Introduction and Conclusion: Beware, these are SUPER rough drafts!

Introduction:


In many traditional religions, God is a figure that gives comfort, is trustworthy, is the Creator of mankind and has many other supernatural characteristics. He is the only thing or being that can bring true fulfillment. While many people believe in God, believers are lessening all the time. People have but their trust is material items, leaving their religious beliefs behind. We are persuaded by media that superficial things are able to bring comfort while this is truly, only temporary. In Brave New World, Huxley uses symbolism, word choice and contrast to show the concept of God being replaced with Ford to warn the reader about the negative effects of replacing religion with superficial pleasures. This occurs due to the materialism that is represented by Ford.


Conclusion:


Through the replacement of God with Ford, Huxley demonstrates his negative view towards superficiality. He warns of the risks our society is facing when becoming part of this materialistic world. Huxley uses symbolism, word choice and contrast to show the possible outcome of a society that has leaned more onto the temporary fulfillment of material items rather than leaning on God's power, comfort and undying love for his creation. In the end, the reader is faced to question their life, are they headed to a depressive downfall as the materialistic characters in Brave New World? Or are they heading towards the eternal life only God can bring?

Dystopian Thesis:

Please comment.

This is NOT the final thesis so please make any suggestions or remarks, things I did good or things I need to change!

P.s. I used Wecker's two sentence thesis idea.

Huxley uses word choice, symbolism and contrast in Brave New World to demonstrate how he replaces the concept of God with Ford, warning that religious beliefs should not be replaced with superficial pleasures. Huxley creates this idea by relating Ford to materialism or superficial pleasure, and God to traditional religious beliefs.

Topic C: The Social Criticism

In Brave New World, Huxley creates a society exaggerated from our current society in America as well as throughout the world. He takes the technological trend of our society and he forms his dystopian society around that idea that technology is taking over. In the world as we now it, we are advancing in technology every minute. The people in the Dystopian society are relying on technology for everything. They feel as God is at least importance because they have put their trust in superficial things created by man. They have replaced the image of God with Henry Ford, the creator of the assembly line. While these people rely on machines and technology, i don't think this vision of a society is believable because of differing morals. Every human is so different and it's easy to say that people would not agree not decanting instead of birthing or having sexual relations with anyone and everyone. It's just so unrealistic. To say the least, this dystopian society gives hopelessness. This society is not ideal and this is a dismal alternative to the freedom we have in our society.

Topic B: The Main Characters

"The security and stability[...]Centre of population" (Huxley 151)

In this passage, Huxley shows his dislike for Bernard Marx, a man in struggle with his society. Marx is a misfit within the society which he resides. He does not agree with their idea of a perfect lifestyle. People go around to feelies to meet their desires and take soma to distract them from their worries. Bernard, however, wants to know what it's like to experience hardships. He sees more to life than being happy 100% of the time and people treat them differently because of that view on life. The rest of the society doesn't understand. In one part of the book, Bernard and his friend, Lenina go and visit a reservation of savages. These people don't use soma and instead of decanting, they give birth. Bernard finds this fascinating while Lenina is terrified by their lifestyle. When they leave, Bernard brings along John the savage, a very beautiful man. The people of Bernard's society are disgusted at the thought of child birth but because John is such a beauty, they become very interested and since Bernard brought him to them, they no longer treat him as a misfit.

Topic A: The Society

"Now--such is progress--the old men work[...]from Electromagnetic Golf course too..."(Huxley 55-56)

In this passage, we realize many customs to the Brave New World society. First of all, Huxley indicates that the ultimate goal in life in their society is pleasure. Pleasure to their society means distractions, from women to drugs, or soma, to feelies. The passage demonstrates the societies feelings toward pleasure. They do not see any other reason for life than creating pleasure for yourself. Their whole society is based on bringing pleasure to everyone. The people don't have any freedom, they are controlled, yet each and every one of them is sincerely happy with their life. The distraction from work, or whatever it may be comes from the drug, soma which is a drug with no lasting side affects like the drugs we have in our society. Soma was made to create lasting happiness and "a gramme is better than a damn," (Huxley 54) they say. They also have feelies, which are movies in which you can actually feel, see, hear, taste and smell what is going on. The human attributes that are encouraged by this dystopian society is the attribute of desire. Whatever one desires, one should receive. None of the "people" in which are realistically dehumanized, are involved in very purposeful activity apart from creating more "people" from budding embryos'. This is not a society I would like to be apart of.

