Brave New World Reading Entry #2

Question #1: Will Helmholtz expose the people to what is really going on in the society?

At the end of this section, we learned that Helmholtz got in trouble for reading some rhymes that he wrote about solitude. The students that he read to had been warned against being alone through sleep-teaching and trying to put any ideas other than these in their minds is taking a very big risk. When describing how he felt, Helmholtz said, "As though I were beginning to be able to use that power I feel I've got inside me -- that extra, latent power. Something seems to be coming to me" (Huxley 187). To take such a big risk could only mean that there was some meaning behind it, which he confesses in these lines. He felt something inside of him that urged him to expose the students to some other ideas that what they have been taught all of their lives. I believe that if he did this once, there is nothing stopping him from doing it again, possibly in even stronger ways. I think that Helmholtz's actions foreshadow this even bigger exposure that will happen sometime soon in the story and will have great effects.

Question #2: Why does John refuse to be with Lenina?

When Bernard brings John back to the "Other Place" from the Reservation, Lenina makes it known that she is interested in John, but he denies her when she is expecting to be with him. Having come from a place where he was always the outcast to a whole different world in which he is the main interest of the majority of the population, one would expect him to embrace this. Why, then, when a beautiful woman like Lenina strongly pursues him, does he resist being with her? I believe that, even though he would like to, he cannot get past the great amount of cultural differences that lie between the two. Huxley writes, "The sensation on his lips! He lifted a hand to his mouth; the titillation ceased; let his hand fall back on the metal knob; it began again" (174). This happens when John and Lenina were at the feelies and it is obvious that John was giving into the pleasure that was previously unknown to him. After it was over, though, his attitude takes a complete change and he says that the film was horrible. I believe this demonstrates that even though he wanted to be with Lenina, like he wanted to enjoy the feelies, he could not look past the differences that they have and be with her, much like he could not enjoy the movie at the end because it was so unlike the culture that he was used to.

Question #3: Why does the Director react in the way he does to the return of Linda?

Since the Director took Linda along with him on his vacation to the Reservation where she had supposedly gotten lost and was left behind, one would think that he would be glad to finally see her again. By acting like he did not know who Linda was, I believe that his account of their trip to the Reservation was not true. Anyone who is reunited with someone they thought that they lost would show affection for them and be very emotional, which the Director clearly did not do. He was very shocked and not happy to see her there, which makes me believe that the reason Linda was left behind was not by accident and that there is a whole other story behind that trip. I don't know exactly what could have happened, but I definitely do not think that Linda got lost and fell into a gully.

Don't You Want Me

1. The subject is a man who wants a girl but she doesn't want him back. He is desperate and keeps asking her if she wants him.
2. The difference in the two sides is that the man says that the woman would not be as successful as she is if it wasn't for him. She says that she would have made it without him.
3. I side with the man bacause I feel sympathy for him. He desperately wants this woman.  They had a good relationship and he believes that she grew and became successful because of him. I think the woman is kind of harsh for leaving him after what has happened and how good the relationship was described as.

Brave New World Reading Entry #1

In Brave New World, I do not believe that they have created equality at all. Though there is equality within each caste, be it Alpha, Gamma, or Epsilon, there are huge differences between the rights and position in society of the five groups. Individuals are produced in whichever way the leaders of society and the Director wants them to be and they never have a choice about anything. They have reduced conflict by putting the idea in the mind of all the individuals that they should be happy in whatever caste that they are in shortly after birth and all the way up until they are adults. Individuals are told that Ford is the greatest being ever and that they should worship him like many people worship God today. I believe that this society is definitely a distopia because, even though conflict has been eliminated and the society runs very smoothly, people are unknowingly forced to belong to a certain caste and over half of the society is deprived of some very important rights. "... the Alphas and Betas remained until definitely bottled; while the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons were brought out again, after only thirty-six hours, to undergo Bokanovsky's Process." This shows how, from before birth, the members of the different castes were treated very different and did not have a chance to be like any other caste member. A society that deprives individuals of opportunities to live a free life the way they want to is definitely a distopia.

Emic/Etic Perspectives

1. There are many benefits of both the Emic and Etic perspectives. With the Emic perspective, the anthropologist submerges himself in the culture that he is trying to learn about. This can allow him to fully understand first hand what the culture is about by directly experiencing the culture. With the Etic perspective, an anthropologist can look at the structure of the culture to understand it on a scientific basis. I believe that the Emic perspective is better because I don't think that there is any better way to learn about something than to experience it first hand.
2. The rule about realizing your bias is important so that those beliefs and view can be taken into account when you are analyzing another culture. It is important to have an informant so that you are not a complete stranger and you can at least understand a little about what is going on without making huge assumptions. Finally, you need to let the subjects know what you are doing so that they feel comfortable with you there. If they don't know what you are doing, they may be fearful and act differently.

Rain on the Scarecrow

1. This song is about rain on a scarecrow. There is also blood on a plow. The person obviously lives on a farm because he has a scarecrow and a plow.
2. Some conflicts that the song would address are that the scarecrow would get all wet and soggy and the plow would get dirty because of the blood.
3. Mellencamp uses symbols of rain and blood to represent the hard times in his life.
4. Mellencamp chooses words like "blood" and "rain" because he is sad and he wants to die.
5. Mellencamp seems to favor dry scarecrows. He represents the dry scarecrows sympathetically. He seems to be on the side of the scarecrow.

