Postmodernism in Cat's Cradle

Cat's Cradle is no doubt a very strong postmodernism text. If one were to examine the religion Bokononism closely, one can make connections with the religion and postmodernism. Neither of the two have a rhyme or reason. There is no "main idea" to either of them. Postmodernism was a movement established in the 18th century that strived to disregard the traditions of modernism. Postmodernism has no obvious center to it and has no one controlling foundation which it originates from. A more simplistic and easier way to tell the difference between postmodernism and modernism would be an example of a ceramics sculpture. Take for example postmodernism as an abstract sculpture with random, spontaneous designs and shapes. The Modernist sculpture however, would be of a person, animal, or an object with an obvious meaning such as a house. Bokononismdoes not have a distinctive central idea. It is something that one needs to form an idea of in their own head. The first verse in the book of Bokonon says, “all the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies.” This just shows that Bokonon is post modernistic. Why make up something that you know isn't true? Most post modernistic texts are a bit confusing as to the purpose of them. However, that is the very basis of postmodernism. The book "Cat's Cradle" along with the "made up" religion Bokononism itself are very perplexing and it is difficult to see the point of either of these things. I hope this made sense to you. It kind of made sense in my head, I think. I'm enjoying this book and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. I'm going to be searching for more postmodernistic ideas in the book now that we are analyzing it in that sense.

Brave New World, Essay Starter Ideas

I decided to start out my idea for the Brave New world essay by connecting the society in Brave New World to our education. I've been able to make many connections between the two. Watching Sir Ken Robinson expanded my thoughts on this topic. School is like an assembly line and is run a lot like society is run in Brave New World. In the school system things are very redundant and things are run the way they are supposed to be run and if they aren't then there will be consequences to pay. In the book, the world has developed into a factory. Children are created through test tubes and conditioned to fit their jobs and social class. They are brought up in batches until they are ready for work, just like in our world. So that is basically what I'll be discussing but I plan on using some pieces of literature including Brave New World Revisited by Christopher Hitchens, and the animation video on education by Sir Ken Robinson because these are what best explains my main idea. They help me incorporate my idea of today's education being like the society as a whole in Brave New World. I might even take my earlier thought about soma and ADHD medicine and incorporate it into my essay. Kids with ADHD have a ton of prospective. I would say that it is even a benefit to have ADHD. Bottom line is that the school system is becoming more robotic as time goes on. There is less divergent thinking as you grow up in the education system. It does not help when doctors induce students with their ADHD medicine to conform them and make them converged thinkers like the rest of everyone in the school system. This is what soma does to free thinkers in Brave New World.

Sometimes I'll start a sentence and I don't know where it's going. I just hope to find it somewhere along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation. -Michael Scott

David: What are you doing right?

Michael: Right What

David: Uttica, Albany, all the other branches are struggling, but your branch is reporting strong numbers. Look, you're not our most traditional guy but clearly something you are doing is right and I need to get some sense of what that is.

Michael: David, here it is. My philisophy is basically this. And this is something that I live by. And I always have and I always will. Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone...for any reason ever no matter what. No matter where or who or who you were with or where you are going or...where you've been. Ever. For any reason whatsoever.

Ken Robinson video - Brave New World

In the video, Robinson talked about how education is like an assembly line in present time. Children are grouped in grade levels by age, and are all given the same tedious, boring information. Every year we are paired with the same peers. This is not a great way to teach kids because some younger kids are better in a certain area of knowledge than some older kids, and vice versa. But before I go on about that I want to show how this education style relates to Brave New World. In the book, the world has developed into a factory. Children are created through test tubes and conditioned to fit their jobs and social class. They are brought up in batches until they are ready for work, just like in our world. I also see a connection between ADHD fighting drugs in our world and soma. Drugs that shut down ADHD are just making the person effected sit down and be like everyone else. Many people that had or have ADHD have gone on to do great things such as Michael Phelps. Giving them drugs is just shutting them up as well as their potential. Soma does the same thing in the Brave new World society. Lenina tells Bernard he should "take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You'd forget all about them." This just make me think of ADHD because kids with ADHD have loads of potential. I would say that it is even an advantage to have ADHD. Bottom line is that the school system is becoming more robotic as time goes on. There is less divergent thinking as you grow up in the education system. The government in Brave New World wants their people's thinking to be convergent, just like them our thinking becomes convergent as we grow up. This is a problem and I think the school system should change to help students become better divergent thinkers. I appreciate our English class because it lets us dive into theories about the books and videos we watch and read, so that we can better understand them and be more divergent in our thinking.

