Question #6_ Brave New World

*Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you.

*Why is this passage meaningful?

*Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

“Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so clever. I’m really glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear light brown. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are even worse.”

This passage was really significant to me. In the book of Brave New World, they condition the future human beings into the way that the World Leaders want them to be. They are, in another word, brainwashed. Since the day they were born, no, since the day that they existed in the world, they get to have a fixed thought on everything they go through. How can this be possible? Don’t they have the human rights? They are like “human-looking” robots! This passage I chose is one step of the conditioning. When the babies are sleeping, they turn on the recordings of these words, and repeat them over and over. So without knowing, this would be stuck in their head. The caste system is a really big deal in this book; however, unlike the world that “I” am living in, everyone is satisfied with their level in the society. I guess that is why they developed the “conditioning” system; it prevents other conflicts between people too. In the world we are living now, there are many prejudices and stereotypes when looking at certain things. This is exactly what is happening here in the novel, but just worse. They identify themselves with different colored clothes, and I cannot even imagine this going on in reality. It is a nightmare. I am just hoping that the future of the world of ours would not be this way!!

Question #5_ Brave New World

*What is the mood of this novel?

*Do you find this novel saddens you in any way?

*Why?

This novel, Brave New World, is very depressing; it is a dystopian novel. You feel more and more depressed as you keep on reading. In the beginning of the book, it describes and explains how humans are created (made) my all the machineries, and how humans are educated to do certain things according to the status of that human being. They are forced to like certain things and they are also forced to hate certain things. Who, which humans, would feel happy reading such thing? We question ourselves, are we influenced by such things? Are be being controlled by something, not knowing? Who knows whether same thing is going on in our society, but we don’t know this because we are ignorant like the people in the World State? It somehow makes us afraid, afraid to face the reality. This novel saddens me in a way that people are being mistreated. They don’t have human rights. Even Alpha-pluses are being controlled by the World Controllers and are not perfectly free. In our society, many people tried hard in the past to free the slaves and make all the humans equal. Every human should have their own right to do something they want to. What is even sadder is that people in this novel don’t know how they are being treated. They have been conditioned to be like that. Although they are doing the things that we cannot even possibly imagine to do, they are feeling happy to do such things. They don’t know what else they could do. It is like a society of dolls created by the definite power. They are being played around by the World Controllers. JUST AWFUL!

Question #4_ Brave New World

*What is the climax of this novel?

*What happens?

*How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax of this novel is when John, the Mr. Savage, tries to stop the distribution of “soma” to Deltas. “Soma” is a chemical that almost all human beings in the World State takes, no matter what and which status you are in. It makes you happy like drugs. Yes, it is the drug of this world. However, people don’t know that, so they take it whenever they are depressed or feel offended. Not knowing, they get addicted to them, and later cannot live without it. John came from the Savage Reservation, where there is no “soma,” and he had seen his mother suffer from the addict. When he sees the reality of the World State, he is horrified. At the point where John sees the instructor makes Deltas see people dying, distribute them somas so they can feel happy, which later leads to them being happy when a person dies, he couldn’t bare it. He acted like crazy and made everyone shocked. He is later brought to prison for his actions of throwing all the somas away from the instructor’s bag. This makes me feel sad. World leaders and controllers make their people become drug addicts to have control on them. This is not right. It feels like I am seeing our world leaders today, doing anything for power and control. The results of “soma” were horrible by seeing Linda. Just like drug addicts, her life was ruined. John is heroic to try to avoid the same results for other people, by trying to free them from “soma” which never works. John is even sent to jail for his actions, which also tells us the cruelness of the leaders of World State. I am definitely afraid that the future of our world would turn out like this. At the same time, I think the book had described the reality of our leaders of the world today.

Question #3_ Brave New World

*Who are the main characters in the novel?

*Do you like them?

*Why or why not?

*What is special about them?

*What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

- John: He is the son of the Director and Linda, and he has grown up outside of the World State. He was born and was grown in the Savage Reservation, and when Bernard brings him to the New World, he isn’t able to fit in. His mother has told him all about the New World, how create it is with everyone so “civilized,” however, this image of this world was all ruined when he had actually saw the reality. His world view is based on his knowledge of Shakespeare’s plays, which he read among the Savages. He can quote them really well. I like him because he is unique in a way that he can think for himself, not conditioned in the New World. He is special because he knows that "soma" isn't good for you, and he is the one who understands the Shakespeare unlike others. He reveals people in our society who is unique, and someone who break the fixed concept or thoughts about something.
- Bernard Marx: He is an Alpha male who fails to fit in because he has an inferior in his physical stature. He was mistreated when he was an embryo for some mistake occurred. His insecurity about his height and status makes him discontented with the World State. He brings John and Linda to the new world, but later goes to an island because he has too much individual ideas. I don't like him because he is an inferior. I am not saying that it is his fault that he wasn't normal, and I am also not saying that I don't like him because of his looks. It is just his confidence. He is an Alpha-plus, a status that everyone would like to be in. He should have pride, but he never does. He is like people in our society who has almost everything, but just because they lack a little tiny bit of something, they are not satisfied.
- Lenina: She works as a vaccination worker at the Conditioning Centre of the World State. Her behavior is sometimes intriguingly unorthodox, for example, she defies her culture by going out with only one guy unlike other girls. She, with Bernard brings John to the New World, falls in love with him. She cannot understand the way of John’s thinking though, since she was conditioned like all the other people in the World State. I like her in a way that she has a different perspective on relationship with boys, unlike other girls. But since she was conditioned, she didn't have perfectly self-created thoughts and perspective. She is like the people who tries to be different, but actually cannot really be, because of the influence of the environment they live in.
- Linda: She is John’s mother and a Beta. She got pregnant with the Director’s son, and while visiting the Savage Reservation, she got lost and was left behind. She couldn’t get the abortion, and was ashamed to return to the New World with a baby, where it was treated “animal-like for human women to have baby herself.” She is addicted to soma, so when she returns to the World State with Bernard, she lives with it and dies quickly. I don't like her, but I feel sorry for her. She is a great example how humans can turn out with all those scientific chemicals. She is a person like drug addicts in our society.

