"Lenina liked the drums. Shutting her eyes she abandoned herself to their soft repeated thunder, allowed it to invade her consciousness more and more completely, till at last there was nothing left in the world but that one deep pulse of sound." (Page 113)
Let's face it, to this point, Lenina has not enjoyed her trip with Bernard. She has been thrust into a situation that she is completely uncomfortable with, and she even asked to go home a few times. She doesn't like the Savages and their customs, and she is scared of their varying looks. When it seemed that all hope was lost for her vacation and she was destined to be miserable, the drums started. She had to admit that she liked them, but only because they reminded her of home and the Solidarity Services and Ford's Day celebrations they have. Despite the minimal reminder, she allowed herself a slightly renewed store of energy, and she needed it. In a few short pages, she was thrust into the lives of Linda and John: none other than the Director's lover and illegitimate child. It's so ironic that they would meet. I do realize that it is a story though, and nothing is coincidence.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Imagery - Can't you just see it?
"Cloaks of turkey feathers fluttered from their shoulders; huge feather diadems exploded gaudily round their heads." (Page 109)
What a scene! For the entire lives of Lenina and Bernard, order has been the only thing they knew. It ran their lives, and they were comfortable with that. And then, BAM! All of a sudden, they are thrust out of their world and into one with color and disorder. One with spontaneity and true emotion. It is only fitting that I chose this scene to highlight Huxley's knack for imagery. He couldn't have fully written the scene without pulling out all of the stops and plowing full-speed ahead with his power verbs and eccentric adjectives. This sentence is only one of many that he hand-crafted to adorn this scene. From "the clink and rattle of their silver bracelets" to the old man's skin that was "wrinkled and black, like a mask of obsidian," Huxley gave his reader's imagination a literary treat.
What a scene! For the entire lives of Lenina and Bernard, order has been the only thing they knew. It ran their lives, and they were comfortable with that. And then, BAM! All of a sudden, they are thrust out of their world and into one with color and disorder. One with spontaneity and true emotion. It is only fitting that I chose this scene to highlight Huxley's knack for imagery. He couldn't have fully written the scene without pulling out all of the stops and plowing full-speed ahead with his power verbs and eccentric adjectives. This sentence is only one of many that he hand-crafted to adorn this scene. From "the clink and rattle of their silver bracelets" to the old man's skin that was "wrinkled and black, like a mask of obsidian," Huxley gave his reader's imagination a literary treat.
Vernacular - You don't say!
"She must have fallen into a gully somewhere; or been eaten by a mountain lion. Ford knows." (Page 97)
This quote falls very shortly after my previous blog's quote, but I found it a particularly good example of the vernacular used in this book. The name of Ford is used throughout the book, but it is most consistently and significantly used by the Director himself. I've been searching the book for the best way to blog about this incessant word, and I wanted the accompanying quote to be from the mouth of an important character. As it is, the Director won my little contest for best quote. The whole idea behind this word, "Ford," is that it is used much in the same way someone might use the word: Lord. For example: "Lord knows," "Oh, Lord, that's ridiculous." I also find it ironic that Ford and Lord rhyme. I can only assume that Huxley purposefully chose this name. If he didn't, that would be too much of a coincidence for well-crafted literature.
This quote falls very shortly after my previous blog's quote, but I found it a particularly good example of the vernacular used in this book. The name of Ford is used throughout the book, but it is most consistently and significantly used by the Director himself. I've been searching the book for the best way to blog about this incessant word, and I wanted the accompanying quote to be from the mouth of an important character. As it is, the Director won my little contest for best quote. The whole idea behind this word, "Ford," is that it is used much in the same way someone might use the word: Lord. For example: "Lord knows," "Oh, Lord, that's ridiculous." I also find it ironic that Ford and Lord rhyme. I can only assume that Huxley purposefully chose this name. If he didn't, that would be too much of a coincidence for well-crafted literature.
Anecdote - An author's parable.
"And then - it was almost the last day of my leave - then...well, she got lost." (Page 96)
Bernard is about to embark on his week-long trip to New Mexico with Lenina when the Director hits him with this anecdote of his trip to New Mexico quite a while back with a woman he was seeing at the time. The short story surprises Bernard in that he didn't realize the Director possessed the capacity to have the feelings he insinuated in his story. The Director had lost the woman in the hills while horseback riding near the reservation of savages, and he never found her. The anecdote added to the story simply because it showed that the Director has feelings. However, it also provides necessary information for the scenes to come when Bernard discovers this long-lost lover on his voyage to the reservations. Without this particular anecdote, the reader would be completely lost as to why the woman Bernard finds is important or special. I'm sure Huxley could have explained it, but an explanation as part of the narrative of the story is never quite as good as one straight from the character affected. These upcoming scenes have the potential to be a soap-opera drama.
