Frankenstein's quest for knowledge

Do you think Frankenstein went too far in his quest for knowledge? or, more interestingly, is it possible to learn too much? What should Frankenstein have have done differently? In a larger context, how should we protect and safeguard the advancement of knowledge?
I personally feel that Frankenstein went to far in his quest for knowledge, its fine that he wants to learn the secret of life but its terrible that he went to the extent of creating life without planing for what he would do with it after he created it. He essentially created a life and then destroyed it by making it the most dejected being on the earth. I don't think its possible to learn too much from a wide perspective. there are probably more narrow fields of knowledge where you can learn too much but that is more like getting up into people's buisness but as for regular fields of knowledge such as math, science, etc. there is not learning too much. As for what Frankenstein could have done differently he could have just been satisfied with the fact that he knew the secret of life, rather than going so far as to create a miserable life. As for safeguarding knowledge, it's not so much that we need to defend against knowledge more so we need to defend how it is applied. This is based on morals thus it is really difficult to control because everyone has different morals.

Robert and the Stranger

Robert Walton and the Stranger are similar in their desire for knowledge and discovery. The obvious difference so far though is that the Stranger is a broken spirit most likely from what it was that he discovered or accomplished. Robert on the other hand has just started his voyage and has yet to come across anything negative or damaging to his resolve to discover. They are different though in what it is they want to discover. Robert wants to discover a passage to the arctic and the mainland so something geographic. Whereas, (and I’m only guessing here) the stranger wanted to experiment with the creation or reanimation of dead tissue and nerves. Which, I’m also guessing, that his expirementing went wrong and that he was out on the ice in the first place because he was chasing his creation. They do seem to have a connection with each other though and so that helps them to have more in common. I do feel that they must have a lot in common because I think the stranger sees himself in Robert Walton which is why he then feels the need to tell him his story so that he hopefully won’t make the same mistakes as him and then fall into what he is currently suffering.

Post #9

Following his capture, Winston undergoes a process of “philosophical cleansing” and “re-education.” He fights valiantly against this. Discuss the methods of torture and their results. What do you think this ending is saying about the hope Winston had for himself and for mankind at the beginning of the book? What do you think the broader message of the book is?

Winston was tortured in a variety of ways. For starters he was locked up in a room with no food and no idea of where he was or when it was. He was cut off from everything in order to change him completely. If he is in a room with nothing and no idea of where or when then he has no reference point and that makes it harder for him to oppose the party. After this he is then strapped to a table and tortured with electricity. This torture with electricity is to reform him. O'Brien keeps asking him how many fingers he is holding up, he also tells Winston that he is sick and hallucinates and that he O'Brien is only trying to help him. From there Winston begins to be reformed to the ways of the party and he starts becoming healthier but he has yet to denounce Julia. Because of this O'Brien takes him to room 101, where he is tortured with rats (his greatest fear) to the point that he betrays Julia. I think what the end of this book is saying is that the individual can't survive against the masses. If they have no one else to relate to then they have no way of knowing that they arn't crazy. I think this is also the broader message of the book and that is the warning that this book gives. We may think that if it doesn't affect us its fine and we're strong enough to keep our individuality but what this book says is that if your the only one like you out of everyone else that is the same you won't survive.

April 15th

After his meeting with O’Brien at O’Brien’s home, Winston receives a book, ostensibly written by Emmanuel Goldstein. The book is supposed to explain how the society in which Winston now lives evolved. Focus on these passages. Look particularly at the theory of the High, Middle, and Low classes. If true, what does this theory mean about the proles? How might it alter Winston’s hopes for the proles? Does this theory of history make sense to you?
This theory means that the proles will never gain conciousness of what is happening to them. The lower class does not struggle for power. It just sits there and goes with the flow and when it does get riled up it sides with the group that promises it the best things. The problem though is that to get them to do anything you have to have a middle class to challenge the upper class. Well the outer party cannot group together to take on the inner party, thus there is no group to get the proles into action. Essentially it could be argued that there is no middle class at all there is the inner party (upper class) and the proles+the outer party are the lower class. Also even if one wanted to consider the outer party as middle class they are all so fearful of each other there really is no way they would group together other than in two's at the most like Winston and Julia but what good would that do at all. So basically Goldstein's book says that no one can change the party. I would say that the theory in Goldstein's book makes sense. I don't however thing this is a long term society but i do think it is pretty well established and it would take something big to change it.

April 13th

Orwell spends a great deal of time discussing Winston’s dreams. Discuss and analyze the dream sequence in Chapter 8. What does this dream suggest about Winston’s psychological state? Why might this dream be important to an understanding of Winston’s character? To the book as a whole?

