BNW Journal #2

The motif of pneumatic continues throughout the second part of the book; it becomes clearer what the author perceives the definition to be. Lenina comments on herself when she is talking to Bernard saying that “’everyone says [she’s] awfully pneumatic’…reflectively patting her own legs” (93). She pats her own legs which shows that pneumatic means thick. She then clarifies by asking if she’s “too plump” (93) confirming the author’s definition of pneumatic is plump, not literally gas filled like the dictionary definition. The second part of the second section of reading has fewer references to ‘pneumatic’. When it is mention again when Lenina and the Savage go to a feely and “sunk in there pneumatic stalls” (167). Huxley’s choice to use pneumatic to describe the stall is interesting because the imagery of the motif has been used strictly to refer to women in an appealing or sexual way. This could be different than the other references because John, the savage, was present and he does not come on to women like civilized men normally would.

The setting of the novel in the second part of Brave New World takes place, partly, outside of London. Bernard and Lenina go to “the Reservation” (102) which is an uncivilized society where “children still are born” (102).  Unlike the civilized community of London, the  people of the Reservation “still preserve their repulsive habits and customs... [of] marriage,…no conditioning,…Christianity,...extinct languages,… ferocious animals…and infectious diseases” (103). The ideas from New Mexico, which is where the Reservation resides, is vastly different than the pristine and exact life of London.  The Reservation contained so much “dirt” (120) that is repulsed Lenina; in a civilized community, “’Civilization is Sterilization’” (121) so no “filth” (121) is present. Linda understand Lenina’s repulsion because she was once civilized and the dirt “used to upset [her]” (120) too and makes her feel “like [she’s] living with lunatics” (121). The juxtaposition between the Reservation and the civilized community is dramatic and crucial to understand the vast differences of the living situations and culture.

The language Huxley uses continues to be descriptive during the second part. Upon finding his mom, Linda, sleeping with Pope, John describes his feelings in a way that no civilized person knows how to, with passion. He claims “his heart seemed to have disappeared and left a hole. He was empty. Empty, and cold, and rather sick, and giddy” (132). No civilized person could have felt the hatred he felt; this hatred fueled his urge to stab Pope. It is clear that Pope is also uncivilized because he acts in a peculiar way by making John “look again into Pope’s eyes” (133) after he is stabbed. John is able to feel things and say things that no civilized person can; he gets this ability from his lack of conditioning, but also from reading Shakespeare.

Shakespeare is a cultural connection to the world today and is not used in the civilized world because the library “contains only books of reference” (163) because allowing them to read other books would “encourage them to indulge in solitary amusement” (163). Really, I feel they do not allow other books because they want everyone to be clones, and books give people ideas about emotions and cultural which the civilization is trying to eliminate. John enjoys Shakespeare because the language is abstract and teaches him words to express his emotions of “hate” (132). Before Shakespeare, John felt like he “never really hated [Pope] because he had never been able to say how much he hated him. But now he had these words, these words like drums and singing and magic” (132) to help him to express a deep emotion that is banned from civilization.  

Ali Field

Brave New World Journal 1

Throughout the first section of Brave New World, motifs such as ‘pneumatic’ are present. Pneumatic, by dictionary definition, means “of or pertaining to air, gases or wind” or compressed air. I do not think of pneumatic as a positive adjective and am curious as to why Huxley chose that phrase. Huxley first uses pneumatic when describing Lenina Crowne by stating that she is “a splendid girl. Wonderfully pneumatic” (44). He uses ‘pneumatic’ as a sexually pleasing term rather than a term regarding air or gas. Huxley later states the people who return from soma-holidays return to the actual world without distractions and spend their time going from “girl to pneumatic girl” (56). He again uses it was a sexual term rather than its dictionary definition. Maybe he uses it meaning voluptuous or beautiful.

Huxley uses great imagery to describe the setting of the novel on the first page. The room of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre had a “harsh thin light [that] glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure… but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porcelain of a laboratory” (3). The setting also incorporates personifications by the lights “hungrily seeking.” The light seeking something through the window and only finding a pristine lab allows the reader to see how people in the novel are going to feel, because they are trapped into doing what they are trained to do and use soma to avoid feeling stress or other negative emotions, which is like finding a pristine lab rather than something that makes them truly happy.

