Brave New World (II & III)

Chapter 2

• Foster is left behind in Decanting Room (no scene)
• Director leads boys to Nursery. ( INFANT NURSERIES. NEO-PAVLOVIAN CONDITIONING ROOMS)
• Experiment conducted
• Books with colorful pictures of flowers and other things showed to eight month old babies (Delta, khaki)
• Babies crawled to pictures, delighted by them
• Alarm sounds, babies terrified
• Babies are SHOCKED?!?!, filled with fear of the pictures
• Boy asks why they're taught to hate flowers, has to do with consumption of goods and use of transportation
• At first, taught to love flowers to use transportation, didn't work
• Then taught to hate flowers and country, but love country sports
• Director tells story of Reuben Rabinovitch
• Had regular parents (considered sexual and boys uncomfortable using terms such as mother and father)
• Heard English speech on radio while sleeping (He's Polish), was able to repeat it word for word when woken up
• Called hypnopaedia, sleep teaching, A.F. 214
• Early experimenters tried using it for educational purposes
• Child listened to information about the Nile, could recite information word for word but could not ingest the information
• Now they use the information correctly
• Eighty babies sleeping, have voice talking to them in their sleep, talking about how Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons are below them, Alphas are smarter and better, and how they love being Betas
• Corrected the use of hynopaedia to ingraine their category into their minds, every day
• Whenever Ford is mentioned, they talk about him as if he was a god. "Oh, Ford! I've woken the children!"

Chapter 3

• Director and students watch hundreds of young boys and girls play
• Watched a game of Centrifugal Bumble-puppy, the tossing of a ball on top of a tower, which spins it around and shoots it out randomly to be caught
• Director comments on how things were so simple back then, but now no game can be approved unless it contains complicated machinery to improve consumption
• They go on to watch a boy and girl fooling around (ew) when they hear a boy crying
• The boy is uncomfortable with the "erotic play" going on around them, and the nurse says she will take him to the Assistant Superindent of Psychology to see if there is any abnormality
• The Director explains how in the past it was considered immoral and inappropriate for children and teens to act sexually with each other (they laugh at this)
• The Controller Mustapha Mond (fordship) appears (the leader of this futuristic government?)
• Narrative switches to Foster and Lenina
• Foster stands in a lift (elevator) with Assistant Director of Predestination and Bernard Marx from Psychology
• Also switches to Lenina
• Back to Mond, revealed he is one of 10 controllers of world, controller of western Europe
• "History is bunk"
• Director asks Foster if he's going to see a feely (erotic film?)
• Rumors that Mond has forbidden books in his study "Ford knows what"
• Bernard Marx offended by Foster and Director's talk
• Students don't know what a "home" is
• Lenina goes to Dressing Room
• Mond describes how terrible "homes were"
• Lenina washes herself in the weird bathrooms, talks to Fanny, Fanny mentions Pregnancy Substitute?
• Basically, Mond is describing the world before the World State, how people were unstable from emotions, disease, and more. When the caste system, hypnopaedia, and artificial birthing introduced, it was fought against, but then won. They decided to make the new era around the birth of the Model T
• Everyone in this world hooks up, all the time, with all different kinds of people
• Foster and Lenina have been at it for four months, but Lenina has only been with him
• Lenina starts to try to be more promiscuous, decides to try being with Bernard
• Soma = drug

Internet Problems!

So my internet has been kinda difficult these past few days. That's why I'm having some lag when it comes to posting things and doing assignments. But hopefully it's getting back on track, and I'll be back to regularly updating soon! :)

Brave New World I

Now this book is pretty interesting. And by interesting I mean KINDA WEIRD. I wasn't expecting this to be a science fiction kind of book! It makes me much more eager to read more. A quick summary of the first chapter seems to begin with a tour of a factory that is in charge of making human beings starting with the embryos and continuing on to make thousands of boys and girls to be separated into different castes. This tour is being given to a group of boys, and since they don't seem to react in an astonished or frightened way, I assume this has been going on for a long time. The style of this writing is so descriptive, and even used some words that I had to look up to remind myself of what it meant. One of the first sentences in the chapter was really descriptive and drew me in. "Cold for all the summer beyond the panes, for all the tropical heat of the room itself, a harsh thin light glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure, some pallid shape of academic gooseflesh, but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porcelain of a laboratory." I mean, come on! That's a work of art there. Looking forward to reading more!

