Literature Analysis Remix #2: My Last Duchess

                                               "My Last Duchess"--Robert Browning

Brave New World (II & III)

CHAPTER 2:

• going into the Infant Nurseries
• nurses are setting out bowls of roses and books in a row on the floor 
• c.2/p.19: fantastic rose petal descriptions (metaphors/similes)
• a group of Delta-caste babies brought in, put on floor
• when the babies approach the roses and books: loud noises, alarm sounds, floor is elecrtrified
• they are trained to despise nature, country--keep up productivity in factories
• the director has to explain the concept of "parents" to the students
• rather touchy subject; "smut" or "pure science"?
• "hypnopaedia": sleep-teaching
• Henry Ford seems to be a god to them
• p.25: "Our Ford's first T-Model was put on the market"
• Ford/Lord...I see what you did there
• p.27: indoctrinating Beta children via hypnopaedia--"Elementary Class Consciousness"
• disgust with lower castes but also admiration of Alphas
• Just thought I'd share dictionary.com's word of the day: zephyrean: full of or containing light breezes. Isn't that nice? I thought it was nice. Maybe it's the fever.

CHAPTER 3:

•  playtime in the garden: several hundred young children play naked outside
• play a game of Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy 
•  c.3/p.31: erotic play among children normal and encouraged 
• p.33: enter Controller Mustapha Mond
• "his fordship"
•  p.34: "History is bunk"
• "viviparous mother": smutty!
• they can't even imagine "living with one's own family" or "home"
• plot divides between a conversation in the locker room (Lenina and Fanny) and the Controller and the students
• p.40: "everyone belongs to everyone else"
• Lenina and Bernard Marx seem to have feelings for one another
• structure change
• short phrases, single sentences/fragments

Brave New World (I)

Oh, boy, I almost forgot to post again. I really, really should write down my assignments in more than one place.

• The intro is a little reminiscent of 1984 (building description, mottoes, so on)
• "Community, Identity, Stability"
• c.1/p.1: imagery, personification, simile
• c.1/p.2: enter Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, Fertilizers, new students
• callow--immature or inexperienced
• cliche (horse's mouth), direct characterization
• year "AF 632"
• p.4: "Bokanovsky's Process"
• viviparous--bringing forth living young rather than eggs, as most mammals and some reptiles and fishes
• p.8: enter Mr Foster
• p.9: onomatopoeia
• p.11: "And in effect the sultry darkness into which the students now followed him was visible and crimson, like the darkness of closed eyes on a summer's afternoon."
• metaphor, simile
• p.14: cutting short the oxygen of certain embryos for lower classes
• p.16: predetermining behavior (futures) with temperature conditioning, rotation

Senior Stress? I Prescribe a Hearty Dose of Bob Ross

There are so many people running around trying to finalize scholarship applications and worrying about their futures right about now, I've been pondering some ways to reduce stress and relax. Certainly, there is meditation. Lovely. However, that can be a little tough and you need a long time to calm down and clear your mind. There's also always the option to drug yourself, but that doesn't always work out when you're working on scholarships. I personally don't know anybody who has received a scholarship when their essay ended with "In conclusion, I...i gotta go lay down. Lie down? Lay down? what?zzzzzzzzzzzz" Well. Let Dr G prescribe a safe, natural method of relieving stress:
Take a daily dose of Bob Ross every night before bed; continue discovering the Joy of Painting until a relaxed state is  achieved.
Allow me to get you started:

I don't know anyone who doesn't love Bob Ross. Enjoy. Send me some paintings, maybe.

I Am Here

Oh, boy, I almost completely forgot about this post. Good thing for that nagging little thing in the back of my mind that said, "Hey, don't you have some kind of work for some class?"  Well, let's see, where am I? Probably not as far as I should be, and not as far as I wish I could be...
I have not done any work for my senior project, as of yet...but I'll get there. Geez, I hope I get there. (Haha) I spent a little time trying to find books for my SMART goal (books whose characters are setting/achieving goals themselves), but all I found were self-help books when I searched online, and I've been having one heck of a time trying to think of some titles on my own (I know they're in there somewhere). I've been thinking that I should just resolve to read more in general--poems, essays, novels, short stories, articles, etc...
I've actually been doing a lot in the way of trying to help some people out with their own senior projects and goals (whether or not they choose to take my advice or even if I was actually helpful at all, well that all remains to be seen).