadian, eh.