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Brave New World

2012-01-16T10:07:40Z

P.ostermann:

=='''Brave New World'''==
Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth Novel and was published in 1932. It is an utopian novel, which means, that it is set in a fictional society that is “perfect” that is to say there are no more crimes, no more hate, no more pain and so on. In reality these perfect societies prove to be dystopian, that is in most novels there is for example a totalitarian government (for example “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by [[George Orwell]]) or drugs are used to keep the people calm (for example Brave New World by [[Aldous Huxley]]). The term was coined by Thomas More's novel Utopia from 1516, although utopian novels have existed before that.

==='''Setting'''===

The novel is set in AD 2540 where most of the world is united in the “World State” where everyone is happy. There is no more natural procreation but every person is cloned and conditioned in so called Hatcheries. There they are also put into one of five castes (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon). These different castes define the type of work they will be doing for the rest of their life. For example Alphas are considered the new world leaders and intellectual elite, whereas Epsilons are created with low intelligence (by oxygen deprivation) to do menial labour. All children are taught by a hypnopaedic process, that is to say they subconsciously learn by listening to a voice while they sleep.
The two main forms of recreation are on the one hand a drug called “soma”, which is a kind of hallucinogen but without a hangover and is produced and developed by the World State and on the other hand sex, which is encouraged from very early on. The idea of family and/or marriage are considered somewhat like a taboo. The live expectancy is about 60 but death is not feared because there are no family ties and everyone is sure and knows that society will continue the way it always has.
In several locations on the planet are so called reservations where “savages” live. They are not submitted to the conditioning and the drug but left on their own accord with several “strange rituals” like religion or ageing, because in the World State no one shows signs of age in their life.

==='''Plot'''===

In the first chapters the reader gets an impression of how wonderful live in the World State is and how the hatcheries work. The reader is also introduced to Lenina, a vaccination worker in the hatchery and Bernard an Alpha and psychologist who has an inferiority complex because he is a bit shorter than the “average” Alpha. Bernard takes Lenina on a holiday to a reservation in New Mexico to seduce Lenina. The seduction fails because Lenina is disgusted by the aged people in the reservation and she has forgotten her soma rations.
Both encounter an old woman called Linda and her son John. Linda was a former citizen of the World State but got lost in the reservation and separated from her group. She turns out to be the date of Bernard's boss. Both Linda and John are considered outcasts in the reservation because Linda's conditioning still works so she wants to have sex with all the men in the village and John is an outcast because of his mother's deeds. Bernard arranges permissions for John and his mother to leave the reservation.
On their return Bernard confronts his boss, because he wanted to relocate Bernard to Iceland, with his former lover and his son. John is the new top story in London society and even Bernard with his inferiority complex can shine but it is only for a very shot period. John on the other hand is disgusted by the society of the World State and is heartbroken when his mother dies in a hospital. The workers in the hospital feel sick about John's display of sorrow and so John tries to start a riot by throwing the worker's soma rations out of the window. The riot is subdued by the police via soma-gas. John, Bernard and his only friend Helmholtz (also a friend of John) are send to the office of Mustapha Mond, who is one of the controllers of the World State. Bernard and Helmholtz are exiled to foreign islands, where they can “do as the please” without influencing the population. John and Mustapha engage in philosophical discussions.
After that John starts to live in an old lighthouse in isolation from society, but this life is cut short by when a video is shown of him flagellating himself. A large group of people gathers around his lighthouse to see the savage but the sight of Lenina in the crowd is too much for John and so he attacks her. This outbreak of emotion triggers an orgy of sex and soma in which even John participates. In the morning the crowd returns only to see that John has committed suicide by hanging himself in an attempt to escape from society.

==='''Important Characters'''===

John (the Savage): He is an outsider from a reservation in New Mexico and the son of Linda and the director of the London Hatchery.

Bernard Marx: Psychologist and Alpha male who has the feeling of not fitting in because of his shorter stature, which is common for lower castes. His last name probably recalls [[Karl Marx]], a German author best known for his book “Das Kapital”.

