Brave New world project
"Our task in this project was to recreate a scene from the book Brave New World in a graphic novel form. Most students were paired into teams of authors and artists, though several worked alone and handled both aspects of the task. The authors wrote a paper analyzing one of the main characters in the novel and used noun-phrase apposites and concessive theses to make their arguments. Artists focused on key choices of moment, frame, image, word,and flow in creating a graphic novel about the chosen scene. Our exhibition featured both an art show of our graphic novels, and a seminar discussion about Brave New World."
Character Analysis
Brave New World, a book written by Aldous Huxley after the industrial revolution era, is about an alternate society in the future. The introduction into this world begins with the showing of the hatcheries, where the children of the world are “made.” While the director of the hatcheries, also known as the DHC, strutts and shows off one of the factory buildings to the group of young students touring there, I would argue that another character is far more proud than the director. The character of Henry Foster, an Alpha Plus, helps to define and bring into focus certain aspects of the main character, the DHC, such as the fact that he is a good role model for this society. In this chapter of the book, these characters are foils for each other. A foil helps the reader better understand the book and the characters by showing differences and similarities by contrast. The foils of Henry and the DHC helps the reader understand the rules in this world by showing how Henry seems more likely to go against society norms then the DHC does, although, later in the book you realize the DHC has a past of not following strictly to the rules of society.
Henry Foster is an Alpha plus who, in this chapter, is introduced as the proud young man who knows all about how the factories work. “He rubbed his hands. For of course, they didn’t content themselves with merely hatching out embryos: any cow could do that,” (Huxley, 13). He seems hungry for power. Henry Foster also likes flattering the people above him even though he obviously resents the fact that he is below them in status.
In this world, it is proper to have meaningless affairs with multiple people and it is not at all proper to fall in love. This is because one rule in this society is that everyone belongs to everyone else. “Family, monogamy, romance. Everywhere exclusiveness. A narrow channeling of impulse and energy. ‘But everyone belongs to everyone else,’ he concluded citing the hypnopaedic proverb,” (Huxley, 40). If you love someone, then you belong to them and no one else. In the book, Henry looks at a Beta named Lenina longingly. This could be described as a bad thing since people are not allowed to love although “dating” is strongly encouraged.
Whereas Henry Foster is greedy for power and works hard to please his superiors, The DHC already has the power with no one but the world controller to look up to; no one except the highest power. Like everyone in this society is programed to be, however efficiently or inefficiently, the DHC is content with his job and his life. Henry Foster seems to be less content considering he aspires to be more. I think that Henry is the DHC’s favorite because the director seemed very proud of Henry’s knowledge of the factories. “... We’ll beat them yet.’ ‘Thats the spirit I like!’ cried the Director, and clapped Mr. Foster on the shoulder.” (Huxley, 9). In the real world Henry would work extra hard to try to get promoted over his boss. In this BNW world he doesn’t because people are conditioned to love their profession; to love their lives and to not seek or desire anything more than they already have. In this chapter of the book the DHC seems to be a perfect example of the way people are supposed to be in this society.
In Aldous Huxley’s book, Brave New World, there are many twists and turns. In a society where love is forbidden and happiness is forced, characters work to hide their true emotions. The plot and the characters are very complicated and that could make the book hard to follow, but have no fear because the foils of Henry Foster and the DHC are here to save the day (or at least the first chapter). Foils work to help the reader understand, engage with, and relate to the story. Henry Foster helps to bring into focus the fact that it is a bad thing to be ambitious and greedy in this society. The DHC helps the reader understand that even though a character may seem perfect in the eyes of this world, they actually have much more depth than their “perfect” exteriors. Aldous Huxley created a world that is much different from ours and yet the story is very relatable to human nature.
Self Assessment
Check List
A. I have no comma splices in this paper: CHECK
B. My first sentence is an NPA: CHECK
C. I have a concessive thesis: CHECK
D. 1st body paragraph: I use a comma correctly to introduce an independent
clause: CHECK
E. 2nd body paragraph- I use a semicolon twice: CHECK
F. My conclusion uses parallel structure: CHECK
A. What do you think is the strongest element of your paper? (concessive
thesis, NPA, use of semi-colons, use of evidence, etc)
B. What do you think is the most beautifully worded sentence you wrote,
and why?
C. How did the grammar lessons help you structure your writing more
clearly? Be specific. If not, what other ideas or lessons might have
helped you more?
D. What overall grade do you think you should get for each of the following
elements? Use a letter grade. Be specific and explain why.
1. Introduction- I think this A because the first sentence is an NPA and the thesis is clear.
2. First body paragraph- I think this paragraph should get a B because it is good and has a lot of good points, but they weren't clear and the paragraph was kind of broken up.
3. Second body paragraph- I think this should get an A because it has good evidence.
4. Conclusion- I think this should get a B+ because it sounds a little bit like a cliche movie but it sums up the paper.
E. Overall, what grade should your paper receive? Why? Be honest with
yourself.
