Brave New World: Chapter 11

What happens to Bernard after the trip w John and Linda? He becomes famous and essentially is a ruler over the savages. He makes the savages into a spectical and has parties for people of the high social status to come gawk at them. He begins to have relations with as many women as possible, because of this fame. How does he act compared to what he says he wants? Bernard acts in line with what he says he wants. He says he wants multiple women and he has them. He boasts about how great he is, and he truly believe he is of a great magnitude. Why is John now popular as opposed to his mother? Johns mother is repulsive and is looked down upon because she is a “mother”. He doesn’t take soma, which is found odd. What do you learn about the reservation Eton? Eton is a college where only one egg and one adult are allowed. It is to make the education process harder, but to produce the higher quality student. How does Lenita feel about John? Lenita has romantic feelings for John. How does John feel about the feelies? John thought their morals were offensive.

Brave New World: Chapter 8

Describe John’s upbringing? Listening to Linda’s stories but felt isolated and rejected What’s his relationship like with his mother? He was not really that close to his mom but she was all he had, and she was a drunk. What kind of education did he get? Linda taught him how to read, she drew with charcoal on the wall, he began reading by reading the book about embryonic conditioning. How does he fit in and not fit in? He didn’t fit in very well because he was made fun of about his mom, and threw sharp stones at him, laughed at him for being ragged, In what ways does that make him similar to Bernard? Bernard was also an outcast Why doesn’t Linda wan t to become a mother? Because she felt like without a baby she could have escaped. What are his goals in life? Is to go live in this New World of London, he wants stability, community, and identity What does he learn in Shakespeare? It’s a voice for his repressed feelings, it talked to him and helps him to understand his mother, the passages inspired him. Pope was in bed with his drunk mother and he went into a rage, and the passage from Shakespeare spoke to him. Time, death, and god, why is that important? He discovered suffering and things that citizens of Utopia know nothing about. He discovered these things alone through Indian initiation rituals. Why does Bernard want to take him and his mother back to London with him? He cant stand Linda, he is using her. He wants to show the citizens that John is the directors son and disgrace him, he is blackmailing the director so he doesn’t have to go to Iceland,

Brave New World: Chapter 7

Brave New World-Chapter 7 1. Why doesn’t Lenina like the Indian guide from the reservation? a. She thinks he is queer and that he smells bad. 2. What are the people like? a. They are the opposite of where they come from. The mothers care for their young, they witness old age, religion, tradition, they are dirty and she is use to cleanliness. 3. How do both Lenina and Bernard respond to seeing the savages? a. Lenina and Bernard are not accustomed to this behavior—the breastfeeding, the dancing, whipping, and seeing older people—it all freaks out Lenina and Bernard tries to act like it doesn’t faze him. 4. Why is the ceremony important, what happens? a. The ceremony is important because its religious and they give an offering, the offering is the boy who was whipped, here John states how he cannot be a part of these ceremonies. This allows for the story to show that John is considered an outsider. 5. How is John different? What does he want? How does he react to Lenina? a. John is different because he was brought up on the reservation. He wants to see what the World State is all about because of his mother’s stories. He gets butterflies when he sees Lenina, because of her beauty. 6. What is Linda’s story? What has her life been like? How do the natives treat her? a. Linda has an illegitimate son and is left behind on the reservation by her lover, she was originally from the World State. She had a son with the director, but she did not want to return for the fear that she had an illegitimate child. Her life has been difficult because she is use to the conditioned life and on the reservation it is the complete opposite. The natives don’t treat her very well, she is a prostitute at the reservation because she doesn’t know how do anything else.

Communism Explained (Videos)

Here are several videos to hopefully explain Communism and how it differs from other political systems:

Huxley Interview

A great interview with Aldous Huxley:

Brave New World Discussion 1

1.       Instances of technology for control and immoral actions— used real eggs and break it up into billions of pieces and make it into many identical embryos.

2.       Instances of class conditioning—conditioning the lower class babies by coming close to them with books then performing electric shock.

3.       Absolute state -- parasite

4.       Explain social hierarchies – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon;  Alpha—taught to be sexually promiscuous, top breed; Beta—told they don’t have to work as hard as Alpha’s and Beta’s are smarter than Delta’s, Gamma’s and Epsilon; Gamma, Delta, Epsilon—taught not to like different things to enhance consumerism.

5.       Explain genetics/social conditioning – Bokanosky Process; Alpha & Beta can reproduce as much as would like, genetically cloned in bottle, has heat training for people who will work in tropical enviroments, some exposed to chemicals for those who will work in chemical factories.

