Modernity versus Superstition

“Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain” (Dracula 228). Throughout Dracula there seems to be a constant battle between modernization, particularly advances in science, and superstition. The main characters actually find themselves being preyed upon precisely because their modern knowledge. Their modern thought prevents them from identifying the true nature of their predator. However the triumph of old superstitious thought over new scientific reasoning is seen in the end when Van Helsing, the only character who possesses the knowledge of both the new and the old world, defeats the monstrous Dracula.

Bram Stoker first wrote Dracula between 1847 and 1912. During this time people were also going through an enlightenment stage. As modern women were beginning to find their identity and the new advances in modern medicine, science, and technology began to hit the streets, the world was becoming a bigger and more confusing place. Questions before explained by religion and other superstitions were now being answered by modern scientific means. Stoker lived in an age in which people were now being equipped to question, if not dismiss, the religious doctrines that had formed the basis of moral and social order for centuries. In Dracula, Dracula seems to take advantage of a society on the edge of modernization and moral collapse, suggesting that safety lies in the very religious traditions that modernity tempts society to abandon. This is perhaps the same reasoning Stoker had deduced during these changing times.

Throughout the book, the triumph of superstition over science can be seen through both Dracula and Van Helsing victories. “She wants blood, and blood she must have or die.” (Dracula 157). When science fails John and Van Helsing when giving poor Lucy a blood transfusion, Dracula gains victory by still turning Lucy into a vampire. Blood Transfusions were also a new phenomenon during Stoker’s time and perhaps they had not quite caught the grasp on blood typing just yet. Another example of this battle between modernization and superstition is when Lucy actually comes back as a vampire. “Has there been any mistake; has she been buried alive?” (Dracula 244). But Van Helsing finally lays the beast that Lucy has become to rest through abnormal superstitious means.

In conclusion, by using the triumph of old ways and religion over modernity and science,  Stoker seems to invoice a message that new mind thinkers need to open their minds to experiences that may initially seem to counter the new Western approach.

-Aryn Banovic

 

Sex Doesn't Mean Romance

Throughout Beloved, Toni Morrison shows us a number of methods used to contain and control the enslaved, including but not limited to: guns, whips, chains, cages, law, restriction of education, and naming. Above all other tools of subjugation, however, is a methodology so intimate by our perspective that it is easy to shut our eyes to it: sex. Morrison’s use of sex, rather than any other device, serves as the most dynamic tool used by and against the characters depicted in the novel. The act doubles as a symbol for something outside that which a modern audience would normally expect, representing dominance, triumph, and slavery as well as occasional love and tenderness.

The first time we see sex in the book is immediately after Paul D chases away the baby ghost. He and Sethe go up the stairs to her bedroom, where their enjoyment is so fast that “it was over before they could get their clothes off” (24). At first glance, this encounter seems to be well within the limits of what a modern audience might expect. Yet, Paul D’s thoughts reveal a subconscious second purpose. When he follows Sethe up the stairs, he thinks back to the times on Sweet Home, when Sethe was Baby Sugg’s replacement and all the Sweet Home men lusted after her in silence. As Paul D follows Sethe up the stairs, he thinks not of their joint pleasure, but that he has beaten back the ghost, and that “now he would do more” (24). Thus, sex becomes the spoils of the winner. A trophy waved over the heads of the slewn. Finally, Paul D has won over the baby ghost, over Halle, and over Sethe’s original refusal of him in choosing Halle.

Later, after Beloved’s arrival, Sethe tells the story about her crystal earrings. She and Halle “marry” in the cornfield with the blessing of their owners. Sethe relates her sadness at there being no ceremony before the consummation of her marriage. Later on, Sethe realizes that “marrying” Halle was not just the consummation of her love for a man. After being around Schoolteacher, Sethe comes to learn that her marriage to Halle produced marketable product for her owners (232). Thus, sex becomes a tool for the proliferation of profit for the benefit of white masters – a tool of subjugation and continued slavery. At the same time, Halle and Sethe are happy being together, producing four children out of their shared happiness.

Conversely, Sixo discovers in his dying moments that his own sex was a sort of weapon against his captors. As he faces his death, he cries out “Seven-O!” In being with his thirty-mile girl, Sixo left a legacy despite his owners. Despite all, a part of him still would escape. He has his epiphany on death’s doorstep, and in his joy, he proclaims his triumph over the white men who had bound him and was preparing to burn him alive. He leaves proof in the world that he was a man, and the white men lost in failing to stop him from doing so (267). Women, too, are used and use sex themselves to a greater purpose.