SOAPSTone: Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out

Subject: The subject of Dave Barry’s Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is that men and women are completely different from each other. The differences between men and women are illustrated by the stories that he tells about cleaning the bathroom and watching the World Series. In both of these stories, Barry singles out one specific way that males and females differ and explains that difference with a very descriptive and understandable example. In his first story, he focuses on the difference of cleanliness and in the second, he focuses on the subject of sports.

Occasion: Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out was written during the mid to late 1900s. The essay’s time of creation is conveyed when he tells the second story about going to his friend Maddy’s house for an evening. The main point of this story is that he really wanted to be watching a World Series game on the television or listening to it on the radio. For him to be able to do this, a lot of technology would have had to be around at that time, which is how I came to the conclusion that the essay was written in the mid to late 1900s. The probable place of the essay’s creation is somewhere in the United States. As I said before, in the second story he tells, he wants to watch a World Series game. This indicates to me that it was probably written in America, which is where the World Series takes place.

The time and place of the essay’s creation influence the essay by helping the reader understand what men and women were like around that time and in America. Barry writes, “…we could actually feel the World Series television and radio broadcast rays zinging through the air…” This helps us understand what men were like at that time, like how highly they valued sports.

Audience: Dave Barry’s specific audience for Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is adult men and women. The author’s target audience is identified in the entirety of the essay because its main focus is to show the differences between men and women. Adults would be able to identify and relate more to this essay than anyone else would, which is why they are the target audience.

The author’s general audience for the essay is anyone living in America who is a teenager or older and has a sense of humor. The author’s general audience is expressed by the humor he uses in his essay. Barry says, “…I always get letters from women who say they are the heavyweight racquetball champion of some place like Iowa…they could crush my skull like a ripe grape…” Anyone who has a decent sense of humor can easily appreciate the jokes that Barry uses throughout his piece, which is why they are the general audience.

Purpose: Dave Barry’s purpose in Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is to show that men and women have many differences that will always exist. The ever-present differences between men and women is shown when he says, “The primary difference between men and women is that women can see extremely small quantities of dirt.” Barry is directly stating a difference between males and females here, right off the bat, in the first line of the essay. The purpose is further revealed by his continuous contrasting of men and women throughout the essay with different stories. These stories provide relatable examples of how men and women are different which helps convey his purpose.

Speaker: Dave Barry, whom the New York Times has called “the funniest man in America”, believes that men and women are completely different groups of people with opposing characteristics and values. This value is illustrated when Barry is describing the situation that often occurs in his home where his wife wants him to clean the bathroom. He and his wife have completely different views on what clean is, which shows that he thinks men and women are very different and do not have very similar personalities.

Dave Barry, who worked as a journalist for five years, also believes that, despite the differences between men and women, positive interaction between the two groups is enjoyable and positive. When Barry is talking about his friend Maddy inviting him, his wife, and others over for an evening, he says that would be fine, if only there wasn’t a World Series game on television. This shows how, had there not been a game on, he would have been happy to spend a nice evening with both sexes.

Dave Barry’s use of allusion is evident when he talks about Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart. The author’s use of this allusion to Poe’s work gives an example from another work of literature that much of his audience has most likely read to help readers better understand the point he is trying to get across, which is how much he wants to watch the World Series.

Tone: Dave Barry exhibits a humorous and playful attitude about the differences between men and women in Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out. These attitudes are expressed by the use of words and phrases like “crush my skull like a ripe grape”, “I think about this bar where I used to hang out”, and “moving very quickly for a big man holding a baby”. These tone words express the humor and playfulness of the piece because they are jokes and exaggerations that are evident parts of his humor. The tone serves the purpose of the essay, which is to tell the differences between men and women, because the differences are a fact of life and many people have come to associate them with humor, which is what Barry did in this piece.

Reading Response

1. The narrator's tone in number 1 is eerie and suspenseful. Words that created this tone are "gloomy", "figures", "dark", "wild", "apparition", "treading", "bizarre", "mysterious", and "sorrowful".
The narrator's tone in number 2 is strong and confident. Words: "muscle", "vitality", and "energy".
The tone in number 3 is sympathetic. Words: "toiling", "slow", "rags", "waggled", "meager", and "panted".
2. The tone in muber 4 is frightened and amazed. At the beginning, he is frightened but by the end he is amazed. The narrator mentions the "white man" to show how different the two groups of people are and how he views them.

1984 Reading Journal #3

I believe that Big Brother has won. At the end of the book, Winston is in support of Big Brother, which is what the Party wanted all along. The only chance there was for Big Brother to lose was if Winston lived his whole life with his thoughts against Big Brother or acted upon them. Through torture, Winston was brainwashed into believing that Big Brother should be trusted and his thoughts against the Party were gone. I believe that the One State could be brought down if a member of the Party began having feelings similar to Winston's against Big Brother. That person could use their power to influence other's opinions little by little. Soon, many people would have these same ideas and the Party would not be able to control them. At then end of the book, I believe that Winston was brainwashed. Orwell wrote, "He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." Throughout the entirety of the story aside from the very end, Winston had negative views of Big Brother. For him to think that loving Big Brother is a personal victory, I believe that something must have been wrong with his mind.

Love Language

1. Assumptions:
      1. The girl is deaf.
      2. The boy likes the girl.
      3. The will get married.
2. This is a cultural conflict because the girl is deaf and the boy is not. They have lived completely different lives and having a relationship would be very difficult.
3. The two people can not speak to each other, which means their relationship would be difficult.
4. The boy would have to decide if he wants to try to have a relationship with the deaf girl.
5. The conflict was resolved because he still likes her, even after he finds out that she is deaf.