Happiness in the new world is paramount. So when Linda and John get their desperately wanted permission to recondition and adapt to the new world, matters of happiness are the very first things that both are encouraged to tend to. Unfortunately for some unlucky new-worlders, the happiness of savages might just lead to the downfall of one of their powerful leaders.
And guess what?
This is exactly what happens.
Linda's entrance is not as glorious as it might've been before. That is, before she'd become one of the savages. Before she'd gained weight and lost teeth and allowed wrinkles to blemish her previously taught face. Her enemy? The very man who did all of this to her in the first place. The director is of course stunned at her return and pretends not to know this beast. Embarrassed, he leaves to never return to power.
Savages: 1
New Worlders: 0
Success for Bernard, however, is only bitter sweet. This small-in-stature Alpha becomes power crazed. Too many girls, and too many parties later, he too comes crawling out of his whirlwind of success.
A list of things that might happen to Bernard is sure to come.
Until then...
Conclusion: What do The Bible, Beauty and the Beast, and Machiavelli's "The Prince" have in common? Why, all were written with Brave New World in mind, of course.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
The Age of Anti-Shakespeare
It seems as if John might be out of place.
He's the only son of both a new worlder and a savage.
The only savage educated on the subject of decanting.
And the only man on the earth reading Shakespeare.
So... as John is quite excluded from most of any society he'd like to blend in with, he is quite eager to tell Bernard his life story from birth to present. He tells about how his mom was what the savages might call a whore. And about how his mom taught him to read. And even about how he was neglected by the other boys for his entire young life. His mother... *gasp*, yes, mother couldn't exactly deal with having the shame that was him. Guilty for her never being able to return, John remains an outcast in his own house. Bernard even gets a useful tip from John passed down to him by his new-world native mother: Mescal is most definitely not soma.
Not all bad things were happening to John in the reservation, however. His depressed mother had quickly taken to her shameful son, as John recalls. She taught him to read by marking letters in the dirt and later, he became well versed on the subject of The Chemical and Bacteriological Conditioning of the Embryo. Practical Instructions for Beta Embryo-Store Workers. Because in the new world, all literature is only for the purpose of instruction. In the overlap between the savage reservation and new world, the dilemma becomes obvious. When little John asks Linda about where the chemicals come from, her answer is quick and definite: the chemical store.
So it's simple:
Either the savages think too much.
Or the New-World doesn't think at all.
ANYWAYS, Bernard devises a wonderful plan for young John and his very, very old mother (by new-world standards at least.) Bernard and Lenina will bring back John to the new-world as the very first savage to be integrated into the new way of living. His mother will be able to get her first dose of soma in years, and get back to the life she misses. And all of this might just make Bernard more of an alpha-plus than he'd ever been before...
But, all of this will have to wait.
After all, this had never been done before.
Conclusion: Both sides could think about nothing but Shakespeare. Hopefully it would solve a problem or two.
He's the only son of both a new worlder and a savage.
The only savage educated on the subject of decanting.
And the only man on the earth reading Shakespeare.
So... as John is quite excluded from most of any society he'd like to blend in with, he is quite eager to tell Bernard his life story from birth to present. He tells about how his mom was what the savages might call a whore. And about how his mom taught him to read. And even about how he was neglected by the other boys for his entire young life. His mother... *gasp*, yes, mother couldn't exactly deal with having the shame that was him. Guilty for her never being able to return, John remains an outcast in his own house. Bernard even gets a useful tip from John passed down to him by his new-world native mother: Mescal is most definitely not soma.
Not all bad things were happening to John in the reservation, however. His depressed mother had quickly taken to her shameful son, as John recalls. She taught him to read by marking letters in the dirt and later, he became well versed on the subject of The Chemical and Bacteriological Conditioning of the Embryo. Practical Instructions for Beta Embryo-Store Workers. Because in the new world, all literature is only for the purpose of instruction. In the overlap between the savage reservation and new world, the dilemma becomes obvious. When little John asks Linda about where the chemicals come from, her answer is quick and definite: the chemical store.
So it's simple:
Either the savages think too much.
Or the New-World doesn't think at all.
ANYWAYS, Bernard devises a wonderful plan for young John and his very, very old mother (by new-world standards at least.) Bernard and Lenina will bring back John to the new-world as the very first savage to be integrated into the new way of living. His mother will be able to get her first dose of soma in years, and get back to the life she misses. And all of this might just make Bernard more of an alpha-plus than he'd ever been before...
But, all of this will have to wait.
After all, this had never been done before.
Conclusion: Both sides could think about nothing but Shakespeare. Hopefully it would solve a problem or two.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Annotated Bibliography
"Illegal Human Organ Trade from Executed Prisoners in China." American Education 1/2008 1.1-1.2. 8 Dec 2008 .
China remains one of the only countries that allow the continuation of the sale of the organs harvested from criminals who have been executed. Though many other countries see the practice as dehumanizing and unethical, it poses one possible solution to the organ shortage seen all over the world. Several controversial factors play a part in this ongoing practice. Doctors in China sometimes make record profits off these illegal transplants, and often perform these operations more hastily than they would a legal organ transplant. Both human rights activists and the World Medical Organization alike agree that stricter government control should be put in place to more closely monitor these operations and organ harvests.
BASSOUL, JOELLE. "Egypt's Illegal Organ Trade Thrives on Poverty." New York Times 04/04/2006 8 Dec 2008.