Winston's dreams are important because as we go through the book we find that for the most part they come true. In chapter 8 he has the dream about his mother... now obviously this is a dream about what has already happened, he's not going to meet up with his mother in the end, but this dream does help Winston to realize something about human nature. That it is in fact human nature to feel and to love. That the proles are the only real people in Oceiania. That the party members have lost all feeling and therefore are no longer human. The book is essentially about Winston coming to a realization, he realized that he hates the party, he realizes that its all lies, he realizes his greatest fear and what was on the other side of the wall of darkness, and in his dream he realizes human nature and that he didn't actually kill his mother. This also tells us about Winston's character. There is a lot he knows but does not realize he knows because he to like so many others has supressed all his old memories. Earlier in the book he was frustrated when he couldn't get the answers he wanted out of the old man. The fact of the matter seems that Winston could answer his questions himself except for the fact that his conscious mind no longer knows the answers because they have been suppressed so far below the surface of conscious thought thus they really only come about in his dreams. Thus all the memories with his mother are in his dreams.

April 10th

Pay careful attention to the last paragraph in Chapter 6, which begins “He knew sooner or later…” What does Winston seem to know? What is being foreshadowed here? Also, what do you think of O’Brien up to this point?

Winston thinks that he will be captured by the though police, but not only that he thinks he will be captured, taken to the ministry of love tortured and then killed. He has no doubt in his mind that this will happen. This foreshadows that Winston will in fact be caught and tortured. That much we know. However we still do not know when and how he will be caught or who will betray him. As for O'Brien both Winston and Julia are pretty certain that he is on there side. We hear that Julia is pretty good at picking out traitors. She was able to pick out Winston and all the other men that she had been with, however it was Winston that shared the glance with O'Brien not Julia. Julia seems to agree with Winston, but how sure can we really be that Winston is right. After all his vision, to me, seems to be too clouded with hope. It could be likely that he saw only what he wanted to see in his exchange of glances with O'Brien. He wanted so much to know that someone was on his side that he, in his mind, made up the meaning that was shared between the glance. Only time will tell whether O'Brien is with them or not.

Thursday April 9th

Describe the relationship between Winston and Julia. Focus particularly on their different worldviews. How are they different from each other? How are the similar?
Julia and Winston have a false relationship or a middle school type relationship if you will. Winston only likes her because she likes him and she only likes him because he is against the party. So really up until Winston got the note from Julia he hated her, but really he only hated her because she was something he couldn't have but as soon as he gets the note he's all like I love her. Winston and Julia though similar because they are both against the party have different world views. They both accept that the party is pretty much invincible. Winston likes the idea of there being a group of the party working for the long run destruction of the party or in other words the Brotherhood. Julia on the other hand really doesn't care, if it doesn't do anything for her than she has no interest in it. She doesn't really care about over throwing the party she just wants to live her life in as exciting a manner as she can. She gets a thrill from undermining the party and thats really all she needs. They are also different in that Winston is much older than julia and he remembers bits of the past before the party. He feels emotion and a connection to his family even though he was not with them very long but he thinks of them. Julia being younger and not having been around before the party doesn't have those thoughts or those connections. She's all about the here and the now and what benefits her. She really doesn't care about what the party says and whether they are wrong or not. Whereas Winston is all about what the party says. Really the only thing they have in common is there dislike for the party.

Wednesday April 8th

Look at Julia and Winston’s conversation at the end of Chapter 2. One statement that really stands out is when Winston, “I hate purity, I hate goodness. I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere.” Think of John’s defiant speech to Mustapha Mond at the end of Chapter 17 of Brave New World. Do these statements relate in any way? What is Winston saying here? And are there other notable statements here that you feel you should bring up?

What Winston is saying relates to what John says in that they are saying that they want the exact opposite of their society (1984's society is not based on purity but it claims to be). Brave New World was all about sex and instant gratification and John was arguing that he wanted the opposite of that. In 1984 what Winston is saying is that he doesn't want anything to do with the party and its ideals, he says he wants the exact opposite even though really when it comes down to it there is no purity or goodness in the party. In fact what he is saying really is what the party is all about, even though they tell the people its all about virtue. So really Winston is feeling what the party wants him to feel but he thinks he's being an individual. The party wants people to hate they just don't want them to think that those are the things that they are hating. Thus newspeak comes into being so people can feel the way Winston does but they can't form the words to understand what and why they feel that way.

1984 post #3

In the second half of Book 1, we learn quite a bit about the methods of control used by the government. The most effective are language (which you have already discussed) and changing the past. Discuss the concept of “controlling the past,” both as a concept and the specific methods the Party uses. Why is this method so devastatingly effective?

The party controls the past by falsifying documents. So basically if something on print is incorrect or doesn't go with what the party wants people to think, they have a division to track it down and collect it so that it can be rewritten and the original can be destroyed. That way no one will ever know or have prof that the party was wrong, because the goal of the party is to appear correct 100% of the time as well as all powerful. Winston plays a key role in the whole rewriting of documents. After everything is collected it is sent to a series of people, including Winston, who's job it is to rewrite the article and fix it to make big brother and the party appear correct. After making the correction it is reviewed and edited by their superiors and then redistributed. While Winston and his fellow workers put the original copies into the memory holes to be destroyed. The method is so effective because if anyone expects that the party is doing this or thinks that the party is wrong they have no way of proving it. Because of this process there is no documented evidence that the party or Big Brother was ever wrong. Also all this changing of the past could lead a sane person (with real memories) to think they were insane.

