Literary Analysis: Brave New World

This was done with a whole lot of help from my friend Beka

GENERAL 

1. Brave New World by Huxley is about a dystopian society where there are no parents, no morals, and a very strict cast system. The alphas keep the lesser castes in check by drugging them with a hallucinagen called “Soma.” The book also illustrates a society that exists outside of this world, and then demonstrates what happens when the worlds collide.

2. One of the themes of this novel is that humanity is frail and subject to fall. It can also be said that the government can control the masses through a combination of drugging and brainwashing. Also, it displays how beautiful chaos is and how if we try to control every aspect of our humanity we will lose it.

3. The tone of the novel tends to be trying for shock value. Huxley describes second grade aged children experimenting sexually, and then goes on to have characters react to it as if it is not an unusual thing. It is, in fact, expected. Also, many things, including the title of the book are references to Shakespeare.

CHARACTERIZATION

1. Whilst getting to know the different caste systems, Huxley will use flashback to show why the character is the way it is. An example of this is Lenina, and when Huxley describes her inner thoughts and her remembering things that have happened in her life. Another direct example is when they talk about how the factory workers are taught that books are bad from a young age so they are never educated. Once the savage is introduced, his character is mostly expressed through small quotes he says throughout visiting the “Brave new world” such as “I want to be myself. Myself and nasty.”

2. When focusing on setting Huxley focuses more on inner monologues in characters. To describe characterization it is mostly dialogue based.

3. The savage is a dynamic character in the sense that once he is introduced to the world outside of the reservation he will never be the same. Whatever innocence he retained growing up away from the assembly line life has been turned into resentment for what humanity has become.

4. After reading this book I felt very similarly to when I had finished reading Animal Farm. These characters represent a real problem, but at the same time they are so separated from our reality that it is hard to find them feasible.

Literary Analysis: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

This was done with a little help from my friend Troy.

GENERAL 
1. Robin Hood is a man that helps out whoever he finds that needs help the most. It takes place in the medieval era. Story starts with Robin Hood being declared an outlaw for hunting the King's deer. He meets Little John, wrestles him, wins, Little John joins Robin. Robin wins the shooting match, wins the Golden Arrow, then rubs it in the Sheriff's face. Robin's band grows as he meets more merry men. They all go to church and meet Friar Tuck. King Richard comes to Sherwoood. Robin Hood goes to his Cousin, a prioress, with a fever. She cut his arm then ran and locked the door behind her leaving Robin to bleed to death. Eventually Little John comes and rams the door down but Robin is too weak and with his last ounce of strength he shoots an arrow out the window and tells Little John to bury him where it lands.

2. The essential theme of the adventures of Robin Hood is good versus evil. Robin and his men are always pictured as good-hearted, even to those from whom they rob. As he gathers men to be part of his merry band, they vow not to harm women or children, and, "when the people began to find that no harm was meant to them, but that money or food came in time of want to many a poor family, they came to praise Robin and his merry men, and to tell many tales of him and of his doings in Sherwood Forest, for they felt him to be one of themselves."

3.His narrative delivery has a gentle tone that contrasts well with the rough characters, reminding the reader that Robin Hood's story is a legend. There's lots of fighting, but the emphasis on Robin's cleverness and his code make it a classic.

4. Rhetorical Question-"Now how about we get some ale into the hands of these Merry Men?"
Oxymoron- Little John.
Hyperbole-"Those that stood around saw the bravest display of fighting with a staff ever seen in Nottingham."
Simile-"He Fell like an angel from the sky."
Alliteration- "All Hail our Hooded Hero"
Flashback- "I am sorry i killed that forester as a youth, but I am not sorry i killed you Guy of Gisbourne."
Irony-"I believe you draw a better bow than that coward Robin Hood, who dared not come today." The Sheriff talking to Robin Hood in disguise.
Symbolism- Robin Hood winning the Golden Arrow was symbolic in that it showed no matter how many obstacles the sheriff would throw at him Robin would always come out on top.
Symbolism- Shooting the arrow out the window = Robin wanting to be one with the force that guides his arrows true.
CHARACTERIZATION 
1. Direct: Robin Hood- "No one who went to jolly Robin for help ever left empty handed." Jumps out and tells you Robin is generous and jolly.
Little John-"The large man stood a head taller than Robin and boasted Robin couldn't best him." Tells the reader Little John is large in stature and likes a challenge.

Indirect:The Tinker- "..came at Robin with more furry then Robin had ever seen.." Tells of how furious the Tinker was when Robin stole from him, yet the Tinker sings lovely ballads and is a very kind individual.
The Prioress- She is cousins with Robin Hood and was said to be  nice throughout the book, but at the end she cuts Robin and he bleeds to death. very dynamic and indirect.

2. The diction and syntax change with the different personalities that are presented in this novel. Robin who is smaller and better with the bow displays his skills when necessary. Little John is boastful and his diction and syntax have a hint of cockiness to them. A lot of his emotions are actually expressed through challenges, and his arrogance is shown as he worries how others view him (which we see degrades as the novel progresses).