The Stranger-Journal #6

At the end of the book, we can pick apart Mersault's words and uncover his feelings to determine his overall conclusions about life. Mersault's words reflect that he has fallen back into the trap of complacency and lack of ambition. He goes on to expose that the realizations he makes clearly shows him that he could've made a purpose for his life. He realizes that the choice he made to live a life of lacking ambition is one of lasting effect and he can't go back on it now so he might as well be happy because before he went to prison he was happy with how things were. He might not of seemed happy but he truly was. Since Mersault wasn't able to show much emotion the reader judges his life and since it may not be a life that they would be satisfied with themselves, they assume that Mersault should not be happy with it either. This aspiration on their part results in a dissatisfied reader because they want to have hope for Mersault's life. A hope he does not have himself. Camus wants the reader to have an unanticipated hope once Mersault puts his hopeless self into projection. Being hopeful is not always a good thing see find out, because when you are perfectly content with your life, what else is there to hope for?

Journal #5-The Stranger

I believe Camus creates two parts to The Stranger because of the personality traits of Mersault that differ between Parts. In Part 1, Mersault becomes complacent in his day to day life and he doesn't take advantage of any of his choices as a free man. We notice in Part 1 how Mersault doesn't see any importance in others or his own life and he believes in a way that there is no point to life--a view we know as existentialism. Mersault never uses any heavy describing words when describing people or life and in the way he narrates the book gives off a careless attitude. In Part 2, Mersault starts giving more thought in his day to day life which keeps him from boredom. He realizes that he could've created meaning to his life and his thought of life is still not completely careless but when he realizes he is going to die, he falls back into the pit of complacency and his existentialist attitude gets the best of him. Comparing Part 1 and Part 2 we discover that Mersault uses the contrast of the two parts to highlight the difference of a free Mersaults thoughts and a restrained Mersaults thoughts and beliefs on life.

Journal #4-The Stranger

I think there is a definite change in character of Mersault between Part one and Part Two. In part one, Mersault seems very persuadable, for example, when Raymond invites him to the beach he says no but after some persuasion on Raymond's part, he agrees to attend. In Part two, Mersault speaks with his                                     magistrate, "I made it appear as if I agreed. To my surprise, he acted triumphant. 'You see, you see!' he said. 'You do believe, don't you, and you're going to put your trust in Him, aren't you?' Obviously, I again said no. He fell back in his chair" (Camus, 69) In this passage his magistrate tries to convince him into Christianity and accepting Christ as his savior, as Mersault says he usually agrees when he wants someone to stop talking, he goes on with his first "No" and never goes back on it, making him not as easily persuadable as he was in Part one. Another way he has changed is that he is more descriptive and uses greater word choices than before. When before, he never really went into detail about much or acted as if he cared about anything at all, In Part two, he starts noticing the smaller details and using a bigger vocabulary when he speaks about his thoughts. He describes his magistrate to the que of what he looked like and his thoughts about him. "I looked at him and saw a tall, fine-featured manwith deep-set blue eyes, a long gray moustache, and lots of thick, almost white hair. He struck me as being very reasonable and, overall, quite pleasant, despite a nervous tic which made his mouthtwitch now and then" (Camus, 64)

Journal #3-The Stranger

Motifs:


"The sky was green; I felt good. But I went straight home because I wanted to boil myself some potatoes." (Camus, 26)I think Camus uses the motif of pleasure to show how it overpowers the emotion of Mersault. Once he feels something good, he immediately wants something better or more pleasure.

