Dystopian Journal #3

Huxley warns his readers that, if citizens of a society are given eveything they want and need, many interesting ideas and actions will disappear. Mustapha Mond describes it well when he meets with the Savage. Mond says that people are happy now, and that happiness is not interesting. If a society is happy all the time, there will be no war, no passionate stories of love, and altogether nothing to titillate oneself with. Huxley's society is one in which people are conditioned to be satisfied with the position they are at in life all of the time. There is nothing to make them upset because they get everything they want. There is no love, therefore a huge, interesting part of life is lost. No one has a need for war, so courageous battles for freedom are nonexistent. Helmholtz finds it difficult to write interesting things, and he wishes for more, but he lives in a society where there are no problems or controversies that require interesting opinions that Helmholtz can write about. So it's interesting that, when this society has lost so much and is so stable, there are still people in the society that are discontented. They miss that which they have never experienced, they question their surroundings. It's an interesting message that Huxley tries to send, but an unconvincing one. This situation seems highly unlikely, as it involves so much science and technology. We, The Handmaid's Tale and 1984 are, to me, more effective in spreading a warning abut then-present day trends, because they deal with corrupt bureaucratic or corporate-run governments that had happened in the world before. Huxley deals with an advanced technology that had never been imagined, never mind occurred. The only hope in the society is that people abandon the cushiness of their society, leave the technology and go out into the "savage" world to experience love and war.

word count: 272

Dystopian Journal #2

Bernard Marx and John the savage are both characters who do not fit in to a society in their world. Bernard does a better job of fitting in than John, however. Bernard is an Alpha in London in Brave New World, but he does not look like the other Alphas. He's a few inches shorter, which would not be an issue in our world. But in Huxley's world, people are made instead of born, and they are made following very specific recipes. All Alpha males should look very similar, just like the Beta females and Delta males. Bernard's uniqueness makes him an outcast. Feeling like an outcast, he acts like he doesn't fit in, making him more of an outcast. And in a world where sex is rigorously supported and where physical looks are so important, Bernard certainly feels like he does not belong. However, Bernard does not try to resist the society's ways; rather, he searched for ways to fit in and belong more. And when he found John the savage, his sense of belonging was fulfilled because women wanted to sleep with him after finding such an incredible discovery. Huxley's world is unique in that very few characters find a flaw in the society. John the savage sees shortcomings in the society in that here is no love, but he was not conditioned to find love unimportant. The technique of conditioning people with hypnopaedia was so successful, the members of the society find nothing wrong with the world they live in.
Word Count: 221

This propaganda is targeting young American men by depicting Germans as brutes who deserved to be killed. The tone is appropriate to the society because the Germans did not have a great reputation thus far in WWI. The poster shows a woman representing Liberty in the clutches of a German ape, which would show that freedom needs protection from Germany. The slogan "Destroy this brute!" is quite catchy, and it would probably stay in the audience's mind. One can imagine that young men would feel compelled to join the army after seeing this poster, but not manipulated into joining by this poster. The poster would have made young men join of their own decision, to stop the Germans from taking people's freedom away.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/%27Destroy_this_mad_brute%27_WWI_propaganda_poster_(US_version).jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Destroy_this_mad_brute%27_WWI_propaganda_poster_(US_version).jpg&usg=__tQo9sGb6D2GKtCCBtKta2H4EXUs=&h=576&w=378&sz=105&hl=en&start=22&um=1&tbnid=_QUcSnKmuCMqyM:&tbnh=134&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpropaganda%2Bposters%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1

Journal #2: Images

• Huxley uses long words to describe surroundings in society
• onomatopoeias used
• fragmented sentences occasionally when describing a setting
• "hundreds of male voices crying out fiercely in harsh metallic unison" appeals to sound
• moslty descriptive of sound - beating drums, humming of propellors

Why does Huxley use several adjectives to describe his world, instead of a few?

Why does Huxley repeat the imagery of the decanting process?

Why does Huxley reflect more on the characters' surroundings than the characters' thoughts?

Why does Huxley describe the sacrifice of the savage boy in such detail?

Huxley uses vivid imagery for the sacrifice of the savage boy in New Mexico to emphasize the juxtaposition between Barnard and Lenina's world and John's "ancient" world.

Huxley goes into great detail when describing London society in order to emphasize the radical difference between this future world and the world today.

Dystopian Journal #1

"He let out the amazing truth. For a very long period before the time of Our Ford, and even for some generations afterwords, erotic play between children had been regarded as abnormal..." (Huxley 32)

Huxley's scientific-based society in Brave New World is one very different from ours. In our world, it is safe to say that there are plenty of human beings living and consuming. The United States' population has reached more than 300,000,000, and one can even say there are too many people on Earth. The planet has problems with too much consumption, and that is arguably the most pressing issue with the world today. But in Huxley's world, public opinion is the complete opposite. There is no such thing as "overpopulated". People are being "created" as numerously and as quickly as possible. The philosophy of Huxley's world is vastly different: the higher number of people in a society, the stronger the society. More things can be made, more can be consumed, and it's a constant circle. People are made to consume and enjoy the concept of making more people, so products are continually consumed and the society's values are kept strong. A word to describe the society perfectly is "efficient". No one person has more of a destiny than helping make consumer products and consuming products. This makes for a very rich society, indeed, and a very self-sufficient one at that.

Word count: 201

Journal #9: Thesis Revision (controversial!!)

...reveal that only people who find themselves more important than they are in reality on Earth have a relationship with God, and do not want to face obliteration after they die, therefore putting their faith in a life after death.

Journal #8

Meursault comes to the conclusion that he and the world are unimportant to its inhabitants. He has no need in believing in God, because there is no life beyond the one on Earth. Death is obliteration, and now is as good a time as ever, seeing as its inevitable. He sees other people's beliefs as ridiculous, and a conscience as unnecessary. But I'm confused that he needs to be fulfilled by not being alone, and by feeling the hate of others, he would feel less alone. If he feels indifferent and disconnected to everything, why would he need the opinions of others about himself? Maybe he wants to show those people that they are wrong, that there is no significance to life and that they should live like him. He thinks he's becoming a martyr. Camus wants the reader to disagree, though. If Meursault can only spread his message by dying, there could be mass suicide!

Journal #9: Thesis for The Stranger

When faced with a definite end, one is able to reflect on, without bias, the absurdities and shining qualities of the world, which creates more insight on the purpose of living than the theories of any intellectual.