First, the abuse by masters. Ella, Sethe, and Baby Suggs, and Sethe’s mother all suffered sexual abuse at the hands of owners. Ella was kept in a locked room and used by a father and son, her captivity so horrible that she refers to them as “the lowest yet,” even in the face of all the rest of the world’s atrocities (301). Sethe was raped, abused, and beaten just before her escape from Sweet Home (19).  Baby Suggs and Sethe’s mother both seem to have been used to breed more slaves for their owners, judging from Sethe’s memories of their stories. We know that they each had many children and only seemed to be able to make memories with one respectively. Both, it seems, were subjected to enforced breeding (165). According to Wyatt, the practice of forced breeding was common during the days in which America allowed slavery. It was further encouraged by laws enacted after the Revolution to ban the import of slaves from Africa, thus creating a culture in which breeding was necessary in order to maintain profit on plantations (National Humanities Center). Furthermore, the act of rape, the enforcing of breeding, also served as a psychological weapon against the victims. Being treated as an animal even when engaging in the most intimate of activities further bound the enslaved of the time (Davis).

Conversely, women in Beloved also used sex to their advantage. Beloved seduces Paul D for the purpose of distracting him from Sethe and driving him out of the house (137). Sethe pays for Beloved’s headstone by giving the engraver “ten minutes” between her legs (5).

If we take into account all the mentions of sex within Beloved and account for their motivations, circumstances, and benefitting parties, it is impossible to claim that they were anything close to simple. Someone always benefitted above the general pleasure/intimacy/romance dynamic. Someone always lost.

That’s my line of thought just now, anyway. I’m still sticky-noting and looking for the strongest evidence, while pulling together historical accounts about sexual abuse in slavery. What do y’all think? Any suggestions to improve the quality of my argument? I’m having a little trouble focusing my thesis into something amazing. Hoping the discussion will help me pin it down just right.

Works Cited:

Davis, Adrienne D. "Slavery and the Roots of Sexual Harassment." Diss. Ed. Catherine MacKinnon and Reva Siegel. Yale University, n.d. Slavery and the Roots of Sexual Harassment. Yale University Press. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. <http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/abramsk/Davis_UNCCH/davis.v4.title.pdf>.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. New York: Vintage International, 2004. Print.

National Humanities Center, comp. "On Slaveholders' Sexual Abuse of Slaves." The Making of African American Identity: 1500-1865 1 (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. <http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/masterslavesexualabuse.pdf>.

Wyatt, Gail Elizabeth. "The Sociocultural Context of African American and White American Women's Rape." Journal of Social Issues 48.1 (1992): 77-91. Print.

Cultural Norms Inflicting Abuse

In a “Woman Hollering Creek”, Cisneros defines not only the personal experiences that many Mexican- American women endure, but also descriptively defining her personal experiences through a developed character named Cleofilas. Cisneros illustrates the Mexican-American woman’s traditions, including her gender role and the repression she faces as a female, and how tending to these traditions can allow the infliction of abuse. Through this story, it is established that there is far more than one Cleofilas, in this country, who demonstrates the bravery of an American women, while maintaining the origins of her Mexican culture. Cisneros ultimately defines a theme of literary awareness: how emotional abuse can result in physical abuse, and in what ways silence can be uncovered through a woman’s strength. Strength to make an independent discovery she, as a woman, is capable of building her own life on her own foundation.

            Gender Roles are clearly defined within the Mexican culture. To women, family is consistently defined as the concern and obligation of the female. Through research it is predominantly found that the traditional Mexican woman is “often passive, allowing their husband to make decisions for [her].  Wives are expected to care for the children, keep the house clean, cook all the meals, and do all the other domestic chores necessary in a family” (Culture Issues for Mexican Women). Quite obviously, these labels are cultural, and Cisneros defines how commonly understood this idea is within the first few pages of her story. In the very beginning, Cleofilas tells us about her wedding arrangements and the way in which they will occur; she predictably explains the idea that “Juan Pedro wants to get married without a long engagement since he can’t take off too much time from work” (364). Her statement defines the common knowledge that the man is ultimately in control. Although this is supposed to be “her day”, Juan Pedro is the determining factor in the ways in which not only their wedding, but many instances in their married life will pan out.

Cleofilas role is also defined in her tendency to submit to Juan Pedro’s hurtful words and emotional ill treatment. Cleofilas clarifies how truly insensitive he is when she tells us what he says to her when she first begins to doubt their relationship, “if [you] had any brains in [your] head [you’d] realize that [I’ve] been up for before the rooster… just leave me in peace, woman”. There are various instances where Juan Pedro inflicts pain on Cleofilas, by making her feel that she has nothing without him. In the same sentence, he makes it clear to her that he is the one who puts “food in her belly” and a “roof over her head” (367). Because he is the man, sole form of income, and culturally identified as the strength, he illuminates the stereotypical Mexican gender roles. Cleofila’s is a housewife, “who went on washing dishes”(369).

