Simile and ANOTHER animal reference. Picking out the animal references in this book is like taking candy from a baby.

"Maniacally, the mother brooded over her children (her children)...brooded over them like a cat over its kittens, but a cat that could talk, a cat that could say, "My baby, my baby," over and over again." (Pages 37-38)

    Mustapha Mond is enlightening his avid listeners on the tour about the old days when children came into the world the traditional way: to parents. They are simply dumbfounded to hear about the "maniacal" mothers who protected their children out of love. These mothers are described as practically rabid. Huxley has once again proven his abilities to weave words into something easily imaginable. However, this is on image that I do not welcome into my brain. To me, a mother is loving, sweet, and supportive, not freakishly protective, brooding, and animalistic. I would be disgusted by the mothers that Mond is describing to these boys too if I was in their position.

     This simile serves its purpose, but its an unwelcome one. My current diagnosis of Mond is that he is as weird and foreign to me as the rest of this story. I sincerely hope this is completely wrong, and I could possibly like this character at some point.

Characterization of the Direct and Indirect Sort

"...a man of middle height, black-haired, with a hooked nose, full red lips, eyes very piercing and dark."

"...but at the sight of the stranger, he sprang to his feet and darted forward, his hand outstretched, smiling with all his teeth, effusive." (both page 33)

       Huxley begins by characterizing the new character directly. He tells the reader what this new man looks like and how his eyes hit the receiver of their gaze. However, he continues on to indirectly characterize this man. I can infer from the way The D.H.C. reacts to him that this man is his superior, possibly many people's superior. The Director pulls himself out if his momentary relaxation and immediately approaches the new man. Moments after, the reader is informed that this man is, in fact, the Controller ("his fordship") Mustapha Mond. He is a top dog in the social pyramid that is this society. To add to the aura of this man, Huxley decided to make his name an alliteration. He's basically a powerhouse of a character, but I'll wait to see if I like him or not.

It Seems the Times Have Changed.(Sarcasm alert) Poor us!

"Poor little kids not allowed to muse themselves? They could not believe it." (Page 32)

     And so the disgusting sexual activity between the 7- and 8-year-olds continues. Not only that, but I learned that I am pitied by these fictional characters because I was not allowed to explore my sexuality at a young age. Poor little Juliana. I had to read my way through the Berenstein Bears books until I graduated to the Magic Tree House series when I was allowed to travel with siblings Jack and Annie through history and some magic books. For me, that was literary bliss. I didn't realize my A.F. 632 counterparts were so much further embedded in the adult world than myself. But oh well. I think I grew up well. Thankfully, I was never a victim of a pedophile or involved in a case of child pornography. In this day and age, children exposed to anything sexual are pitied, but in Huxley's "brave new world" the children not allowed to experience anything sexual  are pitied. The boys on the tour are aghast at the thought of someone having to wait until their twenty's for any sexual activity. They learn that this was the case before the time of their "Old Ford."

There is one thing I can say with complete honesty that I learned from this chapter: I am extremely grateful to be growing up in the time that I am.

Onomatopoeia - It's just so fun to say!

"The air was drowsy with the murmur of bees and helicopters." (Page 30)

Chapter 3 opens with the tour continuing. BAM! Next stop on the list: reviewing the sexual games the children play at around ages 7 or 8 in the garden. This is disturbing to read about on so many levels. I understand that I have to be mature and open-minded when reading something as controversial as this, but I am simply disgusted. As I've blogged previously, Huxley can paint a scene (OOH!  AWW!) in a way that seems almost effortless, and he utilizes every literary device available to him. In that repertoire of literary genius is onomatopoeia which, ironically, is just as fun to say as the words it describes. FIZZLE! In this particular excerpt, the word "murmur" is the focus, but the intriguing bit of the sentence is the use of the word "drowsy." It's not often a word associated with the air on a nice day, but I fully understand what it entails. This air is almost plagued by the noises breaking the silence that must have inhabited it at one point in history. BUZZ!

Assonance - It's so exciting!!

"The mind that judges and desires and decides - made up of these suggestions." (Page 29)

I must be completely honest: I didn't think I would get to use the literary term assonance in these blogs simply because I rarely notice it in use. But alas, I have discovered it! And I am ecstatic!!

"...desires and decides..." are the words in question here, and they are kind of fun to read. It spices up the sentence! The Director is telling the visiting students about the uses of hypnopaedia, and he is saying that the children's minds absorb the information fed to them in their sleep and that information helps to shape their minds. Personally, I wouldn't mind being able to learn in my sleep. This idea is the only one so far in this story that doesn't disgust me. To this point, I have wanted to cast the book aside dramatically to display how uncomfortable I am in reading about this disgraceful civilization. It sounds positively barbaric to be raised by electric floors and horrific loud noises after being "decanted" - not born - in a factory of children. Yuck.

Straight From the Horse's Mouth

"Straight from the horse's mouth."  (Page 4)

"Straight from the horse's mouth."  (Page 28)

This repetition of the same phrase in the first 3 chapters caught my attention. Not only was it the same exact wording, but it was also in regards to the same character: the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning or the D.C.H.  This man is obviously passionate about his work, and he is quite a character. He seems to be a bit annoying though, to be frank. He is also the director of this disgusting program that raises children like animals, so I don't like him on principle.

This phrase used twice thus far simply grinds in the realization that this book seems to reference animals as much as it reminds me of animals. I keep having images of factories that mass produce animals for slaughter, and that unnerves me. I would prefer not to think of those things while reading, but it appears to be inevitable for me while reading this book, so I must carry on.

Brave New World - I Must Admit I'm Spooked

"The light was frozen, dead, a ghost."  (Page 3)

    Almost instantly I realized the apparent similarities between Brave New World and Never Let Me Go: they both tell tales of cloning and tweaking humans. However, I'm afraid the congruence of the books will most likely stop there. For starters, Brave New World appears to be about the process of forming the so-called humans whereas Never Let Me Go never truly explained the nature in which the students were made simply because that wasn't the focus of the story.

      Take this quote, for instance. It alone illustrates a difference between the two authors. Huxley possesses a talent for decorative wording. He will paint this book rather than write it. Ishiguro is  a quite fluid author, but he was not as generous with the adjectives in Never Let Me Go as Huxley is. Which is all well and good. I'm ecstatic that I won't be reading the exact same writing style in this second book. That would be rather boring.

     I have now neglected to explain this metaphor in two paragraphs, so I must plunge forward. Basically, the warehouse these "humans" (I dare call them that) are being grown in has bad lighting. But Huxley took the opportunity to paste an image of death in the reader's head. Not only to describe the light, but to emphasize the fact that this setting is not one to celebrate life in a traditional way. I daresay this story is going to push the limits, especially for a reader who lives by morals that are not reflected in this book so far.