Sundeep's Blog

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Advertisement Parody

So, my parody is the iPad 3 which i'm pretty sure will come out soon and won't be much different than the iPad or the iPad 2 since apple seems to be running out of ideas. My picture shows how steve jobs just taped four ipods together and calls it the iPad 3.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Conjoined Essay

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Marriage is often regarded a happy celebration that commerates the union of two individuals.  However, that is not always the case.  The poem, “Conjoined” by Judith Minty, expresses a pessimistic view towards marriage through the use of literary devices such as diction, analogies, and metaphors.  <o:p></o:p></div>
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            Minty uses an analogy of a wedding cake to her marriage.  Minty uses words like “deformed” to imply that her marriage is not normal or not right. She also describes the cake, or her marriage, as a “monster”; a very pessimistic way of looking at a marriage.   The cake represents a monster, with two beasts in one skin. They fight for space, pressing against one another. These lines also make an allusion to two bodies trapped in one skin. The author uses the term "deformed". Marriage is intended to be a union between two people who, through years of bonding, grow to know one another so well they are almost two souls in one body.  In the last line of the first stanza we see why deformity had taken place before and that is because it was, “pressed and grew against the other.”  When Minty uses the word, “pressed” it gives off the connotation of a uncomfortable situation, and almost implies that the marriage was forced, rather than letting it develop naturally.   Through such words like “flat” and “deformed” we can see how the marriage described by Minty is an unnatural one.  Another metaphor that is used to compare marriage is, "an accident, like the two-headed calf rooted in one body." This is Minty talking about a troubled marriage where both sides are fighting against each other for what they want. This statement displays that this marriage evolved into a union that was not meant to be; what was once intended to be a happy, fruitful marriage has become nothing more than an imprisonment of sorts.  Starting out the line stating that this two-headed calf is an accident really does give the impression that the calf is not meant to be, almost like the marriage she’s talking about is not meant to be. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Additionally, she brings up the idea that marriage is also, “like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins, / joined at the chest by skin and muscle, doomed / to live, even make love, together for sixty years. Chang and Eng were Siamese twins, and, like the cows, would be considered freaks of nature, possibly featured in a side show at a carnival of some sort. This depicts marriage as a sort of show at times, which needs to be put on for outsiders. The people involved need to be able to cooperate with one another in public, as Chang and Eng (or any other pair of Siamese twins) would, were they put in a show.  Minty is relating a marriage to the troubled situation of Siamese twins that must live together forever joined at the chest. Also, diction is again a very important part of these few lines because Minty uses derogatory terms like “freaks” to say that being a Siamese twin is a terrible thing to be, just as she believes some marriages are.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Minty makes use of strong diction to get her point across about the gloom and unfortunate part of an unsuccessful marriage. The word choice also creates a dark tone. The onion was actually a “monster” in the cupboard; she was afraid of it and in one way or another, wanted to avoid it. In addition it’s “deformity” seemed disgusting to her and she realized that their relationship was more of an “accident;” it was not meant to be. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Throughout the poem Minty uses literary techniques to convey her point.  With these literary devices we can come to the conclusion that Minty is not happy in her marriage and doesn’t support others getting married as she thinks some might make the same “mistake” she did.</div>

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Maus II

In the article, On Spiegelman's Maus I and II, the author Ian Johnston, looks beyond the obvious in Maus II and discusses previously unexplored topics in the graphic novel.
In the first part of the article, Johnston discuesses the possible protagonist of the novel. He points out that Vladek at times seems like the main character, but unlike a true main character, he does not resolve his conflict through his own personal skills, rather he survives the Holocaust through pure luck. Also, he does not even seem to learn anything from his experiences, as shown by his racism to the black guy in the novel.
Another thing that Johnston covers in his article is thte sytle of Maus II. Spiegelan could have written teh story in any medium, novel, short story, but why did he choose to write it in a comic book format? Well, Johnston argues that the boxed pictures serve to compare both time periods side by side as an effective way to reveal his argument. By placing both pictures that come from different ime periods, the reader can better see the effects of the Holocaust into the present as a cause and effect relationship that otherwise would not be so obvious had Spiegelman chose another writing style in teh book.
Johnston also reveals his argument on why Spiegleman decided to portray his characters as animals. Johnston states that with such simplistic forms such as mice and other animals, the story constantly reminds the reader that this is not the actual reality of the Holocaust. For all we know, the story could be 100% pure fiction (Vladek's story I mean, not the Holocaust). The holocaust was such a big event, it can never be described in words or pictures, therefore there is no one side to the Holocaust or one "correct" flashback of how it happened, because different survivors each tell their own side of the story.

Link: http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/introser/maus.htm

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Cat's Cradle

Cat's Cradle has no doubt very strong postmodernism philosophies embedded in it. If one were to inspect the religion Bokononism closely, there are many connections with the religion and postmodernism.

Postmodernism deals with a movement founded in the 18th century that wanted to reject the ways of modernism. Postmodernism has no distinct center on it and has no one controlling source which it originates from. An easier way to differentiate postmodernism with modernism would be an example of a painting. Consider postmodernism as an abstract painting with random, spontaneous lines and colors. The Modernist painting however, would be the painting that would feature an actual drawing such as a portrait or landscape.