She stays, and although she has “A doubt. Slender as a hair” (367), she does not uncover her experience with abuse: not only emotional, but also physically.  Her physical abuse is defined in a raw manner, almost causing the reader to long for her to escape. She stays, and it is also a cultural stigma that ties her down. Women often feel that they must keep the family together at all costs.  Staying together as a family is their priority.  Women may make excuses to their kids for their father's violence, trying to save the kids' respect for their father, so the family will run smoothly (Avalos). Although, her son Juan Pedrito was not quite old enough to understand, there are various instances where Cleofilas creates excuses.

             I have a thesis, but I think once I started writing I began to lose focus. I am very interested in discussing how “Woman Hollering Creek” represents abuse, but I also want to express it through terms of the Mexican Culture (and how Sandra Cisneros used this as an expression to awareness for her culture, and how she personally rose above it). I would love any advice, I know the thesis needs work.

Sources:

Sarafin, Jennifer. Domestic Violence Among Three Immigrant Communities in Rice County: Cambodian, Mexican, and Somali. St. Olaf College, 2003. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.

Cisneros, Sandra. “Woman Hollering Creek.” A Pocket Anthology”. Ed. Michael Meyer. 8th    ed. New York: Bedford, 2008. 95-101. Print. 

Technology in Dracula

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, one can argue that because of the characterization of new-age characters, such as the Harker’s and John Seward, and old-age characters, such as Van Helsing and Count Dracula, Bram Stoker showed how technology can make people overlook what is occurring, whereas older means, such as superstition and religion, can hold people back in modernizing.

            Before we jump into any conclusions on what technology holds for characters, we must first analyze what technology brings to the table. According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, technology can be defined as the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area. Technology, being a “practical application”, can relate to the motto: use it or lose it. If you do not keep practicing or using technology, your skills in technology will worsen over time; for example, a college student using a laptop or writing with a pen during the fall semester for hours a week may finish the summer losing an apprehension of what shortcuts do what and how it truly feels to hold a pen. However, in an article titled “Technology, Wealth and Modern Management” by Slavko Dolinšek and Peter Štrukelj, both employees at the University of Primorska in Slovenia, Rias J. van Wyk, Director of Technoscan Centre in Minneapolis, Minnesota states that technology “is the source of many benefits and most of our wealth…On the other hand it is disturbingly disruptive”. He also goes on to state that “our understanding of technology is poorly structured” (Dolinšek, and Štrukelj 29-30). Although technology can benefit us, it can also harm us. If we do not get a full, complete grasp of what has been developed, then we cannot improve ourselves. In Dracula, Bram Stoker does a fantastic job of showing us how it is beneficial and destructive, beneficial by saving time, yet destructive by distracting attention from the main goals.

            Previously noted, technology can be a good thing, and within the characters of the Harker’s and Dr. John Seward, this beneficial aspect of their lives is recognized within communication and medical reasons, despite its prevalence in blinding them, which we will get to after. This talking is related to Dr. John Seward’s use of the phonograph to record his daily findings in himself, his patient Renfield, his lovely friend Lucy, and his daily activities. He even uses it to help his insomnia and his inability to eat when he states, “Cannot eat, cannot rest, so diary instead…the only cure for this sort of thing is work, I went down amongst the patients” (Stoker 93). This reliance on his form of technology and communication to himself helps him keep his mind under control, and it helps him record his thoughts on his patients easily.

 Stoker does not only use this means of personal benefit in only Dr. Seward, but he also uses it with the beautiful Mina Harker. In a letter to Lucy Westenra, arguably Mina’s best friend, Mina states she is using the typewriter, the mid-1800s development that encouraged writing, to help Johnathan in his studies, and she is “practicing very hard” (86). Her use of technology is for the loves of her life. This shows the advancement of technology at that time period and how it was useful in communicating to people.

With the rest of the paper, I will take an approach and further my investigating on the characters and the prevalence of technology within the theme of how it blinds others and creates openings for some. Like Mrs. Grover said, this is a rough rough draft. My two mini-claims were the ones about technology in general and the characters John Seward and Mina Harker. Please, help me!

Works Cited

Dolinšek, Slavko, and Peter Štrukelj. "Managing Global Transitions." Managing Global

Transitions. 10.1 (2012): 29-49. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1581-

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Broadview. Peterborough: Broadview Press Ltd., 1998. Print.

Symbolism of Color

Planting the reader directly in the center of an emotionally gripping story, Beloved reveals a rainbow of feelings both figuratively and literally. Color is a universal and relatable symbol when placed in conjunction with emotion. In the story, Morrison uses the symbolism of color to help readers gain an intimate understanding of how slavery impacted the lives of those in “Beloved”.

