Reading Brave New World, I’m continually reminded of the book American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis. In that . . . gem of a book, the protagonist(?)/antagonist . . . let’s just call him the main character, Pat Bateman, exists [sic] in 1980s New York City as the C.E.O. of a Wall Street company called […]
Media, is a big part of our lives, we are using a type of media right now to teach the public, but the public likes trashy media at times. Different types of media: news, celebrity (beiber) social, etc. Each has a different take of media, or narrow description: different take of the public news. Not […]
Reading a Brave New World by Huxley has been very interesting. I actually really enjoyed reading what I have so far even if it is rather terrifying to see how similar to todays society some it seems to be. In this capitalist driven society conditioning and consumerism drives the society. Different levels of society are […]
How much today is our world in the throes of a Brave New World epidemic? Well let’s run down the list of similarities to BNW and the contemporary world, especially the USA. Do we have hypnopaedia? No, but yes. We don’t have an inculcated form of sleep learning while growing up, or sleep anything, but […]
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a scary look into what could be our future. Obviously Huxley created this novel in order to point out the flaws in our society. What’s truly terrifying is the fact that this novel was written in 1932, and in the eighty two years that this novel has been […]
In light of what we’ve been reading for the class, one of the most glaring common themes that I’ve seen is the rejection of nature itself. To me, the theme not only symbolizes the potential future of man as he tries to distance himself from what’s considered “barbaric,” but also the moral, mental, and intellectual […]
Brave New World was, in my opinion, the most interesting book that we had read this semester-and we’ve read some really interesting books. It is also a book that I wish we had more time to discuss the themes of, because they’re a really interesting criticism of our society, and where it’s headed. Aldous Huxley […]
Brave New world by Aldous Huxley is another example of a creepy government takeover. My question that can be applied to almost all the books we have read thought this course is who is the government? Who are the lucky ones? And do those lucky ones get to have feelings or are they just as […]
The last topic of discussion in class today was important and it would have been interesting if we would have had more time to talk about it, so that’s what I would like to do here. It’s interesting to think where our country will be going over the next few decades and I think it […]
What if, in our minds, history itself was quite literally a thing of the past? That is to say, the learning of anything relating to anything of the former simply did not take place. The idea here, of course, stems from Huxley’s similar concept within his dystopian novel’s framework. Within the early pages of “Brave […]
http://writer.inklestudios.com/stories/d9b6 Here is Group 2’s project, The Theater of Possibilities! What will happen when there are no more futures to see?
I liked Metropolis. Silent film, slightly boring, yes . . . but only because Michael Bay has conditioned us with explosions and shaky cam. I was impressed with the visuals, and the conveyance of the story through imagery and mild dialogue. The symbolism may have been heavy handed, but . . . silent film and […]
Honestly, I had a really hard time watching this movie. Because it was a silent film, and one that didn’t hold my interest, I constantly found myself getting distracted doing other things like looking at facebook on my phone or texting, then when I would look back up at the movie I would be lost […]
Seeing Metropolis about two years ago I didn’t think much of it. I couldn’t finish the whole thing on regular speed so I watched half of it on 1.5, and boy was that a lot of fun. If you thought things were exaggerated normally check it out at this speed. The best part about it […]
Watching a silent movie is always an entirely different experience than watching a talkie because every detail gains importance. If Metropolis was to be remade I think it would lose a lot simply because the same amount of attention would not be shown to each moment of the film. The action scenes would be improved […]
The movie Metropolis seemed to encompass elements from every novel that we have read in class thus far. There was a heavy sense of religion in the working class. The movie was set in a grand city with skyscrapers, planes, cars, trains, and lights. The laborers worked underground, while the bustling city above lived in […]
After watching the film, Metropolis, my mind was in all sorts of different places. With it being a silent film, I had a hard time following it through. This was due probably because we are used to viewing things in sound, where you don’t need to keep reading and focusing on what is being acted. […]
Waiting to watch Metropolis towards the end of the semester was really beneficial to my understanding of the class so far. We read many books so far about utopias and dystopias and in our heads we constructed a picture of what those places might look like. So, having to watch the movie after reading these books […]
Metropolis was filmed in 1927 and was the first most expensive film made of this genre. For this being the first feature length move of this genre I believe it turned out pretty good. I believe this film does a great job showing the technolo gy available for film to use. I however, did not […]
The gaps between the worker class and owner/wealthy upper class in the novels and movie that we watched is getting interesting. Technology may be a factor but what’s standing is the gaps, at first Granville, and Shelly their was just an upper class doing what it wanted with science or telling the future. But now […]
I chose to watch the 1984 version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. This version placed current (1984) music as the soundtrack for the original 1927 version of this black and white film. The original music by Freddie Mercury, Pat Benatar, Lover Boy, and Bonnie Tyler (just to name a few of the artists involved) gave me […]