Brave New World, a book written by Aldous Huxley after the industrial revolution era, is about an alternate society in the future. The introduction into this world begins with the showing of the hatcheries, where the children of the world are “made.” While the director of the hatcheries, also known as the DHC, strutts and shows off one of the factory buildings to the group of young students touring there, I would argue that another character is far more proud than the director. The character of Henry Foster, an Alpha Plus, helps to define and bring into focus certain aspects of the main character, the DHC, such as the fact that he is a good role model for this society. In this chapter of the book, these characters are foils for each other. A foil helps the reader better understand the book and the characters by showing differences and similarities by contrast. The foils of Henry and the DHC helps the reader understand the rules in this world by showing how Henry seems more likely to go against society norms then the DHC does, although, later in the book you realize the DHC has a past of not following strictly to the rules of society.
Henry Foster is an Alpha plus who, in this chapter, is introduced as the proud young man who knows all about how the factories work. “He rubbed his hands. For of course, they didn’t content themselves with merely hatching out embryos: any cow could do that,” (Huxley, 13). He seems hungry for power. Henry Foster also likes flattering the people above him even though he obviously resents the fact that he is below them in status.
In this world, it is proper to have meaningless affairs with multiple people and it is not at all proper to fall in love. This is because one rule in this society is that everyone belongs to everyone else. “Family, monogamy, romance. Everywhere exclusiveness. A narrow channeling of impulse and energy. ‘But everyone belongs to everyone else,’ he concluded citing the hypnopaedic proverb,” (Huxley, 40). If you love someone, then you belong to them and no one else. In the book, Henry looks at a Beta named Lenina longingly. This could be described as a bad thing since people are not allowed to love although “dating” is strongly encouraged.
Whereas Henry Foster is greedy for power and works hard to please his superiors, The DHC already has the power with no one but the world controller to look up to; no one except the highest power. Like everyone in this society is programed to be, however efficiently or inefficiently, the DHC is content with his job and his life. Henry Foster seems to be less content considering he aspires to be more. I think that Henry is the DHC’s favorite because the director seemed very proud of Henry’s knowledge of the factories. “... We’ll beat them yet.’ ‘Thats the spirit I like!’ cried the Director, and clapped Mr. Foster on the shoulder.” (Huxley, 9). In the real world Henry would work extra hard to try to get promoted over his boss. In this BNW world he doesn’t because people are conditioned to love their profession; to love their lives and to not seek or desire anything more than they already have. In this chapter of the book the DHC seems to be a perfect example of the way people are supposed to be in this society.
In Aldous Huxley’s book, Brave New World, there are many twists and turns. In a society where love is forbidden and happiness is forced, characters work to hide their true emotions. The plot and the characters are very complicated and that could make the book hard to follow, but have no fear because the foils of Henry Foster and the DHC are here to save the day (or at least the first chapter). Foils work to help the reader understand, engage with, and relate to the story. Henry Foster helps to bring into focus the fact that it is a bad thing to be ambitious and greedy in this society. The DHC helps the reader understand that even though a character may seem perfect in the eyes of this world, they actually have much more depth than their “perfect” exteriors. Aldous Huxley created a world that is much different from ours and yet the story is very relatable to human nature.
Self Assessment
Check List
A. I have no comma splices in this paper: CHECK
B. My first sentence is an NPA: CHECK
C. I have a concessive thesis: CHECK
D. 1st body paragraph: I use a comma correctly to introduce an independent
clause: CHECK
E. 2nd body paragraph- I use a semicolon twice: CHECK
F. My conclusion uses parallel structure: CHECK
A. What do you think is the strongest element of your paper? (concessive
thesis, NPA, use of semi-colons, use of evidence, etc)
- I think that the strongest part of my paper was the NPAs. I used a lot of them and i feel like they really helped to make my paper more clear and interesting. I had two in my introduction paragraph and one in my other body paragraphs.
B. What do you think is the most beautifully worded sentence you wrote,
and why?
- “In a society where love is forbidden and happiness is forced, characters work to hide their true emotions.” I think that this is my most beautifully written sentence I think that because i like how it sounds a little bit like a cheesy movie but it is also true.
C. How did the grammar lessons help you structure your writing more
clearly? Be specific. If not, what other ideas or lessons might have
helped you more?
- The grammar lesson helped improve my writing by showing me the correct way to use words. The grammar lessons helped me by showing me how not to use common splices and giving me tips on how to make the essay more interesting such as parallel structures.
D. What overall grade do you think you should get for each of the following
elements? Use a letter grade. Be specific and explain why.
1. Introduction- I think this A because the first sentence is an NPA and the thesis is clear.
2. First body paragraph- I think this paragraph should get a B because it is good and has a lot of good points, but they weren't clear and the paragraph was kind of broken up.
3. Second body paragraph- I think this should get an A because it has good evidence.
4. Conclusion- I think this should get a B+ because it sounds a little bit like a cliche movie but it sums up the paper.
E. Overall, what grade should your paper receive? Why? Be honest with
yourself.
- I think that my paper should receive an B because I have some minor mistakes such as not having good evidence and it was late but i thought I had good writing.