Although well publicized, slavery is a very abstract thing to most. Present day society is not only distanced from slavery by time, but also by the lack of similarity between today’s lifestyles and pre-abolition lifestyles. Most stories about slavery merely retell what has been told thousands of times. However, “Beloved” is different in that it actually plays on the heartstrings of those who read it by using the few similarities that still exist between the present and the past. By taking advantage of the feelings evoked by color, most notably red and white, Morrison finds one of these small similarities and exacerbates it throughout her novel.

What does red represent? Love, anger, life, possibly even death? At some point all of the characters in “Beloved” feel or experience at least one of these. The first reference to the color red is the light inside of 124. The light that is only there when Beloved is considered a ghost, not present as a life form as she is after Paul D shows up. This red light is clearly representational of the Earthly absence of Sethe’s daughter Beloved. According to Keskar, red is a South African symbol of mourning (62). This makes sense, because of the way Sethe refers to the light. “It’s not evil, just sad. Come on. Just step through (Morrison 10).”  This light could also be a reflection of Beloved’s anger toward her situation. Either way, this element is not present in the story by coincidence, but rather to allow the reader an enhanced level of relation to the feelings of the characters.     

White stairs. White dress. White blossoms. In the story, all of these seem to have an illusion of purity, life, or freedom. The stairs were painted in honor of Beloved so she could see them and climb them. They are referred to frequently in the story, and when they are it immediately reminds the reader of Beloved and the tragedy that ended her life. When Denver witnesses Sethe in the keeping room she sees . . . a white dress knelt down next to her mother with (and had) its sleeve around her mother’s waist (Morrison 35). So accustomed to seeing the color white in association with Beloved, it is default to think that the dress is the ghost of Beloved. The dress is the size of a woman, but its color symbolizes the purity of a baby. Paul D. follows the white blossoms of trees to a place of safety. When he reaches the river, he knows he has reached freedom. All of these instances are major points that give the story emotional impact on the reader.

Not being present during the times of slavery and being separated by lifestyle and sometimes race, it is hard for most to grasp the strife that was subjected on those who were forced into slavery. By using some of the human similarities that we all share, Toni Morrison goes beyond telling a story. She gives the reader an experience in life of her characters.

  

Works Cited:

Keskar, Gulab. “Color psychology and its effect on Human Behavior.” Paintindia 60.5 (2010):  61-64.    

          Web.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York:  Vintage International: 2004. Print.

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Group Picture

David, Veronica, Aryn, and Serena

EXTRA CREDIT MEETUP DISCUSSION

Where we can continue this discourse without confusing the heck out of people who are reading the other thread.

So far:

1. Veronica WicksOctober 16, 2012 10:28 AM

   I will be commenting ASAP, but I wanted to ask y'all if y'all would be willing to meet 20 minutes before class so that we can take our extra credit picture!? Does Friday work for y'all? I feel that would be the most convenient if y'all don't have class between 11-12, I'll make sure to see if I can remind everyone on Wedneday, if this works! I can bring cookies and the camera of course. :)

   Reply
2. 
   Serena SmithOctober 16, 2012 1:23 PM

   Sorry, but I've got class all the way up to class and immediately after. I can meet on Friday anytime after 2:00PM, but not before.

   ReplyDelete
3. 
   Veronica WicksOctober 16, 2012 2:18 PM

   Is anyone available Tomorrow after 2?!

   Reply
4. 
   aryn banovicOctober 16, 2012 5:45 PM

   Yeah I am available after 2 but I have work at 5 but I do work at chili’s where food is present so maybe we can do it there??

Phase 3, Prompt 3: Is BNW Applicable Today?

What do you think?

As a child of the digital age, the prospect that someone might seek to control me through the technology I’ve come to love (facebook, internet searches, Netflix, etc.) really disturbs me. Margaret Atwood argues that A Brave New World is applicable today because we continue to be a consumer state (Atwood). She talks about the “Ministry of Love” and “Soma” in generalities, but I think her article holds a few shortcomings in analyzing why We, the future of America, should consider Huxley’s dystopia as more than just a neat read: Specifically, how the technology we love can be used against us.

When we surf the web, check facebook, or subscribe to something on tumblr, we don’t really think about what we’re doing aside from whatever need we’re satisfying at the time. In Brave New World, the downfall of society is that no one thought about what was given up in order to achieve happiness, entertainment, and peace (Huxley). Aren’t we doing the same thing? I think the danger we face, a danger that is addressed in Brave New World, is that the people have allowed themselves to be distracted by gratification and failed to see methods of control.  I’ll give you an example.

How many of us use Google? I’ll bet you didn’t know this. I didn’t, until I was made to learn about it Media and Society: EMC 3300.