After watching Metropolis and the past couple of dystopian novels that we have been reading, a song keeps popping in my head. It is a song by Elvis Costello called, “This is Hell.” As I watched Metropolis and especially while reading We, the chorus of “This is Hell” just keeps playing in my head. Metropolis […]
Can free will really cause unhappiness? In Zamyatin’s We, free will is the reason for unhappiness. To me the idea of free will leading to unhappiness is absurd. Free will makes me happy; to know that I can pick something that I like because it is my personal choice. I know some people that do […]
In Zamyatin’s WE, there is already no more privacy and extremely little personal choice. Sure, there are a couple of people that try to defy the system, like those outside of the walls, but they’re too small in number to do much, so why completely strip the One State of their humanity? Is it because, […]
Imagination, something in this society is kind of pushed to flourish but in the One State its the enemy. D-503 does get forced under the Great operation and get his creativity sucked out of him like a straw. When I first read the last entry, and thanks Dr Ganyard for calling me out for reading […]
In regards to the theme of rebelling against the system, I actually see a lot of similarities between Zamyatin’s novel and the themes of the movie version of The Giver. In terms of the setting, the myths fed to the people, the view of nature, and the idea that rebellion is inevitable with the question surrounding it […]
While reading Yevgeny Zamaytim’s novel We, I found a couple of things a little hard to agree with. In class on Tuesday, we touched a little bit on asking how people act when they know they are being watched. In We, everything is made of glass. People are visible all of the time, except during […]
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is an interesting book to look at it makes you question what life would be like from their view. What would it be like to have no privacy or even a name? I looked at this book overall as a short love story O-90 is forbidden to have a child, then […]
Throughout the entirety of the novel things have been left ambiguous which in a way reflects the state of mind that D is in. Due to this fact I missed the point that after having a child a woman is simply killed and the child is raised by the state. When going back and rereading […]
Damn you Imagination and all of your great wondrous imaginings. I want you gone. I want the happiness, the bliss, the bubbles in my soda that only Coke makes happen. I want those bubbles in my brain, fizzing, and filling me with caffeinated Yao-wee. You know? “This is the last barricade on our way to […]
The whole idea of imagination itself not existing is actually quite depressing to even ponder. Of course, were the concept to somehow be enacted already (at least within myself), I suppose those feelings would not even come to fruition. Feelings and desires, after all, are linked with the imagination, and just as the characters in […]
One thing that stands out to me is the decision by I-330 to ‘convert’ D. In a practical sense, it makes sense: you need the person most integral (no pun intended) in your confidence in order for your plan to work. On the other hand, it would make the most sense to ‘convert’ literally anyone […]
Let’s leave the entropy for the heat death of the universe, the final moment of ultimate homeostasis. In class we were talking about happiness as contentment vs happiness as … fulfillment? glory? etc.? So, which is better? End of the semester, work loads piling up, sleep deprivation beginning; yep, freedom from any problems whatsoever sounds […]
As I read the ending of WE, I had some thoughts that could relate it to modern society. Now granted, we are not being controlled and watched by the government, well at least not to the extent that D-503 faced. Still, D-503 had an operation that eliminated his imagination and sense of feel. In a […]
I-330 is an interesting character in this story and I wanted to talk more about her in this blog post. She was a very intense influence on D and the One State as a whole, as we learned later in the story. While reading the first half of the book I-330 was the person who […]
The book WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin brings up a very interesting question: are people willing to give up their freedom and privacy for safety and security, and the answer to that is even scarier. Yes. We have seen this over and over again in distopian novels, and then reflected in real life. Sure, the world […]
While reading the novel this week I kept having this feeling that i had heard the ideas in We expressed somewhere else. The basic ideas expressed by the one state seemed to be that people were much happier when they were not free but instead had someone else in charge and telling them what to […]
I want to again talk about The Island of Doctor Moreau. I agree with many of the comments made in class that this is a horrifying novel. It is very disturbing however, it was hard to not want to read more. I kept reading because I wanted to see all the stupid things Prendick could […]
While reading We by Yevgeny Zamyatin I am disheartened by the glimpses of Russian society in the early 1900’s we are given. Although Zamyatin is creating a futuristic utopian he is basing it on the current Russian policies during his lifetime. In 1921 he wrote in an essay appropriately titled “Paradise”; What absolute simplicity, […]
I-330 is one of my favorite characters so far, but for a very specific reason. I don’t particularly care for her destroying the comfortable triangle that R, O, and D have established. The effect that she has on D’s psyche is strange and hints at the word ‘perverting’; in the sense that she’s perverting his […]
Since the question came up in class, I decided to do some digging into associations with the color yellow in Russia
The Island of Doctor Moreau was full of characters that my classmates and myself despised. However, we should look inside ourselves and really question how different we really are from these characters. I know personally that I was happy when Dr. Moreau died. He tormented and killed animals; he deserved to die. However, doesn’t me […]
It is interesting to see, at the end of The Island of Dr. Moreau, how the absence of any semblance of civilization can greatly affect a particular group. In the case of Wells’ novel, of course, the “beastmen” of the island are that particular group. What’s more intriguing is the religious connection, though. When the […]