First Quarter Review

I think this first quarter has had it's ups and downs. The ups have been how well I've been doing on vocab quizzes, I'm totally ready for the vocab final next week. The downs have been my writing and some of my blog posts. My internet has been really bad, and I don't want to use it as an excuse, but it's hard to post things from my phone with the app. I prefer to do it on a computer. ANYWAYS, I'm hoping the next quarter will go by a little better. I've been working on my senior project, and I think I have a definite idea, and I hope to start actually starting to work on it ASAP (no hints!). My goal is to work on my writing and keep working diligently!

BOB I

I really don't like rating people's blogs. I find it to be more disheartening than to be taken as constructive criticism, no matter how positive or helpful you sound. But I shall do it. It goes from best to still good. No worst here. 

Socorro: I actually like the look of Socorro's best. It's really unique-looking, I like it probably the most!

Josh: I like Josh's because he puts in so much more extra effort into updating it, with quotes and everything.

Sarah G.: One of the best blogs, it's so simple yet different looking. Something about it is just more interesting than the rest.

Ubi: Another good one. Always has interesting posts, plus it plays good music!

Kathryn: Kathryn's blog is one of my go-to blogs if I ever feel like I'm behind. She has a music player, and helpful posts!

Beka: I like Beka's blog because you can obviously see her personality come through her posts.

Ryan: I like the song it plays, first of all. Then I like the extra tabs for his story and the lit terms.

Michelle: Updates blog pretty regularly, and looks pretty neat. Also, very pretty background! I like Hello Kitty.

Hayden: Kind of a trippy background, makes me dizzy. Other than that, pretty nice.

Kasie: Interesting background, and detailed posts. Very nice.

Katelyn: I like the background, purple's my favorite. I like the layout!

Kayla: Cute blog! I like this design, it's so cute. Updated regularly.

Jackie: I'm actually surprised that this is the only background with the person's face! She also plays Home by Phillip Phillips on her blog!! 

Rocio: Really cute-looking blog. Simple, and updated.

Justice: Pretty good, nice simple layout, seems to put up posts pretty regularly.

Kelli: Simple design, but I do like the tab she has for the AP Lit Terms!

E'Ana: Very simple. Needs to update a little, but she did do all the vocab words so props to her. Check it out!

Ruth: Very interesting layout, I haven't seen this kind before. It's very modern-feeling.

Jenna: Pretty pink background! 

Madi: Updates pretty frequently. I like the orange color. 

Laura: Okay blog. Pretty simple, but updated.

Ryland: Pretty simple. Gets his work done. Nice blog.

Landon: Cool background, I like the colors. Updates pretty frequently.

Paul: Pretty background, but needs to be updated.

Will: Nice looking, but needs more stuff.

Owen: Post more, mister! Needs more stuff.

Dylan: Needs to be updated.

I am here.

This first grading period has been a little weird. In fact, this whole year has been off for me. I've gotten sick a couple of times, and it's messed up with my routine. Despite that obstacle, I think I've been doing pretty good this first grading period. I'm proud of my lit terms quizzes. I'm really getting the hang of those words (except for that slight mishap this Friday!) I have been working on being more organized, but I slipped a little bit when I got sick. I'm working to get back on track for that! My senior project is laggin' a bit... I don't wanna reveal what it is yet, so don't bug. :) Hahaha, just messin' around. Preston did point out one thing that I've been thinking about lately, about my writing. Sometimes, I write like how I talk. My tone is way too familiar and filled with a sort of slang when I should be formal and more intelligent sounding. I'm gonna work on that for sure (another SMART goal maybe?)

Lit Terms 57-81 Remix

Yay more lit terms! Link to definitions!

Gothic Tale:

Well, sadly I couldn't really see Harry Potter applying here. There's some violence and depressing times, but that's not the overall theme of the book. Pretty much everything written by Edgar Allan Poe would be considered a gothic tale. Which reminds me, is anyone watching The Following? Edgar Allan Poe is a strong theme in this show. I think you should totally watch it..

Hyperbole:

Let me take a look. Aha! Found one! "..mountains of roast and boiled potatoes." pg. 203 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. As much food as there is on the first day of Hogwarts, I'm preeeetty sure they wouldn't conjure up literal mountains of food!

Imagery:

Imagery is important in the Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowling describes the castle, the forest, the people in such a vivid way, and I believe it wasn't hard for the people making the movie to create these things on the big screen. It seemed to match perfectly with what the book was like.

Implication:

I think in the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the implication is the location of the last few Horcruxes. When I was reading the story for the first time, I had a gut feeling that the last Horcrux HAD to be close to Voldemort, in the event that all the others were destroyed. I was in fact close to the truth. One was Nagini, Voldemort's snake, and there was a hidden seventh Horcrux inside of Harry himself! Trippy. 