Brave New World

"Wheels must turn steadily, but cannot turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as sturdy as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment." This means that everything must work in harmony, without needless parts, but if left alone it would be destroyed. Those who apt for this route are men who have had the values of family life and aspirations taken away from them since the day that they were born so that the only thing they know is the work they do to provide for the success of the government. For example, Mustapha Mond said, “…what dangerous, insane, obscene relationships between the members of the family group! Maniacally, the mother brooded over her children (her children)…” (37). He manipulated others to believe that families were terrible things to have. He imprinted into everyone's mind that monogamous relationships and families are bad, weird and should be looked down upon. By manipulating others to believe this, people do not desire to have bonds with each other for fear of being weird or frowned upon. A mother’s love is view as something scary and dirty. By destroying the bonds, it is easier to make people listen and obey the governments ruling and authority. The government in Brave New World is very manipulative, just as is the government in 1984. Mustapha Mond puts certain thoughts into people's minds that are totally unacceptable now a days. In their society, all of their desires (sexual) are normally immediately met, monogamy is frowned upon, and emotions are suppressed. Not only are these aspects of life forced onto the citizens by the government, but also birth and death is controlled by the government. Women do not become pregnant, but the government makes thousands of test tube babies and kills anyone that gets to a certain age. This is done so that death and birth are at a steady rate.

Preparing to write about "The Tempest"

In discussions of “The Tempest”, one controversial issue that has been brought up countless times is the topic of colonialism. On the one hand, George Will argues that analyzing the Tempest by relating it to colonialism is not what Shakespeare anticipated on his readers thinking. On the other hand, Aime Cesare contends that Shakespeare’s original idea was to relate Caliban with post colonialism and how the Native Americans were treated. He also relates Caliban to Malcolm X. He was a violent black rights activist. Others even maintain that Caliban is a drunken wizard from Tortuga with wings for teeth. However, my own view leans more towards George Will’s view. I’m not saying that I am 100% correct, but the play seems not be so much about post colonialism or even about the Native Americans. At the end of the play, Caliban resubmits to Prospero after he followed Stephano and Trinalcio. The Native Americans did not resort to other leaders in order to cast out the people invading their land. In discussions of “The Tempest”, the traditional view is that Prospero is the one who was betrayed and is the good guy, also that Caliban and was the bad guy. However, there may be other ways to think about this text. When reading texts such as “The Tempest”, we need to take in account that we may be overanalyzing it. This happens many times in English classes across America. I agree with George Will because I also agree that when we over analyze a text; we strip the work of literature of its meaning. We take the meaning out and power away from the author and distort it to whatever we feel like. Cesare makes a fair argument; however, in the case of Caliban I think that he is off. I think Cesare strips “the Tempest” of its true meaning. I think that the story teaches us that we need to forgive and forget sometimes.

Literary Debate

After reading the two essays on the deeper meaning of works of literature, I have come to the conclusion that both writers are right to a certain point. They both have some different views on literature that I believe to be true. In some cases I think that texts are overanalyzed and students try connecting the subject matter with something totally different from what the theme really was. In cases like these, sometimes the work of literature loses its purpose or intended value. However, I do also believe that in some cases it is beneficial to link some literature to things going on around us now.
The first of the essays was written by George Will, a Pulitzer prize winner and an established political commenter who writes a column in the newspaper. To start off his essay, he wrote that "all literature is.. political". So he's saying that every book ever written has a tendency to have some political opinions. I think this is a very interesting view on literature. Will’s main thought is that critics of literature many times over analyze works of literature . He thinks that literature is over analyzed and for the most part, it is interpreted into something it’s not meant to be. Will believes that when critics overanalyze literature, they strip it of its power.
Stephan Greenblatt wrote the second essay. Greenblatt is the Cogan University professor of the humanities at Harvard University. He believes that linking the text to outside topics allow the student to completely understand the writing better. Greenblatt believes that if students relate colonialism to The Tempest than it can educate us on "forgiveness, wisdom, and social atonement". He thinks it is beneficial to dig down deep into the writing and get the most meaning out of it as you possibly can.