As much as I want to finish the readings for We, something about this book makes me want to put it down and not read it. I’m not exactly sure what this is, maybe its the idea of no names, or having my life controlled so much that I can’t even pick my own partner. […]
When I was younger, there were a couple of glass houses in the town that I lived in. I used to think that they were the coolest houses ever. I asked my parents, “Why we couldn’t live in a glass house?” My parents always responded with a generic answer or they would respond because people […]
In this blog I wanted to talk about the hold that I-330 has over D. We discussed it a lot in class but I think there is so much more to this than what we discussed. While reading the book the first impression I had of I-330 was that she was around to cause trouble […]
Can the intelligence of humans be less of that than a “non-intelligent” being? As discussed in class, the law of the jungle is to eat or be eaten, yet the jungle creatures in The Island of Doctor Moreau forbids any of them to eat the flesh of another creature. Though the rules were put into place by […]
While reading the end of The Time Machine where the time traveler had gone forward past the end of humanity I was struck by the similarities that scene shared to a scene in The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King. In the scene Wells wrote, “Looking round me again, I saw that, quite […]
So far, I really don’t know what to make of The Island of Dr. Moreau. It’s dark, and creepy, yet I find it to be captivating, and I’m not entirely sure why. It could be because Moreau is so inhumane and cruel, and tries to turn animals into humans, but they’re still very primal. The […]
When reading the Island of Dr Moreau, it seems like Moreau wants to create a Animal Human, but not matter how Human they act they are still animals to him. This seems not only demeaning but goes against what he is doing to them, and it seems wasteful since he doesn’t think they are his […]
In the second half of the Time Machine we see the time traveler go even further into the future. As he travels he observes the changes in the landscape and in the sun. The time traveler watches as the as the sun expands and starts causing the oceans to evaporate and the plant life to start dying. […]
The Island Of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells storyline overall is creepy. My biggest question for this story is what is the point of Prendick and why are Montgomery and Moreau keeping him alive also, is he stupid. This story would be just fine without him up to his point. I’m thinking there will be […]
Generally when reading a novel it is clear that there is some obstacle the main character must overcome in order for the novel to come to close. In this novel however Prendick is faced with many trying things but noting so specific as an adversary. At most it can be said his greatest opponent is […]
In both ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ and ‘The Time Machine’ there are both mentions of cannibalism and how it was seen as barbaric and primitive. The beast-man that does kill the rabbit has to do it in the jungle at night since it was against the rule (1). Dr. Moreau even puts laws into […]
Reading The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells is a little too creepy for me. It starts by skirting around the issue of human cannibalism. “The water ended on the fourth day, and we were already thinking strange things and saying them with our eyes; but it was, I think, the sixth before Helmar […]
It’s interesting to see that as we advance in history, how the characters in the stories change. In The Last Man, we had characters that were fairly round, but didn’t have that much depth. They had strengths and weaknesses, but not much in the way of what felt like real autonomy. Frankenstein was better, even if Victor […]
I will confess a secret about myself; I have less compassion for people’s suffering than I do animal suffering. I hope that does not make me seem like a bad person because I do have compassion for people and their suffering. But in my opinion there is nothing worse than an animal suffering. I’m the […]
I like to read stories about the future, no matter how far-fetched they seem. They always seem to excite me because no one really knows what is going to happen. Each story is just a window into the author’s imagination. H.G. Wells eventually takes The Time Machine millions of years into the future, which I […]
This semester we talked a lot about the ethics of science and whether something should be created just because it can be. Its an interesting, yet dangerous power to be able to manipulate science in that way. Because Dr. Moreau has the opportunity to turn animals into humans doesn’t mean that he should. This is […]
Our class discussion on Tuesday was partly focused on the uncanny races that The Time Traveler encountered in the future. As we move into the works of H.G. Wells in his story The Island of Doctor Moreau, the main character, Edward Prendick, comes across many uncanny creatures. When I read about Prendick’s first encounter of […]
The Time Machine brings up a very interesting question: what happens if technology can do absolutely everything for us, and humans no longer have to do any of the work? We become lazy and devolved (into two separate species depending on your line of work before the great technological advances), at least according to Wells, […]
This isn’t the first time I’ve read the Time Machine by H.G Wells, but it is a much different experience this time around. There is a series of books I had as a kid where they took literary classics (London, Melville, Wells, Doyle, and a bunch of others) and I can’t remember the exact series […]
While reading The Time Machine this time around I could not help but compare the Morlocks in the novel to the creatures in the movie The Descent. Both are a race that have evolved or devolved form humans, depending on how one sees it, and both had to do so underground in the darkness. The […]
I’ve been creeped out by dystopias before but this one takes the Twinkie. Back up a minute, the Time Machine is a dystopia? I had read it years ago, but kind of forgot a lot of the plot. I never then thought of it as a book equivalent, in many ways, to Brave […]
