Brave New World #3

1. Did the castes result as the government wanting this type of society, or did the government evolve to be like it is 'now' around a new caste system?
2. What is Huxley's direct perspective on John?
3. Why do both 1984 and Brave New World put such an emphasis on the variables of sex?

1984 #1

Those in the Party certainly try many ways to form equality and conformity. They control the history, language, jobs, and even the thoughts of those that live there in Oceania. By not allowing free thought, sex, or an expression of individuality, they're created a sense of conformity where everyone's the same. In the sense of free religion, relationships, and individual rights, there simply aren't any. The people that live there don't get to make the decision of who they're going to worship and believe in, who they can have sex with, and their rights just don't exist. They've created this sense of conformity through many concepts of the Party. They have the telescreen, which promotes propaganda of the Party and how the Thought Police monitor the people's thoughts, the Ministry of Truth, which alters the history of Oceania. I would say that in Oceania, so far, we see a dystopia. The Party is making attempts to create a happy, ideal world for the people to live in, but all they've done is restrict every right that men are born with. For example, Winston finds, "war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength", which we can put into our own perspective and look at ourselves. Our society, although it's certainly not a uptopia, recognizes war as unpeaceful, freedom as a right and privilege, and ignorance as a bad aspect. These meanings put forth by the Party show that their society is certainly not a utopia.

"Communist Utopia" by Thomas Hornug

1. The only aspect of this painting that really indicates communism are the eyes in the sky and the wall. communism is the idea of being censored and constantly watched. The eyes represent this because they're watching everything that happens.
2. The artist clearly doesn't approve of or support communism. The streets are all dark and dreary, which is represented by the dark gray colors. The trees don't have any leaves on them, which shows the absence and lack of freedom in that society. You can't see the face of the man: he's the same as everyone else, which is a goal of communism.
3. The title means that it's a utopia for the communists: the ones in power. In a world of communism, it's a perfect world: everyone and everything being watched and monitored.

**After discussing more in class, I understand the communism being more of an economic system and more ideas about the painting.

"Don't You Want Me" by the Human League

1. The subject matter is the relationship between a man and a woman. A lot of it involves what the woman becomes after she meets him. The subject matter is the same for both perspectives.
2. The difference is that the man's perspective is a little more desperate and needy than the woman. The woman is more teasing and not actually wanting to be in the relationship as much as the guy. She's a little more independent than the guy.
The man thinks that he's responsible for everything that she's made successful. The woman thinks that without him, she would've gotten far anyways but needs time to live her own life, "But now I think it's time I lived my life on my own".
3. I side more with the girl because she's trying to be more independent but still caring for the guy. But, I also side with the guy because he feels like they should still feel for each other, after he was there for her for so long. I understand both points of view.

Brave New World #2

1. In the eyes of the government, what does a good citizen consist of?
Throughout reading Brave New World, you understand that there are many ideas of what the good characteristics of a citizen are in this society. I would say that someone who is consistently happy is the perfect idea of a great citizen. The goal of a utopia is to promote happiness and coercion among the people involved in the society. If happiness and equality is already promoted within the government, then the idea of a perfect person is someone who’s happy and eager to go along with the government. This also includes someone who’s perfectly conditioned to do what the government wishes, never rebelling against anything, which includes taking soma. All of this shows the main goal of the government, as shown, "And that," put in the Director sententiously, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny.""
2. Why do they let people go out on the reservation?
I would assume that the reason they let the people go out on the reservation is that it reinforces the happiness that the government has created for them. They only let the very smart, top Alphas go out there, and it's a matter of ethos. If these people go out and see the savages on the reservation, they're going to know that they were grateful for the life that was created for them in their utopia. If the most credible come back and tell the rest of the people and castes how bad of a place it was, they're just going to believe them. Also, the government allows them to go out on the reservation not only to let them look at how happy they really are, but to reinforce the power to the government and encourage more support than before.
3. Why does the story put such a great emphasis on sex and the relationships?
I believe that the author really wanted to show the differences between cultures. Like discussed in the novel, there was confusion as to what sex really meant: was it to reproduce, enjoy, or just have? It's something that doesn't just die down, it's a constant motif throughout the book. I think that the author included all of this discussion and debate to show his own views. Many cultures don't have the same values on sex as American society, especially at the time written, and his views were supposed to help enlighten others about other perspectives.

Othering

1-3: The overall tone of all three parts is death-like. Many words create this tone, such as dark, gloomy, trembled, tragic, formidable silence, dusk, grotesque, quivered, and deathlike.
4: The tone is of someone who's scared. The tone doesn't change a whole lot. I think the narrator does this to show the contrast between the two cultures.
Benefits of othering: Sometimes these companies manufacture these ideas of the others so their trades/exports suffer and the manufacturing company looks better.

Emic Perspectives

1. The emic perspective is a realistic point of view from the inside of the culture. Its benefits are knowing the real information and ways the culture does it. The etic perspective is the 'outisder' perspective, where there's no way in to the actual culture. There may be parts of information that the researcher learns, but this may not actually be true to the culture. Its benefits are being able to compare it to other cultures and the differences/similarities. I would say that emic is better because it's a way into the culture and the truth.
2. These rules exist so there's a way to determine that a piece of writing is an ethnography and to be able to to compare different ethnographies.