Later, embryos are said to be “like photography film,” which is a simile, (11) because “’they can only stand red light” (11). The students then follow the director into “the sultry darkness” (11) where he “was visible and crimson” (11). I find it peculiar that Huxley would choose to say the darkness was “sultry,” or arousing, when the dark is usually considered to be scary by people nowadays. Possibly, he does this because the darkness is a good thing because they were conditioned to not be afraid of it. Also, the phrase “every one belongs to everyone else” (47) is frequently repeated in the language of the novel. Huxley chose to do this to drill to the reader the difference of the previous society to the new one.

Cultural connections, or history, are often brought up while discussing babies. Babies are no longer “viviparous,” (24) or birthed in the year 632 A.F., they are made in tubes. People do not learn about the past and the topic often causes “blood [to rush] to cheeks” (23-24) because they are embarrassed by the past, which shows that the society has been trained to believe that history is bad and that “historical facts are unpleasant” (24). Later, history is brought up again when the director told the students that “there was something called democracy. As though men were more than physic-chemically equal” (47). The latter sentence has a mockery tone set by the phrase “as though men more than physic-chemically equal” (47) which makes be feel the society laughs at their ancestors for thinking they were important or equal. The controller even states that their “ancestors were so stupid and short sighted” (45) because they wanted to keep their emotions when soma came out. History is never spoken of, accept in the rare occasion where it is mocked, because all books such as “Shakespeare” (51) and bibles were locked away from society. The world leaders keep the books are from the society because it may cause people to realize they are not truly happy and may want to rebel.

Reflection Time, Yo. Reflect on Meurault's trial and treatment by the justice system. Is his treatment fair? How do you feel about the participants in the trial (don't forget Meursault)? Do you think his treatment is realistic? 
This reflection should be at least 2, well-developed 11 sentence paragraphs and should include 4 quotations from the text.

Meursault’s trial and treatment by the justice system was not fair. Meursault was looked down upon because “sever[ed] himself from society,” (102) not because he killed a man. He was convicted of not “express[ing] and remorse” (101) after his mother died rather than murder. It is against society’s believes to not feel remorse about a family death, but it is not an illegal act worth sentencing a person to death. His lawyer even once said “’is my client of trial for burying his mother or for killing a man?’” (96)  because the trial failed to focus of the actual crime of murder.  Meursault has a different view than the rest of the French civilization and has a hard time articulating what he feels. He cannot fully understand or comprehend his emotions in his own mind, let alone express his feelings to others. He does not defend himself in trial. His lawyers get irritated when Meursault tries to talk and tell him to “just keep quiet, it won’t do your case any good” (98) because he does not say things that make him look innocent. He sounded “ridiculous” (103) when he spoke, and he knew it which is why he often kept quiet. He couldn’t articulate how the elements made him feel. He felt like the sun controlled him to murder, but he couldn’t figure out how to say this to other people. His actually case of murdering an Arab was overlooked by the court and instead he was convicted for his actions, such as not showing remorse, not crying at his mother’s funeral and not defending himself in court, which is unjust.

When witnesses were called to the stand in Meursault’s favor, they were not taken seriously because they did not give solid evidence and the court already knew they wanted to condemn the man. Thomas Perez, Maman’s ‘fiancé’ was the first witness. He did not help Meursault because Thomas “had seen [Meursault] only once” (91). Celeste was also not helpful because he claimed it was “bad luck” (92) that killed the Arab. Marie’s testimony did not help the case because it brought up the Meursault’s lack of grieve the day after Maman’s funeral. Raymond also failed to give hard evidence of Meursault’s innocence because the prosecutor asked questions of no value such as “’was he your friend’” (96).  Meursault had no way to win this trial. The jury was not impartial and the topic of the court was morals, not the actual crime. His inability to participate also made him feel like an alien at his own trial. He couldn’t say anything of value or articulate his feeling, even when given the opportunity. Sentencing to murder was unjust and unrealistic. 