In reading the Time Machine by H.G. Wells I fear for the decedents of man in Wells’ future and even our own. In the book man has devolved into to separate but similar species. First we meet the Elio the peaceful surface dwellers. These people seem to be both physically and cognitively stunted, this is […]
I really enjoy the idea of time travel, however I don’t believe it will ever be possible it is a great thing to write a book about. I like how the travelers’ guests actually question what he is saying he is doing. A lot of book I’ve read the characters don’t question what is happening around […]
It is certainly hard to imagine living in a completely cooperative society such as the one described in Bellamy’s novel, a world where just doing your best is good enough, and the individualistic mindset is cast aside as an unnecessary stumbling block. Speaking personally, my employment not only requires that I do my job to […]
The first five chapters of H.G.Wells’ The Time Machine are certainly intriguing. Wells takes us very far into the future, or at least what he believes it could look like, and tells us that mankind has split into two different races. When the Time Traveler first arrives in the year 802,701 he is surrounded by […]
Sadly, every time I see the name of H.G. Wells, I think of the lovely Ms Helena Wells from Warehouse 13. Now its strange to think otherwise, I was that much of a fan of the show, that Wells was a man not a women. The contrast between the Mr Wells and the Warehouse Ms […]
I legitimately can’t stop seeing the Science Fiction novels we’ve been reading as part of one continuous timeline, despite the fact that they were written by different people with different agendas in mind.
After talking to Lizzie and Rob, I realized that my copy of The Time Machine had one extra chapter, and that my Chapter 12 was different from theirs. My Chapter 13 more matched their Chapter 12–with a few obvious revisions. It seems that someone (perhaps a modest time traveler?) had gone back and removed this […]
If you had a time machine like the one in H.G. Wells story, The Time Machine, would you use it? For the sake of the length of this blog, let’s assume you would. Would you want a machine that allowed you to stop when you saw something you didn’t understand or looked interesting like the […]
During our discussion of the Eloi and they have devolved and act like little children, it made me think of the personality structure that Sigmund Freud published in 1923 and the three parts of our personality. According to Freud, one of the first parts to develop in our personality, is the Id, which is explained by […]
The Eloi certainly have it made. They don’t have (much) of a care in the world past what brightly-colored fruit they will eat next, who is worth playfully flirting with (and more), and whether or not to take a nap. As the Time Traveler says, “To adorn themselves with flowers, to dance, to ding in […]
When we were reading selections from Edgar Allen Poe, I made mention of the fact that his non-use of dates was puzzling to me. The little things that I noted could not leave my head as I read the rest of his works. Well, H.G. Wells falls under the same category for me. There are […]
Time means so many different things to people. Some people (like myself) never seem to have enough time in the day (seriously if I did not have to sleep I would get so much stuff done!). Some people regret that they have wasted too much time (thanks a lot Youtube!). Some people may not have […]
Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy introduces the reader to a seemingly perfect society. Everyone starts working at 21 for three years before choosing a labor job or education, then retires at 45. There is no money, and people don’t try to sell you things-you can easily get anything you want at no cost. It sounds […]
From the discussion we have had in class, and the comments on the book – Bellamy’s Looking Backward seems to looked at as a Utopian book: there’s no war/need for a military, no wages, you retire when you’re 45 and college and items are free. Yet, doesn’t this work into the expression, “it’s too good […]
While reading the section about the separate corp1 for mental, and physical disabilities hit a nerve with me. I read this section without really thinking about the time period it was being written, this is where even the idea of a separate corp for these people would of been a big social change. The nerve […]
Space Race, Arms Race, The Color Run 5k. With someone right next to you, pounding their feet, breathing, and heart pumping just as hard as yours, with the same dead-eyed cold stare reminding you that no sympathy will be spared for your body’s aches, you’re only course for success is to look within yourself and […]
When we discuss Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward in class, it is pretty obvious that myself, and others, would not like the “utopia” that Bellamy had created. There are many debatable flaws with idea of his utopia, but how does that 2000 compare to the one that actually happened? Think back fourteen years when Brittney Spears […]
Does everything in the Boston of 2000 seem as great to you as it does to me? They have it all. Everyone fits into this nice machine that is run by the Great Trust. Who needs to worry about finding a job? They’re all right there for you, basically guaranteeing something to do, only […]
It seems impossible to fathom the idea of a literal Marxist society, completely classless and blanketed by equality. One specific aspect from this ideology is particularly striking, though. That is the absence of consumerism as we know it today, the absence of any reliance whatsoever on a monetary system. In reading Bellamy’s “Looking Backward,” it […]
In Edward Bellamy’s futuristic story Looking Backward, the first thing I am struck with is the title. The title would imply that Julian West, our protagonist, is looking back on his life in 1887. In reality we see very little of 1887 compared to what we learn about 2000. Perhaps the Looking Backward title is […]
I kept wondering what the point of living in the Boston of 2000 even was, since everything is easy and everything is basically given to you at the cost of genuine individuality. What is there for people to live and work for outside of the common good and their own pleasure?