Google’s databases save every user query for up to three months under your specific IP address. After three months, the data is “anonymized,” but reporters, users, and the FBI has proved that they can de-anonymize data in order to identify individuals by name, physical address, and often by phone number (since we often use the internet via phone). All of us in this class have a Google account since Google owns Blogger. If you have Googled anything while still logged in, Google now has saved your query and has attached it to your account. Think about all the things you’ve googled lately. What does google know about you that you wouldn’t tell anyone else? Have you searched the symptoms of an affliction you’re experiencing? Have you looked up something out of curiosity that could be misconstrued? Have you researched something for class that would raise eyebrows or have the FBI knock on your door, if they knew (Auletta)?

I’m sure all of us have looked up something we wouldn’t tell anyone else about, or wouldn’t want someone drawing the wrong conclusion about. Since the enacting of the Patriot Act, the federal government has engaged in talks and law suits against content aggregates like Google, AOL, and Yahoo for information about their users (Barbaro). Google, as far as we know, has yet to yield. But AOL gave up the game a long time ago, and not even to the government (Auletta).

In 2006, AOL released anonymized user data on the Internet. The New York Times took the data of a specific user and traced it back to one woman. They found her name, her address, her searches, and compiled an accurate profile on Ms. Thelma Arnold, a woman who “researches her friends’ medical ailments and loves her three dogs” (Barbaro). And although AOL removed all the data from their release point, once it’s on the web, millions of people have it. No one knows how many people have that “anonymized” data.

The fact is, we’ve been giving up rights and privacy to the internet for a long time. And I think we’ll continue to do so. Is this not similar to what the people of Brave New World did? They traded free choice for happiness, convenience, and constant entertainment (Huxley).

I think we are in serious danger of allowing ourselves to be overcome with being entertained, like the society in Brave New World. I think we’re apt to let the benefits of technology outweigh the dangers of letting Big Brother or Our Ford into our lives. How much don’t we know? How much have we allowed ourselves to be distracted from? What’s really going on behind the scenes? What did that last line of that user agreement say? Will there be a day when someone takes advantage of our entertainment and uses that against us?

I think the danger with our generation, and the point of reading Brave New World, is that we aren’t sure how we’re being used in the machine. Yes, we all love our smart phones and laptops and instant gratification, but whom are we serving with our use? Ourselves? Corporations? The government? I don’t know, and that scares me. The point, I think, isn’t that there’s soma, or zippicaminicks – we see examples of drug use, consumerism, and promiscuity every day. Atwood says that those are things we should compare our society to. That’s all way too literal, I think. The point, I believe, is that Brave New World shows us what ignorance begets. And what are we, when it comes to the things we love, but blind?

Atwood, Margaret. "Everybody Is Happy Now." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 16 Nov. 2007. Web. 14     

        Oct. 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/nov/17/classics.margaretatwood>.

Auletta, Ken. Googled: The End of the World as We Know It. New York: Penguin, 2009. Print.

Barbaro, Michael. Zeller, Jr., Tom. "A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749." The New York Times.  

        The New York Times, 09 Aug. 2006. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. 

        <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09aol.html?pagewanted=all>.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998. Print.

Phase 3: Prompt 2

            Aldous Huxley, in the Propaganda under a Dictatorship defines Herd Poisoning as, “an active, extraverted drug, [that allows] the crowd-intoxicated individual  [to] escape[s] from responsibility, intelligence and morality into a kind of frantic, animal mindlessness.”  While intellectuals are defined as those who “have a taste for rationality and an interest in facts”, and also recognized for “their critical habit of mind makes them resistant to the kind of propaganda that works so well on the majority”.  There are various attempts within the story that illustrate Bernard’s numerous efforts to deny herd-poisoning, and fight to express intellectualism. In this case, I think Huxley would recognize Bernard for his attempts, but not necessarily label him as heroic. But what caused his fight to start off so solid and potent, and later sink back into a powerless and guinea pig-like state? Heroes withstand; he did not.

The Dictator?

           Let’s define the Director in Brave New World. Who is he? He is one that is attempting to separate those from individuality. For example, he says “Community, Identity, Stability” (pg. 7) when we are first discovering the characters and their roles. But are their roles truly theirs? Community is the Brave New World’s Society, identity is the generated role within that community, and stability is the ability for the higher power to preserve control over those generated beings. This statement by the director creates a powerful euphemism, almost creating inspiration. However, upon further examination it is truly sickening; a veritable chorus of drones.

Let’s look Further:

           Through implied negative language many would find these examples of rising as undesirable. In the scheme of things, upsetting the “dictator” is a form of expressing individuality. Although negative words are used within these examples, do not be mislead, those who ostracized are those who the higher power is attempting to discourage, in order to maintain control.

