Brave New World Revisited

         

         While reading Brave New World Revisited, I found some of Aldous Huxley’s ideas to be intriguing. There is no doubt that Huxley had an interesting viewpoint on the world. This passage particularly perturbed me, “Today, thanks to sanitation, modern pharmacology and the social conscience, most of the children born with hereditary defects reach maturity and multiply their kind”(Huxley 14). I think that this line comes off as slightly offensive when it describes the offspring of disabled people as "their kind"; it seems to have a negative connotation to it.  However, it was meant to be a negative statement because it is a direct link to overpopulation, which Huxley fears greatly.

           I think that Huxley brings up a good point, though. Before modern technology and medicine, people with severe medical problems could not be helped and simply passed away. It was very simple: the weak died and the strong lived. Today, we complicate this process by bringing modern medicine into the equation. Modern medicine has the ability to lengthen the lives of the disabled and even rehabilitate the dying. Now the strong are not the only ones who are allowed to prevail and prosper. The weak humans are given a chance now that they were not given in the past. Huxley realizes this and sees that it is one of the direct links to the overpopulation of the world. Huxley also finds that, “…along with a decline of average healthiness there may well go a decline in the average intelligence”(Huxley 15). He quotes a doctor who explains this idea further, “‘Under conditions that are both soft and unregulated,’ writes Dr. W. H. Sheldon, ‘our best stock tends to be outbred by stock that is inferior to it in every respect…’”(Huxley 15). It seems inhumane to refer to human beings as stock, as if we are animals or wooden crates, but when it comes down to statistics that is all each one of us are. Each one of us is just one statistic. Each one of us is just one of the billions of people on this rapidly growing Earth.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

       Flannery O'Connor's piece, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", was a seemingly normal story about a family vacation at first, but then it unexpectedly delves into the topic of religion and morals brought about by a convict self titled 'The Misfit'. In the story the two characters with strong moral beliefs, though they are opposite ones, are the grandmother and The Misfit. Their morals are not necessarily good, however. Their morals are just codes of conduct that they live by. The quick assumption that can be made is that the grandmother holds strong morals while the Misfit does not, only because she is an innocent old woman while The Misfit is a convict on the run. However, when analyzing further, it is shown that The MIsfit holds stronger and more steadfast morals than the grandmother. In an uncomfortable and extreme situation,which was being held captive by The Misfit, the gradmother's morals soften and she cannot even find it in herself to pray and ask Jesus to help her through her struggle. This is a contradiction to her previous boasts of devotion to the Lord earlier in the story. She also prides herslef in being a lady while at the same time she does not tell her family the truth about what startled her and what caused the accident; she did that out of pure pride. Her appearence is described extensively and reveals how much looking like a lady and looking nice matters to her, which is very vein of her. The grandmother has plainly commited two of the seven deadly sins. In contrast to the grandmother's loose morals, The Misfit lives his life by rules that he made up for himslef based on his past experiences. He beleives that the punishment never matches the crime that has been commited, so whatever crime is done does not matter because the punishment is sure to not be suitable. He also shows stronger morals by questioning religion instead of meekly accepting it as the grandmother does. The contrast between these two characters is unexpected and thought provoking.        

I've Got It Bad For Joe Scum

              Herman Mildew. The name Herman Mildew has never concerned me and never will. I have eyes for only one man with a bacterially associated surname, and his name is Joe Scum. However, I’ll extrapolate on his dreamy assets later, for now let’s discuss Mildew. His name definitely suited him. Mildew’s enthusiasm for toenail clippings is probably what really threw me once and for all. However, my disgust towards him has never provoked me so much as to want to kill the man. Besides, the night of his murder I was too busy with my previously planned activities. For every day of the week I have a different activity that specifically targets various aspects of my love interest: Joe Scum. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, my life is quite like a movie and is definitely more interesting than yours, be jealous. Anyway, it was a Wednesday, my favorite day of the week. On Wednesdays I wear pink. I do this in honor of my favorite film, which is also a widely known classic: Mean Girls. I like to pretend that I’m a cleaner, non-ginger version of Lindsey Lohan while Joe Scum is of course Aaron, her crush throughout the film.