In Egypt, slums are becoming the world’s next big organ factory. In these unsanitary environments, those who live in poverty are often happy to sell their organs to rich buyers ready to pay up and undergo surgeries that often pay them more than they would earn in a year. For some unlucky Egyptians, however, this is not their view of the organ trade. Several impoverished are kidnapped each year and are given medication so that when they awake with only one kidney, they have no idea where they were before their experience from hell. Trickery is also used when applicants for a job are conned out of their organs through a request for some medical tests. After taking these medications, they reawake with no idea as to where they are and with the cons nowhere in sight.
China remains one of the only countries that allow the continuation of the sale of the organs harvested from criminals who have been executed. Though many other countries see the practice as dehumanizing and unethical, it poses one possible solution to the organ shortage seen all over the world. Several controversial factors play a part in this ongoing practice. Doctors in China sometimes make record profits off these illegal transplants, and often perform these operations more hastily than they would a legal organ transplant. Both human rights activists and the World Medical Organization alike agree that stricter government control should be put in place to more closely monitor these operations and organ harvests.
BASSOUL, JOELLE. "Egypt's Illegal Organ Trade Thrives on Poverty." New York Times 04/04/2006 8 Dec 2008
In Egypt, slums are becoming the world’s next big organ factory. In these unsanitary environments, those who live in poverty are often happy to sell their organs to rich buyers ready to pay up and undergo surgeries that often pay them more than they would earn in a year. For some unlucky Egyptians, however, this is not their view of the organ trade. Several impoverished are kidnapped each year and are given medication so that when they awake with only one kidney, they have no idea where they were before their experience from hell. Trickery is also used when applicants for a job are conned out of their organs through a request for some medical tests. After taking these medications, they reawake with no idea as to where they are and with the cons nowhere in sight.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The Amazing and Inspirational Fill-In-The-Blank Blog
Oh dear,
It seems I've forgotten to title the last post.
Fill in the blank, if you wish.
Lenina has made a decision!
In order to avoid government suspicion and mind-numbing boredom in going to the north pole with Henry, she decides to make her way to the savage reservation in North America. Just outside the reservation lies a lavish hotel with a soma bar and just about any amenity that a beta from the new world would ever need. Inside the reservation, however, there is absolutely nothing from the future. There is no soma, no planes, no soma, no synthetic material, and worst of all, no soma. Lenina is not happy. Because in the new world state, people don't age. They remain forever content as working people thouroughly drugged out on soma on a daily basis. They never retire, and they never get wrinkles in their faces. They are never allowed time to sit and, Ford forbid, read a book. Nor are they allowed to relax and freely think. They simply work until the day they die, usually around the age of 65 when soma is of no more help to them.
SO... It's a shock for dear Lenina when she sees men of various ages dancing about a campfire in loinclothes, their wrinkles bouncing as they cry out chants. Similar, she thinks, to a lower caste community sing. Because it's easier for this new world inhabitant to compare things to other things. More familiar things. Things that are familiar at all are comforting. All this occurs, while Bernard simply thinks:
Fascinating.
After the initial shock of the savage lifestyle, both Lenina and Bernard return to a pueblo to meet a savage family. This very family is unique, and the overweight and wrinkled housewife of the family is shocked and elated to see Lenina. Once an inhabitant of the new world, she became lost on a visit to the reservation. Her previously and illegally devoted partner, the director (insert collective *GASP* here), took her to the reservation and assumed her to be dead one night after camping (without soma) during a storm. She eventually married a savage man, and had a child. GASP should ensue.
And all of this is known by Bernard.
Who says absolutely nothing.
Conclusion: short writings give me more time to evaluate my own nonexistent desire to travel to the North Pole.
Would I like to travel there?
No.
I still don't want to go.
It seems I've forgotten to title the last post.
Fill in the blank, if you wish.
Lenina has made a decision!
In order to avoid government suspicion and mind-numbing boredom in going to the north pole with Henry, she decides to make her way to the savage reservation in North America. Just outside the reservation lies a lavish hotel with a soma bar and just about any amenity that a beta from the new world would ever need. Inside the reservation, however, there is absolutely nothing from the future. There is no soma, no planes, no soma, no synthetic material, and worst of all, no soma. Lenina is not happy. Because in the new world state, people don't age. They remain forever content as working people thouroughly drugged out on soma on a daily basis. They never retire, and they never get wrinkles in their faces. They are never allowed time to sit and, Ford forbid, read a book. Nor are they allowed to relax and freely think. They simply work until the day they die, usually around the age of 65 when soma is of no more help to them.
SO... It's a shock for dear Lenina when she sees men of various ages dancing about a campfire in loinclothes, their wrinkles bouncing as they cry out chants. Similar, she thinks, to a lower caste community sing. Because it's easier for this new world inhabitant to compare things to other things. More familiar things. Things that are familiar at all are comforting. All this occurs, while Bernard simply thinks:
Fascinating.
After the initial shock of the savage lifestyle, both Lenina and Bernard return to a pueblo to meet a savage family. This very family is unique, and the overweight and wrinkled housewife of the family is shocked and elated to see Lenina. Once an inhabitant of the new world, she became lost on a visit to the reservation. Her previously and illegally devoted partner, the director (insert collective *GASP* here), took her to the reservation and assumed her to be dead one night after camping (without soma) during a storm. She eventually married a savage man, and had a child. GASP should ensue.
And all of this is known by Bernard.
Who says absolutely nothing.
Conclusion: short writings give me more time to evaluate my own nonexistent desire to travel to the North Pole.
Would I like to travel there?
No.
I still don't want to go.
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