The Rise Against Power:

The director dictates Bernard’s character as an “ex-colleague, subverter, and an enemy of society” during their meeting in Chapter 10. I want you to think deeper, why is Bernard given these belittling labels? Directly prior to this meeting, Bernard is said to be telling Lenina, “ I want to know what passion is, I want to feel something strongly”. This expression produced by Bernard was considered to be “incomprehensible and dangerous nonsense” to Lenina. But why?

In this instance, Lenina is a representation of the majority, she will not question the higher power or rebel from the society that has created her. Lenina is also an example of what the dictator strives to assemble. One  who considers thoughts beyond the majority to be forbidden.

Where He Fell Short:

            Bernard did not have the ability to continue to be the key protagonist. As unsophisticated as it may sound he was to the point of genetic predisposition. He had the feelings of an intellectual, but how could he pursue those thoughts while imprisoned in a mind that was manipulated and crafted to perform in a specific way? He never had a chance. How can a man stray away from propaganda, let alone a society that had control over him in glass-bottle utero.

In The Brave New World, there is not a definite hero, because all of the characters at the end of the story, do not completely stray away from the demise of the crowd. Though, there is one character that exemplifies the traits Huxley defined as necessary for defeat of dictatorship. In a society filled with control, passion is unknown, due to the fact what the characters within Brave New World are experiencing a controlled, phony, and scientifically skewed world. Bernard Marx rises to the highest point of intellectualism, but in the end, unfortunately, is unable to ultimately separate himself from the crowd.

Huxley, Aldous. “Propaganda Under a Dictatorship.” The Way of Wisdom. Ed. William Brugger, Darrell Hammond, M. Kip Hartvigsen, Anne Papworth, and Rhonda Seamons. Rexburg: Brigham Young University, 2010. Print. 1-5.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perenial, 1969.

Phase 2: Prompt 1

In "Brave New World" there are not only events that have multiple meanings, but Huxley also blankets his characters with names that employ a great deal of historical and political connotation. Huxley packs so much symbolism and implication into every aspect of his story. He never forgoes a chance to make an impression on the reader, not even when labeling his subjects.

Throughout this story, the reader is constantly reminded that in the world we live in, happiness in only a pursuit. Unless there is a major change to society (like Huxley's), this will always be so. When looking at the names of the characters, we almost always see similarities in names of people who either tried to have, or did have, an impact on society. Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, Fanny Crowne, Benito Hoover, Lenina Crowne, Pope, Henry Foster, and of course Our Ford all elude to a historically renowned individual. Although I would love to talk about each one mentioned above, length limits me to a select three. But if you are feeling curious, just pay a quick visit to Google and you will find something interesting on almost every name! So, the three I have chosen are Helmholtz Watson (who can resist a well-educated man like himself?), Bernard Marx (he can't help it that he's a little. . .well. . .little), and Our Ford (Built Ford Tough). Here goes!

Helmholtz Watson (Hermann von Helmholtz/John B. Watson)

In the story, Helmholtz is a very noble character, at least on the exterior. He has good intentions and is a likable guy. He's educated. He's handsome. And, by goodness, he's an Alpha-Plus! In a forcible emphatic way, he was handsome and looked, as his secretary was never tired of repeating, every centimetre an Alpha-Plus (page 66-67). He, however, is a little to "able" as Huxley continues. He's not interested in the things he should be. This sets him apart. As far as profession goes, Helmholtz is a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering and is an Emotional Engineer (page 67). Hermann von Helmholtz was a German physician and physicist. According to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, he participated in two of the most significant developments in physics and philosophy of science in the 19th century: the proof that Euclidean geometry does not describe the only possible visualizable and physical space, and the shift from physics based on actions between particles at a distance to the field theory. Okay, so pretty deep right? That's why his name fits Huxley's Helmholtz so well. He was such a clever man that he was a scientific threat to Mustapha Mond's utopia. Then we have Mr. John B Watson. Get excited: this fits even better! Watson was an American psychologist. Emily Watson says ". . .he wanted to use his scientific theories of behaviorism and the emotions of fear, rage, and love to improve the effects on advertising on the "animal" or what we know as consumers." Behaviorism! Consumers! Ironic? Yes. Coincidence? No.

Bernard Marx (Karl Marx)

Oh, Bernard! So insecure and small. Although he is an Alpha, he has very little pride. When Fanny refers to Bernard as small to Lenina, she replies with, "I think that's rather sweet. One feels one would like to pet him. You know. Like a cat." (page 46) Not the thing males in our society would want the girl pursing him to think. There is also much reference to there being alcohol put in Bernard's blood surrogate. Not only is he physically challenged, he also dreads things most people in the utopia enjoy: soma, casual sex, rejection of natural beauty. He is set apart, just like Helmholtz. Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. As stated by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Marx's later writings have many points of contact with contemporary philosophical debates, especially in philosophy of history and the social sciences, and in moral and political philosophy." He is also known for his writings on class struggle, a factor in "Brave New World" that has been kept under constant regulation.