                Anyway, while looking dashing in my pink outfit, I proceed to “bump into” Joe at his workplace. He works at the prestigious chain restaurant, Taco Bell. Even the name alone of Taco Bell screams classy. Honestly, they should add a side of earplugs to their menu. People might go deaf because of all the class being screamed at them. Then they would sue Taco Bell and the claim of going deaf from class would just look silly on paper, let’s be real now. As I put Joe into a trance with my hair twirling and head tilting he got so lost staring into my slightly lazy eye that he started blabbering some jibberish about not being interested in me. You know it’s working when they start talking nonsense. So by that time I knew I was in. I could barely contain myself so I proceeded to leap over the freshly bleached countertops and into Joe’s arms. Unfortunately for me, Joe was so dedicated to his work that he had to dash over to the drive-thru right as I was leaping towards him, oh that Joe. So I fell onto the floor, which unlike the counters was not freshly bleached. I passed out, but was awoken a few minutes later. Apparently the manager had stuck various cleaning products under my nose in order to wake me up. Thank goodness he did that; I wouldn’t have wanted to endanger my life in any way. I mean I could have wasted away on that dirty floor among dried bits of their seasoned beef, which is the equivalent of dog food, if he hadn’t forced chemicals up my nose, what a thoughtful and resourceful man.

                  After that incident was over and I was on my feet again, I was told that Joe had to leave while I was unconscious. I decided that I should probably just head home anyway and take a shower instead of further pursuing Joe into the night. So that’s what I did. Besides, I already knew I had him wrapped around my stubby finger. I’m irresistible.

 

 

Beowulf Rection Paper

          How did I feel about Beowulf? I don’t feel much towards it, to be honest. My most prominent memory of the book is the infinite number of names that started with the letter H. Keeping all of the characters straight was the most difficult part of reading Beowulf. Even though I found the names tedious at times, I did enjoy the action that surrounded Beowulf and that was encompassed in his adventures.

           The characters that I felt was most compelling would have to be Grendel and his mother. I found them to be a quirky and dark pair. I tend to favor the misunderstood characters in novels and feel some sympathy for them. I would definitely consider those two monsters of the swamp to be misunderstood. I thought it was interesting that Grendel’s mother, who seemed so inhuman, was motivated by very human feelings: grievances about her dead son, resentment towards his killer, and an attempt at revenge. She attempted to avenge her son’s death by defeating Beowulf herself, but failed.

            My favorite scene of the book was when Beowulf was trying to slay the dragon. It actually reminds me of a scene from the Harry Potter series in the second book, The Chamber of Secrets, where Harry is stabbed by one of the Basilisk’s poisonous fangs, becomes weak, and nearly dies from the wound. The same scenario plays out in Beowulf except Beowulf ends up dying from the blow of the dragon’s fatal bite. While in The Chamber of Secrets, Harry is cured by Dumbledore’s phoenix’s healing tears. If only Wiglaf had the ability to produce tears with healing powers, then the comparison would have been close to flawless. However, Wiglaf is nothing but another noble young man with an unfortunate name; one of the many that continuously pops up in Beowulf.    

 

Wuthering Heights Reaction Paper

                In the novel Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, the orphaned gypsy who is taken in and pitied by Mr. Earnshaw, grows up to be a very complex character that changes the course of the novel with his intense and steadfast feelings for Catherine Earnshaw. When growing up at Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff was shunned by Hindley, Mr. Earnshaw’s eldest son, but grows very close with Catherine, his only daughter. Heathcliff and Catherine develop a deep passion for one another and fall intensely in love. Heathcliff never lets go of this love and is not shy about hiding his feelings for Catherine. On the other hand, Catherine decides to make logical decisions when it comes to love, even though it pains her to leave Heathcliff behind when she marries Edgar Linton. These two events in particular stay with Heathcliff and cause him to take revenge on any innocent sole connected to Hindley or Catherine.

                Once he is older and married, Hindley has a son with his silly wife Frances and they name him Hareton. Frances dies in labor, which triggers Hindley to go into a depression where he drinks his feelings away into numbness. He does not care for Hareton as he should and once he dies, Heathcliff takes it upon himself to raise the boy himself. Heathcliff takes advantage of this opportunity to get revenge on Hindely and raise his son exactly the way Heathcliff himself was raised, as nothing but an uneducated worker for the Heights. Heathcliff’s hatred for Hindley carried over to his son Hareton and he was made to suffer the consequences for his father’s actions.

                Heathcliff also takes revenge on Edgar Linton for taking Catherine away him and Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff resents how being at Thrushcross Groves has changed Catherine and blames mainly Edgar Linton for these unwanted changes. Again, Heathcliff takes advantage of the surrounding family members of his resented target in order to hurt him indirectly through the ones he loves. Isabella Linton falls victim to Heathcliff’s vengeance. Heathcliff decides to make the most out of Isabella’s advances towards him and uses her shallow love in order to take revenge against her brother. Heathcliff treats Isabella terribly with no motive other than his hatred for Edgar. Heathcliff and Isabella even have a son together, named Linton, who is a sickly boy of many complaints. Heathcliff abuses Isabella’s emotions in order to hurt Edgar.

