Brave New World III

Were the main factors that caused John's suicide internal or external?

Is Huxley personally in support of against the world state throughout the novel?

Which state sponsored control of individualism is more effective: fear and suppression, or pleasure and bliss?

Brave New World II

   Is the one state a perfect society?
   While there are many things that I personally, or anyone from our society would miss in the one state, no one starves. In our society, our free choice is based on the idea that any person has the ability to change their economic and social status. Because of this, some people have more, and some less. In our society, we have free choice, but also poverty, starvation, and a large amount of unhappiness. In the one state, everyone is happy, and everyone has enough money. In my opinion, the loss of free choice is worth the guarantees of universal happiness and quality of life.
   Can the one state run out of soma?
   One question presented by many others is the problem that would be presented at the sudden loss of soma. While the society is completely dependent on the drug, the one state cannot run out of it. All aspects of the society are controlled by the few leaders of the government, and they are well aware that people are dependent on soma. If anything ever happened to a resource used in the making of soma, the one state would know beforehand and would have the ability to create a new drug to replace soma after it ran out.
   Why is the one state successful?
   In general, throughout history, no communist society has been very effective. In general, quality of life is very low, and governments become far too powerful over the people. In the one state, there are two key differences. People are subliminally trained to like their position in life, and the one state is organized. While we technically could provide a high standard of life to everyone in the world with the resources that we have, we have yet to do it in any system of government. The one state is organized in its control over life to the point of achieving that quality of life for everyone within. Also, people are content with their life positions. Along with the subliminal messages, many other aspects of the one state are designed to keep all people completely content with who they are. One of the main problems of modern communism is internal conflict about peoples different jobs and equal wealth, and the one state that found a way to keep people content.    

In A Brave New World, conformity is created by early conditioning. Children are all produced in the same way, and many people in the same class are identical. People are predestined to do things and they are designed from conception to do those tasks. To reduce conflict, Everyone is, from birth, made to accept who they are in society. People, even in the lowest classes, are taught to love their jobs because they will only every do those jobs. Also, soma, a powerful drug, is given to the population. The society forces happiness by predestining people for their jobs and convincing them from birth to be happy about them. By taking all individuality and making all people part of a "machine", room for conflict and unhappiness is gone. This society is a dystopia. In this society, class is predestined, and there is nothing that anyone can do to change it. Aside from 10 massively powerful world leaders, all people fall into one of five categories of person. People have no choice or individuality, and therefore, this is a dystopia.

Everyday use

1) Dee and Maggie react differently due to their personalities. Dee only cares about what she wants, while Maggie is less selfish. Maggie wants less, but also gets less. Dee also feels superior to everyone in her culture. She shows this by reading to people. "she used to read to us, forcing lies, other people's habits" (Walker 258).
2) Dee others her culture by getting an education. "We raised the money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school" (Walker 258). This makes her feel above that culture. By being more educated and by being in a situation of higher class, Dee considers herself better that the others.
3) The author is on Maggie's side. Throughout the story, Dee is shown as selfish and rude, while Maggie is humble and caring. The author believes that being respectful and not above your heritage is important.

Love Language Video

I assumed that the woman was wearing headphones and listening to music.
I do not believe that it is cultural because in my opinion being deaf isn't a culture.
The man can't talk to the deaf woman.
The man has to overcome fear to talk to the woman.
He talked to her and asked her out.

Double Vision

It would be very hard to be an American in a polygamous relationship. The reason for this is that the main American culture looks down upon polygamy. A polygamist may be discriminated against at work, in public, or in any other part of daily life. One possible conflict is a polygamist's coworker who strongly opposes polygamy may try to convince them that it is wrong.
    Double vision can make a person look negatively upon themselves. The opinion of the masses has a huge effect on a person's mentality and if a person's beliefs, customs, or culture conflicts with the mainstream cultre, they may acquire a negative opinion of themself.

  

The subjest of Dave Barry's "Batting Clean Up and Striking Out" is that men and women are vey different. This is illustrated in the way that he opens the essay. His opening idea begins with "the main difference between men and women is...". This shows that he believes in generalizing all men, women, and their differences.

"Batting Clean Up and Striking Out” was written in 1988. The date is provided in the prologue section. The prologue talks about this essay and many others like it written by Dave Barry. The prologue also discusses when they were written. This essay was also probably was written at the author’s house. This is because he mentions his kids and family many times in the essay.

