Brave New World Essay Example for Free

Brave New World Essay Aldous Huxley was a writer of several novels, including the most famous Brave New World. He was born on 1894 and died on 1963. His interest includes politics, philosophy, parapsychology, psychology and mysticism. He was known to have close relationship to several people who have inclinations towards science. He has a botanical father and had worked in a chemical plant. Brave New World was written during an era where psychology and genetics play a vital role in explaining human behavior and reactions. It is then not impossible that there will come a time that humans will be experimented using psychology and genetics to be able to determine the extent of its effect. 1)Identify the characteristics (dimensions) of the narrative. A narrative is about telling stories, thus, it consist primarily of a plot structure, conflict, characters, setting, theme and point of view. The plot structure is basically the outline or the framework of the whole narrative; it includes the introduction followed by the rising action and the climax and then the falling action and finally the resolution. The conflict on the other hand is the disagreement in the narrative; usually it is where the whole plot revolves. The characters are the players or those who perform in the narrative. The setting is where the narrative takes place. The theme is the topic or the issue/s being portray or shown as the narrative progresses. The point of view is what the characters or the author seems to think from their perspective. 2)Discover an explanation for how the narrative creates meaning. The narrative creates a meaning by putting all of its dimensions together. Weaving one with another, it generates an idea that later result to a series of story which are connected with one another. 3)What is the setting? Where does the story takes place? Brave New World starts in ‘Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre’, there is a tour in the Hatcheries. The director is explaining to the students the process of reproduction of ‘customized’ human beings. The story takes place during A. F. otherwise known as After Ford. 4)Who are the characters? Are they human? Fleshed out? Known and unknown traits. The first character to be shown was the ‘Director’ Tomakin. He was the director of Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. As the story succeeds, he was shown to be a part of a scandal involving his impregnation of Linda, a second caste or Beta and having a son with her named John, some 25 years ago. The next character was Linda Crowne, she is another Beta which depicts the typical female in the Brave New World. She is nineteen years old and is a lab worker at the Conditioning Center. She is Bernard’s love interest and she also like Bernard. Bernard is the main character in the story, he works as a psychologist in the Conditioning Centre and belongs to the Alpha class or the first class. He is the one to expose the son and wife of Director Tomakin. John or more commonly known as ‘the savage’ is the son of Linda and Tomakin. He lives in the savage Reservation along with her mother. He causes the big embarrassment for the director. He found his mother in the dying bed. He serves as the character who lives in the old world or something like that. Mustapha Mond is one of the World Controller. At the beginning of the narrative he told the students who are touring the Control Center about monogamy and the bond between mother and child, which he remarked as ‘horrifying’. Helmholtz Watson looks like Bernard’s Bestfriend and adviser. He like Bernard is not in favor of the ‘new order’ he thinks that there is something that is not right in the system. Ford is another term or shortcut for Freud which serves as the new ‘God’ as revealed in the story by Mond. Other characters are just minor characters. Among the characters, ‘the savages’ are the only one who is really humans’ or those who become humans in the natural sense. Other characters are fleshed out. Although they are till humans are homo sapiens, they are not created in the normal process. As stated above, they are somehow, customized. 5)Who is the narrator? Attitude toward story? Powers available to narrator? Characteristics? Trustworthy reliable? The narrator is actually not among the characters thus he/she have the capability to tell the readers what is actually taking place in the narrative. The narrator’s attitude is somehow against the world order but it seems that the narrator is curios of what will happen after things are going this and that way. I could not say for sure if the narrator is trustworthy and reliable since there are instances wherein he/she tries to guess part of the story. Also, since the narrator is not an actual character it is hard to tell how much is his/her if his/her interpretations are coherent. 6)What are the events? Which are important for the story’s development? Which flesh out the story? The first three chapters generally describe that ‘brave new world’. The tour in the Control Center gives us a brief overview of the workings involved in the conditioning and reconditioning of the people, from conception to old age. Then the presentation of Lenina as the typical human being during that time in contrast with Bernard who seems to deviate with what is foreseen as natural. The visit to the Savage Reservation which shows the members of the old world and how they live corresponds to the presentation of a small part or population who still live in the ‘old system’. Meeting John and Linda who turns out to be the Director’s family, John being a child conceived through normal sexual intercourse which the new society or the Fordian society believes to be obscene. The presentation of John as the son followed by the fame of Bernard that was only short-lived since John did not show up in the conference which was arranged to confirm his identity. Then it shows the Shakespearean love that John felt for Lenina while Lenina shows the love she knows, this leads him to beat her. It was then followed by Linda’s death which leads to a riot at the hospital. This leads to the arrest of Helmholtz, Bernard and John. Bernard and Helmholtz were sent to another island far from England. John on the other hand was permitted to live n England. The people in England seems to drive John crazy, thus at the end, he killed himself. 7)How are events related in time? How are they told in the story? (Flashbacks? ) What is the speed or pace of the story? The events are related as the story progresses however there are indeed some flashbacks especially the scenes with John in the savage Reservation. The speed of the story is fast paced but there are enough explanation for every scenes. 8)What are the causes and effects? Are causes human? Supernatural? Are effects caused by accidents? Forces of nature? The Causes are the humans as can be seen since it is the humans who create the ‘brave new world’. Accordingly, the world is patterned to how Freud had conceived family as a disintegration of individual. The new order also aims to promote happiness by controlling everything in the human life. The effects are not merely accidents but an understanding of a ‘utopian’ view. 9)Who is the audience? What can we tell about the audience’s knowledge, personality, and abilities, on the basis of the speaker’s attitude toward audience? The audience is basically the reader which is also the spectators who are looking forward the development and progress in the narrative. The speaker speaks of the audience as someone who wants to join or be included in the ‘utopian like’ world where everything is equal yet individuality is missing. 10)What is the theme? It may be an underlying truth or saying. How obvious and clear is the theme? â€Å"Community, Identity and Stability has been the central theme of the whole novel since it is even the motto of the ‘new order’. The theme is very obvious since it is discussed in the novel. Stability is always mentioned with its reference to control and less conflict. Science seems to be the central source of power in the ‘brave new world’, science is used to provide less conflict through conditioning and minimizing conflicts. 11)Does the narrative fulfill its creator’s purpose? I believe it has fulfilled its creator purpose of delivering a novel that shows a future society if it will be designed or patterned to a ‘communal, scientific capital system’. Everyone will be treated in the same way. People do not experience loneliness because they are conditioned to be like this and do that. People are treated as mechanisms and/or things that can be rejected if it does not suffice its purpose. People live and die with the purpose of living together harmoniously in a fake reality. 12) Does the narrative provide useful ideas for living your life? Yes, it had me thinking of my own view regarding Utopia. It also gives me an insight about the way society has effects on the individual. The way the society can shape and somehow manipulate what an individual will think and how he/she will react. Also, it shows that although science, in general and genetic engineering in particular, may be used to treat illnesses and can improve life, it might also result to artificial human beings which are created in laboratories. Reference: Huxley, A. (1958). Brave New World.