3. Robin Hood is very static. He is known as the good guy throughout the whole story. Always very clever in the way he thinks and plans things out. Never changes as the story progresses. However he does have tons of great traits which are displayed throughout the book. He is round in the fact that he steals and resists authority.

4. No, Robin Hood in my mind will always be a legend. Almost a fairy tale. Although with the movie that came out not too long ago I did get a more realistic view on what Robin Hood could have resembled if he were real.

Literary Analysis: The Bomb, by Theodore Taylor

General
1. The story is about a boy Sorry that lives on an island in the Bikini Atoll at the end of WWII. His island is occupied at first by Japanese, then by Americans. The Japanese are eventually pushed out and the war is over for America, but not Sorry and his friends and family. Scientists want to test out their new bomb technology on the island. Eventually everyone leaves except Sorry, who rides out into the fleet of sips being used as a test target in order to draw attention to him and stop the destruction of his home. His plan fails and he dies.

2. Sometimes, if the world is against you, and you fight alone, the world wins.

3. The author's tone seems kind of confused, which adds to the story because the main character doesn't seem to know what is actually going on, and is constantly wanting to learn more.

"He did not know how long he could contain his anger, He did know that if any soldier raped (his sister) he would use the ax, no matter what might happen to him."

"From that plane trip to Rongerik, Sorry knew it was easy to see things from the air. He'd seen the schools of tuna. The men in the bomber would be able to see him down on the lagoon."

"Three mornings after the U.S. planes flew over the island, Sorry, who had gotten up to go fishing while it was still dark, broke the silence with a shout: 'Ships! Ships!'"

4. Symbolism:
-Protagonist's NAME= Sorry
-Atoll= paradise/sanctuary
-American soldiers= war propaganda
- Bomb= uncontrollable, unstoppable danger people deal with
-scars on shark and Abram= problems people live with after confrontation
-second encounter with shark= everyone is hurt by conflict, even when there is a clear winner and clear loser
-target fleet= power of American government
-love of little sister= extension of self into other people
-journey back to island= powerlessness of one person
Simile- Azakel compares island people to children of Israel (pg 80)

Characterization
1.  The author uses indirect characterization to describe characters. "The living reef and all life around it would be there tomorrow, as it had been for more years than a man could count, Sorry knew. Tiny animals made the coral from seawater lime, then died, leaving their empty dwellings to be filled with hidden food." This shows that Sorry is in tune with nature and knows how nature works. He also uses indirect characterization to describe unimportant characters, like how he describes the small children in the very beginning of the book.

2. The pace slows down when the author talks about character. When talking about action, everything seems to happen quickly.

3. The protagonist is static and flat. He doesn't change much throughout the story, he gains new knowledge, but that doesn't change his personality as much as his actions. He doesn't have any fatal flaws other than underestimating the power of the atom bomb.

4. I feel like I met a person, because the author did a great job in describing the characters and making their thought processes make sense.

Literature Analysis 2 (really, just #2): Call of the Wild

So here it goes, super late, I've got a lot of catching up to do.

General
1. This is a story of a dog that gets taken from his home and put to work on a sled dog team. He goes through a few owners, becomes stronger and stronger, then an owner he actually liked and respected gets killed by natives, so he kills all the natives and ascends into a more legendary status.

2. Sometimes, the best resources can be found where you wouldn't think to look.

3. I would describe the authors tone as being wise, yet powerful.
"He saw, once for all, that he stood no chance against a man with a club. He had learned the lesson, and in all his afterlife he never forgot it. That club was a revelation."

"Here was neither peace, nor rest, nor a moment's safety. All was confusion and action, and every moment life and limb were in peril. There was imperative need to be constantly alert, for these dogs and men were not town dogs and men. They were savages, all of them, who knew no law but the law of club and fang." 

"His muscles had wasted away to knotty strings, and the flesh pads had disappeared, so that each rib and every bone in his frame were outlined cleanly through the loose hide that was wrinkled in folds of emptiness. It was heartbreaking, only Buck's heart was unbreakable. The man in the red sweater had proved that." 

4. Whitman Classics unabridged
Personification: "The hoarse shriek of a locomotive"
Symbols: Club in the beginning= power that man has over beast.
-Lead position= honor
-Yeehats= limitations from men.
-valley in the end= paradise
-wilderness= new places
-men in tavern= naysayers in life
John Thornton= Buck's trust in obedience
Judge Miller= comfort and convenience
Spitz= challenge of power

Characterization
1. The author uses direct characterization to tell the reader that Buck was 140 pounds, and the son of a Scotch Shepherd and a St. Bernard and other trivial information like that, but later, the author uses indirect characterization to show the changes Buck goes through. He also uses indirect to describe Buck's love for John.

2. Most of the time, when discussing characters, the author seems much more excited. The environment is kind of dull to read about in this book.

3.The protagonist is dynamic and round. He changes throughout the story by becoming more savage and brave. He is round in that he is wild and kills people as well as brave and courageous and strong.

4. Read a character. these dogs seem much more intelligent than real dogs. But in the end Buck's pertinacity was rewarded, for the wolf, finding that no harm was intended, finally sniffed noses with him."