Brit Lit Exam by Lily Smith

Brainstorm

lsmith250 — 2018-12-07 04:00:35 UTC

humanity = pain
codependency
drugs/alcohol = escape pain
Humans have a natural need to control others bc self-conscious about themselves
Relationships with other people are a part of being human, and as humans, we strive to
status - Tess - D'Urberville name, Brave New World - caste system, Never Let Me Go - donors < others, Wuthering Heights - Heathcliff angry
Humans have a natural desire to have status and power, but this leads to people abandoning morals and making poor choices. BNW gets rid of this system = peace but resolve with coping mechanisms

Thesis

lsmith250 — 2018-12-07 16:18:48 UTC

Humans have a natural desire for competition, and this desire leads people to aspire to gain wealth and status and thus be superior to other people. However, this desire leads to people abandoning morals and making poor choices. In Never Let Me Go, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and Brave New World, status defines society, and the impacts of this are seen in the lives of all of the characters.

Thesis 2

lsmith250 — 2018-12-07 16:59:50 UTC

Humans are shaped by our experiences and relationships. As we grow up, we develop and change based on the people who we interact with as we grow. In Never Let Me Go, Wuthering Heights, and Brave New World, the characters are shaped by their childhoods, despite the differences in their experiences. The children in these books are impacted in various ways, but they are never able to escape the impacts of their childhoods.

Thesis feedback

megryan — 2018-12-07 19:44:33 UTC

I wonder if evil derives from humans needing to assert their identity into the world as opposed to just BEING. This striving that you are talking about... which begins in this sense of an absence (of self-worth, identity, pain, trauma) and the compensation results in trauma to the world and others.... GOOD STUFF!

Thesis Comments

megryan — 2018-12-07 19:46:44 UTC

hmmmm... maybe you can combine both... competition, need for status derives from childhood experiences --> abandoning morals, poor choices, difficulty escaping childhoods

Thesis 3

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:00:58 UTC

As humans, we are conditioned to be competitive and strive for status and success from when we are young. While this human need can lead to conflict and poor choices, it is also a natural part of human life that can lead to satisfaction which is while people desire it. In Never Let Me Go, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and Brave New World, the need for status and success is conditioned differently and the impacts are seen through the lives of the main characters.

Paragraph #1

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:15:00 UTC

In Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, Tess' family pushes her to gain status and wealth in order to benefit her families social standing.

Paragraph #2

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:15:19 UTC

In Never Let Me Go, the clones know what their destiny is from when they are young. However, they still dream of having jobs and accomplishments which proves that this drive is fact of humanity.

Paragraph #3

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:15:35 UTC

In Brave New World, the people are conditioned to not question their status and be "happy" in whatever situation they are put in. However, while this reduces conflict in this dystopian society, there is also something lost in the humanity of the people, for they have no desire to improve or seek success.

Paragraph #4 - Conclusion

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:15:46 UTC

The role that status plays in all of these books proves that the desire for status and success is a natural fact of human tendency.

P1 - Evidence #3

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:18:38 UTC

"The oppressive sense of harm she had done led Tess to be more deferential than she might otherwise have been to the maternal wish; but she could not understand why her mother should find such satisfaction in contemplating an enterprise of, to her, such doubtful profit" (p 25).
p. 24, 25, 26, 39

P1 - Evidence #2

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:31:40 UTC

"All these young souls were passengers on the Durbeyfield ship--...six helpless little creatures who had never never been asked if they wished for life on any terms, much less if they wished for it on such hard conditions as were involved in being of the shiftless house of Durbeyfield" (p 15).

P2 - Evidence #1

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:35:02 UTC

"I suppose it was mainly newcomers who talked about 'dream futures' that winter, though a number of veterans did too...I'm not sure what was going on in our heads during those discussions. We probably knew they couldn't be serious, but then again, I'm sure we didn't regard them as fantasy either...It couldn't last, of course, but like I say, just for those few months, we somehow managed to live in this cozy state of suspension in which we could ponder our lives without the usual boundaries" (p 142).

P3 - Evidence #1

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:36:53 UTC

"I'm glad I'm not a Gamma" (p 63).
"But queer that Alphas and Betas won't make any more plants grow than those nasty little Gammas and Deltas and Epsilons down there" (p 74).