Theodicy and Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov Essay -- The Brothers

Theodicy and Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov The problem of reconciling an omnipotent, perfectly just, perfectly benevolent god with a world full of evil and suffering has plagued believers since the beginning of religious thought. Atheists often site this paradox in order to demonstrate that such a god cannot exist and, therefore, that theism is an invalid position. Theodicy is a branch of philosophy that seeks to defend religion by reconciling the supposed existence of an omnipotent, perfectly just God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. In fact, the word â€Å"theodicy† consists of the Greek words â€Å"theos,† or God, and â€Å"dike,† or justice (Knox 1981, 1). Thus, theodicy seeks to find a sense of divine justice in a world filled with suffering. Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was among those philosophical thinkers who grappled with the task of explaining why evil exists in a world created by a perfect god. Despite the powerful influence of Christianity in his early childhood and throughout his life, Dostoevsky encountered difficulties in answering this question, which he described, â€Å"Nature, the soul, God, love – all this is understood by the heart, not by the mind† (Gibson 1973, 9). Nevertheless, Dostoevsky not only felt obligated to discover a solution to the problem, but also â€Å"responsible to his fellow believers for its success or failure† (Gibson 1973, 169). This quest for a solution to the problem of theodicy ultimately led Dostoevsky to write The Brothers Karamazov, a novel that attempts to explain the need for evil in the world. In posing his solution to this problem, Dostoevsky explains the necessity of suffering for the realization of human redemption, as well as the role of Chris t’s atoneme... ... Christ and for his role in overcoming evil and suffering, and with the idea that the negative effects of suffering can be countered by compassionate love of others. Works Cited Bakhtin, Mikhail. Problyemi tvorchestva Dostoevskogo. Kiev: Next, 1994. Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. Trans. Constance Garnett. New York: Signet Classic, 1986. Gibson, A. Boyce. The Religion of Dostoevsky. London: SCM Press Ltd, 1973. Hansen, Bruce. â€Å"Dostoevsky’s Theodicy.† Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1996. At . accessed 18 November 2001. Knox, John. â€Å"The Problem of Evil and Suffering.† At . 18 November 2001. Kraeger, Linda, and Joe Barnhart. 1992. Dostoevsky on Evil and Atonement. Lampeter, Dyfed, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd.