Our Ford (Henry Ford)

Our Ford is the god of the utopia. He is the religion of the society and is very esteemed. But why Ford? Well, obviously it rhymes with Lord. But that can't be all. Ah, Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford was its founder back in 1908. He was also an engineer, but not just any old engineer. Oh, no! According to About.com, he revolutionized manufacturing. Using a constantly-moving assembly-line, subdivision of labor, and careful coordination of operations, Ford realized huge gains in productivity. Read carefully, for these are all of the things that Huxley builds his story upon (at least in the hatchery). Clever, if you ask me. "All hail Henry Ford, the creator of the assembly-line and the father of all this is functional!" (Just kidding.) Oh, and almost forgot! The Model T, one of the first automobiles ever on the road. Wait, wait. . .THE CHARING-T TOWER! In the midst of them, thin-stalked, a taller, slenderer fungus, the Charing-T tower lifted toward the sky a disk of shining concrete (page 61). Aldous Huxley sure has a knack for making things fit.

So there you have it, just three of the multiple names that have much more meaning than what it seems on the exterior. But why? Why does Huxley use this literary device to stupefy his readers? To represent changes made to society in the past, maybe?       

-Jordan Inge

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hermann-helmholtz/
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycwed/history/watson.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/fstartinventors/a/HenryFord.htm

Phase 1 Prompt 1

Cultures change. Sometimes they change slowly in response to warming temperatures, differences in food sources, or new migration patterns. Sometimes they change swiftly in response to colonialism, famine, migration, or war. But at some point a culture ceases to be a culture and becomes an ethnicity. Many people are familiar with the stories of the white man colonizing American, striping the Native Americans of their land, and forcing them onto infertile reservations in the hopes of turning them into a typical “white man” rural farmer (and remember that many Native American cultures involved hunting a gathering for food). Therefore it is not difficult to deduce that this change in culture didn’t make life on the reservations easy.  The median income on some reservations today is as low as $10,000 a year, and reservations are also being described as “violent, drug-infested, and criminal” (Treuer) as a result of this poverty.  But there are roughly 310 Indian Reservations in the United States, and 564 federally recognized tribes in the United States; so where are all the Indians? There is no hiding the fact that the Native American culture is “dying out”. Although there is said to be over 2 million Native Americans alive today (verses the only 200,000 in 2000), not every Indian lives on a reservation.  Before the Europeans came to American, there was said to be over 300 Native American Languages. Today there is only about 150, and of those only 20 are thought to their children. The rest are left to the elders to preserve and the average life expectancy of Indian men on Indian reservations is about 64 (Treuer). At 65 many “white people” just start to retire. In the short story “the approximate size of my favorite humor, the main character’s wife Norma states that “’Every one of our elders who dies takes a piece of our past away,’ she said. ‘And that hurts more because I don’t know how much of a future we have.’” (Alexie, 167). Throughout this short story there is a constant theme of using a sarcastic tone and humor to hide pain. The main character James Many horses is dying from cancer, however the only way he can deal with his pain is through jokes and sarcasm, eventually causing Norma to leave.“Still, you have to realize that laughter saved Norma and me from pain. Humor was an antiseptic that cleaned the deepest of personal wounds.” (164). In reading this story I feel like the dying of James Many Horses is somewhat symbolic of the “dying out” of the Native American culture. Norma was known as a preserver of the Native American culture. She was known to make the best fry bread around and whenever an elder would die she would “weep violently” (Alexie, 167).  She was known as a warrior. So when James Many Horse jokes about dying I think it’s signifies how Native Americans today are hiding their pain with alcohol and “loving to hate their fathers”. Norma’s leaving represented the departure of Native American Culture, and when Norma returns she claims it is “’…because making fry bread and helping people die are the last two things Indians are good at.’”(170). Nonetheless, with this final gesture from Norma who finally gives in with the jokes of death and the children that would never be, I feel as though not only is she accepting the death of her husband but also the death of her culture.

-Aryn Banovic

Reference:

Treuer, David. Rez Life: An Indian's Journey through Reservation Life. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2012. Print.