Bernard is about to embark on his week-long trip to New Mexico with Lenina when the Director hits him with this anecdote of his trip to New Mexico quite a while back with a woman he was seeing at the time. The short story surprises Bernard in that he didn't realize the Director possessed the capacity to have the feelings he insinuated in his story. The Director had lost the woman in the hills while horseback riding near the reservation of savages, and he never found her. The anecdote added to the story simply because it showed that the Director has feelings. However, it also provides necessary information for the scenes to come when Bernard discovers this long-lost lover on his voyage to the reservations. Without this particular anecdote, the reader would be completely lost as to why the woman Bernard finds is important or special. I'm sure Huxley could have explained it, but an explanation as part of the narrative of the story is never quite as good as one straight from the character affected. These upcoming scenes have the potential to be a soap-opera drama.
Anthropomorphism - Words so real, they're practically crawling off the page!
"Northwards, beyond and above the trees, the Internal and External Secretions factory glared with a fierce electric brilliance from every window of its twenty stories." (Page 73)
Just reading this sentence gives me the chills. Huxley makes the factory seem like a bull ready to charge the matador with its glaring eyes. I just have this image in my head of the scene from Cars when Mater and Lightning McQueen go tractor-tipping and meet Frank, the evil bull-like machine. The image I get is at 2:25 of the following clip.
What a great movie. But I digress. This quote appears during Lenina's date with Henry Foster for an afternoon of Obstacle Golf. Huxley particularly enjoys personifying things in his book because it aids his imagery - the most obvious of his artistic traits as an author, and I thank him for it. Anthropomorphism is never undesirable when reading a story. It can only help.
I don't quite understand the idea of Lenina and Henry's game, but I know the general idea behind it. It seems to be an almost universally enjoyed sport by the characters because of what they get to do afterwards. When, later in the book, Bernard mentions that Obstacle Golf is not his activity of choice, Lenina is taken aback simply because it is almost second nature for the people in her world to enjoy the game. It was unsurprising for me though because Bernard strikes me as a character who enjoys his solitude and deep conversations in a private setting. He sure is a dynamic character.
Just reading this sentence gives me the chills. Huxley makes the factory seem like a bull ready to charge the matador with its glaring eyes. I just have this image in my head of the scene from Cars when Mater and Lightning McQueen go tractor-tipping and meet Frank, the evil bull-like machine. The image I get is at 2:25 of the following clip.
What a great movie. But I digress. This quote appears during Lenina's date with Henry Foster for an afternoon of Obstacle Golf. Huxley particularly enjoys personifying things in his book because it aids his imagery - the most obvious of his artistic traits as an author, and I thank him for it. Anthropomorphism is never undesirable when reading a story. It can only help.
I don't quite understand the idea of Lenina and Henry's game, but I know the general idea behind it. It seems to be an almost universally enjoyed sport by the characters because of what they get to do afterwards. When, later in the book, Bernard mentions that Obstacle Golf is not his activity of choice, Lenina is taken aback simply because it is almost second nature for the people in her world to enjoy the game. It was unsurprising for me though because Bernard strikes me as a character who enjoys his solitude and deep conversations in a private setting. He sure is a dynamic character.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Time for Recess, Kids! - Mood
"Helmholtz Watson listened with a certain sense of discomfort....He wished Bernard would show a little more pride." (Page 71)
The mood in this scene is bogged down by the lives these men live. Neither is happy, and the mood resembles that of stressed students who take a brief ten-minute break or power nap. Helmholtz Watson is a new character, and he is like Bernard in that he is slightly different than those of his caste. However, whereas Bernard suffers from that difference, Helmholtz is treated like a special specimen. Helmholtz doesn't feel elated by this special treatment, though. He simply feels like he can never reach his full potential. Bernard experiences the same feelings, but in a different way; he feels his true potential is never quite up to par. He is ecstatic that Lenina agreed to have him in New Mexico, but he can barely react well to his good luck. He feels disconnected from her because she is normal for her caste; she acts as she should in social situations. All of these details are minimal when separate, but when added together, they make for a rather depressing mood. Needless to say, this chapter was not a joy to read.