1. Instances of Technology for complete control and immoral actions a. Podsnap’s technique was being used to create hundreds of related individuals and to speed up the ripening processes of the eggs. This allowed them to create all of these individuals the same in every way.
 2. Instances of class conditioning a. They use hypnopaedia to whisper to each child their class level and what is expected of them. For example: the Beta’s are told that they don’t have to work as hard as the Alpha’s, but they are smarter than the lower classes.
 3. Absolute state a. The World State is a dictatorship who thrives on the motto, “Community, Identity, Stability.” They use the cloning process in order to not allow for anyone to feel like an individual. They also got rid of any books made before A.F. in order to not give anybody any other ideas than what they have implanted in their minds.
4. Explain social hierarchies a. The 3 lower classes Gamma, Delta, and Epison are created as weaker embryos in order to be predestined to perform identical tasks as if they are machines. They are not allowed to mingle with the higher classes, Alpha and Beta. Alpha is the smartest caste who has to work harder, and Beta is just beneath them, but they do interact.
 5. Explain genetic/social conditioning a. They exposed the fetuses of the 3 lower classes to alcohol and oxygen deprivation in order to make them smaller. They exposed the fetuses to hot climates in order to prepare them to work in tropical environments. b. Socially they create the different castes to accept and love their jobs. Train them to only be able to do a certain and job and they can’t perform any other job.

1.   Technology for control and immoral actions:

a.      Process of breeding outside of a human being

b.      Use of  X-rays and external factors to condition during embryo maturation

c.       Using hypnopedia to educate children while they are sleeping

2.      Instances of Classical Conditioning

a.      The use of hot and cold and x-rays used during embryo maturation

b.      Loud sounds used to scare children away from books and flowers

c.       Hypnopedia

3.      Absolute State

a.      Use the Bogonoski process to engineer all individual in society

4.      Explain social hierarchy’s

a.      Alpha, Beta, Gama, Delta, Episolom

b.      The government creates children stragically to fit into certain classes and conditions them once they are born to stay in that certain class

c.       Alpha is the highest of all classes, Beta are not as smart as Alpha but are still considered high class

d.      Gama, Delta, Episolom are considered the lower classes

5.      Explain Genetic/Social Conditioning

a.      Genetic conditioning is gone while the child is still an embryo. They go through a process of cloning and separating a matured egg to create many children that are the same and belong to the same class.

b.      Social conditioning is done after birth and ensures the child says in their certain class. This is done through installing fear for things that the certain class shouldn’t be involved in.

Freud Discussion

Review Questions from Freud

1.      Id contains everything that is inherited, that is present at birth, and above all instincts. This is the most basic part of personality, and wants instant gratification. Ego seeks to increase pleasure and decrease un-pleasure, but deals with reality. Superego is based on morals and judgment, right and wrong. We compare it to a conscious. The oldest is id, and newest is superego. The ego serves as an intermediary between id and the external world. Ego receives stimuli from the outside world and controls body movement. The superego is the repository of family, cultural, and social factors, as they are embodied in grandparents, teachers, religious leaders, and others who represent or admire social ideas. Neither of them is based off of what consequences will be.

2.   To satisfy the inate needs without regard to demands or restrictions of the outside world. Naturally operate against one another even when they combine in the same act. Eros and destructive instinct. Eros is to bind things together in unity; the aim of destructive instinct is just the opposite. Eros-ego, destructive-id. The erotogenic zones.

3:  In What chief ways did Freud’s analysis of human sexuality contradict accepted belief on this subject?  Outline the main phases of the human sexual development, according to Freud.  With what organs of the body are these individual phases associated?  How does Freud justify classify these phases as sexual? What is the significance (for psychoanalysis) of infantile amnesia?  What is the significance of the Oedipal phase in sexual development?  In the context of the phases of sexual development, how do perversions originate?  What is regression?  How is the individual personality related to sexual development?

-          Freud believed human sexuality was obtained at birth.  In today’s society we do not believe this to be true.  It is understood that an infant cannot possibly have sexual tendencies.

-          The main phases of Freud’s human sexual development are

a.       Oral

(Mouth is the main organ)

b.      Anal

(Anus and the pleasure of defecating is present)

c.       Phallic

 (Discovery of the genitals is present)

d.      Latent

(Repressed sexual feeling, often they will only play with same sex)

e.       Genital

(discovery of the opposite sex and the focus of pleasure is the genitals)

-          If they do not have correct sexual development in the early stated of life, that stage will be referred back to in the future

-          They try to forget about their sexual tendencies or trauma as children, and often need counseling as an adult

-          The oedipal phase for a girl or boy focuses on the sexual desire for parents of the opposite sex

-          When a part of sexual development is not met, it is often regressed back to in the future.  This often develops the individual persons personality on whether or not they are comfortable as a person sexually and if something is wrong as an adolescent or adult they might have homosexual tendencies, or other problems sexually.

