Pre-Will

a) I know absolutely nothing about Hamlet, the "Melancholy Dane".

b) Shakespeare is a famous English poet who wrote many plays such a "Romeo and Juliet". He created his own unique style of writing and even developed his own words for his own purpose.

c) I am one of those kids who involuntarily frown when I hear "Shakespeare" in an English classroom. From my own experience I can say that I do not like even go as far as the word hate the poetry aspect of the English curriculum. That being said Shakespeare writes all of his plays and writings in poetry form which makes me involuntarily frown when I hear his name.

d) I don't like studying poetry in English classes at all. I do not know what you can to make it enjoyable besides not doing it. If this class is able to make me remember as an awesome experience I will never forget that would be a miracle.

Literary Analysis 1 Brave New World Character Analysis

1.      Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World uses a mixture of both direct and indirect characterization. For direct characterization he describes each caste system and attributes them to a character in the novel. These castes include Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons, Alphas being the highest in the caste and Epsilons being the lowest. For example he describes a Beta as someone who hates nature, high classed, and well groomed. When describing Lenina he says she’s a Beta and all her actions reflect that of a Beta’s. Another example would be Bernard Marx. Bernard Marx is described both directly and indirectly in that Aldous Huxley says he has some characteristics of a Delta yet he is a freethinker. His freethinking side is revealed through indirect characterization when the reader is given insight to how he thinks about the society he lives in and how much he criticizes it. Aldous Huxley uses indirect characterization with the protagonist John. John’s actions and thoughts reveal what kind of character he is. John refuses to sleep with Lenina due to his beliefs and restrain showing he has self-discipline. He also is interested in love and therefore reads Shakespeare.

2.      There are various parts in the novel where Aldous Huxley focuses on a character. When focusing on a character the diction becomes more lyrical to express not the author’s emotions but the character themselves and how they think and feel. This is very evident when John talks and thinks about love and Shakespeare. Aldous Huxley’s syntax becomes more complex and in depth when focusing on a character. When exploring Bernard Marx’s mind the syntax becomes more descriptive therefore making it more complex to understand.

3.      John is more static throughout the novel despite being introduced to a new environment. He firmly holds onto his beliefs and views. If he was dynamic he would’ve changed when brought to the modern world and partied and consumed soma like the rest of them but he doesn’t. Not only that but he would’ve changed his views and beliefs as well especially when talking with the director but he doesn’t. John is also flat character in that he doesn’t change who he is throughout the novel. He continues to be the person he was after leaving the reservation.

4.      After reading this novel I felt like I met a character rather than a person. This might be due to the fact the novel was told in third person and any description of a character was told in a narrative tone. “Bernard gave his orders in the sharp, rather arrogant and even offensive tone of one who does not feel himself too secure in his superiority. To have dealing with members of the lower castes was always, for Bernard, a most distressing experience. For whatever the cause…Bernard’s physique was hardly better than that of the average Gamma. He stood eight centimeters short of the standard Alpha height and was slender in proportion. Contact with members of the lower castes always reminded him painfully of this physical inadequacy.” To me Aldous Huxley just seems to be describing the characters but I can’t relate to them. This is why I feel like I only met a character in a novel.

Vocab 7

aberration - (noun) an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image; a disorder in one's mental state; a state or condition markedly different from the norm

Ad hoc- (adverb) for the special purpose or end presently under consideration

bane - (noun) something causes misery or death

bathos - (noun) triteness or triviality of style; a change from a serious subject to a disappointing one; insincere pathos

cantankerous - (adj.) having a difficult and contrary disposition; stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate

casuistry - (noun) moral philosophy based on the application of general ethical principles to resolve moral dilemmas; argumentation that is specious or excessively subtle and intended to be misleading

de facto - (noun) in fact; in reality

depredation - (noun) an act of plundering and pillaging and marauding; (usually plural) a destructive action

empathy - (noun) understanding and entering into another's feelings

harbinger - (noun) an indication of the approach of something or someone; verb foreshadow or presage

hedonism - (noun) an ethical system that evaluates the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good; the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of ethical principle

lackluster - (adj.) lacking luster or shine; lacking brilliance or vitality

malcontent - (adj.) discontented as toward authority; noun a person who is discontented or disgusted

mellifluous - (adj.) pleasing to the ear
 

nepotism - noun favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power (as by giving them jobs)

pander - (noun) someone who procures customers for whores (in England they call a pimp a ponce); verb arrange for sexual partners for others; yield (to); give satisfaction to

peccadillo - (noun) a petty misdeed

piece de resistance - (noun) the most noteworthy or prized feature, aspect, event, article, etc., of a series or group; special item or attraction.

remand - (noun) the act of sending an accused person back into custody to await trial (or the continuation of the trial); verb refer (a matter or legal case) to another committee or authority or court for decision; lock up or confine, in or as in a jail

syndrome - (noun) a complex of concurrent things; a pattern of symptoms indicative of some disease

Bravery New World LIterary Analysis

1.      The novel starts off with an introduction into the world of Aldous  Huxley’s Brave New World. This is a world where you are born into your social class,  where women no longer get pregnant to have babies, and happiness is achieved through the consumption of a drug known as Soma. Instead eggs are fertilized scientifically and cloned. Bernard is a character that is considered a defect due to being in the high end of the social class yet still oddly different from his peers. The plot truly begins during the inciting incident where Bernard takes Lenina, a Beta, out to the Savage Reservation where they meet John aka Mr. Savage. John is part of the Savage Reservation where they still believe in gods and have babies with pregnancy. John is brought back to the modern civilization where he is treated like an animal in a zoo and starts a series of motion of events. He often refers back to Shakespeare to gain insight on love while he and Lenina begin a relationship. John talks to one of the world leaders and then goes off to live as a hermit and suicides.