Question #2_ Brave New World

*Are there are any current situations in the world that relate to the novel?

*What are they, and how do they relate?

*Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or "fixed"?

There is a major current situation in the world that relates to the novel. These days, cloning has become one of the world’s greatest issues of debate. Scientists say that cloning is necessary to cure all the diseases and to extend human life expectancy; however, some peoples say that it is the act of depriving the human rights of the clones. Clones are being the living creatures that are born to sacrifice themselves for other living creatures. They have thoughts and rights. They feel pain. But we don’t care about them in some ways. In this novel Brave New World, they have set the social status by creating humans in different ways. Humans make babies scientifically, and according to different chemicals and conditions they give to the embryos, they decide whether that person will be an Alpha plus, Alpha, Alpha minus, Beta plus, Beta, Beta minus, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Bokanovsky. They are called “civilized” people. They are made to love what they are born to do as if they are the robots. They like what they are made to like and they hate what they are made to hate. They are taught to live with chemical “soma” which has the effect of drugs of today. Out of all the perspectives, there are World Controllers who have created all this social function who aren’t being controlled by anything. There is only one group of people out of this society who have human rights, and they are called Savages. By looking at this, we can know how us humans are becoming dependent on technologies and machineries. Humans are becoming like living robots. The book doesn’t tell us “how” to fix these problems of today, but teaches us what is going on in different perspective. This novel tells us what a terrible thing it is for us to change the way we are changing and that we should avoid it somehow. Our futures should definitely not be the way the novel had foreshadowed.

Question #1_ Brave New World

*What is the major theme of this novel?
*Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

In the novel Brave New World, people are living in a society where there is no freedom. However, people in this society don’t know that because they were taught that they are the happiest people in the world since the time of when they weren’t even born. The major theme of this novel seems to be criticizing the stupidity of human beings. The author changes the “Lord God” of today into “Ford” of the car company to ridicule today’s ignorance. As technology develops, humans began searching for the true meaning of happiness. We have certain things that we think are the obstacles that keep us from reaching happiness, and in this novel, the author had changed those factors into the way that we probably may think is better. However, it actually was worse, which proves the dumbness of our choices. We have to be satisfied with the way we are today, and find a way that you can be happy with them. Don’t try to change them into the way you want it to be, ruining the natural orders, just for yourself. There was a purpose for the God to create the world the way it is today.
The theme is important to a teenager living in 2007, in a way that they will be the future leaders of the world. So many things have changed from the past these days. Almost all teenagers have cell phones in their pockets and plastic surgeries have become a common occasion. I am confident that there will be many changes in the future too, but how and when it will change depends on today’s teenagers. Like in the novel Brave New World, we may not allow for women to have babies, but may create babies with the technology, giving perfect genes to create the geniuses. We might think it would be helpful to our society, when the reality is the opposite. Teenagers should have the right point of view toward the world, and should understand the results of good and bad choices. As the world leaders of tomorrow, they would also have to learn to avoid the ignorant decisions. That is why the theme of this book is so important.

Question #8_ Animal Farm

*Entry of your choice
*Original novel vs. Translated version

Famous books are translated into hundreds of languages, and Animal Farm is one of them. George Orwell is a really famous author, and I have seen this novel on the Korean high school recommended reading list. So I tried reading Animal Farm in Korean version during Lunar Vacation. I was pretty surprised for what I have gotten out of it. Since it hadn’t been a long time, reading Animal Farm in English, I didn’t get anything new; the story was really familiar to me. However, something was different! I thought over and over until I finally figured out that the mood was a little different. Dystopian mood was a lot stronger in the English version. I’d say it’s because of the variety of words a language can have. Korean version really sounded like a storybook or a novel without the explanation in the back of the book saying that it is symbolizing the Soviet Union. In contrast, when I read the original book, I could actually connect the story into the history, even without reading the analysis. Maybe it’s because the translator couldn’t find exact word for word meaning Korean, and had to use weaker word choice. This means that if you don’t know English and wanted to really enjoy Animal Farm or some kind of American Literature fully, it isn’t possible. That is one reason that almost everyone around the world tries to learn English and be fluent with it. Before, I thought it would be as good to read a novel in a translated version, but now, I don’t believe so. I should try to read the novels I read in Korean translated version, again in English and search for the real beauty of the book.