"I smoked a couple of cigarettes, went inside to get a piece of chocolate, and went back to the window to eat it. Soon after that,the sky grew dark and I thought we were in for a summer storm. Gradually, though, it cleared up again. But the passing clouds had left a hint of rain hanging over the street,which made it look darker. I sat there for a long time and watched the sky."(Camus, 22-23) I think Camus uses the motif of smoking to show the absence of chaos, where everything in the book is completely calm and relaxed.

"But the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, was pressing on my back."(Camus, 58) I think Camus is using the motif of the sun to show Mersault's fear of unhappiness, he starts thinking of the sun every time he is in a fearful situation and he fears he might not be happy.

Journal #2-The Stranger

Christism

1. The only thing that matters is glorifying, worshiping and serving the one and only God who created the Heavens and the Earth, bringing others to Christ, storing up treasures in Heaven, living as Christ lived, and having a personal relationship with the Lord. -Comes from Christianity
2. Apart from that, everything else is meaningless. -Comes from Christianity (The Bible says everything is meaningless in Romans)
3. Happiness depends on circumstances, but you can choose to be joyful always, when you choose Christ. -God brings eternal joy even during pain and suffering.
4. The world should think of others higher than themselves, be slow to anger, forgive always, and say sorry when they wrong someone. I also believe that everything that comes out of your mouth should be beneficial to those who listen, building them up according to their needs and nothing vile or wicked should ever be said. -The Bible
5. People should let go of all resentment and without retaliation. -The Bible
6. People can change when they choose to change; not if they are forced. -This comes from experience and what i've noticed from examining peoples heart change.
7. Everybody is equal. -Pretty cliche but definitely true.
8. The purpose of life on Earth is to build relationships that mirror and imitate God's relationship with us. -Song of Songs gives meaning to this.
9. The Bible is the key to life. -It's God's word and He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.
10. Love comes first. -"And the greatest of these is love" in 1 Corinthians

Journal #3

Christism

1. The only thing that matters is glorifying, worshiping and serving the one and only God who created the Heavens and the Earth, bringing others to Christ, storing up treasures in Heaven, living as Christ lived, and having a personal relationship with the Lord. -Comes from Christianity
2. Apart from that, everything else is meaningless. -Comes from Christianity (The Bible says everything is meaningless in Romans)
3. Happiness depends on circumstances, but you can choose to be joyful always, when you choose Christ. -God brings eternal joy even during pain and suffering.
4. The world should think of others higher than themselves, be slow to anger, forgive always, and say sorry when they wrong someone. I also believe that everything that comes out of your mouth should be beneficial to those who listen, building them up according to their needs and nothing vile or wicked should ever be said. -The Bible
5. People should let go of all resentment and without retaliation. -The Bible
6. People can change when they choose to change; not if they are forced. -This comes from experience and what i've noticed from examining peoples heart change.
7. Everybody is equal. -Pretty cliche but definitely true.
8. The purpose of life on Earth is to build relationships that mirror and imitate God's relationship with us. -Song of Songs gives meaning to this.
9. The Bible is the key to life. -It's God's word and He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.
10. Love comes first. -"And the greatest of these is love" in 1 Corinthians

The Stranger-Journal #1

In Chapter 1, Mersault's mother dies. Altough death, especially of  family member, is usually a very tough time for many people, Mersaults shows no emotion towards it. In fact, we see by his falling asleep at the home and talking more about the boss than his mother's death that he cares more about himself than his mom. He even goes out with an old friend, Marie in Chapter 2, to see a comedy and she ends up sleeping at his house. I view Mersault as a carefree person who shows little emotion to anything. I believe he cares more about himself and whats going on at that certain time than anything else. He seems very non-chalant about everything going on around him and he is never excited about anything. He only has one emotion-Calm and carefree. Mersault is definitely and anti-hero because he doesn't do anything heroic for anyone. He is lacking in heroic qualities and I believe Camus uses this character as a protagonist because it's a new outlook to life. Not many people are like Mersault and we see when reading the stranger a different view on the world which makes us think about our own personal worldly views and we build a relationship with Mersault throughout the book, whether it's a good or bad one.