According to Bellamy an ideal world is a socialist one and while the picture he paints does seem very nice there is still something just slightly off putting about it. For instance the thought that people work out of a sense of patriotism is just not believable. That is because if everyone was so patriotic […]
While reading Bellamys Looking Backward the two ideas that stuck with me still to this point would be the idea of what they call the mesmerized sleep and the society as a whole. My issue with mesmerized sleep is not that people can’t be put to sleep through spell, however 13 years is unreasonable. I […]
In “Looking Backward”, the perfect socialist society is detailed. From our capitalist society (and from deep within the College Loan Mines) it sounds fantastic; like a paradise. Play until you’re 21, work until you’re 45, and don’t have to worry about money at any given time. What could possibly go wrong? Well, one problem […]
In class we have talked a lot about whether Bellamy’s year 2000 and the many things we would like to see now. I like Bellamy’s idea of no money or currency. As long as everyone does their time working, I do not see a problem with people then taking what they need, or what they […]
In chapter ten of Looking Backward has been the most interesting to me. I look at this chapter from so many different perspectives. I look at it from the girl who loves to shop, I look at is as the girl who works retail, I look at it as a shopper from 1887, I look […]
In the Begum’s Millions by Jules Verne technological advance has quite an impact on the story. In the city of Frankville the changes in understanding germs and sanitation have a significant impact on the city structure. Keeping political influence out of it the city of Frankville is heavily influenced by biological discovery. The city has […]
In class, and while reading The Begum’s Millions, by Julies Verne, I saw multiple occasions to Greek Myth and legend. Shultze’s counterpart would be the God of Destruction or Death,Hades or Thantos (same as the Marvel God of Death, but he’s insane, well Schultz is kind of insane to0.) Thantos, portrayed in Marvel, is insane […]
Throughout The Begum’s Millions there are many stereotypes presented and Verne presents themes of nationalism frequently. One stereotype of Germans is portrayed by Herr Schultz as, “Those sausages in sauerkraut were delicious, were they not?…I wonder how people who have neither sausages, nor sauerkraut, nor beer, can endure existence.”1 This common stereotype of Germans only […]
My initial response to picking up the “self published” copy that most of us had to read interests me. This is one of those rare cases that you can judge a book by its cover. Total self-fulfilling prophecy. If I saw this in a book store I flip through just because the cover is […]
I just lost a 512 word post because the website timed out. There was no way I would have been able to save it after clicking the publish button. This is a cautionary tale: safe as draft is your friend. This website sucks in a fantastic, incredible way. What was I talking about? Crap… Here’s […]
One recurring aspect throughout Verne’s novel is the theme of efficiency. Let it be known that if any one nationality were to be picked for representing this particular attribute, it would undoubtedly be the Germans. Germans, aside from their undying love for beer and bratwurst, are known throughout the world as being the keepers […]
A remarkable thing about The Begum’s Millions is that the 1870 era it was written in is not that much different from today. Verne could be writing this book today and it would look the same. Chemical and Germ warfare was ahead of Verne’s time, but is something that is very present today. The guns and the […]
I really enjoyed reading Jules Verne’s The Begum’s Millions. However, I did not enjoy the tenth chapter of the novel. When I read over all of the rules that the citizens of Frankvile needed to adhere to live in Frankville, I was a bit angry about it. I find no difference in Dr. Sarrasin’s Frankville […]
Although I enjoyed Jules Verne’s The Begum’s Millions, perhaps a little because of it’s predictable action, I finished the lasts few chapters with a sense of disappointment. I feel that the story line became too melodramatic for me. Max escapes just in time to save the city and world from mass destruction, marries the daughter […]
While reading The Begum’s Millions, I found it very interesting that Jules Verne wrote a modern technology and a demographic shift into his story. The book was published in 1879, so it was not that historical to him at the time. Reading this book over 130 years later though and you are able to see […]
France-Ville is meant to be a sort of utopia on American soil. It’s very clean and orderly and the people are frequently described as being healthy and happy. However, a deeper look beneath the surface reveals something much more chilling about Sarrasin’s perfect society.
