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[coreyalonso-blog]

BRAVE NEW WORLD

a big problemIve been having is with the criticism that I picked. When looking for research I did not know that I was going to have to compare and contrast them. So, when the lit review came I had a bunch of annotated critism thar was all valuable(I thought) but they didn’t really have anything in common so I found it wasn’t very useful to me. One of the unique but not useful criticism i looked at is about the role of cinima in BNW and the affect it has on characters and society as a whole. This problem is causing me to fall behind in other aspects of the project now. Yesterday, I went back to looking for more research to see if It could relate to my other ones. I found one that is very interesting but it could be a stretch. It looks at the characters through smells. I’m hoping to be able to finish the rough draft of my lit review soon😬

[coreyalonso-blog]

BRAVE NEW WORLD

On Sunday I went to the OU library to look for research and reviews for Brave New World. It was kind of intimidating walking in to a College library. I bet people could tell that i didn’t know what I was doing, however the librarian was very helpful and even took me up to the book i needed. I got incredibly lucky in that I found a book that had multiple Criticisms from qualified critics. I also was able to print out an essay from google scholar that analyzed the characters and how Huxley worked through creating them making distinct choices about what he wanted them to portray.

One thing I struggled with is what critism I wanted to actually use. I found it difficult to pick without knowing what I’m going to have to write about. I tried to pick ones that I could comprehend but also gain more Insight or new perspectives on.

[coreyalonso-blog]

@palathuruthil

[coreyalonso-blog]

BRAVE NEW WORLD

“It Seems a funny way of curing your unhappiness,” said Bernard. But On second thought, he decided that there was, after all some sense in it. Better than taking Soma…”

This quote is from a passage where John tells Bernard about something that he did that nobody else did making him feel special. He went onto a big rock and put his arms out like he was Jesus on the cross. Bernard, confused by this asks why, and John tells him a couple reasons one of them being that he was unhappy. Bernard thinks this is unusual, but then reflects on what people in the New World do and realizes that nothing is worse than Soma.

Soma is a very important part of the New World. It is a drug that the people take in order to calm themselves down. It relieves stress anger and pushes down all other emotions. Some people like Lenina always have soma with them and even take soma holidays where they take so much soma that they are basically knocked out. Bernard on the other hand does not believe in this drug. He thinks it takes away from humanity. Even when he is upset and is offered Soma he says no which frustrates Lenina.

I think this drug is bad because it covers up people’s emotions...the one thing in this society that would make them a little bit more human. It’s reflective in today’s society of people who do drugs To help run away from their problems. I think Huxley is warning us about what drugs like this can do to a society. Short term it can take away pain but pain is something people need to feel to also be able to feel the good.

[coreyalonso-blog]

BRAVE NEW WORLD

confusions!!!

In chapter 6/7/8 we learn that Johns father is the director of the New World State. I’m confused by this. I know that Linda, his mom, came from the New World and then had to leave when she had a baby. But how does his father being the director help advance the plot. Does it make more of a connection between the reservation and New World? Is there more to come with this information? Also Bernard has a plan to expose this by bringing John and Linda with him to London. Why does Bernard want to do this? Does it benefit him?

[coreyalonso-blog]

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Text- Bernard blushed uncomfortably. “You see,” he said mumbling and with averted eyes, “I’m rather different from most people, I suppose. If one happens to be decanted different...” “Yes, that’s just it.” The young man nodded. “If ones different, ones bound to be lonely.”

This passage shows a parallel between two characters- Bernard who is from the New World State and John who is from the reservation. Both characters are feeling detached from their society because they are different. John even makes the claim that if you are different you will automatically be different. He wants so badly to be a part of the New World but Bernard is there to tell him that’s it’s not all it’s talked up to be. John is characterized as a young boy who is confused in his life.

I believe that John and Bernard meeting has a significance that goes deeper than their similar characterization. I’m not quite sure what it is at this point but I am going to keep an eye out for it as I keep reading.

[coreyalonso-blog]

BRAVE NEW WORLD

“I suppose epsilons don’t really mind being epsilons,” she said aloud.

“ of course they don’t. How can they they? They don’t know what it’s like being anything else. We’d mind of course, but then we’ve been differently conditioned”

In this part Lenina and Henry are discussing the different social classes. They are talking about how even the people in the lowest class who have to do all the scut work are still content with their life. This is because at birth, they are conditioned to not know any better. They are happy with what they are given and don’t even think about what life “could” be like.

After reading this and understanding that this book is reflecting a dystopian society I wondered if that was totally accurate. Obviously the New World State is corrupf in many ways but there are parts that I believe are not such a bad thing. In our society today, there is different social classes based on economic stability and race. However the people in our society know that they are at the bottom and the people in the top class look down on them. The lower class knows what it could be like. This causes tension and even jealousy between the classes. In some ways I wonder if it would be better if people could be content in the class they were in.

[coreyalonso-blog]

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Henry Ford plays a big role in the New World State. He is looked up to by all and considered a Demi god. The clear connection between him and his role in the novel is the impact he had in industries. Ford is known for mass producing on an assembly line. In Brave New World, humans are mass produced on an assembly line. Ford’s influence is also shown in time. In the world state time is determined by AF(after Ford). People look up to him religiously as well. Instead of having a cross, they cut the top half off to make it a T representing the model T that ford created and also by saying things like “For Fords Sake” instead of “For Gods Sake”. Anything anybody does in this book is ultimately for Ford.