John Downe

John Downe In John Downe’s letter to his wife, he strategically establishes and develops ethos as well as pathos to convince her to join him in the United States with their children. Throughout the letter, Downe develops his credibility through his use of ethos which includes the repetition of â€Å"I. † â€Å"I have got a situation,† â€Å"I dined with him,† â€Å"I went into the market yesterday,† all progress towards the establishment of his plausibility in his wife’s eyes. He provides his wife with examples of the many positive situations he, himself has endured while being in the country of America.Downe hopes that his persuading words will convince her to emigrate with their children to America. â€Å"I know you will like America† is Downe’s primary hope and purpose for writing this persuasive letter. By describing all the things that he has been able to do in this country, â€Å"I can go into a store, and have as much br andy as I like to drink for three half-pence and all other spirits are in proportion,† Downe hopes that these credential words will be approved by his wife.His elaborations on the things he has managed to do in America are essentially used to provoke his wife’s interest in this country. These descriptions are used as reassurance for his wife to know of the great opportunities he has found in America but not back home in England. Downe believes this will strike his wife as another reason why she will enjoy her new life in America and compares their troublesome life in England to the great possibilities that can be accomplished in this new country.He explains, â€Å"this is a country where a man can stand as a man, and where he can enjoy the fruits of his own exertions, with rational liberty to its fullest extent†, hoping that his comparisons to the life in England and the life in America will evoke in his wife a sense of longing for this kind of living. Downe†™s convincing words showing all of the achievements he has experienced in America lead his wife to want this same kind of exposure.Downe continues to expand on the things he has accomplished in America with his development of pathos through long, periodic sentences. He mentions that on the table there was â€Å"pudding, pyes, and fruit of all kind that was in season†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"they do not think of locking the doors in this country† to assure his wife of the safety and prosperity of this country. He then goes on to acknowledge, with emotional appeal, that all he â€Å"wants now is to see you, and the dear children here, and then I shall be happy, and not before†.This is Downe’s development of pathos for the purpose of persuading and influencing his wife to make her decision much easier about emigrating to America with the children. He hopes to influence her decision by explaining how much better off they would be as a family, together in one count ry. Although he announces that he will only be happy if his family comes to America to live with him, Downe concludes that he does not â€Å"repent of coming† and he â€Å"would rather cross the Atlantic ten times than hear my children cry†.By his mentioning that he does not regret one bit coming to America, Downe hopes to display for his wife how great of a country America is. The pathos are purposefully placed there by Downe to show to his wife that although he has left his family, he would do it all over again just to live in the convenient country of America- hoping this will stir some kind of desire in his wife’s mind.Through his emotional words, Downe demonstrates that the travel to America is nothing compared to what this country holds in store for their family. Although he explains to his wife there will be â€Å"a few inconveniences in crossing the Atlantic†, in the end she will enjoy the United States of America. In the midst of his pathos, it i s possible to conclude that Downe’s reason for leaving his family behind is to find opportunity for a new life, which America provides.Through his use of repetition and periodic sentences, John Downe develops credibility and emotional appeal. Through his repetition of â€Å"I†, he is able to bestow upon his wife a feeling of longing for the same freedom and prosperity he has gained when coming to America by showing her all of the things he has accomplished while living in this country. With Downe’s strategic pathos, he manages to convince his wife that all he wants for their family is wealth, health, and land- all of which can be found in America.

As Due by Many Titles I Resign My Self to Thee, O God Â...

In looking at this question, it is my opinion that it is arousing a discussion of the self-denial that religion imposes and also the conflict it imposes on the self. For this I will primarily be looking at Charlotte Brontes ‘Jane Eyre and the poetry of John Donne. The progression of Jane Eyres life is shown by a variety of links to religion due to the many changes in her way of life. Bronte shows her childhood at Gateshead in a passively religious context, but the Red Room scene in Chapter 2 gives the reader an insight into Janes childhood worries of life and death. The contrast of crimson cloth with a snowy Marseilles counterpane (Bronte, Chap 2 ‘Jane Eyre) provides the reader with thoughts of purity versus sin and passion and†¦show more content†¦In contrast, ‘Jane Eyre and Donnes poetry portrays two people with different religious experience and beliefs. Janes best friend at Lowood, Helen Burns, is of a deeply religious disposition and it is her death that shows a link to Janes later thoughts on life and God when faced with the prospect of marrying her cousin St John: I am sure there is a future state; I believe God is good; I can resign my immortal part to him without any misgiving. God is my father; God is my friend: I love him; I believe he loves me. (Bronte, Chap 9 ‘Jane Eyre) Jane questions her relationship with God at this point as she is scared of losing her friend, but Helen reassures her, even though she seems not to believe, by saying, You will come to the same region of happiness: be received by the same mighty, universal Parent, no doubt, dear Jane. (Bronte, Chap 9 ‘Jane Eyre). The interesting aspect to me is the link here to Jane ending her engagement to St John. It is almost as though through Helens death, Bronte is showing us the development of Janes religious side due to life experience. Jane decides she cannot marry St John and tells him, God did not give me my life to throw away (Bronte, Chap 35 ‘Jane Eyre) and superstitiously because of the engagement break-off, prayed in my way Ââ€" a different way to St Johns, but effective in its own fashion (Bronte,