The author’s specific audience is married men. This is shown when he talks about him and his friends’ wives. The author’s general audience for thia essay is men. This audience is revealed by multiple small jokes about women that women could find offensive. For instance, when the author says that they can see individual “molecules of dirt”. This shows the audience because women wouldn’t enjoy that joke nearly as much as men would.

Barry’s purpose in writing this was to entertain. This is shown on the first page when he explains that the reason that Pompeii was lost was that men didn’t notice the ash until after they were buried. Here, he is not serious, but joking, solely for the purpose on entertainment.

Dave Barry, The New York Times funniest man in America, believes that men are not very good at cleaning. This value is shown when he says that he would clean his son’s bathroom, only to have his wife tell him to do it again. This shows that he honestly was not very good at cleaning. Barry also believes that men are naturaly also more attracted to sports that women are. An example of this is in the end of the essay when the four friends are eating dinner and the author explains the men’s plan to watch the world series. This backs up his point that men care more about sports than women do.

Dave Barry shows a sarcastic attitude about the differences between men and women. One place where this is shown is when he said that his wife interrupted him from doing a “very important project on an etch-a-sketch”. He is obviously being sarcastic when he says this. Another example is when he alludes to “The Tell Tale Heart”. He says he can hear the world series becoming louder and louder until he finally had to break down and watch. Of course, this isn’t true, and he was being sarcastic.

           

1984 book 3

In the end of 1984, Big brother has definitely won. Winston, in reality, was not an abnormal case. The reason that the ministry of truth exists is to make sure that people who begin to question big brother, like Winston, are “corrected”. The party’s compensation for the fact that people will always begin to question totalitarian power is to be able to repress those thoughts extremely effectively. The purpose of this book is to show that a totalitarian government could keep effectively indefinite power over its citizens and to show how dangerous totalitarian power is. The only way to bring down big brother would have to be a movement spread through the Proles to expose the party to the common people for what it is. The only unregulated people are the Proles, so only they could be able to plan this event. The party has the resources to suppress rebellious thoughts of a certain number of people at any one time. The demonstration would have to be large and powerful enough to cause more rebellion than the party could suppress. Then it would be possible to a real rebellion to form and for the party to be overthrown. In the end, Winston becomes another one of the many drones of the party who believe anything they are told. After Winston has been tortured and made to believe anything, O’Brien lets him ask questions. When he asks, “Does [big brother] exist in the same way as I” exist?” O’Brien replies that “you do not exist”. Winston knows that his nonexistence cannot be proved, but decides that arguing this is pointless, so he believes him. The reason for this is that humans have a breaking point where they can be physically forced to believe anything at all. The party can effectively control their general population by changing history and by occupying their thoughts with war. Anyone that isn’t convinced completely will be convinced by physical pain in the ministry of love. The combination of the three ministries and the repression of any secret communication ensures that the people will never rebel and will believe anything.

Is this land made for you and me?

His message is collectivist. He is saying that America is the people's country and that the people should make it perfect with no hunger, poverty, or conflict.

This is anti-government because he implies that the government is making people starve when there is enough food for everyone.

The Egg

He was a hard working but not outgoing person. He didn't do much but work on the farm and go into town for a couple of beers. After marriage, he left the farm to travel with his new wife.

He hates chickens. He thinks they ruined his childhood. He also thinks that they are horrible creatures that do nothing but die.

We should look at how it affects his writing. It may cause him to be cautious against optimism.

American friendship

Americans would be perceived in this way because Americans value independence. Americans, according to the article, rarely turn to their friends with their problems. If Americans want help, they will also usually be direct. While Americans seem to not know friendship, they simply approach it differently.

Collectivism and Individualism

In collectivist cultures, motivation, teamwork, and team-gain are ideal. In an individualist culture, personal gain and achievement is emphasized.

In individualistic cultures, the senior member of a group is unlikely to be challenged. This is because not everyone is the group is considered equal.

If a boy grew up in an individualistic culture, then entered a collectivist environment school environment, he may try to compete with the students. This aggressive competition may cause a conflict.

An acquaintance is a person who you have met. It has no connotation. It neutrally means someone who you barely know.

2+2=5

Lyrically, he is talking about oppression. Throughout the song, he says things like "where two and two always make five", and "hail to the thief". Allusions such as these to 1984 by George Orwell have connotations of extreme oppression.