Incongruity:

Something that marks me as incongruous is the whole part that Barty Crouch Jr. has in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. As Mad-Eye Moody, Crouch assists Harry as much as he can, to make sure he gets to the final round in the tournament. It is then revealed that the Goblet is a Portkey, transports Harry and Cedric to a weak Voldemort, and with Harry's Blood Voldemort is born again. So with all the assistance, Moody aka Crouch was really bringing Harry closer to his enemy instead of the winning prize.

Inference:

From all the crazy fandom to the quiet yet devoted readers of the series, I can INFER that the series is one of the best, if not THE best, book series of the 21st century. Anyone wanna argue with me, you know where I'm at, punk! Just kidding. :)

Irony:

I couldn't think of any myself, so I went to Google. "Mrs. Weasley always scolds her children to behave and not be foul and other things, but when Bellatrix tries to kill Ginny, she says one of the only two swear words in the series." That's actually kinda funny, if that whole battle scene wasn't so sad. :(

Interior Monologue:

Here's a funny one of Harry's. 

"She’s Ron’s sister.

But she’s ditched Dean!

She’s still Ron’s sister.

I’m his best mate!

That’ll make it worse.

If I talked to him first—

He’d hit you.

What if I don’t care?

He’s your best mate!"

Inversion:

Sorry, no Harry Potter here. :( But here's an example from JFK's inaugural address!

"United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do." This is an example of inversion, specifically the part where he says "United there is little we cannot do..."

Juxtaposition:

One time, as I was scrolling through countless Harry Potter links to find what I was looking for, I saw one! A juxtaposition. In fact, the word was in the title. It was the Harry Potter/Twilight Juxtaposition Blog. The "Harry Potter/Twilight" part of it was juxtaposition enough. Although there are some, myself included, that enjoy both series, a lot of the fans hate the other series, and the fans of the other series. Not pretty.

Lyric:

Hmmm not sure what to put here. How about a barely relevant song? Introducing Harry Potter by D.O.P.E. ft. T.I. :)

Magical Realism:

HARRY POTTER IS ALL ABOUT THAT MAGICAL REALISM, DAWG.

If you don't understand, I'm pretty sure you've been either living under a rock, or have no idea what MAGICAL or REALISM or those two words TOGETHER mean. :) Sorry, I'm calm now...

Metaphor:

The Mirror of Erised in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a metaphor. It's a metaphor for multiple things. Perception, as each character has a different view in the mirror, and human greed, as Harry wanted desperately for his parents to believe no matter if they came back not the same.

Metonymy:

Pure-blood and Mudblood are examples of this. These two are substitutions for wizards that keep their bloodlines separated from Muggles and Squibs, so that it will remain Wizards generation from generation, and for those wizards that have Muggle parents and other relatives, respectively.

Mode of Discourse:

Since I've addressed the three other parts of the definition, I shall comment on narration. It's in third person. For the other three, scroll up to find Argument, Exposition, and then Google the description if you have absolutely no clue what this series is about.

Modernism:

No Harry Potter here either.. But here are some great authors that came from that literary movement! F. Scott Fitzgerald, E.E. Cummings, and T.S. Eliot!!

Monologue:

Oh my gosh, Neville's speech! Perfect!! See for yourself. :) It's a good scene!

Mood:

I think the mood changes a lot, but overall it seems to be serious and dramatic, with a few light-hearted, comical times intertwined.

Motif:

In almost all of the books, House points acquired for the House championship is repeated again and again. Sometimes points are taken away, like when McGonagall punishes them for leaving the castle at night, or awarded, when Harry does some spectacular thing (I can't remember, haha).

Myth:

Harry Potter kind of has a mythical style. With the hero and his destiny decided by him years ago, it's as if it was styled like one of the old myths from ages ago. Hmm, who knows.

Narrative:

Mind's running blank...too broad a definition... agh! Here's the definition, and if you come up with a fun example, I'll change it!

A story or description of events.

Narrator:

The third person narrator is unknown and unaffected by the events going on in the story. (Back to Harry Potter by the way)

Naturalism:

When I think naturalism, I think Call of the Wild. I used to love this book. Who else remembers it?

Novelette/Novella:

Since I'm Mexican, I can tell you lots of things about novelas. Ha, not really. In all seriousness, Animal Farm by George Orwell is a good example of a novella. Look it up!

Omniscient Point of View:

HARRY POTTER, HARRY POTTER, YEAH! I think I was just typing about how the narrator is third person, and they seemed to know all things. Yeeaaaaah.

Well that concludes this week of Lit Terms. Stay tuned for 82 to 100! :)