Phase 1: Prompt 3: Reservation Realism

Phase 1: Prompt 3: Reservation Realism

By analyzing what happens in the chapters “A Drug Called Tradition” and “Indian Education” compared to real life characteristics of drug use and Native American boarding schools from the mid-1900s, one could see how realistic or unrealistic Sherman Alexie’s portrayals really are.
First, before one analyzes the similarities and differences between real life characteristics for Native Americans and the characteristics shown in selected chapters in Alexie’s novel, one must understand the definition of “reservation realism”.
Reservation realism can be defined as the acceptance of how things really are on a reservation, which is a tract of public land set aside for an Indian tribe, such as the Spokane Indians in Washington.
In the chapter “A Drug Called Tradition”, Victor obtains “magic mushrooms”, and he decides to share these “magic mushrooms” with Thomas Builds-the-Fire and Junior Polatkin. Victor states to Thomas, “We’re going out to Benjamin Lake to do this new drug I got. It’ll be very fucking Indian. Spiritual shit, you know?” (Alexie, 14). In fact, it was “very fuking Indian” and some “spiritual shit” because soon after they take the drug, Thomas “looked around the world” as he sees Victor “stealing a horse and...riding by moonlight”, which stealing horses was considered an honorable thing to the boys. This drug produced different hallucinations for every boy. It caused them to dance and sing.
This “drug use” in Indian cultures and Native American cultures date back to the time of the Amerindians, such as the Aztecs, and it exists in multiple cultures, in Asia and Africa, as a “tradition”. According to Davis Wade, the author of the article “Hallucinogenic Plants and Their Use in Traditional Societies- An Overview”, although it is not the Spokane Indians as talked about in “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”, “the Mazatec of Oaxaca discovered amongst a mushroom flora that contained many deadly species as many as 10 that were hallucinogenic...producing powerful synergistic effects - a biochemical version of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts” (Wade). At the end of his article,  Wade contributes, “Moreover the experience is explicitly sought for positive ends. It is not a means of escaping from an uncertain existence; rather it is perceived as a means of contributing to the welfare of all one's people” (Wade). This drug use sought as a tradition serves a purpose in bringing out the individual’s importance to “the welfare of all one’s people”. Thomas Builds-the-Fire’s hallucinogenic experience clearly represents the Indian tradition of a drug use, and the reservation realism of the drug is pretty accurate.
In the chapter titled “Indian Education”, Alexie depicts the grades separately through different stories, including themes with fighting, drinking, getting in trouble, freedom, love, and basketball. Each grade has a story of it’s own. For Victor, known as “Junior Falls Down” or “Cries-Like-a-White-Boy” in the first grade, education was like being “buried in the snow”, the snow representing White American assimilation as he wears “U.S. Government glasses” (Alexie, 171-172). At times, he “stood alone in the corner” (174) while being deprived of his “freedom of expression”. The sad part was that the “bright students...don’t know what comes next...as they look back towards tradition” (179-180). Victor was tormented by this assimilation, and every “indian, indian, indian” (173) was put through these circumstances. The overall theme of this education comes from Victor’s question when he asks, “Oh, do you remember those sweet, almost innocent choices that the Indian boys were forced to make?” (175) (Italics added). The “forced to make” expression refers to the assimilation and pain that Victor went through as a student.
According to an article written by the University of Minnesota titled “Brief History of American Indian Education”, during the mid-1900s, “The American Indian boarding school, as an institution of assimilation, was designed to suppress the culture, language, and spirituality of American Indian nations throughout the United States” (“Expanding the Circle Resources”). Assimilation means the act of bringing one group into conformity of another group’s ideas, beliefs, and attitudes, by means of force and adaptation. Also, stated in the article, “from the age of 5 through 18, American Indian children were removed from their families, for month or years at a time, and placed in the boarding school where a harsh indoctrination occurred”, and they were not banned from their spiritual practices and the use of their own language. This “harsh indoctrination” affected many students, proven by the alarming statistic that “ the statewide high school graduation rate for American Indians was 42.6% compared with 82.8% for Caucasian students” in Minnesota, a state that Indians were prominent like in Spokane, Washington. This assimilation affected the students, and without regards to their family problems, many students’ beliefs of freedom were “intercepted and confiscated” (Alexie, 173), like Victor.
Reservation realism is depicted in this novel with a few slight adjustments. Although different drugs were used and attitudes of the students were not all the same as Victor’s, the ideas and concepts still get to the reader, and it is shown in multiple chapters, such as “A Drug Called Tradition” and “Indian Education”.

Works Cited

"Brief History of American Indian Education." Expanding the Circle Resources. University of

Minnesota, 25/09/2012. Web. 28 Sep 2012. <http://etc.umn.edu/resources/briefhistory.htm>.

Wade, Davis. "Hallucinogenic Plants and Their Use in Traditional Societies - An Overview." Cultural

Survival. Cultural Survival, 19/02/2010. Web. 28 Sep 2012.