The sound of the song in addition to the singer's dark voice gives off a fearful submissive sound. Just hearing the song makes me feel like the singer has given up.

In 1984, The concept of 2+2=5 is symbolic of the inability to control one's life. In 1984, the party makes people believe anything, even obvious lies like 2+2=5. The singer is using this allusion to describe his thoughts on this type of extreme oppression.

Globalization Conflict

The conflict is the objectification of women due to globalization. It is external because other people are judging Muslim women.
She means that western culture overpowers all other cultures and that nothing external can change western culture. Globalization causes conflict because it makes unfamiliar cultures interact.

Western culture does give good role models for women of both cultures.

The Qu'ran and The Constitution

How Orwellian are we?

Winston cannot buy into what The Party says because he knows that they openly lie. Working in the ministry of truth, and being aware, he notices the countless times they lie to suppress the people. In my opinion, his acts are not protests. While he rebels, and wants to protest, he does nothing to influence many other people's opinions. However, he was rebelling against The Party. Similar rebellion today is frowned upon. People often look down on people who don't follow social norms or rebel by being different. The difference is that in our society, it is social pressure compared to government legal force in 1984. While rebelling isn't common or easy in our society, we are not restricted against it by penalty of death. Because of this, we not very Orwellian at all. In reality, we can do nearly anything that we want, and comparing us to 1984 society is a radical overstatement.

1984 pt 1

In Oceania, the totalitarian dictatorship “The Party” headed by Big Brother controls all aspects of life. People are under constant surveillance, and there is no free thought. The Party controls the people with fear and power. The regime is so strong and controlling, that the population will accept even blatantly false statements as true. As Winston thought, “In the end the party would announce that two and two make five.” They also control 85% of the population by keeping them in such poverty that they do not pose a threat to the party. To be in the top 15%, you almost always had to work for the party. Although 15% of people work for the party, they do not live lavish lives either. Most of the party officials still had low rations of food and were controlled in every aspect of life, including thought. The party also controlled the people by changing history. Where Winston works, he changes history books so that they match with the party and its “history”. Not only do they restrict free thought, they also restrict the right to truth. Under their rule, whatever they say is true. If anyone denies it, they will be killed. This creates mental equality, but doesn’t create real equality. The top 15% is equal in what they receive and how they think, but the bottom 85% are much poorer and also are less regulated in how they think and act. This society is definitely a dystopia, because while the people are equal in some regard, all people are repressed and without any freedom.

Utopia

A utopia is a perfect world. It is a concept of a world where everything is perfect
My perfect utopia would be where I own the earth and all things on it. This is because there is no perfect utopia for everyone. The only way to live in a utopia is where you own the utopia.

Chuck Baird

-Baird enjoys painting the mouth and hands.
In all of the paintings, mouths and hands are emphasized.
-He may be deaf.
He emphasizes lips(lip reading) and hands(sign language).
-He paints because other artistic media aren't available to him.

If he is deaf, other media of art would be hard for him to produce.

You were right

One of the main lines of the song is "you were wrong when you said everything is gonna be alright." Throughout the song, the lyrics say you were right multiple times, only on this line do they say "you were wrong".
The song was passionate. It had a higher tempo than was expected and that created a happier more passionate sound/mood.

This song was effective at sending a message because I immediately could see the allusions and pick out which lines were important.

Children vs Adults

This painting shows the gap between children and young adults. The young adult has a gun, a car, and a girl, while the child only has a walking stick.
The family is not very wealthy.
They have a very old car.
The young boy is the focus of the painting. He is wearing red, which is very bright and contrasts the other colors.
In this painting, Bartlett is attempting to distinguish the lifestyles of the boy and the adult. The man has a car, a gun, and a girl, but the child, who is facing away, is content with a walking stick.

Critical Reading

The critical reading process outlined in the essay is very specific and tells many specific angles you can analyze a piece of writing. It talks first about the original preparation before reading. It talks about how that before reading a piece, analyzing things about the author and situation it was written in. This helps the reader get an idea for context on the piece before they even start reading. It also talks about actively reading and marking any time you see something interesting or that you do not understand. Also, the essay gave many different ways to think about a piece of writing to try and analyze what it really means. It tells specific aspects such as purpose of the author, tone, imaging, inferences, and titles. The main idea of this essay is that a piece of writing has much more to offer than simply what can be absorbed by skimming of even reading once.