5:  Why is the state of sleep considered a fruitful area for the study of interactions between id and ego?  What is the difference between the manifest content and the latent content of a dream?  How do dreams originate? With which components of the psychical apparatus are dreams associated?  What is the role of memory in dreams?  What is the role of symbols?  Define concepts of condensation and displacement.  How does wish fulfillment serve a therapeutic purpose in dreams?  How does Freud account for anxiety dreams?  What is the relationship between dreams and neuroses and psychoses?

-          Sleep is considered a fruitful area to see the interactions between id and ego according to Sigmund Freud because sleep can determine how the ego really is without being held back by the id in this unconscious state of sleep.

-          The manifest content of a dream is the literal meaning of a dream, and latent content is the underlying meaning of a dream.

-          Dreams originate from the unconscious desires of things being held back by the id in reality

-          There are two main parts of the psychical apparatus of dreams

1.      Instinctual impulse

2.      Urge left over from waking life

-          Memory plays a big role in dreams, it brings up recollections of past experiences or desires (p. 716).

-          Symbols enable us to confirm the dreamers senses (p. 716).

-          Concepts of condensation are inclinations ro form fresh unities out elements which in our waking thought we should certainly have kept separate, and displacement is the distinguishing from one element to another, so that id often happens that an element which was of little importance in the dream-thoughts appears as the clearest and accordingly the most important feature of the manifest dream (p. 717). 

-          Wish fulfillment in a dream is therapeutic because they get their unconscious desire for their wish fulfilled and therefore that desire that may not be accomplishable in reality is fulfilled during the dream.

-          Anxiety dreams are seen as un-dealt with residues from the previous days

Review Questions: 1. A. ID, Ego, Superego a. ID – animal instincts b. Pleasure principle c. Irrational d. EGO—Referee e. Utilizes defense mechanisms to protect ongoing thoughts from battles f. Reality principle g. SUPEREGO—Conscience (age 7-8—rules about how to act; should be perfect.) – Pride, follow through, guilt [angle on shoulder—perfection, nice, do work] h. Moral code i. Irrational ID is the oldest. Superego is the most recent. The id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends; the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role; and the ego is the organized, realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego. The super-ego can stop you from doing certain things that your id may want you to do. 2. What are instincts? How do they operate? What are the two basic instincts, according to Freud? How do they relate to one another? With which components of the psychical apparatus is each instinct primarily associated? In what forms do secondary associations (of instincts and components of the psychical apparatus) manifest themselves? What for example is the result when the entire libido is associated with the ego? Innate needs of the id and the tensions that underlie them are powered by instincts. There are two types—Eros and the destructive instinct. Eros bind things together in unity; the destructive instinct undo connections and to destroy things. The energy behind eros is libido. For instance, eating involves destruction of the food itself but for the purpose of incorporating the food into a new unity with one’s body. The ego influenced by superego, can turn the id’s destructive tendencies against the body that houses it. 3. In what chief ways did Freud’s analysis of human sexuality contradict accepted belief on this subject? Outline the main phases of human sexual development according to Freud. With what organs of the body are these individual phases associated? How does Freud justify classifying these phases as sexual? What is the significance (for psychoanalysis) of infantile amnesia? What is the significance of the Oedipal phase in sexual development? In the context of the phases of sexual development, how do perversions originate? What is regression? How is the individual personality related to sexual development? Frued refutes the assumption that human sexual life begins at puberty and is confined to genital contact between members of the opposite sex. Freud believes sexual life begins soon after birth, should not be considered exclusively genital, and should not be exclusively identified with the reproductive function, such as sucking as an infant without having to do with eating. First stage Oral stage Centered on the mouth erotogenic zone Second stage anal excretory/aggressive functions Third stage phallic phase confined to males culminates Oedipus phase For purposes of self-protection, most memories of these childhood phases of sexuality in both sexes fall prey to infantile amnesia. Psychoanalysis may be required to recover memories of early sexual experiences and traumas that may have led to neuroses in adulthood. Perversions libidinal fixations upon non-genital objects or homosexuality—fixations upon genital objects of the same sex. Sexual disappointments can lead to regressions, such as libidinal fixations upon previously satisfying sexual objects. Individual personality is related to the individual’s sexual life, as far back as infancy and childhood, can help account for sexual problems in adolescence and adulthood. Hence, the formation of the personality is inextricably tied to sexual development. 5. Why is the state of sleep considered a fruitful area for the study of interactions between id and ego? What is the difference between the manifest content and the latent content of a dream? How do dreams originate? With which components of the psychical apparatus are dreams associated? What is the role of memory in dreams? What is the role of symbols? Define the concepts of condensation and displacement. How does wish fulfillment serve a therapeutic purpose in dreams? How does Freud account for anxiety dreams (ie, dreams that do not serve the purpose of wish fulfillment)? What is the relationship between dreams and neurosis and psychoses? We avoid the familiar reproach that we base our constructions of normal mental life on pathological findings; for dreams are regular events in the life of a normal person, however much their characteristics may differ from the productions of our waking life. The “royal road” to the unconscious: Manifest--what u see… touches trunk, sees lights, shifts gears, vrooms, his hand is on the stick shift, her hand touches his and takes it off the trunk… not about car…. About sex. Latent is more depth, deeper overall impact (if you figure out what that is) ie: humor—connected to unconscious (ie laughing when someone gets hurt=aggression). Dreams instinctual impulse which is ordinarily suppressed (an unconscious wish) finds enough strength during sleep to make itself felt by the ego. It can also be an urge left over from waking life, a preconscious train of thought with all the conflicting impulses attached to it, finds reinforcement during sleep from an unconscious element. It comes from either id or ego. Ego give evidence of its original derivation from the id by occasionally ceasing its functions and allowing a reversion to an earlier state of things. We are justified in saying that there arises at birth an instinct to return to the intra-uterine life that has been abandoned—an instinct to sleep. Since the waking ego governs motility, that function is paralyzed in sleep, and accordingly a good part of the inhibitions imposed on the unconscious id become superfluous. Dreams bring up recollections which the dreamer has forgotten, which are inaccessible to him when he is awake. Dreams make an unrestricted use of linguistic symbols, the meaning of which is for the most part unknown to the dreamer. They probably originate from earlier phases in the development of speech. Memory very often reproduces in dreams impressions from the dreamer’s early childhood of which we can definitely assert not only that they had not been forgotten but they had become unconscious owing to repression.

