TOBERMORY EXPLAINED

TONE: The last line of this short story seemed very sarcastic to me, but obviously Clovis felt that it was the truth on some levels. It appeared a very odd way to end the story as everything else was incredibly serious, but this line had a taste of humor. It made me realize how funny it was that I had taken a short story about a cat that spoke bluntly so seriously and it reminded me of the way I should have been feeling during my read.

THEME: In some situations, ignorance is not always bliss. If Appin would have learned the first time that his experiment had essentially failed, he would not have attempted to correct his errors and try again. Eliciting the English language from a cat's mouth was considered a success to him, but he failed to see the big picture. Animals do not have emotions or any cognitive sense like humans do, thus eliminating any type of filter when speaking. The harsh realities exposed through Tobermony's words were too much for the people of his time to handle, thus making his removal necessary. They were satisfied with the discovery of the cat's corpse and did not think twice about empathizing with Appin's later dilemma with the elephant. His failure to recognize his social surroundings resulted in the last line of this short story. He ignored everything that had nothing to do with his attempts at finding another pupil, ultimately causing a death seemingly deserving and accepted by society. 

SEEKING MENTOR

When selecting a mentor, I have a lot of questions because it could be a potential lifetime friendship. I would ask them what kind of connections they had and the amount of experience they had in their area of expertise. It would also be important if they were successful, but have a great personality as well. I would want someone who is caring and invested in my professional growth, but able to give me criticism or a pat on the back when the time comes. I want them to be able to tell me the truth and share a similar value system in both leadership and management. It would be great if they were in the same business area as well as creative, honest, empathetic, and authentic. Business people are very intimidating to me, so approaching one and asking this type of favor and these types of questions kind of scares me. 

Brave New World Essay

Everybody likes to blame society for the cruelness in the world, but the harsh reality is that we are society. Without our opinions and biases, there would be no standard of perfection. The sad part is that all of us crave, on some level, to be accepted by the society we have all created and deeply resent. What's even worse is that people will go to any extent to receive this admission of the societal elites. Brave New World is centered around society and the fact that it is easier to be a part of society and sacrifice your individuality in the pursuit of social acceptance, instead of being labeled as an outcast. Aldous Huxley was very successful in demonstrating this through Bernard Marx's outward conformity while questioning himself inwardly, in order to maintain some of his original characteristics that made him who he was. 

In order to be an outcast, one must first identify the social perfections they should be striving for. The World State has attempted to take the human out of all their citizens, especially their emotions. Bernard Marx actually represented everything that they tried to remove when creating the humans, as seen through his relationship with Lenina as well as his encounters with jealousy and lovesickness. Even though he is an alpha plus, he does not act like one because he was essentially a mistake. As a result of his smaller frame, he is extremely shy and suffers from the fact that he is seen as less than ideal by society simply because of his height. He lacks self-esteem because he cannot get women as easy as the other alphas and their mockery of his failures make him feel like a complete outsider. Bernard was granted a gift through his status as an alpha plus, but his lack of height compared to those with an identical status, paved a path full of obstacles for him. He accepted the fact that he was not created the same as the other alphas, but always seemed to question why. As a result of his individuality, jokes were generated about him and he was socially exiled, making life much more difficult for him.

Fortunately for Bernard, everything changed for him after he visited the Reservation and discovered John. After this, he took advantage of his newly attained status to indulge in the activities previously impossible for him. He publicly criticized things such as sex, but craved them personally, which is apparent after his new found fame. It was easier for him to despise such activities because they were unachievable to him and this view was expected of him because of his outsider status, but he longed for them inwardly. He essentially wanted to be the very thing that he criticized. Hemoltz and John pity him because they know that Bernard is trapped in a body inadequate for their society but reject giving him respect as he refuses to recognize his own errors. It is just more simple for Bernard to go along with the new and perfect lifestyle he now lives than to question his participation in the very activities he once castigated. He plainly exhibits that he is in fact a hypocrite by maintaining his harsh critiques of the World State while being an active participant in its optimal society. Once Bernard was finally accepted by others, his life simplified as he became one of them. His days of being an outsider disappeared, along with his unique identity, but his judgments remained.

Bernard's exclusive position allowed him to both criticize and acknowledge the blemishes of the World State's supposed perfect complexion. He was able to learn that human emotions only allotted space for tragedy in the world he was living in, which is why they tried to suppress them and Bernard was dealt a difficult life because he was able to access them. Growing up as an outcast only made the elitists appear more despicable to Bernard, but when granted an invitation to their lavish lifestyle, he did not refuse because it was the clearest thing to do. While living in their own world, Bernard was able to maintain his negative thoughts about them while engaging in their activities because his originality separated him from the majority and he was not going to risk exile again. Even though Bernard was able to conform to the society he was living in, he still questioned his actions because it was simpler for him to be a part of their world than embrace his individuality if he wished to be granted social acceptance. 