1984 post #2

To begin, think about why Winston is writing in his diary and why this is a crime. In what way is writing things down a threat to the Party? Why is Winston drawn to this activity? Now consider Syme’s job of destroying words. Discuss the control of language as a method of controlling individuality.
Winston is writing in his diary, really because he wants to. He knows it is dangerous but he feels this need to do it. His writing is a threat to the party because what he writes down is then documentation of history or what is going on. The reason this is a problem is because the party can't control his diary if they don't know about it. The party controls all other written documents in order to make people think what they want them to think. They change various documents so that people will think big brother and the party are always right. So if Winston has written in his diary that they are at war with Eurasia and the war switches and they are then at war with Eastasia, Winston to an extent would then have documentation of the war having been different.
Syme's job is to destroy words for the newspeak dictionary. The idea of this is that no one can commit thought crime if they can't form the words to describe what they feel. This controls people's freedom because they then can't form thoughts their range of thought is significantly narrowed. Thus there individuality and freedom is controlled. So that is how the party controls the people and keeps them under strict control all the time and how they prevent them from rebelling up against the party.

Wednesday March 18th

The first three chapters of 1984 invite us into the world of Airstrip One (formerly England) in the fictitious year of 1984. Read these chapters carefully and describe this world as completely as you can. In your answer, you should consider the following: What is the government like? What are people’s lives like? How did things get this way? Do you notice any characteristics of a dystopian society? What are they?

We start out in Airstrip one, the picture created for us is not a pleasant one, it would appear that we are looking at a city devestated by war, a dark unwelcoming city of concrete and dust. Nothing is clean its just one big city of oppression and unpleasantness. The Government is a very oppresive one, wherever you look there are posters saying big brother is watching you, also there are telescreens in every room and every possible location. The government is constantly on the look for anyone betraying the party. To go with that there are thought police, they come during the night and arrest those who have committed thought crime or taken actions against the party. Also there are no laws but if one were to do anything that suggested individualism or going against the party you could be arrested and hauled off. The peoples lives in 1984 are crap the live in slum like conditions for the most part where nothing works. If you are a parent you live in constant fear because your children are little demons that could rat you out to the thought police weather you did anything or not. This society is a dystopian because basically everything sucks and no one is happy unless your the people on the very top. You could also argue that this isn't a dystopia because it would appear that there was no attempt for a utopia in the first place. A dystopia is a utopia that went wrong due to some flaw... this here is just crap... there was not attempt for this to be a good society its just people living in non stop poverty and being miserable a more correct term than dystopia would be hell.

Uber long blog question **spoiler alert

One of the most difficult questions to answer about this book is why all of this is so very bad. Many people have described huxley's vision of the future as "horrifying." However, the fact remains that everyone in the society is really happy, really content, really without war, or pain or suffering. So what's so bad about it, really? It's often an easy answer to feel but a difficult one to verbalize. Respond to this issue. If you want to say it's not so bad, and you really meant it, that's okay too. Just be specific and thoughtful

I think there is a positive and negative aspect to this world. It's great that everyone is happy but what is the cost. It would be amazing if we could have a world were there was no pain, suffering, war, or sadness, and this world captures that which is great, but in order for them to get this they had to take away everyones individuality. To and extent the idea of conditioning isn't all that bad, infact we are conditioned by our parents, however i don't like how they do it in brave new world. The idea of everyone being conditioned in the same way would in fact get rid of conflict because we'd all believe the same things which is good, but I don't like the idea of seperate castes and having divisions between them like they do in the book. Also with conditioning it could end up being abused it would have to be controlled very carefully.
Another thing I don't like about Brave new world is the lack of relationships, i think its sad that they can't ever have anything more meaningful.
Also this world would fall short in the case of Bernard, when someone is different they are alieanated against and arn't happy and then perhaps end up committing suicide like John (oops i spoiled the ending... maybe u all should reed faster :P.)
Ultimately im not condeming this world but I don't think its something we want to go for, I think what we need is a medium between the savage reservation and the world state. So I choose door number 3.

Brit lit study hall yay =D

Brave New World is similar to today's future in that our society does have more of a tendency now to take life less seriously, or in that life really isn't as valued as it once was. An example, really we have all these crazy people that just take others lives like its nothing (not saying that didn't happen back in the day but we here a lot about it now), or drugs and sex are more commonly accepted its like ok life is just a game. Society today is trying to get rid of all the reprcussions that would normally come from your actions. Example today society says go ahead have sex its no big deal, and if u get pregnant w/e you can just get an abortion its no big deal. See there is no value in life. You can just take short cuts to avoid consequences. Go ahead eat as much and as often as you want you can get ur stomach stapled or cosmetic surgery. Do what u want destroy ur body u can get surgery to fix it. Also society says you need to look this way to be attractive we just don't value our selves any more which is like this book because there is a standard and everyone has to b that way and no one has to worry about consequences. They may all think they're happy but when it comes to morals they have none and they are nothing more than children incapable of self control.