P1/E3 - Analysis #3

lsmith250 — 2018-12-09 21:38:03 UTC

The responsibility that Tess feels is caused by a number of different circumstances in her family. She chooses to go live with Alec because she feels guilty about killing the family horse. Her choice comes from a need to please her family, not a personal desire to achieve status. Her actions are not based on her personal desire for status and therefore this desire leads to constant conflict and lack of satisfaction in Tess' life. The status Tess seeks is superficial and ultimately meaningless.

P1/E2 - Analysis #2

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 01:01:17 UTC

Due to the conditions in her family being so turbulent, Tess, being the eldest, develops a need to care for her siblings and family. This leads her to make the choices to gain status/wealth. The choices are not her own.

P1 - Evidence #1

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 01:05:49 UTC

"She is not what in common parlance is called a lady," said Angel unflinchingly, "for she is a cottager's daughter, as I am proud to say. But she is a lady, nevertheless -- in feeling and nature" (p 131)
(Also reaction of John Durbeyfield when he is told about his lineage

P1/E1 - Analysis #1

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 01:06:05 UTC

Status is of utmost importance in Victorian England. The English class system was extremely hereditary, and class conscientiousness was extremely prominent in the way people viewed themselves and others- it was defining characteristic of a person’s worth.

Alternate Idea

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 01:23:22 UTC

nature indifferent to humanity - Tess, Victorian poetry, Moth story

P2 - Evidence #2

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 01:38:44 UTC

"Then there were those questions about why we wanted to track down our models at all. One big idea behind finding your model was that when you did, you'd glimpse your future...We all realized it wasn't that simple. Nevertheless, we all of us, to varying degrees, believed that when you saw the person you were copied from, you'd get some insight into who you were deep down, and maybe too, you'd see something of what your life held in store" (p 140).

P2 - Evidence #3

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 01:53:39 UTC

"We all know it. We're modeled from trash. Junkies, prostitutes, winos, tramps. Convicts maybe, just so long as they aren't psychos. That's what we come from. We all know it, so why don't we say it?...If you want to look for possibles, if you want to do it properly, then you look in the gutter. You look in rubbish bins. Look down the toilet, that's where you'll find where we all came from" (p 166).

P3 - Evidence #3

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 02:04:11 UTC

"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand" (p 221)

P2/E1 - Analysis #1

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 02:24:24 UTC

The clones know that they will never be able to realize these "dream," but there is something about imagining that makes them feel human.

P2/E2 - Analysis #2

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 02:24:45 UTC

Even though they know what their future is, they continue to want o know about it. They also have hope that it may be different. They are human and have the same desires that we do even though they are raised in unique situations.

P2/E3 - Analysis #3

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 02:25:06 UTC

The clones are bothered by the fact that they come from people at the bottom of society. They have the human drive to have status and feel worthy. While their situation is completely different from those in Tess, they still have the desire to have worth and be accepted.

P3/E1 - Analysis #1

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 02:26:16 UTC

The Alphas are aware that they are better and they are proud of that fact. Despite the fact that they are conditioned so differently than how we are.

P3/E2 - Analysis #2

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 02:26:30 UTC

Despite the fact that they are casted and divided by status, the Alphas (the most human) realize their differences. However, they are conditioned to see the value in everyones existence, and thus they eliminate the conflict between statuses. However, the people of lower status lose humanity in the fact that they don't question their status.

P3/E3 - Analysis #3

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 02:26:40 UTC

In stability, they lose their humanity and part of their humanity is questioning their place in society and potentially working to gain success.

P3 - Evidence #2

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 02:27:59 UTC

"Every one works for every one else. We can't do without any one. Even Epsilons are useful. We couldn't do without Epsilons...'I suppose Epsilons don't really mind being Epsilons,' she said aloud. 'Of course they don't. How can they? They don't know what it's like being anything else. We'd mind, of course. But then we've been differently conditioned. Besides, we start with a different heredity.' 'I'm glad I'm not an Epsilon,' said Lenina, with conviction. 'And if you were an Epsilon,' said Henry, 'your condition would have made you no less thankful that you weren't a Beta or an Alpha," (p 74).

lsmith250 — 2018-12-10 21:07:35 UTC

commentary of social structure in United States/privlidge - society tells us we have potential to change but can we really? the way most people are born is how they stay forever

Reading

lsmith250 — 2018-12-17 14:41:14 UTC