                Heathcliff takes advantage of another situation in order to hurt Edgar even more. While she was alive, Catherine Earnshaw gave birth to a daughter named Cathy fathered by Edgar Linton. Heathcliff tricks Cathy into coming inside at Wuthering Heights and then proceeds to force her to marry his sickly son Linton, which then made Cathy his daughter in law. Cathy desperately wanted to get back home to her ailing father, Edgar Linton, but could not because of Heathcliff. He separated the family and hurt individuals who never could have expected to be in his line of fire. By hurting Edgar Linton’s family members directly, Heathcliff indirectly hurt Edgar. Seeing his family members suffer was a worse punishment to Edgar than it would have been if Heathcliff had just directly targeted Edgar himself. Heathcliff was manipulative and passionate man who would take down anyone who got in between him and Catherine Earnshaw, his love and obsession.        

Micro-Story: XO

  

tHE weEkND

             Leftover balloons and steamers. Smoke and mirrors disorient you further. The smell of latex laces your nostrils. You reminisce on the wicked games that were meant to be played. The remains of popped balloon sleeves create a checkerboard pattern on the laminate floor. Faulty florescent bulbs shine little light on the crumpled mass before you. The longer you strain your bloodshot eyes to stare at what used to be alive, the more disassembled the mass becomes. Limbs start to limp away from it, one by one they unattach. An arm is now in the bathroom and a foot is ramming itself into a wall and an eyeball just toppled down a flight of stairs. You are strangely unphased by these hallucinations. Does that scare you?

              Walking over to the bathroom you stumble on a rise in the laminate and are left on your backside, now face to face with the mass. You flick your stare quickly from the Styrofoam ceiling tiles to the heap crumpled beside you. You see the distorted face of your brother. His tongue is flopped out of his mouth, like a raw piece of meat, still fresh and bleeding. His eyelids are partially open, revealing a glimpse of yellowing pupils behind them. His eyelashes are glued together with sleep and tears, creating small, jagged shadows upon his cheeks. His lips are cracked and thirsty, dead and grey. Your gaze travels upward back to the ceiling tiles. You close your burning, bloodshot eyes.

               Slowly you open them, bringing the scene back into view. Next, you get up off the cold, textured floor. You gather the arm from the bathroom, halt the foot’s banging, and collect the eye from the base of the dark staircase. You make your way over to the mass, avoiding the cracked laminate this time. You proceed to fasten the limbs back onto your brother’s cold body, like fixing a broken doll. His body appears less mangled now and is easier on the eyes. The less strain on your eyes the better, they’ve been killing you all night.

 

 

 

"If you were a casino game, you'd have the best odds."

 "a laugh-out-loud comedy." "one of the best of the year." "..consistently, uproariously funny."

Another laugh-out-loud comedy sounds about as intriguing as another best movie of the year. Oh look both of those descriptions were used to describe the film 50/50, how ironic. Even with these typical labels that about every Hollywood film receives from critics and sometimes questionable sources, 50/50 actually deserves this level of praise. Most people know it as a comedy about a guy who has cancer; the two go together seamlessly right? Well at least that's my first thought...(Sarcastic undertone=chuckles). However, this film is much more than that. I would not describe it as a comedy, even though there definitely is humor intertwined with the tragedy portrayed. Such as when told that he has spinal cancer, Adam's response is, "A tumor? Me? Uh, that doesn't make any sense, I don't smoke, I don't drink, I recycle." It's funny because recycling is completely irrelevant to Adam's health; his good character is not going to help him in this case...get it? (Chuckles: Round 2). It is a very real and heartfelt film about a young man's journey towards healing. 50/50 is based on a true story, written by the actual man who overcame spinal cancer and completed his trek to health successfully. This film really uses the concept of pathos, appeal to emotion, to its fullest advantage. The film's serious concept is demurred down with humor. This excerpt from the book Everything's an Argument explains the combination of tough situations and humor well, "Humor has always played an important role in argument, sometimes as the sugar that makes the medicine go down"(48). If 50/50 was strictly a serious film about dealing with cancer at a young age, it would not have appealed to as large of an audience as it did since it mixed comedy and tragedy, flawlessly might I add. Some scenes tug on your heart strings and strum you to tears. But, no worries, there is comic relief on the way, not as to spoil the emotional moment though. Hats off to Will Reiser, who wrote the screenplay of 50/50, he has some impeccable timing. I think this film cannot just be labeled as the best of the 2011, because there are about 365 of those, for each day of that year. (Optional: insert smirks here) 50/50 will make you laugh, cry, and pause to ponder who in the world named a disease Schwannoma neurofibrosarcoma.   

“You can’t change your situation. The only thing you can change is how you choose to deal with that”. ~50/50