Voice

1)Voice in literature is the writing style and opinions of the author.

2)A person automatically creates voice when writing. When two people write about the same thing, their writing will be different. This is because of their literary voice.

3)In Eastern KY, there is a large emphasis on integrity. You can tell a writer;'s background and opinions through voice.

4)Voice is important in writing to create trust with the reader and individuality.

Beatles, metal vs classic

Out of these two versions, I definitely prefer the classic. I love The Beatles and this is one of my favorite songs by them. When I hear any versions of a song that is so classic in my mind, I instantly think of them as cheap imitations of the real thing. Because of this, I will always prefer the original over any covers.

I also believe that the original version was more aesthetically pleasing than the metal version. The sad mood that this song is based on does not translate well in a heavy metal playing style. Also, the sounds made by the non distorted string instruments and the voices in The Beatles' version were smoother and easier on the ear.
P.S. Sorry that these posts are so late. I missed a couple days last week and have been backed up with homework since.

Pollock vs. Kandinsky

Out of these two paintings, I prefer the Kandinsky. The Kandinsky painting uses movement, shapes and bright colors that I find more interesting and thought provoking than the homogeneous style of the Pollock. When I look at the Pollock, I take away all that I can immediately. I instantly get a mood and feel of the painting, but beyond that, there isn't much to think about when looking at it. The Kandinsky not only gives off a mood and feel, but also then gives abstract shapes and images that can be pondered and interpreted.
While the Pollock is visually pleasing, I believe that the Kandinsky is much more so. The Pollock uses mostly neutral colors and has no forms or shapes in it. The eye catching colored shapes in the Kandinsky make it more appealing personally.

Single effect

The single effect that I got from this short film is that there is beauty and opportunity everywhere.

-Him specifically saying that there is beauty and opportunity everywhere

-The sign holders working together to send him the message in the end

-The girl who he never talks to

If I set it during a warm time of year, it would change the atmosphere and would make it not send as strong of a message.

Good Old Desk

Subject-an "old desk" is the real subject, but he is talking about god
Occasion-Telling listeners about his love for god

Audience-People who bought his music, people who may not believe in god

Purpose-To express feelings about god

Speaker-Harry Nilsson

Tone-Endearing

Its always there
never needs a rest

we never say a word, but thats perfectly fine with me

Shooting an elephant

The subject of George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant is Guilt. The idea of guilt is illustrated by The large amounts of guilt felt by the main character after killing the elephant. When he kills the elephant, he does not actually want to , but is pressured into doing it. After seeing it suffer for a half an hour, the guilt this causes him is great.

Shooting an Elephant was written in autumn of 1936. This is illustrated by the publication date. Because it tells exactly when it was first published, we can easily infer when it was written. The probable place of this essay's creation was in Burma. This is because it took place there. More than likely, Orwell still wrote it while in Burma.

The time and place that this essay were created influenced the author because of the culture in Burma at the time. In the text, most Burmese hated Europeans like himself. Because of this, when near the elephant, the pressure caused by the many people who hated him caused him to kill the elephant.

Orwell's specific audience for Shooting an Elephant is people who succumb to peer pressures. The authors largest target audience is revealed by him succumbing to peer pressures and feeling guilty about it. This gives a personal connection to the readers.

The authors general audience for this essay is anyone who feels like the have to do something they will regret. The author's audience is communicated by him feeling forced to kill the elephant and feeling bad about it after. This is relates to anyone who feels the need to do something they'll regret.

The author's purpose in Shooting an Elephant was to express the guilt that can come with succumbing to peer pressure. The pain of this decision is manifested by "But I did not want to shoot the Elephant." He obviously did not want to kill the animal but did it anyway.

George Orwell, writer of many famous novels believes that pointless killing is wrong. This value is illustrated by him saying that he does not like it. It is obvious he hates it if he simply states that he does This influenced the purpose because he is trying to caution against doing something you're against.

Orwell also believes that it is hard to resist peer pressure. This value is illustrated by him succumbing to it in the essay. He is surrounded by Burmese shouting and decides to kill the elephant. This influences the purpose because he feels guilty about succumbing to the pressure in this situation.

