Throughout the course of your presentation I noticed a lot of similarities between Aldous Huxley’s work and William Golding’s. You focused on the technological aspect of why man is evil, but in my presentation I focused more generally on man’s evil, because neither of my novels dealt with technology, only primal, natural tendencies. While certainly not the same, the main theme seems to be in agreement with only minor exceptions, so I would like to respond to the overall theme of your presentation. In one of your power point slides you mentioned that in Huxley’s writing the “future is seen as bleaker than the past”, and that Huxley is extremely pessimistic about the future of man. Do you think this is because of his childhood, or is he just a pessimistic man?
Golding and Huxley were born in entirely different time periods—Golding a postmodernist writer and Huxley a modernist—yet they wrote about very similar topics (I would like to read Brave New World or Ape And Essence to see how similar their writing styles may be). It was interesting that when talking about both of these novels, you talked about ‘primal impulses’ and ‘animalistic qualities’; both stuck out to me because in one of the novels that I read (The Inheritors) the Neanderthals were very primal creatures, and they were so underdeveloped that they possessed many animalistic qualities.
Hi, Amulya! I wanted to start off by saying that I loved your presentation-- it was engaging, professional, and a bit divergent from the usual literature analyses in the sense that it had a strong focus on science and and technology and their effects on society. Although these books were written nearly a century ago, I thought their themes as well as your analysis of them was relevant to modern day society. Today we see many people getting “lost” in technology, and though this isn’t exactly turning them into animals/savages as it had your books, it’s definitely detrimental, a “regress from progress”. That being said, I also really liked the title of your presentation. It was paradoxical (kind of like your books) but made a very clear point. In your powerpoint, I liked that you included a flowchart summarizing each book rather than a synopsis of their plots. I thought this was very effective in conveying your messages rather than all the plot details in the book-- it focused all of the attention during your presentation on the thematic elements and literary devices in your piece and avoided plot/detail-distractions. I also liked your analysis of the literary devices in Huxley’s writing, most notably his “lack of meaningful dialogue”. It showed what he was trying to say by not saying anything and I thought the effect achieved was very simple but nonetheless effective and artistic. P.S.- I also liked the brownies and the connection you made :)
Your presentation was incredibly engaging. From thesis to conclusion, your argument was both very clear as well as interest. You brought up interesting points about your author such as how he, Huxley, compared to Modernism as well as the context behind the novel and the time period in which they were written.
Your presentation was very understandable due to the many examples and evidence you used. You probably did the most in -depth analysis of your author’s work in out of the presentations. I really liked how you related your chosen poems to your novel, making a clear argument on both the literary choices within them as well as the themes, as well as how in-depth you discussed human vs. inhuman imagery. It was very well delivered.
Amulya, the way you were able to connect your author’s literature and criticism to mankind’s societal issues is what made your presentation stand out from the rest. Thank you for providing a slide to connect Huxley’s writing with Modernism, highlighting the similarities and differences between the two styles. I was reminded subtly of my author and his themes when you mentioned pessimism and Huxley’s desire to be a scientist, traits that seem to allow authors to portray a more logical and process-oriented approach in their writing.
I thought the strongest point you made within your argument was the connection between repetition and its effect on mimicking propaganda and displaying conformity. The accuracy with which you presented your criticisms and thoughts on how words lose their meaning through repetition was not only intriguing, but it also brought your analysis of repetition above the effect of only “emphasis”. Overall, I think your author’s message and paradox that technological development is causing society to go backwards is something we should all be aware of. You made it extremely clear that his purpose in writing this was to warn against these possible issues; when literature is able to provide insight and new perspectives on life’s issues, the works not only are a bestseller for the scope of entertainment, but also become meaningful collections of an author’s viewpoint—viewpoints that can cause change. Awesome job, thank you for the enlightening brownies and presentation!
I really enjoyed your presentation. I thought your introduction was great in explaining what would be coming up in your presentation, and I also thought your tweet was very funny, and made people engaged and thoughtful of what was to come later. Your brownies were also great in supporting your overall theme. Not only were they supportive though, they helped to engage the audience even more. The explanation of how they were not slaved over by your entire family, they were just from a box, was very humorous, and while still very helpful in explaining your presentation, really helped to get the audience engaged.
I consistently felt throughout your presentation that I had a full understanding of what the points you were trying to get across; your explanations were great and entire presentation was helpful in understanding your main points. The comparison and contrast of modernism and Huxley was very beneficial in my understanding of your entire presentation and it was great to see that at the beginning before some of the most critical discussion. The set up of your presentation was superb. It was great how you went into both poems and both prose passages to really give us a deeper understanding of his writing before you talked more specifically about the devices he used. Your presentation was very engaging, and interesting.
Hi Amulyum. I really enjoyed your presentation. It was so succinct and you answered the questions you were asked at the very end so professionally. Your brownies were delicious and I was about to give you major props and ask for a recipe, until I realized they were made from a mix. And while this can be taken as you being lethargic, it was such a complex and genius idea! There was no better way to project the essence of Huxley's works except through these no effort, "dehumanized," emotionless brownies. You were able to effectively and concisely incorporate the related literary criticisms into your presentation and this really created your credibility as a speaker.