Stranger Journal #2

            In chapter six of The Stranger nature affects Meursault. He states that the sun affects him when he says “the sun was doing me a lot of good” (50) and “the sun made me doze off” (51) which give the reader the knowledge that he gets affected, but not a serious affect. Later, maybe after prolonged exposure, instead of feeling good or tired, the sun started to control his actions and body. After seeing the Arabs who were out to get Raymond, “the blazing sand looked red” (53) which could be the first sign of the elements controlling him. Raymond and Meursault get in a physical fight under the “overpowering” (55) sun. The sun causes Meusault to act without control or remorse. They had been in the sun for house, so when he got to the bungalow, “[his] head was ringing from the sun” (57) and he couldn’t convince himself to go up the stairs, instead he went back to where the Arabs were. He knew he “wouldn’t get the sun off [of him] by stepping forward” (59), but he had no control to go inside. The sun caused him to have delirium and no control. Killing the Arab was not his choice; it was nature’s effect on him. He didn’t feel guilt for killing the Arab because the sun seemed to numb his guilt, like it didn’t happen because it wasn’t a conscience choice.

Ali Field

Stanger Journal #1

The Stanger has a pattern of time developing in the first chapter. Time is first referenced in the first line of the book when Mersault says “Maman died today. Or maybe yesterday” (3). His vague use of time makes it seem like he doesn’t care because he doesn’t really care to figure out when exactly his mom died. On the same page her referenced time again when he says he’ll “take the two o’clock bus” (3). His change to exact time makes me curios to why he wouldn’t try to figure out when his mom dies exactly since he seems to care about exact times. Later he finds out the walk to the church during the funeral takes ‘three-quarters of an hour” (14) which is also an exact time. I feel like he cares more about precise time when it directly relates to him and how his time is spend.

Another pattern in the first chapter of The Stranger is temperature. After the vigil was over, the sun began to go up and “start[ed] to warm [Mersault’s] feet” (12). He says little about discomfort of heat until later in the day. When the sun was high in the sky “the whole landscape shimmer[ed] with heat, it was inhuman and oppressive” (15). Mersault appears to dislike the sun because it is ‘oppressive’. He feels like it controls him and limits his choices because he feels uncomfortable to be immersed in heat. His close observations of heat help me to see how observant he is, even though he is quiet. He seems to obsess about heat more than cold and his mom is cold since she is dead and he doesn’t obsess about her either.

Colors are frequently emphasized in The Stranger. Colors such as red, white and black are noticed the most by Mersault. Red is particularly mentioned in relation to nature such as “the sky was streaked with red” (12) and “the blood-red earth spilling over Maman’s casket” (18) The repeater color of red is a dark color and reflects his dark and apathetic personality, but also shows his observances. He noticed that there were “four men wearing black in the room” (14)  the sticky black of tar, the dull black of the tar, the dull black of all the clothes and the shiny black of the hearse (17). He seems to scout out black and other dark colors. This definitely reflects the tone of darkness and carelessness of Mersault.

Light is a repeated pattern in The Stranger. In the middle of the night during the vigil, “darkness had gathered” (8) and the caretaker had turned on the light. Mersault “was blinded by the sudden flash of light” (8) and later asked the caretaker to “turn off one of the lights” (9). He could dislike the light because he dislikes sudden change, such as his mother dying. Maybe he is in shock from her death which is why he is so careless about the funeral. He also mentions “sunlight” (16) which could be both heat and light which are both things he appears to not be too fond of.

Sleep is repeated throughout the first chapter of The Stranger. He had “dozed off” (4) while on the bus to the vigil and was “getting sleepy” (7) when he arrived at the care home. Even during the vigil he had “dozed off for a while” (9). He gets tired with warm coffee and walking in the warm sun during the funeral walk to the church. Warmth and sleepiness seemed to be related to Mersault. He seems to not dislike heat all the time because, but he never mentions if he likes or dislikes sleep. He possibly likes heat when it helps him sleep. It is weird that he would fall asleep during the vigil of his mother instead of cry and be scared to sleep by her dead body. 

Mrs. Turner’s Lack of Ability to embrace her Race

            Although Mrs. Turner is black, she does not like blacks and wishes she were white. She believes whites have more power than blacks. Mrs. Turner complains to Janie about not being white and talks about how she worships her god to achieve her goal of being white, even though it is physically impossible to reach. At the end, Mrs. Turner juxtaposes her god with Tea Cake’s realistic God. This in turn causes Mrs. Turner to be upset and shows the reader that she will never be able to embrace her own race. In the passage, Mrs. Turner feels inferior to Janie and becomes so obsessed with being white that she is willing to sacrifice part of herself in order to try to become white, instead of embracing her own race.

