Thursday, February 27, 2014

Literature Analysis #2

1. The book begins with the Director giving a tour of the World State and showing how people are conditioned. There are five classes: Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Mustapha Mond talks about how they teach young kids sexual activities at a young age so they won't feel any emotional desires for human relationship. Fanny and Lenina talk about Lenina's sex life with a top Alpha, Henry Foster, but Lenina then admits she likes an awkward Alpha named Bernard Marx. Lenina and Henry are going on a date to play obstacle golf, while most of the other guys talk about how Lenina is fun to have sex with. Then as Lenina and Henry are on their date Bernard goes to visit Helmholtz Watson the other "outsider" like him, and they talk about their problems and how Helmholtz wants to do more with his words, but doesn't know exactly what. Lenina and Henry head home where they see where old people are cremated. Then they stop at a club where they play some 'erotic' music and have a bunch of soma. Bernard arrives late to the ford ceremony where they drop soma, eat ice cream and say chants. Bernard pretends to be into it but it makes him a loner. Next, Lenina goes on a date with Bernard who is weird, and doesn’t take soma with her and doesn't seem to want to have fun with her. They end up watching wrestling and then he takes her to look at the ocean which she doesn’t find interesting. After all that they still go back home and have sex. Bernard goes to the directors office and asks if he can go to the New Mexico Reservation with Lenina. While there the director tells the story of Linda and how he went with her there and she got lost and that he dreams about it. However upon realizing he is showing emotion he states that he didn’t care for her so it didn’t matter. After arriving at the hotel they leave and go to the reservation. Lenina is high on soma and they listen to the tour guide talk about the savages. Lenina and Bernard witness a ceremony and the whole time Lenina thinks its horrible. Bernard seemed to be okay with it. They, then, meet a young white boy who tell them his mother is from off the reservation and that his mother, Linda, was saved by some villagers. Bernard connects the dots and figures that the woman was the girl that the Director was talking about. They meet Linda who is a lot like Lenina except fat and ugly and tells them she is the village whore now. Her son John doesn't like that and doesn't understand thats the way she was conditioned. To avoid getting sent to Iceland, Bernard brings John and Linda with him to London to show off. When the director is about to exile Bernard, Bernard tell them that he found Linda and the Director had a natural born son. Immediately, the Director resigns and Bernard became very popular and finally starts acting like the normal people. John does not like the World State and doesn't like all the attention. One day he refuses to go to a party and Bernard loses his popularity and ends of having Helmholtz meet John. Lenina soon becomes obsessed with John and tries to sleep with him and he curses at her and basically calls her a whore. John visits Linda in the hospital where he witnesses her die. He gets upset when twin Deltas come to witness her death to condition them for death. He then becomes enraged and dumps all the soma out and tells people to be free. John and Mustapha Mond talk about Shakespeare and God and how there views differ. Helmholtz and Bernard are exiled to Iceland and John exiles himself. He lives alone in peace until low caste people discover him whipping himself and draws a lot of attention. He doesn't like this but finally breaks and takes soma and sleeps with women. He finally gave into their society and because of this he decides to hang himself to end his suffering.

2.The theme of this novel is that there is no such thing as a perfect society and that there will always people who question what life is really about. Another theme that I got from this book is the idea of dehumanization. The idea of creating a perfect society involves making people less human so that everyone can work together without problems.

3.The tone of the book is almost dark and twisted. There isn't much emotion in the writing and that allows the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Characterization:

1. -Direct characterization- Bernard is described as short and mentally superior, but at the same time we do not get a complete feel of his character.
    -Indirect characterization- Bernard is shown as a rebel because he doesn't want to participate in what the World State does.
2. Huxley's diction changes based on the character that is talking. This occurs because Huxley uses a lot of dialogue.
3. John is a dynamic character because he is introduced as a savage that doesn't know about the world outside his world and is intrigued by it at first. Once in London he becomes angered at how everyone acts but he finally gives into it. 
4. I felt like I met each of the characters because of the in-depth dialogue and how all of the characters interacted with one another.

Super 5

5 Potential Experts/Role Models to Endorse My Work:

- I am going to try and contact directors of movies and see if I can talk to someone.
- Fellow movie watchers.
- My parents
- Other adults of different ages
- Friends

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

My Team

Whitney and I are going to work together to unmask the similarities between movies and the societies that they were created in!

