The major theme of the novel

The major theme of the novel is the true definition of a utopia. The settings perfectly match the superficial utopia; no hunger, no fight and so on. However, John couldn't adjust to the environment. In other words, something's missing for a human being to live in. And I think it's humanity. In my opinion, a utopia should be a decent place that answer all human demands; people should be comfortable emotionally and physically. Yet the new world in the novel lacks the emotional comforts.
Teenagers usually hope to cope from their current situtations and desire for a utopia. Without any speific thoughts, they just look for an utopia. The novel is an essential guide for them to re-think about their dream lands. In addition, once they know that the dream land isn't feasible, the teenagers would focus on living best lives.

The mood of Brave New World

There are two different sections in the novel: the description part, and the story part. The former one is where the novel focuses on illustrating the 'New World' while the latter one is mainly about what happens to John.

From readers' points of view, the mood is very satiring in the first part. Although the world is depicted as a paradise, it's morally wrong in our eyes. Cloning is accepted as an essential and inevitable proccess to sustain the society. People who belong to the lowest level are trained to loath nature and books but to concentrate on working. There is no such thing called family. Mother and father are cussing words. Soma is the only panacea. On the other hand, there is no war, no crime, no aging, and no starvation. Everything is organized and perfect; the author must have created such mood to make the reader ponder about the true meaning of utopia.

The mood of the second part, where John is the main character, is quite dismal The detailed describtions of John's desire to blend in with the new society and new people make the reader feel sympathy for him. Yet, because of such great descripency from his previous enviroment, John couldn't adjust to the 'Brave New World' and simply commits suicide in the end.

The main characters of Brave New World

1. The Savage (John)

John grew up in the Savage Reservation and was influenced by 'uncivilized' couture, where there were families, mothers and fathers. His mother was Linder, who was once Tomakin(the Director)'s girlfriend. However, due to the surroundings during his childhood, his personality and values are quite different from that of people in London. He followed Lenina and Bernard to the new civilization because of curiosity. Although Lenina and John fell in love, what John thought was true love had some discrepancy from Lenina's; she considered love as a simple physical relationship, while John meant more deeper connection. After John started to abhor the civilization, he also commenced to reject Lenina; she was a presentation of the society. He also caused some trouble in the Hospital for Dying after seeing his mother passed away in such shabby and absurd way. Linda spent the rest of her life back in the new civilization being addicted to soma. She didn't even realize John before she died, and was simply carried away like a trash. The Savage ran away from the society, and started to live in a countryside. He begin whipping himself for self-control and atonement, however, was discovered by film makers. The Savage became so popular and people started to visit his dwelling to watch him abusing himself. Despaired, John finally committed suicide.
I simply feel sympathy for him because of solitude he went through. In the Reservation, he was an outcast just because he had different appearance from others. His mother never had been his friend, either. When he moved to London, he neither couldn't understand the new culture nor liked it, and of course, couldn't make any 'true' friends. It must have been insulting when he was treated like an animal in a cage for display.
Another thought is that the character symbolizes the present world we are living in right now. In my opinion, the author tried to use John struggling in the new world to question readers the true meaning of utopia or an ideal place. Seeing John irritated by cloned and thoughtless people, I must say that the world isn't a paradise but rather a dystopia.

2. Lenina Crowne

She is a typical newly civilized person; she is perfect. The author used her to symbolize the new world. And that's why she was rejected so harshly by John, who despised the new society. She couldn't understand his hatred the new world and her, yet I can understand her. Lenina was raised and educated to be a member of the new world, that is, she was brainwashed to pursue human caste, to hate families, and to worship Ford. She had never experienced diverse human feelings like John, such as true love. John shouldn't blame her for acting like a souless human being; it must be challenging for her to accept the new culture that John brought in a short period.


3. Bernard

Although Bernard has Alpha blood, unlike others, has shabby appearance; he is short and ugly. He had some different thoughts about the new world; he hated the Because of his appearance, he was an outcast until he brought John from the Reservation. He used John to humiliated the Director, who threatened him to send away to a remote area. His fame, however quickly declined after John refused to attend a meeting and rioted in the hospital.

Entry of my choice

*Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of our entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

"But do you lie being slaves?" the Savage was saying as they entered the Hospital. His face was flushed, his eyes bright with ardour and indignation. "Do you like being babies? Yes, babies. mewling and puking," he added, exasperated by their bestial stupidity into throwing insults at those he had come to save. The insults bounced off their carapace of thick stupidity;they stared at him with a blank expression of dull and sullen resentment in their eyes. "Yes, puking!" he fairly shouted. Grief and remorse, compassion and duty- all were forgotten now and, as it were, absorbed into an intense overpowering hatred of these less than human monsters. "Don't you want to be free and men? Don't you even understand what manhood and freedom are?" Rage was making him fluent; the words came easily, in a rush. "Don't you?" he repeated, but go no answer to his question. "Very well then," he went on grimly. "I'll teach you; I'll make you be free whether you want to or not." And pushing open a window that looked on to the inner court of the Hospital, he began to throw the little pill-boxes of soma tablets in handfuls out into the area.

The passage is significant, because it's the last time John tried to fix or adjust to the new society. Solitude and perplexities finally ended up raging John. I think this is the turning point of John' attitude. After he was arrested, he decided to leave the society, and live byhimself. The passage also well described John's frustration toward people who rely on soma and who never knew love. By throwing boxes soma, John expressed his hatred toward the pills; the pills numbed his mother, people and the whole society. They have no guts to face any difficulties, and that's why John called them babies.

What do I want to have as a Greek god?

