Ciraboy http://www.bookstove.com//Ciraboy. New posts by Ciraboy Brave New World by Aldous Huxley http://www.bookstove.com/Classics/Brave-New-World-by-Aldous-Huxley.224491 Throughout studies, authors have always found it important to have something in their story that would make it seem above from any other. Something, that would show up while the book is being discussed, or reviewed. Something, that people can recognize as strength of the plot. In the book, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, there were several strengths that can be pulled out and analyzed individually as something significant. One book that is really helpful when making these decisions, (as in what factors of the plot to pull out), is a novel titled "How to read Literature like a professor" by Thomas C. Foster, which is just an amazingly, ironically interesting and fun book that tells you ways to break down different literature. That is the book being used right now as examples, while breaking down Brave New World. There are two important factors in the book, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, that will be looked at with the help of the novel How to read literature like a professor by Thomas C Foster. These are the symbolical Christ figures, and the quest that they embark on.

To begin with, from the story Brave New World, John the Savage may be considered a Christ figure. According to the book "How to read lit like a college professor", to be a Christ figure, you have to be, symbolically, similar to Jesus Christ of the Bible. In the Bible, Christ is the person that always puts others in front of him, that people look up to, and that saves everyone at the end by blessing everybody, and sacrificing himself. Christ goes on "journey" to convert people into believing his religion, and trusting him to the fact that god is his father. That's how he finds the twelve apostles of the church, to carry on his religion. John the Savage may be considered this Christ figure. This isn't because he was "supposed to save everyone" at the end, when he went suicidal, but because, he had a cause he was fighting for, and he was trying to "convert" people into what he believed was the right thing to do. The only reason he went suicidal, was because he couldn't take it anymore, the fact that he was being disliked for not falling in line with everybody. Nevertheless, John the Savage from Brave New World was bent on saving the world, and so was Christ of the Bible. Therefore, symbolically, John can be considered as the Christ of Brave New World. Even though in the Bible Christ was the son of God, and John was not the son of Ford, who was god in the book. That's why it's just a symbol; not meant to be taken literally.

Secondly, the quest that John takes in the Brave New World, when he tries to convert people, and start his own society, can be compared with the quests talked about in the book How to read lit like a professor. How to read lit like a professor talks about quests in Chapter one: Every trip is a quest, Except when it's not. In this he explains that every time, in any story people embark on a journey, there is always a main person, or main character of that journey. For the book Brave New World, this would obviously be John. The book also states that this one person always has a place to end up in, or a goal, at the end of the quest. In Brave New World, this is the perfect Utopia that John dreams of creating, outside the civilized New World Order. Also, there is always a reason for the effort spent trying to get to the "finish line" of the quest. In John's story, this is to show people inside the society that you don't have to stand in line with everybody else and be controlled to be able to lead a good life. He is angered by the fact that the people are told what to do and how to do it, and he is angered by the fact that there is always brain wash going on. When he tries to convert a group of Delta's in the society, they get angered, and start a riot. All he was trying to do was help, and so this angers him even more. These are all the reasons he feels that he has the need of starting something great and new. There are, of course, challenges and trials he must face at all times, as he has nobody to believe in him, while he is trying to make something work. In example, there's always reporters running around that he has to fend off with violence, who always slow him down a little bit in his ultimate goal. There's also Mustapha Mond, who always tries to change his ways, and tell him that being civilized and brain washed is the only way that people could ever live in a perfect Utopia. Last but not least, there is always the real reason for embarking on a great journey, (according to How to read like a professor), which is self-knowledge. This was not present in the book Brave New World, as John was a Savage, and he only saw what was in front of his nose, and therefore didn't think things over clearly before doing anything. He gets into creating his own Utopia, even though there was nobody that believed that it was the right thing to do, other than him of course.

The two most important chapters of how to read lit like a college professor, that also relate to the novel Brave New World in any way, are chapters one and fourteen. Chapter one is about every novel containing a quest to be walked upon by a main character of the novel. Chapter fourteen talks about a Christ figure being in all novels, who, in any ways, resemble Jesus Christ from the Bible. The Christ figure of this novel being John the Savage, who does everything he can to prove to the people-like creatures that what he is saying is the truth. Albeit, that's what the whole novel was mainly about: truth, and conformism.

]]> Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:04:29 PST Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows http://www.bookstove.com/Fantasy/Harry-Potter-and-the-Deathly-Hollows.85441 “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading, or say things worth writing about." In his house, while perfecting one of his famous inventions, said this quote a famous inventor everybody knows about, Benjamin Franklin. The author of this book must have acknowledged this, because she wrote something that's worth every minute of the reader's time. This book is really something everybody should read, because it has plenty of irony, and it's full of parts where you just can't put it down.

In addition to irony and excitement, this book also has parts in it that keep the reader from getting to the climax straight away, thus inclining the excitement even more. For example, in one chapter, somebody close to Harry Potter (the main character) dies during a fight, and they had to escape. The author then tells about how abnormal it was, that, instead of using a wand, a great wizard like Harry Potter would bury a body the old fashioned way: with a shovel. After this, through patience, for about 2 chapters, the book describes the area, which they chose to hide out in, against the evil wizard. It is also good to mention, the intensity with which the dark wizard drives throughout the story, as he is trying to get his pound of flesh which he had been waiting for, for over 10 years.

Although some people would argue that this is a bad thing, and that they should just get on with the rest of the book instead of describing something like that, nothing could be further from the truth; in fact, it is absurd to think that making a story descriptive would be a bad thing. The more the story slows down, the more exciting it will be for the reader when it speeds up again. This book has about as much of this, as there can be in a story. Which is what makes it perfect. It can also be mentioned that there is not a lot of sangfroid in the thoughts of the kids. Most of the time, the main character is trying to get some vitriolic humor out of the events happening. This really adds some more excitement on to it.

On the other hand, one thing a good critic might argue is that the book pushes the limits on describing events. There are a few places in the book that are dry; they are mostly trying to urge the reader to imagine the area/territory that they are in. For example, if they were to hide out in a forest, the book would tell you what kind of trees were around them, flowers, and if any animals were in the area. In chapter nineteen of the book, entitled “The Silver Doe,” they are hiding in a grassy, forest area, and, in my perspective, the author spends too much time describing the area. If the reader is reading the book for excitement, he will not enjoy hearing about how many bushes and trees there are around the kids, and talking about how tenuous the surrounding area is.

This book can be something everybody who's into fantasy should read, because of all the excitement and irony in it. Through reading this, the reader will gain some understanding on what it feels like to lose a loved one. This is a good every day lesson, because tragedies can happen anytime, anyplace, and to anybody. The book gets 5 stars because of the excitement it causes.

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