Helmholtz Watson: He is an Alpha male and lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering. He, like Bernard, is discontent with the World State, but his discontent has more to do with the fact that he thinks his work is meaningless, than Bernard's complains about his size. His name resembles that of [[Hermann von Helmholtz]], who was a German physician and physicist.

Lenina Crowne: She is a vaccination worker at the Hatchery. She is the focus of desire by many men, including Bernard and John. She is often seen as rather unorthodox since she dates one man for a longer period of time (in the beginning she dates Bernard but later develops a huge crush on John).

==='''Literature'''===

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World, Middlesex, Penguin Books, 1974

www.huxley.net

http://www.online-literature.com/aldous_huxley/brave_new_world/

http://somaweb.org/

Brave New World

2012-01-16T08:43:26Z

P.ostermann:

Brave New World is the fifth and most well known novel by Aldous Huxley published in 1932.

Work in Progress P.ostermann

Brave New World

2012-01-16T07:54:17Z

P.ostermann: Created page with 'Brave New World is the fifth and most well known novel by Aldous Huxley published in 1932. Work in Progress (16.01.2012) P.ostermann'

Brave New World is the fifth and most well known novel by Aldous Huxley published in 1932.

Work in Progress (16.01.2012) P.ostermann

Karl Marx

2011-12-19T08:59:07Z

P.ostermann:

1818-1883. German philosopher, historian and revolutionary.

'''Youth:'''

Karl Marx was born on May 5 1818 as third of nine children in Trier, Germany. His parents were Heinrich Marx and Henrietta Marx, born Presborck. In 1830 Karl Marx attended the "Gymnasium zu Trier", which was later called Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium. The Gymnasium and especially the headmaster were known to be rather liberal and so the Latin teacher Dr. Vitus Loers was assigned by the state as co-headmaster. Three teachers were seen as "suspect" and so the police took them under surveillance. In 1835 Karl Marx started to attend the University of Bonn where he wanted to study philosophy and literature but his father insisted that he studied law. Because his grades where poor Karl Marx was later transferred to the University of Berlin.

'''Marriage and Family:'''

In 1836 he became engaged to Jenny von Westphalen, which was some sort of scandal because it broke several social taboos like the class difference between Karl (middle class) and Jenny (aristocracy). The other taboos were that Marx, although he had been baptised Protestant in early years, was still of Jewish origin. The last problem was that Jenny von Westphalen was four years older than Karl.The scandal was lessened by the fact that both families were on friendly terms and especially by the friednship between Karl and Jenny's father Baron Ludwig von Westphalen. They got married in 1843 in Bad Kreuznach. They had seven children but because of poor living conditions only three of them survived.

'''Cologne:'''

In 1842 he moved to Cologne where he began write for the newspaper ''Rheinische Zeitung'' in which he expressed his view on politics. Because the views expressed in the newspaper got more and more radical it attracted the attention of government censors. After an article caused a scandal because it criticised the monarchy of Russia, the Russian Tsar Nicholas I requested that the newspaper was to be banned. In the same year he published his work ''Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right'', from which his famous quote about religion being "the opium of the people" comes from.

'''Paris:'''

He left Cologne for Paris to work for the ''Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher''. It was here that he met Friedrich Engels with whom he started to collaborate. Karl Marx published his books ''The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts'' and ''Theses on Feuerbach''. In Paris Karl Marx worked on a political newspaper called "Vorwärts". The topics that were talked about made the Prussian authorities uneasy so they asked the Frensch authorities to something against it. The French authorities used a trick and claimed that since the authors of the magazine talked about politics it was an illegal publication because the publisher had not paid a special fee and so the editor C. L. Bernays was sent to jail. The next attempt to publish the magazine in 1845 was answered by the authorities with an order to expel many writers (for example Marx, Heine and Bakunin). Although the order was later revoked, that is to say they could stay in France but had to stop the magazine and all attempts of publishing any similar magazines, but Marx still chose to look for a new exile and so he moved to Brussels.