One quantity of Greek gods that I want to obtain is human-like characteristics and appearance.
Since I am a human right now, I prefer my appearance to monstrous looks of gods in mythologies; I don't want to be half animal and half human like Babylonian gods. Another reason is that I would probably ruling humans if I become a god. Humans will feel more comfortable while worshiping to 'human looking' god rather than hideous looking one. I don't want to scare my creation.... or my servants.
Sitting on a throne forever and looking down at the human world like a 'gentile' god would be extremely boring; troubles and accidents are what enrich life according to my thoughts. I would participate on things on Earth just like Greek gods. I would go to war and confuse the battle field. Giving heros difficult tasks will be entertaining for both me and humans.

Sirens the enchanting bird-women

Sirens were dangerous bird-women who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli, where there were lots of cliff and rocks near by. According to Greek myths, Sirnes enchanted sailors who were passing by with terribly attractive music and vocies. Sailors then became incoherent and tried to jump into water. With crazy sailors on deck, ships were often damaged by sharpy rocks.

There are two different stories about how they were defeated. One tale says that Odyssey tied himself on a mast and put on earplugs on his sailors. He and his sailors successfully went through the island and Sirens, who were insulted by Odyssey's resistance, killed themselves. The other one says that when Sirens tried to attract Orpheus who was a very talented musician, instead of being fascinated, Orpheus replied with better and more capturing music. Sirens felt insulted and threw themselves to a rock. Both of the two tales are somewhat similar to the tale of Sphinx; a monster either kills or dies.

Hermes's profile

Herme's parents were Zeus, the mighty god and Maia the nymph. He was the god of thieves, sheperds, merchants, land travel, weight and measure. Being a herald of gods, his duty was to guide the souls of the dead to the underworld, where Hades dwelled.
Hermes is one who has totally different characteristics and personalites from Hercules. First of all, Hermes was known for his cunning and shrewd personalities; as soon as he was born, he set off to cheat on his brother, Apllo. Later on, when he got caught, instead of receiving punishments, he sneaked out giving the first instrument to Apllo. On the other hand, Hercules from the Disney animation was dipicted as a righteous and justice-loving demigod; he did many great works and risked his life to save innocent lives from monsters and disasters. Unlike Hermes, who was born as a god, while Hercules did all difficult tasks to prove himself as a hero, or a god. In addition, there are a lot of romantic plots in the movie, while there is no metion about Hermes falling in love with any women. They don't really share any similarities except the fact that themselves and their paretns are gods.

Blogs that I left comments

Joesp Folta 2
Michael Shin
Eric Kang - different novel
David Kim 2
Youngwoo Kim - different novel
Jesse Park

Entry of my choice: What are my thoughts and questions about 1984?

There are two questions that came up in my mind after reading the novel. First of all, I was quite awed at the surprising ending and I wonder why did George Orwell end his novel in such way. After some times of thinking, I concluded that the author intended to leave a strong after-image to readers. People wouldn't remember the novel and its moral clearer and longer if Winston succeded to overthrow the dystopia for sure. I guess his intention was successful, since I see readers sharing their thoughts about the novel on the Internet even long time after they finished it.
In addition, I pondered why the title was '1984', because when I first saw the title, I thought it would be something about past or so. However, future is the time background of this novel. I searched some information about the novel and the author and figured out the two reasons. The first one is that George Orwell wrote this book some time around 1950s; the year of 1984 was actually future to him when he was working on this. Secondly, the author chose the number to symbolize near future for those who lived in mid twentieth century; he tried to reflect current situation of 1950s and forsee the future.

The theme of 1984

The theme of the novel is that political apathy can turn a society into a dystopia. The author tries to convey his message through detailed descriptions of characters in the novel; no one ever tries to overthrow the irrational society because they are too afraid of torture, death and risk. Since no one participates to change the world, Big Brother(or his advocaters) can easily sustain their power without desturbance. And the society will remain as a dystopia forever.
The novel will remind young people these days the importance of their political participation, who often consider election days as holidays.

Another theme can be the loss of humanity due to suppression and control. The author shows how torture can turn good man into a cunning one in short period through Winston. After Winston yelled at O'Brien to torture Julia, his good personalities and lawful belief, which can be interpreted as humanity, go away and Winston get brainwashed. Not only Winston, but also other characters suffer in the novel from supprssion; O'Brien wouldn't choose to follow Big Brother if he didn't have to. People wouldn't be so gloomy if every moment is being watched. Julia would keep on loving Winston if she wasn't tortured. All these people are nothing but 'toys' of Big Brother. Since teenagers are future leaders of their countries, the novel may influence even a nation's future. 1984 will make teenager readers those who are in democritic countries to think about human rights, and be thankful about their countries. For those who are in countries where there is only limited freedom, the novel may 'enlightened' them to pursue right things and may help them stand up for human rights later.

The mood of 1984

What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in anyway? Why?

The mood of 1984 is somewhat gloomy. People are described as 'puppets' of Big Brother. There are lots of forbidden things; books, love, and so on. It's totally a dystopia. The mood made me dismal because of a few reasons.
First, there is a distrust atmosphere in the society. No one except Winston and Julia has close relationship with anybody; people are all isolated. They keep on doubting others if they might 'sue' them. Being not able to talk heart-to-heart is a very exhausting thing. I know it because I had experienced it when I first moved to America; since my English was horrible, I couldn't make any 'true' friends. I simply feel sympathy for the residents in this dystopia.
In addition, there is no freedom. Not only actions but even thoughts are controlled and being watched. Living this kind of life is noting but being a puppet. Yet, the fact that no one except Winston is trying to change the situation made me feel even more depressed; the dystopia will remain as its current state forever unless people stand up.