Brave New World 2

How do the individuals feel about their society?
As a whole, this society seems to be filled with very happy people, but I wonder how many individuals feel the same as Bernard? Bernard is an obvious exception within his class, but he is still superior to other people in that society. It is possible that many lesser individuals in the Onestate feel as if they have been cheated of a better opportunity at life. This I prevented by the Onestate by one of their hypnotic messages that says "Every one works for every one else." It is possible that a member of a lesser class to realize that his life is not a good as the lives of those above you. One could realize that this message is false, and, therefore, the Onestate is false.

How close are we to this society?
I believe that we are closer than we would like to believe. The religious reverence of technology that is iconic of the Onestate is similar to our love of social electronics that we have today. We also have similar mentalities about drugs to make our lives better. These ideas might not be to the extremity of soma, but we do have a large variety of pills and other medications that make our lives better. We also have marijuana, which is currently illegal but will probably be legalized in the next few years, that has a similar euphoric yet suppressing effect. This drug is also considered to be fine to smoke, which is similar to the idea that " a gram is better than a damn."

How does the Onestate deal with nonconformists?
This question is clearly addressed in 1984. It is very clear how they deal with people who don't buy into their system. This situation is obviously not a huge problem in the Onestate, but the fact there is a person who does not believe that the Onetate is good. This presets a threa to the Onestate that they should have a system to deal with. "don't you want to be happy in your own way?". This question threatens everything the Onestate is supported by.

Brave new world 1

The government in the world state has created conformity by cloning humans and creatig them specialized toward their specific social class. They eliminate by having an almost spiritual reverence for technology. Their calendar is based off if when Ford invented the model T. They have transformed sexual activity into some recreational sport, comparable to golf. They have eliminated all individual rights by having a persons social class decided for them before they are even born. Although the people are content with their society, I believe that this is a distopia because there are no real feelings in this world. Human life is very undervalued, and the lack of true emotion is defenitly evident through some if the characters thoughts. We see an example of this in the passage where John basically sumataizes his feelings about this world that begins with "Mother, monogamy,romance" (41). These thing are the aspects o life that John believes this society lacks and needs.  

1984 blog 3

At the end of 1984, Winston and Julia are caught by the thought police and are tortured until they submit to the party's control. They both betray each other in the face of unbearable physical pain. Big brother has definitely won in this situation because e has taken two people who were dedicate o destroying him and forced them to love him. If the One state's torture methods are as effective as they are described, it would be very difficult for a small group of people to have any effect. In order to have any kind of effect, there would have to be a mass realization that the party and the one state are depriving them of basic personal freedoms. This is extremely unlikely and could only be caused by some major event (i.e.the death of big brother). Winston has become completely brainwashed by the party. He used to feel sickened and angry at the sight of big brother, but there is a scene at the end the book where Winston sees big brother and immediately feels safe and happy. This drastic behavioral change is the evidence of Winston's and the rebellion's permenant defeat.

This Land is Your Land

1. This song is supporting individualism. This is prevalent in the line at the beggining of the last stanza: "nobody living can ever stop me."
2. This song is anti-government because it mentions wellfare and how it destroys people's freedom.

The Egg

1. The father started out as a nice person, but the ambition and greed caused by the egg made him mean.
2. The narrator hates chickens and eggs.
3. The grotesques symbolize the negative change in the father's personality.
4. The egg overcame the father's happiness and replaced it with ruinous ambition.

Aristotle quote

I definitly agree with this quote because it stresses the importance of looking at the other side of an issue. Even if you don't agree with that side, an understanding of the counter argument will give you a better understanding of the issue as a whole.

Individualist v. Collectivist

1. An individualist society values confidence and self reliance. A collectivist society values a hardworking and compassionate individual.
2. The society that vaules the oldest family is collectivist because they respect a prosperous and secure group. The socuety that values the PhD is individualistic because the PhD has succeeded through his own accomplishments.
3. A collectivist teacher who goes to an individualistic culture may encounter some conflicts. Some of the teacher's intellegent students may think that they are being underappreciated because the teacher treats everyone the same.
4. An aquataince is someone the you know but not well enough to be a friend. This word has a neutral connotation.