In fan fiction, there is a particular phrase that defines ill-written charters: “Mary Sue”, and the male equivalent “Marty Stu”. A Mary Sue is a character, according to Wikipedia, is simply “an idealized character” (Mary Sue). Typically, this means a character who is beautiful, smart, strong, and embodies all the good values that should exist […]
For a long time in American history, the western territories were seen as something not quite fully discovered, especially when Jules Verne published “The Begum’s Millions” in 1879. Even though it had been 70-odd years since the Louisiana Purchase, where the United States bought a majority of what is now American mainland from the French, […]
Nationalism, somehow things always come back around to nationalism and for some reason it actually makes sense. What is meant by that it that the nationalistic views in this book are important to the plot and development of the novel. In fact nationalism seems to be the driving force especially since the professors motivations are […]
I think that an interesting point was brought up in class; Jules Verne’s novel The Begum’s Millions, though science fiction at the forefront, has realist elements in it, and I think that the same can be said for most science fiction, because it does have a fact-based element to it. How things tend to be […]
The Begum’s Millions by Jules Verne has some obvious influences from Charles Dickens. Verne’s story is centered around the Industrial Revolution and makes obvious statements about the living conditions of the Proletariat. Steeltown is very iconic and symbolic in his story. Verne describes it as, “In the midst of these villages, at the very foot […]
Poe likes to play around with the idea of death and disease, probably because of what happened to his wife. This idea of disease and what it can do to the body, Poe goes into great detail to tell like the The facts of the case of M. Valdimer. How Valdimer is gasping for air […]
At the beginning of chapter three of The Begum’s Millions there is some musings Dr. Sarrasin has that I found very interesting. He is saying that he is more poor than Lord Glandover, he is insignificant in the eyes of him and the lord doesn’t take him seriously or care too much for him. Glandover is […]
Where do we go when we die? Who knows. There is a fear that at the end of the road, when the lights dim and you feel the cold loneliness of your last breathes escaping you, that there will be nothing for you to perceive once your heart stops pumping blood to your brain and […]
In the stories we’ve read so far, and in Begum’s Millions, I haven’t found a redeemable female character. If we start out with The Last Man and take a look at Eve, we find her, as in the Bible, as the temptress, wicked, evil, vile seductress, the cause of Adam’s fall and task […]
An interesting thing that was brought up in class was the fact that this sci-fi book was written in the realist period. Considering that the ‘fi’ part of ‘sci-fi’ stands for ‘fiction’, this is a bit dissonant. But, looking deeper than the literal definitions, it becomes immediately apparent that almost all modern science fiction is based primarily in […]
In Jules Verne’s The Begum’s Millions Dr. Sarrasin and Prof. Schultz split an inheritance of 21 million pounds sterling. In today’s market that is roughly 33.5 million dollars. Because both men and science driven; Dr. Sarrasin is a scientist focusing on hygiene and Prof. Schultz teaches chemistry at University of Jena. Due to the […]
As a student that only read Edgar Allen Poe in high school, I always associated him with his dark style. I read The Raven and The Tell-Tale Heart, providing me with the assumption that all his works were written in this form. After reading these various stories over the past week, it is now seen […]
Out of all the stories we read by Poe I enjoyed The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar and Mesmeric Revelation the best. If you look back at all of human history death has always been a question for people. Humans as a species have a hard time letting go, an even harder time […]
When reading Jules Verne’s The Begum’s Millions, I was very interested in the societies that Dr. Sarrasin and Professor Schultze have created. While we aren’t very far into the novel and we really don’t have that great of an in depth look at these new societies. One thing is for certain that Dr. Sarrasin’s society […]
The magical time: when you’re young, deep in dreams and imagination, when Santa brings presents and a fairy steals your teeth. It comes, it goes… And sometimes it returns. When it does return–that childhood imagination–it’s often met by the speculation of an educated mind. There’s now science to explain away the dreams. This is what […]
In discussing “The Fall of the House of Usher,” during class, I wasn’t too surprised by the response of dread pertaining to one of Poe’s most frightening tales. Indeed, my hand was one of the first to shoot up when inquired of its sheer creepiness. While I am not necessarily a devoted fan of the […]
I’ll start out by noting that I am no expert. I have not read much science fiction or ghost stories, but I know a love story when I see it. Even though Edgar Allan Poe is Edgar Allan Poe, I still despise the story “Ligeia”. This tale was a disappointment because I expected a thrilling […]
Reading Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher”, there only one reason that everything seems to be dead when the narrator (lets call him Rod Sterling) goes to his friends house, he had entered the Twilight Zone. Where Rod entered was describing the circumstances and the history behind him and his relationship to Roderick Usher, […]
When reading “The Fall of the House of Usher” just reading the top layer of words, one would assume that there is nothing funny (at least at the beginning of the story) about Lady Madeline. This must have been my fifth or sixth time reading through this story, and the thought of Lady Madeline being […]