I also really enjoyed how you talked about Modernism and the reflections of the time period within Huxley's writing. Huxley's lack of meaningful dialogue contribute to his writing style and the examples you explored in your prose passage and presentation in general were effective and developed your analysis of Huxley's writing. Thanks :)
Throughout the course of your presentation I noticed a lot of similarities between Aldous Huxley’s work and William Golding’s. You focused on the technological aspect of why man is evil, but in my presentation I focused more generally on man’s evil, because neither of my novels dealt with technology, only primal, natural tendencies. While certainly not the same, the main theme seems to be in agreement with only minor exceptions, so I would like to respond to the overall theme of your presentation. In one of your power point slides you mentioned that in Huxley’s writing the “future is seen as bleaker than the past”, and that Huxley is extremely pessimistic about the future of man. Do you think this is because of his childhood, or is he just a pessimistic man?
ReplyDeleteGolding and Huxley were born in entirely different time periods—Golding a postmodernist writer and Huxley a modernist—yet they wrote about very similar topics (I would like to read Brave New World or Ape And Essence to see how similar their writing styles may be). It was interesting that when talking about both of these novels, you talked about ‘primal impulses’ and ‘animalistic qualities’; both stuck out to me because in one of the novels that I read (The Inheritors) the Neanderthals were very primal creatures, and they were so underdeveloped that they possessed many animalistic qualities.
Hi, Amulya! I wanted to start off by saying that I loved your presentation-- it was engaging, professional, and a bit divergent from the usual literature analyses in the sense that it had a strong focus on science and and technology and their effects on society. Although these books were written nearly a century ago, I thought their themes as well as your analysis of them was relevant to modern day society. Today we see many people getting “lost” in technology, and though this isn’t exactly turning them into animals/savages as it had your books, it’s definitely detrimental, a “regress from progress”. That being said, I also really liked the title of your presentation. It was paradoxical (kind of like your books) but made a very clear point. In your powerpoint, I liked that you included a flowchart summarizing each book rather than a synopsis of their plots. I thought this was very effective in conveying your messages rather than all the plot details in the book-- it focused all of the attention during your presentation on the thematic elements and literary devices in your piece and avoided plot/detail-distractions. I also liked your analysis of the literary devices in Huxley’s writing, most notably his “lack of meaningful dialogue”. It showed what he was trying to say by not saying anything and I thought the effect achieved was very simple but nonetheless effective and artistic.
ReplyDeleteP.S.- I also liked the brownies and the connection you made :)
Your presentation was incredibly engaging. From thesis to conclusion, your argument was both very clear as well as interest. You brought up interesting points about your author such as how he, Huxley, compared to Modernism as well as the context behind the novel and the time period in which they were written.
ReplyDeleteYour presentation was very understandable due to the many examples and evidence you used. You probably did the most in -depth analysis of your author’s work in out of the presentations. I really liked how you related your chosen poems to your novel, making a clear argument on both the literary choices within them as well as the themes, as well as how in-depth you discussed human vs. inhuman imagery. It was very well delivered.
Amulya, the way you were able to connect your author’s literature and criticism to mankind’s societal issues is what made your presentation stand out from the rest. Thank you for providing a slide to connect Huxley’s writing with Modernism, highlighting the similarities and differences between the two styles. I was reminded subtly of my author and his themes when you mentioned pessimism and Huxley’s desire to be a scientist, traits that seem to allow authors to portray a more logical and process-oriented approach in their writing.
ReplyDeleteI thought the strongest point you made within your argument was the connection between repetition and its effect on mimicking propaganda and displaying conformity. The accuracy with which you presented your criticisms and thoughts on how words lose their meaning through repetition was not only intriguing, but it also brought your analysis of repetition above the effect of only “emphasis”. Overall, I think your author’s message and paradox that technological development is causing society to go backwards is something we should all be aware of. You made it extremely clear that his purpose in writing this was to warn against these possible issues; when literature is able to provide insight and new perspectives on life’s issues, the works not only are a bestseller for the scope of entertainment, but also become meaningful collections of an author’s viewpoint—viewpoints that can cause change. Awesome job, thank you for the enlightening brownies and presentation!
I really enjoyed your presentation. I thought your introduction was great in explaining what would be coming up in your presentation, and I also thought your tweet was very funny, and made people engaged and thoughtful of what was to come later. Your brownies were also great in supporting your overall theme. Not only were they supportive though, they helped to engage the audience even more. The explanation of how they were not slaved over by your entire family, they were just from a box, was very humorous, and while still very helpful in explaining your presentation, really helped to get the audience engaged.
ReplyDeleteI consistently felt throughout your presentation that I had a full understanding of what the points you were trying to get across; your explanations were great and entire presentation was helpful in understanding your main points. The comparison and contrast of modernism and Huxley was very beneficial in my understanding of your entire presentation and it was great to see that at the beginning before some of the most critical discussion. The set up of your presentation was superb. It was great how you went into both poems and both prose passages to really give us a deeper understanding of his writing before you talked more specifically about the devices he used. Your presentation was very engaging, and interesting.
Hi Amulyum. I really enjoyed your presentation. It was so succinct and you answered the questions you were asked at the very end so professionally. Your brownies were delicious and I was about to give you major props and ask for a recipe, until I realized they were made from a mix. And while this can be taken as you being lethargic, it was such a complex and genius idea! There was no better way to project the essence of Huxley's works except through these no effort, "dehumanized," emotionless brownies. You were able to effectively and concisely incorporate the related literary criticisms into your presentation and this really created your credibility as a speaker.
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed how you talked about Modernism and the reflections of the time period within Huxley's writing. Huxley's lack of meaningful dialogue contribute to his writing style and the examples you explored in your prose passage and presentation in general were effective and developed your analysis of Huxley's writing.
Thanks :)