            Mrs. Turner feels that Janie is better and more powerful than her because Janie has lighter skin. While with Janie, Mrs. Turner feels “honored by Janie’s acquaintance” (2) because Janie has a lighter skin. Lighter skin, according to Mrs. Turner, imbues the individual with more power. She then elaborates on Janie’s power by saying she “forgave and forgot snubs” (3) because “anyone who looked more white folkish than herself was better than she was” (4-5).  “white folkish” (4-5) shows Mrs. Turners inferior tone towards Janie, because Janie is lighter than Mrs. Turner. Her diction of “white folkish”(4-5) also shows how obsessed she is with the white race. Her diction of “negroid” (7) and “negroness” (8) shows that she doesn’t like to associate herself with other blacks. This is shown by her formal way of saying black which is uncommon for people of that race to refer to each other by. She most likely has fairly light skin which is why she doesn’t like to associate herself with dark skinned blacks. Mrs. Turner believes that she is inferior to Janie because Janie is light skinned. However, she believes she is superior to dark skin blacks because she has fairly light skin.

            Mrs. Turner worships her god in order to try and obtain white characteristics. Mrs. Turner’s god being lower case shows that her god isn’t the real God. Mrs. Turner Metaphorically “set[s] up her idols and buil[ds] altars” (10) to worship her god to try and become white, which is impossible. She tries to justify her god by juxtaposing her god and the real God when she says she “accepts any inconsistency and cruelty from her deity as good worshippers do from theirs” (11-12). Janie disagrees with Mrs. Turner by claiming that “all gods who receive homage are cruel” (13-14) and will “dispense suffering without reason” (14) for sacrificing part of one’s self because it is important to embrace yourself. Mrs. Turner thinks that she is “like all other believers [and] built an altar to the unattainable - Caucasian characteristics for all” (19-20), which is a hyperbole because not all believers of God wish to be white like Mrs. Turner. Mrs. Turner uses detailed imagery to elaborate on her “paradise [which is] a heaven of straight-haired, thin-lipped, high-nose boned” people. She believes that these characteristics are what everyone wants. Mrs. Turner wants to be white so bad that she believes that all blacks want to be white and can’t see that worshipping her god is not realistic or normal.

            Mrs. Turner then realizes that most blacks do not wish to be white and that she only likes Janie for her light skin; however she still refuses to embrace her own blackness. The passage has a distressed and sad tone by Mrs. Turner stating that it was “distressing to emerge from her inner temple” (28) to realize that other blacks didn’t agree with her views. The imagery of “black desecrators howling with laughter before the door” (29) with “terrible banners and swords!” (30) allows the reader to understand the wakeup call that Mrs. Turner faced when she found out that she was the only one who truly wanted to be white. She knew she was the only one who wanted to be white because of the mockery she faced, instead of people joining her worship. The syntax of the italicized phrase ‘and swords’ (30) emphasizes that she felt hurt by their cruelness of mocking of her views. She also metaphorically “paid homage to Janie’s Caucasian characteristics” (31-32) because she felt “as if she herself had become whiter” (34-35) when she was with Janie. She sees that she only likes Janie because she metaphorically becomes whiter. She doesn’t appear to feel bad because she continues to see Janie, and is still unwilling to embrace her own race. Mrs. Turner’s god is again juxtaposed with the real God when she recalls the memory of Tea Cake saying “aw, don’t make God look so foolish-finding fault wid everything He made” (38-39). Instead of feeling bad for disgracing the real God and seeing her wrongs, Mrs. Turner “hates Tea Cake for his defilement of divinity…[and] mockery of her” (35-36) and continues to not embrace her own race.

            Even with the sheer impossibility of Mrs. Turner becoming white, she continues to sacrifice herself for her god. Even when struck by her god, she believes she is doing the right thing and continues her worship. Being obsessed with becoming white makes Mrs. Turner become a person that many people do not like because she is friends with someone strictly because of their light skin, defiles the real God, and looks down upon her own race instead of embracing her own black power.

Ali Field

IB English

Mrs. Manning

October 1, 2012