The founder of Bokononism was Lionel Boyd Johnson, whose name was corrupted by the island dialect. Bokononism contains the postmodernist misreading, combination and anarchy at once. Even the first verse in the Book of Bokonons says: "All of the true things that I am to tell you are shameless lies." Here, voneggut's opinion on religion actually comes out; that people always look for something to what they can believe. "Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies." Here you can see how bokononism relates to a play of sorts. All the so called "followers" are like actors that are fed with lies and like any other major religion, follow it blindly. Thus, I think Vonnegut is trying to satire the concept of religion in the novel by exposing how fradulent the religion actually is. This a postmodernist feature, which is typical for many postmodernist books. The main faith is not based in some religion, but in man himself. In Postmodernism, this is the exact idea they were getting at. By eliminating lies and the myths that society holds, they become all that more powerful. The people who came up with Postmodernism came to believe that science is the power of logic, which seems to tie in with the scientist's idea in Cat's Cradle as well.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

BNW Essay

Brave New World shares a lot of the same themes as George Orwell’s 1984. Huxley warns that excess focus on technology and factory line production can lead to an unethical, immoral society. Similarly, George Orwell placing too much power in the hands of the government, along with advanced technology can also destroy civilization from within. Furthermore, the author Technopoly adds that technology is always next religion, and develops how this relationship further shapes these societies into what he calls “technocracies,” or places where technology rises above all other aspects of life. People no longer are singularly motivated by religion for salvation from poverty, as they can utilize technology to build themselves a better life, for example. Technology has replaced many of the central goals in life, and is instead viewed as a solution to the problems that plague society. All three of these authors share the notion that while it may have the capacity for good, technology can be a double edged sword when it comes to harnessing it in government.

Brave New World has parallels in 1984, because of the system that is set up in the way they control the people. Although Brave New World, controls them through pleasure and 1984 uses pain and strict rules, they shame a same type of overall rule. The both societies 24/7 keep their citizens feeling those emotions. This keeps the citizens from causing rebellion or distress among the people. It keeps everything in order so to speak. Also in that from birth they teach the children that live in their societies to be robots. They follow the same routines because they are told to do so, in 1984 with the Junior spies and in Brave New World, with the children displaying sexual acts because they were taught to do so.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

School sucks...YEAH!!

Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World draws many parallels to the video posted on Mr. Dominguez' blog. Actually, if one observes closely, they can note many similarities between the two. After watching the video, I actually started to agree with some its ideas and thoughts. The education system, has become a twisted version of what its principles stood for, and throughout the years, has evolved into a factory to process children's minds.

There are many similarities to Brave New World that the video points out. Children today are separated by groups based on age and transported to school. The school is operated in different class periods based on a bell schedule, and children are forced to labor through the same process every single day. (Or in our case, we have a different bell schedule every day since Clovis High can't seem to make its mind on a consistent bell schedule). Anyways, back to may point; school divides the groups of kids into those that succeed based on the school's curriculum and those who fail the school's curriculum. We should not that these varying levels of success all depends on "grades" that the school gives out in order to classify the elite students from the struggling students. Seeing a parallelism? In Brave New World, people are classifeid into different gruops based on their varying levels of success and intelligence. Alphas dominate the intelligence factor in society and are thus able to receive high end jobs while at the bottom are Epsilons and Gammas whose dumbed down intelligence only serves to give them manual labor work. This work includes a daily routine, that is both monotonous, and mindless.

In Brave New World, people are created in “racks upon racks of numbered test tubes”, very similar to our concept in school, where kids are sitting in rows and rows of desks, each performing the same routine endlessly like a mini-factory. What’s more each learning process in the novel is separate, just as subjects are in school. There’s a room for birthing, a room for establishing a fear of books and flowers, and there’s a room for erotic play, and so forth and so on. Furthermore, the people are split into groups during the “pregnancy” based on how dumb or successful they are supposed to be. This can be compared to how we have different classes based on different subjects like Health, Psychology, and Physical Education.

Overall, the video gives the audience a very good comparison between the education system today with the society in Brave New World.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Brave New World Ch.3

In the novel, Brave New World, a futuristic Utopian society is depicted with questionable values of ethics and morality. "Wheels must turn steadily, but can not 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." The quote above refers to the power of the government to act as a moving force upon society to keep it under control. According to the Controller, "stability. No civilization without social stability" (Huxley 32). The government controls aspects of the citizens life from birth, by determining what social caste they shall fall under and even utilize differing amounts of alcohol and oxygen to reduce brain potential as an infant. Likewise, the government also operantly conditions the lower caste infants to associate flowers and books with feelings of pain and fear by electrocuting them and making them listen to wailing sirens. ”We always throw away old clothes. Ending is better than mending…” describes the philosophy of hypnopaedia, or the process of brain washing while asleep. Likewise, the people in the novel have no self esteem nor sense of individuality because of their mass production type births. The men view Lenina as a piece of meat and even Lenina seems to share this notion also. Family itself is considered to be a derogatory concept as it requires the use of love and relationships to describe. Having a relationship with someone for too long, is considered unorthodox by society's standards and instead should switch from partner to partner. People are encouraged to act on sexual desire in order to release out their bottled up emotions. Mond compares this concept metaphorically like a pipe with increasing pressure inside. Additionally, drugs, “soma,” are utilized to create false sense of happiness. These drugs create a false illusion of happiness that lets the citizens escape the bleak and insipid taste of their own world.