Huxley Interview Essay

According to Aldous Huxley, we are indeed living in the Brave New World. The standard of living in third world countries has slowly been increasing thanks to technological advances, which is causing overpopulation. In Brave New World, they were able to synthetically create 96 humans where only one would have been biologically produced in nature, suggesting a high chance for overpopulation to take place. Another result of technological advances includes "overorganization", which is quite apparent and essential to this book that we are reading. Humans are able to be more efficient in every aspect of their lives because everything is assigned and organized so specifically. We have developed the television, which is as neurologically engaging as staring at a blank wall, and it distracts people too much, according to Huxley.. This could be suggesting that they are distracted from thinking outside of the box since all of the information is given to them without any effort on their part, much like the setting in Huxley's book. Aldous Huxley proclaims that technological devices are our enemies because of all the negative by-products associated with their consumption. He also stated that modern technology is misused since previous technology was neutral and could be used variably. All of these statements voiced by Huxley in his interview strongly suggest that we are in fact, living in the Brave New World as all of these real-life occurrences mirror what happens in his novel.

Today's Lecture

-Utopia didn't originally mean a perfect society but was supposed to connotate that perfection doesn't actually exist (supposed to associate with perfection in a good way because of dystopia)

-Dystopia wasn't coined until 350 years later by John Stewart Mill to contrast with utopia and be an imaginary bad place

-BOTH ARE IMAGINARY

-reification: every culture has it and is used to make an abstract idea something concrete 

- what does it mean for a human to mature?

- Huxley creates social classes so that possibly they know their place in this utopian society to promote order 

- Henry Ford invented assembly line, which is what they use in the factories and thus highly respect him and his philosophies  and don't tell them American history before him

Lit terms: list 6

I1. Simile: a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison

2. Soliloquy: an extended speech, usually in drama, delivered by a character alone on stage

3. Spiritual: a folk song, usually on a religious theme

4. Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking

5. Stereotype: cliche, a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story

6. 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

7. Structure: the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization

8. Style: the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking

9. Subordination: the couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language

10. Surrealism: style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or irrational aspects of man's existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre 

11. Suspension of disbelief: suspend not believing in order to enjoy it

12. Symbol: something which stands for something else, yet has its own meaning

13. Synesthesia: the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense

14. Synecdoche: another form of name changing where a part stands for the whole

15. Syntax: the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence 

16. Theme: main idea of the story; its message

17. Thesis: proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed or (dis)proved; the main idea 

18. Tone: devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author's perceived point of view

19. Tongue in cheek: type of humor where the speaker feigns seriousness; aka "dry"

20. Tragedy: in literature: any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically flawed 

21. Understatement: the opposite of hyperbole; saying less than what you mean for emphasis 

22. Vernacular: everyday speech

23. Voice: textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer's or speaker's persona

24. Zeitgeist: the feeling of a particular era in history

Passionate Learning & the Future

Learning and the future are directly related. We all have the ability to shape the future, but those who are wise are usually in charge of this. People who look to the future tend to be the most practical ones and the ones who are most concerned about it. The love of learning can inspire one's vision of the future by helping them see what they want in the world. Passion is a very strong thing and once it is set free, there is no stopping it. 

Everyone has a different perception of the future and they are all molded by what they have received from life so far. Optimists tend to have a bright vision of the future while those who don't enjoy life as much tend to think negatively of it. When you love something, you are completely passionate about it. This world would be such a different place if everyone was determined to love learning. The great part is that everyone could love learning about something different since we all have varied interests and this would improve the entire process as there would be experts in every category. Interest, passion, and love are all very powerful and when they are geared towards learning, the unthinkable can happen. People will take their passion as far as it will let them and let their minds explore the creative side to what they are studying. Once people are knowledgeable, they start to put their own spin on things and thus create the future. Their love of learning can inspire innovative ways of thinking and once they start applying their visions to reality, magic happens. The love of learning can inspire such a bright and positive vision of the future. This rarely happens, however, because everyone is expected to learn the same thing at identical paces without room to explore what they are truly passionate about and let their love for it blossom. 

Side note: sorry for the lack of content, I just felt as if I was repeating myself throughout the entire thing and felt it was time to stop.