'''Brussels:'''

In Brussels Marx was joined by Engels and they both met with several other socialists from Europe. Both Marx and Engels visited members of the [[Chartism|Chartist movement]]. Marx published ''The German Ideology'' and ''The Poverty of Philosophy'' which built the foundation of his most famous work ''The Communist Manifesto'', which was published in 1848.
In 1848 several revolutions and protests arose, which Marx supported with his inheritance but was forced to flee first to France and then to Cologne and then to London in 1849.

'''London:'''

In London Marx spent the rest of his life. His two main interests were understanding economics and capitalism and organising revolutionary thoughts. For example in 1864 he was involved in the "International Workingmen's Association", better known as the "First International", which was an international association of left-wing-organizations, trade unions and members of the working class. He published several books, including his famous work the ''Capital''. Marx worked without a pause so that even his doctors gave him the advise to slow down.Marx did not listen to them so that in his last years his health declined rapidly and in 1883 Karl Marx died of bronchitis and pleurisy.

'''Sources:'''

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marx/

http://agso.uni-graz.at/lexikon/klassiker/marx/30bio.htm

Friedenthal, Richard. Karl Marx -Sein Leben und seine Zeit-. München, R.Piper & Co, 1981

Wheen, Francis. ''Karl Marx''. München, Bertelsmann, 1999

Karl Marx

2011-12-01T06:01:30Z

P.ostermann:

Karl Marx was born on May 5th 1818 as third of nine children in Trier, Germany. His parents were Heinrich Marx and Henrietta Marx, born Presborck.

== '''Youth:''' ==

In 1830 Karl Marx attended the "Gymnasium zu Trier", which was later called Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium. The Gymnasium was famous, or better infamous, for its liberal tendencies, so that the school was raided by the local police.
In 1835 Karl Marx started to attend the University of Bonn where he wanted to study philosophy and literature but his father insisted that he studied law. Because his grades where poor Karl Marx was later transferred to the University of Berlin.

== '''Marriage and Family:''' ==

In 1836 he became engaged to Jenny von Westphalen, which was some sort of scandal because it broke several social taboos like the class difference between Karl (middle class) and Jenny (aristocracy). They got married in 1843 in Bad Kreuznach. They had seven children but because of poor living conditions only three of them survived.

== '''Cologne:''' ==

In 1842 he moved to Cologne where he began write for the newspaper "Rheinische Zeitung" in which he expressed his view on politics. Because the views expressed in the newspaper got more and more radical it attracted the attention of government censors. After an article caused a scandal because it criticised the monarchy of Russia, the Russian Tsar Nicholas I requested that the newspaper was to be banned. In the same year he published his work "Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right", from which his famous quote about religion being "the opiate of the people" comes from.

== '''Paris:''' ==

He left Cologne for Paris to work for the "Deutsch-Fanzösische Jahrbücher". It was here that he met his friend Friedrich Engels with whom he started to work and got his idea of the working class being part of the socialist revolution. Karl Marx published his books "The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts" and "Theses on Feuerbach". In 1845 Marx was expelled from France so he moved to Brussels.

== '''Brussels:''' ==

In Brussels Marx was joined by Engels and they both met with several other socialists from Europe. Both Marx and Engels visited members of the Chartist movement. Marx published "The German Ideology" and "The Poverty of Philosophy" which built the foundation of his most famous work "The Communist Manifesto", which was published in 1848.
In 1848 several revolutions and protests arose, which Marx supported with his inheritance but was forced to flee first to France and then to Cologne and then to London in 1849.

== '''London:''' ==

In London Marx spent the rest of his life. His two main interests were understanding economics and capitalism and organising revolutionary thoughts. For example in 1864 he was involved in the "International Workingmen's Association", better known as the "First International". He published several books, including his famous work the "Capital", all concerned with either revolutions he had witnessed or political pamphlets.
In his last years his health declined rapidly and in 1883 Karl Marx died of bronchitis and pleurisy.

== '''Sources:''' ==

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marx/

http://agso.uni-graz.at/lexikon/klassiker/marx/30bio.htm

Wheen, Francis. Karl Marx. München, Bertelsmann, 1999