-          Dreams can determine neuroses or psychoses simply from the content and components of the dream.

Review Questions. 1. Id- basic part of personality, seeks instant gratification for wants and needs. Ego- deals with reality, and tries to meet the desires of the id in a way that is socially acceptable to the external workd. Superego- develops last and is based on moral judgements regard what is right and wrong. From oldest to youngest in development: Id, Ego, Superego. The Ego serves as the intermediator betweent he Id and the external world. The ego frequently reconciles conflicting demands of the id, the superego, and reality. The Superego deals with morality and judgement, so it is influenced by how the environment shapes you. It is influenced by parents, family, culture, and social facors including teacher, religious leaders and admired persons. The Id, ego, and superego all work together in creating behaviors. The id creates the demand, the ego creates the environmental acceptance, and the superego adds morality to the action. 2. Instincts are drives to satisfy innate needs. The Eros and the destructive instincts operate against one another, even in the same situation. The two basic instincts are the Eros and a destructive instinct. Eros aims to bind things together in unison, while the destructive instincts aim to undo connections and destroy things. They naturally operate against one another, such as when eating: we destroy food, to create energy for ourselves. The destructive instincts can be displaced from outward factors towards oneself, and thereby become self-destructive. The egp, influenced by the superego, can turn te id’s destructive tendencies against the body. The libido is a manifestation of sexual urges that originate from the id’s instincts. If the libiodo focuses primarily on the ego, one becomes narcissistic. 3. It is believed that sexual fantasies begin in puberty and only involve genital contact, Freud claims that it begins soon after birth and goes far beyond genital involvement. Stage One: Oral- infant gains pleasure through sucking and putting things in its mouth, becomes sadistic when they begin to teeth. Stage Two: Anal- satisfaction is gained in excretory and aggressive functions. Stage Three: Phallic/Oedipud- boys discover their penis and the pleasure associated with it; girls discover their vagina similarily. They begin to fantasize about the parent of the opposite sex, and seek to get rid of parent of same sex. When they discover that the opposite sex does not have the same parts as them, they believe they have been punished and sexuality ends until puberty (latency period). Infantile amnesia- for self-protection, memories of sexuality fall prey to amnesia and dissapear. Perversions can result in sexual development that has arrested or been disturbed such as libidinal fixations on non-sexual objections or homosexuality. Regression- libindinal fixations upon previously satisfying sexual objects. The formation of the personality is tied to sexual development from as far back as infancy and childhood. From all stages of sexual development from oral, anal, and phallic/oedipus stages, you need to fullfill them completely in order to progress and develop sexually. 5. Nightly sleep is a state of interaction between the id and ego, the unconscious has to be able to migle with the consciousness, and this is best achieved in sleep. Manifest- what occurs in the dream Latent- the true meaning of what the manifest content displays Dreams arise from either the id or the ego during sleep as we attempt to confront urges In dreams, the id attempts to force its way into the ego. Role of memory- brings up unconscious urges or recollections and present them to the dreamer. Role of symbols- during dreams, we confirm the presence of symbols and our interpretation of them leads to different confrontations betweent the id and ego. Condensation- an inclincation to form fresh unities out of elements which our waking though should have kept separate. Displacement- elements of little importance become the main focus of the dream. Fulfillment of wishes brings important elements to the forefront and discards uninmportant elements after review. Anxiety- unfullfilled dreams.