For many people horror is now defined by the blood and guts that seem to be prevalent in the movies but it could be argued that this isn’t true horror but actually just gore. What Poe does however is true horror and it has everything one could want in a scary story. That sense of […]
I’m not enjoying the Sci Fi in this class, thus far, as much as the Sci Fi of last semesters Contemporary: 1950s to the Present. I’ve thought this a few times already and wonder why. My first hunch after reading Mellonta Tauta today—not previously thinking much on it before—is that the authors writing these […]
The epigraphy in Poe’s The Purloined Letter, “Nil sapientiæ odiosius acumine nimio,” (or “Nothing is more detested by wisdom than too much cunning”) (362). I was not in class on Tuesday so therefore I was not in for the discussion of how closely related Dupin and Sherlock Holmes stories are. But when I first read […]
After reading Legeia and Fall in the House of Usher, I was struck by something odd between the two stories. Fall of the House of Usher was one of the most terrifying things I’ve read in a very long time. It established an atmosphere of potential death and ‘what’s-behind-my-back’ that shall haunt my dreams for weeks to come. Legeia, […]
During the discussion of “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “Purloined Letter”, by Edgar Allan Poe, I could not help thinking of one of my favorite characters, Aloysius Pendergast. Aloysius Pendergast was created by the writing team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and is currently a best selling book series. Pendergast, a FBI Special […]
What makes Poe such a good writer is the imagery he uses in his stories. He is skilled in this area and it really draws the readers attention to detail. Both Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher, have spectacular imagery that holds attention and keeps us reading. These stories by Poe are […]
In Poe’s The Fall Of The House Of Usher, we see a story told through the narrator’s eyes. Our narrator receives a letter from an old frend (Usher) telling him of Usher’s illness. This letter as our narrator admits reached him in a “distant part of the country” (91), and it took our narrator a “sorjourn […]
In class, someone brought up a comparison between the stories of Poe that we’ve been reading and Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Amnesia is a game that I enjoy a lot and I believe that when comparing a newer contribution to the horror genre alongside something that really helped give birth to it, a lot of similarities are […]
In two of the Poe stories we read this week The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter we read about Dupin solving mysteries the authorities are unable to solve themselves. I couldn’t help but see similarities between the character Dupin and Sherlock Holmes. Dupin like Holmes is a deeply intellectual and observant […]
Sometimes when you are reading a selection, you notice something so little that it is really nothing. While others may not give it a second look, it stands out as really puzzling to you. I must say that I had that experience while reading the two detective stories from Edgar Allen Poe. The very first […]
Victor recovers from his sickness by going home to nature, its beautiful flowers, trees and lakes. As known before, Victor was surrounded by what he knows as “perfect beauty,” his mother and Elizabeth, his “cousin.” When it came to the creature, before he was brought to life the creature was beautiful, and after it was […]
When reading this novel I have always been torn over which character I actually feel sympathy for. Certainly not for the creature who actively choose to commit murders, especially since I believe he had all the potential to be a good person. At moments in Frankenstein I feel sorry for Victor but than he does […]
Mix a fresh, established mind—a baby adult, innocent yet mature—in a pot that’s been stewing in a mix of minds lost in a fog of confused, in-group ideas and expect homeostasis. But it’s oil and water. You-know-who is arguably more educated than the rest of civilization, even compared to the real out-side-the-book world: present day. […]
Shortly after Elizabeth dies, Victor says that, “A fiend had snatched from me every hope of future happiness: no creature had ever been so miserable as I was; so frightful an event is single in the history of man” (201). This quote from Victor is why I hate him as much as I do. Does […]
Throughout the course of mankind, humans have been looking to expand their knowledge. From the early cavemen learning about fire and tools to the modern day technology gurus, the pursuit of knowledge has been a prevalent theme. This is no exception in the novel Frankenstein, as two men set out to expand their knowledge. Unfortunately, […]
Through out all of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s creation remains nameless. The creature is called a demon, monster, specter, but no proper name is ever given to him. It is easy to see why Victor Frankenstein would not name his creation; he rejects the monster almost instantly. What’s really curious is why the […]
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein the two years that the monster is away from Victor create an interesting example for the argument of nature verses nurture. Once the creature receives life it almost immediately leaves Victor after he panics and yells at him. As the monster recounts his travels to Victor during the second part of […]
Victor has a habit of categorizing things and people alike into either the “good” category or the “bad” one, with little in-between. As a result, a theme that can be seen throughout Frankenstein is the destruction of what Victor considers to be good and innocent in the world.
In reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, I couldn’t help but notice some similarities in Victor and the Creature’s relationship and Marvel’s Odin and Loki’s relationship. Even though the relationships are not exactly the same, there are some aspects that I thought related well and helped me connect with the characters more. Looking first at Victor and […]
Frankenstein was sent into the world resented. He was told he was the “Devil” by Victor and that he was evil. How does anyone expect a monster to be kind and nice when people resent and think of him as ugly and evil everyday from the beginning of his life. Instead of Victor being a […]
Victor Frankenstein is constantly thinking about what he can do and his own ambition without consequence leading to the destruction of the people in his life, and eventually the end of the his own life. From the start of his discovery of science, Frankenstein throws himself into the alchemists’ work and nothing else (48). The […]
I like the idea that Monster is sort of like a creature or man who has risen out of the cave (out of death) and into the light of the real. “My sensations had, by this time, become distinct, and my mind received every day additional ideas. My eyes became accustomed to the […]
I feel that Frankenstein’s obsession with creating life is less involved with his desire to create another living being as much as it is rooted in his lack of compassion or consideration for other human beings. As a young boy he is “given” another person, Elizabeth, as a present. He treats her as a possession […]
So, the biblical correlations between Grainville’s “The Last Man,” and the Holy Bible are quite obvious, particularly with the books of Revelations and Genesis. The novel does at times, though, exhibit sentiments of yet another book of the bible. Comparisons to Solomon’s Ecclesiastes can be seen, for sure. In fact, I would even argue […]
As I read The Last Man I was constantly reflecting on how confusing the will of God was portrayed. Until I knew the conclusion of the story, I wondered if the characters were supposed to be viewed sympathetically in contrast to the conflicting messages they received about what God wanted. After the spirit of the […]
When reading The Last Man by Granville I decided that it was the greatest most ridiculous book I’d ever read. Most of the reasoning behind this is because nationalism just oozes out of the pages in a way that had me laughing. At first it was not that bad because with the author being French […]
In the pages of Frankenstein, many different people experience the hardships of giving life and falling ill from it. There is the obvious one including Victor Frankenstein and his monster. He was ultimately the father of this unearthly being, what with him creating his life and everything. However, while Victor was giving life to the […]
1 While reading the the first section in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, it struck me how brief the description of the creation of the monster was. While most audiences are probably most familiar with the Hollywood production of Frankenstein with flashing lights, bolts of lightning, or a crazed Gene Wilder in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein screaming at […]
Little did I know that when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, she was nineteen and already had a few children; few have them had died before she had a son that lived past the age of three. Her view of children in this book is interesting, she wants more from the scene of the mother who […]
In Jean-Baptiste François Xavier Cousin de Granville’s book, The Last Man, the end of the world is foretold, starting with the last two fertile people in the world. The only fertile man, Omegarus, is told by the Spirit of the Earth that he can start humanity over again. However, the marriage between Omegarus and the […]
We discussed in class Victors rejection of his monster but there are other important aspects I wanted to bring up. Victor struggled with himself after creating the monster. He immediately knew it was a bad idea because the world wasn’t ready for that kind of science. Creating life is a major scientific discovery, a moral […]
In reading the book The Last Man one can get a feel for the events and beliefs of the time of the writing. I find it interesting how the social views and world events at the time of writing can influence the overall feeling of a book. One major theme that comes through in this […]
What is the Great Moderator? It might be a scolding parent, or a set of shameful consequences. For a student who likes video games a little too much it’s in a desire to maintain a respectable GPA. For a recovering alcoholic it might be a booze-less fridge. So, who moderates human progress? We have no aliens to […]
The most fascinating character to me in The Last Man was that of Death himself. Though he was not introduced until the last canto, he certainly became a heroic figure. In canto X, Death is squared off in a titanic struggle against the Spirit of the Earth. Death knows that he can end the Earth […]
What Cousin de Grainville explores in The Last Man is an imagining of the time just before the final time before the end of the world, where all empires had crumbled and people huddled together to try and eke out a meager existence. Grainville certainly knew his audience. This is, unmistakably, the definition of a dystopian […]
In Jean-Baptiste Francois Xavier Cousin De Grainville’s The Last Man Palemos tells a story to Omegarus about Idamas, where Idamas enters a temple and pleads with God to save the earth, Idamas then hears a voice in the temple telling him; “The destiny of earth is bound up with the life of one man, […]