Tempest Act 2 &3 / Cultural Studies packet

I think that Caliban does represent a native people by drawing conclusions from chapters 2 and 3 of the Tempest. The situation he was in is just like the Native Americans. He was living on the island peacefully and then along came Prospero. Caliban taught Prospero all that he needed to know about the island and then Prospero took over the island and banished Caliban and made him his slave. Caliban said to Prospero "I showed you all the features of the island, the freshwater springs, the saltwater pits, the barren places and the fertile ones. I curse myself for doing that!" Prospero took advantage of Caliban after he learned everything he needed to about the island, and Caliban was furious about it. I think Shakespeare intended for the reader to sympathize with Caliban. Prospero came into his home and forced him to be his servant while torturing him in the process. Prospero believed he was superior to Caliban. In the cultural studies packet it explains that the Western Europeans and British once believed that they "were culturally superior to any other race". The belief that they were superior than all the other races affected the way that they treated the other cultures. Slavery was common for the colonized. The Western Europeans had them do forced labor. Prospero represents the Western Europeans in the Tempest and Caliban represents a minority (like the Native Americans). Prospero invaded Caliban's home land and forced him into being his slave. If Caliban disobeyed, Prospero would punish him. There are some astonishing similarities between the Prospero and the Western Europeans. Caliban was also portrayed in a bad light by Prospero in the book. He was thought to be disgusting and filthy. Not even worthy of the cave he was living in. This is how the Western Europeans treated the colonized. They had no respect for them.

The Tempest. Prospero's manipulation.

Prospero seems to have a tight hold on the people on the island with him. He tells stories of their past that make him seem like the hero. He takes advantage of the other characters by making them feel like they owe him something. Prospero saved Ariel from a witch's spell, and if she back talks him, he threatens to put her back into the spell. He tells her that she is lucky to have him, otherwise she would still be under the curse. When Ariel asked for a reduced sentence, he reminds her of the witch. "You lie, you nasty, ungrateful thing! Have you forgotten the horrid witch Sycorax, stooped over with old age and ill will? Have you forgotten her?" Prospero also tells Miranda of how he used to take care of her when she was little, and that he saved them both from drowning by not giving up because of her smile. He told her that she "was a little angel who kept [him] going". Telling her this, might have given her the feeling of gratitude and comfort towards Prospero, and might make her feel that she is in debt to him. Prospero keeps tabs on Caliban because earlier Caliban tried to rape Miranda. So now Prospero makes Caliban serve him. He tells Caliban that he deserves worse for what he did. Prospero makes all the characters on the island feel subordinate to him because of the things that transpired in the past. He uses the past to manipulate people into getting them to do what he wants. Prospero also uses other tactics of manipulation. He manipulated Miranda and Ferdinand into loving each other at the end Act 1. He uses Ariel to put his manipulation into action so that he succeeds. Prospero uses his control over Ariel to manipulate Miranda and Ferdinand.

Socratic circle discussion

Our class had a great discussion on the Texas conservatives winning the recent curriculum change. A lot of great points were brought up and discussed. Emotions were flaring up. The conversation seemed to base around the topics of what is and is not opinion and changing history with bias. I didn't really like that people were saying that everything is an opinion. However, it was a good point. They thought that if someone thinks the holocaust was bad, then that is their opinion. They also thought that teaching that slavery was bad is also an opinion. This is occasionally true, however it is just a technicality. Humans are wired with thoughts telling them what is right and wrong. That should be included as a factor. We all know deep down that the holocaust was wrong. We are wired to realize this. Anyone who likes Nazis either don't know the facts or are not mentally stable. We have laws that are "based on opinion". If everything is an opinion then the law telling us that murder is bad and we shouldn't murder people is an opinion. It just frustrates me to hear people talking about everything being an opinion. That was kind of off the subject of the paper, but this is a blog on our discussion and that is what we discussed. Getting back to the paper... We also talked about the Conservatives changing history in the circle. I don't think they were changing history, but I think they were balancing out the liberal and conservative influence in history. Public schoolbooks seem to be loaded with liberal views, and it is nice that they are balancing it out in Texas. I don't think what they were doing was wrong because liberals have already done it. Thanks for reading and happy holidays!