Monday, February 24, 2014

Launch

  • What am I passionate about?  What do I want to do?
I am passionate about many things. I like softball, television, hanging out with my friends, helping others and roller blading. For my project I will be working with Whitney and we will be taking our love of television and watching movies and seeing how they show the type of society that they were created in. We will be comparing how they change over time from us coming to our own conclusions about the movie to now where they tell us what they want us to think.
  • How can I use the tools from last semester (and the Internet in general)?
Whitney and I will create either a website or a blog of some sort with different videos, post and pictures.
  • What will I need to do in order to "feel the awesomeness with no regrets" by June?
I will need to stay on top of this project. Whitney and I can't procrastinate and wait until last minute to do this.
  • What will impress/convince others (both in my life and in my field)?
The way we are able to present our project in a unique and amusing way while showing the creative ideas we have.
  • How will I move beyond 'What If' and take this from idea --> reality?
Whitney and I will work on it each day.
  • Who will be the peers, public, and experts in my personal learning network?
 Our classmates will be able to give us feedback and anyone else who would like to comment to it.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Brave New Essay Topic

Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two
or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another.

I would answer this by addressing soma and how the people use it to avoid things that may make them unhappy. Things such as curiosity, things outside of their comfort zones, and things that they didnt know about.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Lit Terms #6

Simile:a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid
Soliloquy:an extended speech, given by a character alone on stage.
Spiritual: a folk song, usually on a religious theme. 
Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking. 
Stereotype: cliché; a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story.
Stream of Consciousness: the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character's thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images, as the character experiences them
Structure: the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization.
Style: the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking.
Subordination: the couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language.
Surrealism: a style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the irrational aspects of man's existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal.
Suspension of Disbelief: suspend disbelief in order to enjoy something.
Symbol: something which stands for something else, yet has a meaning of its own.
Synesthesia: the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense. 
Synecdoche:   another form of name changing, in which a part stands for the whole.
Syntax: the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence.
Theme: main idea of the story; its message(s).
Thesis: a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disproved; the main idea
Tone:  the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author's perceived point of view. 
Tongue in Cheek: a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness; also called "dry" or "dead pan"
Tragedy: in literature: any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically (fatally) flawed
Understatement: opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis
Vernacular: everyday speech
Voice: The textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer's or speaker's pesona.
Zeitgeist:the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time

Welcome to Interdisciplinary

Well I am not sure what I want to do for this project. I have thought about it a lot and I can't seem to make up my mind but as soon as I do I will rewrite this post!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Hafta/Wanna

Similarities:
My outlook on life
My work ethic
My personality

Differences:
Time Management
I won’t have the distractions that I have now 
Living on my own
Responsible for myself

-I feel like after graduation many people will stay exactly the same as they were in high school. At first they may try to be different but we all have habits and we all usually fall back into the same patterns of living that we've had our whole lives.

-I feel like the things I want to do and the things I have to do are one in the same. If I want to do something it needs to be a priority and therefore something I have to do. My outlook on things must remain positive and I must maintain my determination because if i want something bad enough I can do anything.


-As I move on with my life I expect myself to remain true to who I am and the values I hold dear. I expect to never conform to the pressures of this world and not compromise who I am for anybody. 

Monday, February 10, 2014

Reading Quiz

1. What does Ivan Yakovlevich do for a living? 
-He is a barber.
2. What does Ivan find in a loaf of bread?
-He finds a nose in his loaf of bread. 
3. How does his wife respond to Ivan's discovery? 
-She is enraged and threatens to call the police.
4. What does Ivan set out to accomplish? 
-He sets out to get rid of the nose. He finally decides to throw it off a bridge.
5. When Ivan tosses the "package" in the river, for a brief moment he is happy; then he is arrested. What does this scene suggest about the role of happiness in Ivan's life/community/society? 
-It suggests about his life and society that they don't care about what’s right and wrong. They just care about themselves. Also, it shows that happiness can be taken away as fast as it comes.
6. Where does the title object belong, and how does it finally get there?
-It belongs on the face of Collegiate Assessor Kovalev.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Lit Terms #5

Parallelism: the use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning, etc.
Parody: an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist. 
Pathos: the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness. 
Pedantry:  excessive concern with minor details and rules
Personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas. 
Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.  
Poignant:  evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret
Point of View: the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the physical point from which the observer views what he is describing. 
Postmodemism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple  meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary 
Prose: written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure
Protagonist: the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist 
Pun:  play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications. 
Purpose: the intended result wished by an author. 
Realism: writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightforward manner to reflect life as it actually is.
Refrain:stop oneself from doing something
Requiem: any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead. 
Resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.
Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.
Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.
Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.
Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax.
Romanticism: movement in western culture beginning in the eighteenth and peaking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.
Satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Scansion: the action of scanning a line of verse to determine its rhythm.
Setting:  the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.