2.      Brave New World has both a universal theme and a moral theme. The universal theme is the continuing innovations in technology can lead to the control of society and in Brave New World’s case through Soma. We already see this today when people believe everything they’re told through the media without doing actual research themselves. The moral theme of the story is you cannot truly be happy or content without knowing the truth or meaning behind life. Aldou’s Huxley wrote Brave New World to show us the dangers of science and believing in it too much. Science could eventually become something we worship just like how they kind of worshipped Ford in Brave New World.

3.      Aldous Huxley mainly used a satirical and ironic tone throughout the story. This makes the novel fun and enjoyable to read yet still carrying out an important message from the author. “Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun, Kiss the girls and make them One. Boys at one with girls at peace; Orgy-porgy gives release,” this quote I found to be very satirical and ironic. When I read this I thought it was pretty funny because this is supposed to be a “religious” song from a hymn like the songs you sing in churches. In this world Henry Ford is the founder of modern society and therefore treated as a god. Anyways this making fun of this societies views and ironic. This quote is found in chapter 5. “Christianity without tears that’s what soma is,” this quote is ironic because it Christianity is all about achieving salvation and happiness through struggles and test of faith but this is like an advertisement saying soma can achieve all this without going through all those hardships. “I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.”

4.      Aldous Huxley uses indirect characterization to present his characters. “From the life the Savage stepped out into the midst of them. But his mind was elsewhere-with death, with his grief, and his remorse ; mechanically, without consciousness of what he was doing, he began to shoulder his way through the crowd,” this passage from chapter 15 shows through indirect characterization that John is nervous and timid. Aldous Huxley uses third person omniscient narration to tell his story. He also uses allusion to Shakespeare to show how infatuated John was with love and how he interpreted love. “The Savage was reading Romeo and Juliet aloud-reading (for all the time he was seeing himself as Romeo and Lenina as Juliet) with an intense and quivering passion,” John often used Shakespeare as a reference to love. Symbolism is huge in Brave New World and is needed to get the author’s message. Soma is a drug that symbolizes how the population can be controlled through the illusion of satisfaction and happiness well fake happiness. “And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering.” This novel uses satire everywhere to poke fun at the cultures and religions that have been rooted into that world.

Vocab list 6

beatitude - noun  a state of supreme happiness
-John’s beatitude made everyone around him feel better

bete noire- noun someone or something which is particularly disliked or avoided; an object of aversion, the bane of one’s existence
-Cats are my bête noire because I don’t like being around them.

bode - verb indicate by signs
-Bob bode me in sign language
dank - adj. unpleasantly cool and humid
-My dank room was uncomfortable to stay in.
ecumenical - adj. of worldwide scope or applicability; concerned with promoting unity among churches or religions
-Colleges have ecumenical clubs to create understanding among different religions.
fervid - adj. extremely hot; characterized by intense emotion
-Doe had a fervid fever that caused him to go to the hospital.

fetid - adj. offensively malodorous
-His fetid remarks made her angry

gargantuan - adj. of great mass; huge and bulky
-The gargantuan football player was unstoppable.
heyday - noun the period of greatest prosperity or productivity
-The economy is in a state of heyday.
incubus – noun someone who depresses or worries others; a situation resembling a terrifying dream
-Clumsy people tend to be an incubus to those who care about them.
infrastructure - noun the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area; the basic structure or features of a system or organization
-A building’s basic infrastructure are the supports.
inveigle - verb influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
-Bob’s friends inveigled him to ask the girl he liked to homecoming.
kudos - noun an expression of approval and commendation
-Kudos to you for getting that award.
lagniappe - noun a small gift (especially one given by a merchant to a customer who makes a purchase)
-For making such a huge purchase I got a lagniappe as a compliment.
obsequious - adj. attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner; attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery
-Obsequious children are often spoiled by their parents.
prolix - adj. tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length
-I write prolix essays to make sure I get everything I want to say in.
protege - noun a person who receives support and protection from an influential patron who furthers the protege's career
-Professionals tend to take in talented students and turn them into their protégés.
prototype - noun a standard or typical example
-The Iphone 6 protoype was unsuccessful.

sycophant - noun a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage
-I regard teacher’s pets as sycophants.
tautology - noun useless repetition; (logic) a statement that is necessarily true
-Tautology is based off careful oberservation.
truckle - noun a low bed to be slid under a higher bed; verb yield to out of weakness; try to gain favor by cringing or flattering

-          When I arm wrestle I often truckle