The mood in this scene is bogged down by the lives these men live. Neither is happy, and the mood resembles that of stressed students who take a brief ten-minute break or power nap. Helmholtz Watson is a new character, and he is like Bernard in that he is slightly different than those of his caste. However, whereas Bernard suffers from that difference, Helmholtz is treated like a special specimen. Helmholtz doesn't feel elated by this special treatment, though. He simply feels like he can never reach his full potential. Bernard experiences the same feelings, but in a different way; he feels his true potential is never quite up to par. He is ecstatic that Lenina agreed to have him in New Mexico, but he can barely react well to his good luck. He feels disconnected from her because she is normal for her caste; she acts as she should in social situations. All of these details are minimal when separate, but when added together, they make for a rather depressing mood. Needless to say, this chapter was not a joy to read.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Welcome to the circus, ladies and gentlemen! Feast your eyes!
" 'I've had it nearly three months.'
'Chosen as the opening date of the new era.'
'Ending is better than mending; ending is better...'
'There was a thing, as I've said before, called Christianity.' " (Page 52)
I am exhausted! This chapter drained me. For the entire last half of the chapter my brain was playing the classic circus theme song that musically presents chaos. Here's an example for you:
Take this classic song and speed it up until it is so fast you feel like your head is spinning. That is the background music my dear brain played for me while reading this chapter. I could practically see the three-ring circus. How appropriate too, in a stretch of dialogue that includes three separate scenes: the conversation between Lenina Crowne and Fanny Crowne, Mustapha Mond's monologue, and the dialogue between Henry Foster, the assistant Predestinator, and Bernard Marx. Like a three-ring circus, the events in each ring of the story correlated with one another. Mond spoke of the importance he saw in a civilization that values an extremely social community in which "every one belongs to every one else." Lenina and Fanny simultaneously spoke of the dangers in Lenina's presently monogamous relationship with Henry Foster, and the three men spoke of Lenina in a way that does not promote monogamy in any way. And when the adages that all children learn in their sleep started mixing themselves into the dialogue, the simple sayings corresponded to what the women were discussing, namely buying new clothing often. The conversations wove themselves around each other in a way that was barely possible to follow, but I persisted.
In this chapter, I was also presented with various relationships. Lenina and Henry are currently friends with benefits (for lack of an easier explanation), Bernard Marx has some sort of feelings Lenina who, until recently, completely disregarded him. Fanny and Lenina are friends ( just remember they are friends in Huxley's new world, not ours), and Lenina is comfortable with Henry to a point of danger. Bernard Marx hates the two men he is forced to listen to in the equivalent of a men's locker room. Finally, the story has reached a point I can take a serious interest in.
'Chosen as the opening date of the new era.'
'Ending is better than mending; ending is better...'
'There was a thing, as I've said before, called Christianity.' " (Page 52)
I am exhausted! This chapter drained me. For the entire last half of the chapter my brain was playing the classic circus theme song that musically presents chaos. Here's an example for you:
Take this classic song and speed it up until it is so fast you feel like your head is spinning. That is the background music my dear brain played for me while reading this chapter. I could practically see the three-ring circus. How appropriate too, in a stretch of dialogue that includes three separate scenes: the conversation between Lenina Crowne and Fanny Crowne, Mustapha Mond's monologue, and the dialogue between Henry Foster, the assistant Predestinator, and Bernard Marx. Like a three-ring circus, the events in each ring of the story correlated with one another. Mond spoke of the importance he saw in a civilization that values an extremely social community in which "every one belongs to every one else." Lenina and Fanny simultaneously spoke of the dangers in Lenina's presently monogamous relationship with Henry Foster, and the three men spoke of Lenina in a way that does not promote monogamy in any way. And when the adages that all children learn in their sleep started mixing themselves into the dialogue, the simple sayings corresponded to what the women were discussing, namely buying new clothing often. The conversations wove themselves around each other in a way that was barely possible to follow, but I persisted.
In this chapter, I was also presented with various relationships. Lenina and Henry are currently friends with benefits (for lack of an easier explanation), Bernard Marx has some sort of feelings Lenina who, until recently, completely disregarded him. Fanny and Lenina are friends ( just remember they are friends in Huxley's new world, not ours), and Lenina is comfortable with Henry to a point of danger. Bernard Marx hates the two men he is forced to listen to in the equivalent of a men's locker room. Finally, the story has reached a point I can take a serious interest in.
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