It Is clear that Ford had some type of an effect on Huxley because he is so prominent in this novel. I want to learn more about the relationship that Huxley had with Ford because he used Ford’s status in society to create a dystopia.

[coreyalonso-blog]

BRAVE NEW WORLD

This book clearly relates back to Huxley’s childhood as there are clear references to his upbringing. One of the most prominent is social classes. He was born into an elite class in London, his grandpa being one of the biologist who helped develop the theory of evolution. Although he was apart of the elite class he felt separated. He felt different even though everybody loved him. In Brave New World there is a parallel between Huxley and Bernard Marx. He was also apart of the elite class but was seen as an outcast because of his size. Still both Huxley and Marx felt a moral obligation to fight the idea that happiness is achieved by class

[coreyalonso-blog]

BRAVE NEW WORLD

The first chapter of this book is very descriptive. It explains the London Hatchery and Conditioining Centre in great detail. I thought it was an interesting choice to open this way by giving the reader a lot of insight into the plot. I want to know who the narrator is in the beginning and their purpose to the book rather than just having one of the characters explain the setting. I also want to know more about the students that the director is showing around. They are “amazed” at almost everything they are told so they must not have grown up in this new world. This makes me wonder where they are from and how they got there. I also found it weird how they seemed to just disappear in the next chapter and they haven’t been mentioned since but the beginning revolved around their tour.

Overall the first part of the book was very confusing to me because of the diction. I found myself looking up a lot of words and background on the book to help understand.

[coreyalonso-blog]

Brave New World

I chose this book because I thought the idea of this type of society was really interesting. Similar to the Handmaids Tale, Brave New World relays the story of a dystopian society where babies are made in a factory and their value and status is decided at birth. It’s ironic how at one point people would say things like this could never happen,but as time progresses parts of these stories are becoming more and more realistic. This book also has a lot of research and scholarly reviews which was important to me in choosing a book for this project.

[coreyalonso-blog]

Movies that transcend their genre

Animated films may seem like light hearted innocent movies but many of them share a deeper meaning or lesson. Happy Feet, an animated film that came out in 2006, is about a penguin who can’t use his voice to attract a mate. Instead he figures out that he can tap dance. However This movie also shines light on a problem that is very real. Pollution. There are many scenes where the penguins are endangered by trash that got into the ocean. The plastic packaging that goes on bottles would get on the penguins neck causing them to choke. It also talks about human endangerment because they came and were taking the penguins away from their natural habitat to preform for other people. This is very interesting to me though because the targeted audience is clearly kids. But most kids myself included would never think past the innocent dancing and singing in the movie. I wonder why they would put those deeper meanings in if kids wouldn’t understand. They might have thought that the parents would be watching the movie with their kids so they were hoping to grab their attention.

[emmakoberstein-blog]

Rebel Without a Cause

Throughout this movie, my group and I were confused at certain points, but we also found it to be quite interesting at some parts.  We thought that the movie portrayed common problems that teens still struggle with today like peer pressure, bullying, and family problems.  We also thought that these problems were exaggerated compared to how they are seen in daily life even though times have changed.  For example, teenagers don’t drive their cars toward a cliff in a game of chicken anymore, but they still make up dares for other people to complete or else others will make fun of them.  Our group also thought that it made sense for the movie to portray the main character, Jim, as trying to fit in because teens have always wanted to do this (even today).  Our group also believed that the audience would be teenagers struggling through their years of high school because the whole movie focuses on the problems present between themselves, family, and friends.  The purpose of “Rebel Without a Cause” would be to showcase all the problems that the teenagers in the movie deal with and offer a situation that some people may be able to relate to.  We believe this because it shows how Jim dealt with the “cool” group and how Judy dealt with her dad offering a story to relate to.  We also thought the speaker would be other teenagers struggling with those same problems like Jim and Plato dealt with because they want to tell their story.  Overall, our group found this movie very interesting because of the ways the problems that teens struggle with are presented.   

[coreyalonso-blog]

If originality is possible, Miley Cyrus is one of a kind. Not to say she hasn't gotten inspiration from others but that does not take away from her originality. Miley is a singer, songwriter, and actress. She does not care what others think about her. This allows her to push the boundaries of things society accepts. The outfits she wears, shows she performs and how she just lives her life speaks to her creativity and originality. She stands strong in her beliefs especially about equality and doesn't let others influence who she is.

[coreyalonso-blog]

Accepting Death (secondary)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dianne-gray/learning-about-life-from-_b_5702274.html

 This article is about a mom who has to live with her son who has a terminal disease at a young age.  A book by  Elisabeth Kubler-Ross helped her accept the death and make the best of it.  She tried to make her sons life the best it possible could be by following this motto, “ accepting that the end is near, frees us to make the most of the time that we have left and those are the times that sustain me”

[caitlinsrock-blog]

you only understand how to die once you understand how to live

corey alonso (via caitlinsrock)

[coreyalonso-blog]

Accepting Death (secondary)

This quote is from a book called “The year of Magical Thinking.”  Joan, a mom and wife, attempts to make sense of her tragic year dealing with the death of her husband and daughter.  Unlike Morrie, Joan has a much harder time accepting death.  She is in denial and refuses to give any of her husbands belongings away as she believes he might come back.  In this quote, she admits that she knows why it’s so hard to accept death because we never want to let them go.  Joan also realizes through her journey with death that you can’t move on until you accept it.  It’s best to “keep the dead dead”