Orwell articulates a shameful and dark attitude about his guilt in Shooting an Elephant. These attitudes are expressed with his narration when he states how much he hated killing the animal. These show his shameful attitude, because he is the one expressing the guilt in the essay. The authors tone improves the essay because it adds a personal note. It shows how he felt about what he did. This is because Orwell tells personally how he felt about killing the elephant.

The Runaway

Rockwell's "The Runaway" depicts a young boy and a middle aged man sitting next to each other in a diner. The boy is a runaway and the man is a police officer. He is looking down at and talking to the boy. What Rockwell is trying to relay is that the officer will not take the boy home.The reason was that this type of "counter-culture" behavior was very common in this time period. Rockwell's "The Runaway" overlooks the fundamental rift that was rising in America throughout the 1950s, an emerging counter-culture that was not concerned with America, but rather themselves.

Across the Universe

-Broken light danced before me
-Sounds of laughter
-Restless wind inside a letter box

One image that is a symbol is light. Light is mentioned in multiple places such as when he said broken light danced before him and spoke about a million suns. When he is talking about these, he is speaking about happiness and good things.

Funk.

The overall feel of this song is rhythmic and funky. It is very smooth and flowing. The main elements that put off this vibe are rhythm and instrumentation. The drum and bass rhythms and very stereotypical of jazzy funky music and therefore provide that feel. Also, the running popped bassline and the guitar chinking contribute to this feel. The musician chose the effects and style that they were played with to achieve this sound.

Diego Rivera

S-Workers in a field

O-Revolution in Mexico
A-Mexican people
P-To show respect towards the working man
S-Diego Rivera
Tone-Respectful

The artist wanted us to think about this farmer as being strong and hard working. The focal point of the painting is a hunched-over worker who looks very strong. Because of this, he is calling attention to the fact that the working man is strong and respectable.

Writing a song

His approach to writing a song is to start with the base elements and to add things making it interesting. He takes simple components and makes an average song with them. He then embellishes it making it better.

When I am writing, I generally use a prewrite and occasionally write multiple drafts, but mainly I just write. I also go through a mental process of deciding what to write about, how to write about it, and what to include.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is thinking or remembering back to a time in the past. Generally, it is a good time and these memories are triggered by sensing something from that time.
When listening to this music, images of the 60s and people dancing in an old soda fountain drinking milkshakes appear in my mind. When I think of my childhood, I think of my old house and when I lived there before I was roughly seven or eight. The bits and pieces of memories that I still retain don't form many cohesive pictures. However, a mood and picture is still painted in my head.

Artist's views on poverty.

Some of the contributing factors of poverty are lack of education, family debts, and other problems with money. The artist portrays poverty negatively because the woman and child in the background look frail and sick. The flower girl looks more healthy because she can make money selling flowers, but the woman and child have nothing.
The Author's message about poverty is that it is worse than it seems. By showing the healthy flower girl in the foreground and the more sickly woman and child in the background, he is saying that poverty is worse than it seems to be. One element that supported this is space. The spaces of background and foreground were used to show the healthier flower girl as more visible than the woman and child.

Deciding what is more important.

Contrasting these two opinions is not an easy task. These opinions do not directly argue with one another, they simply are similar. One author's views involve whether abolishing child labor actually helps children, while the other's view involve donating money and morals. While I had small biases on individual concepts and ideas in the songs, I had no serious bias toward one opinion or another. In "Live Free and Die", the issue that is tackled is somewhat more urgent. While child labor is a bad thing, if we do decide to take it away in other countries, many foreign children may then starve. This, is my opinion, is more pertinent, because it directly influences living children. In "The Singer Solution to World Poverty", The "solution" is much more expensive, is much harder to do, and takes longer. While his envisioned world of huge donations and low poverty is very good on paper, economically, the obvious most important plan is the one that is easy, cheap, and does the most obvious good right now. The other problem is that the philosophy of the rich and middle class giving away most of their money to aid the poor has proven itself a system that doesn't work out. This philosophy in essence is moral communism, and to this point, communism does not have a good reputation for creating a high standard of life.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Round and Round

In this song, the atypical instrumentation and style creates a very new sound and mood that is unlike most mainstream music from when it was made in 2010. In this song, the instrumentation and style is also constantly changing, and therefore constantly feels very new. I personally enjoy a song or group that does something new or interesting, and because of this, I liked this song. I think that because I like music that is odd and eccentric, I liked this more.