Brave new world Journal # 1

The use of sounds, or descriptive words were used in various places in the paragraph.In the Fertilizing room sounds were used to describe many things. "scarcely breathing silence"(4). Describes the students on tour through the labs. The author may have intended this to mean that the students were breath taken and cautiously listening to every word that the "great man" or Director spoke as to not miss a single word or note that would be taken down.There were quite a few words that made me think of music such as- instruments, notes, hum, whistle conducting, and mouth. They tie back to the Director who conducts all that is going on within the conditioning and hatcheries center. Every time the Director speaks it is considered "straight from the horses mouth"(4) and so by speaking he begins to control the sound in the room, the students become very silent and you begin to hear the other sounds in the room, such as the hum or whistle of the students concentration and the scribbling of the students in their notebooks "straight from the horses mouth"(4). This makes me wonder what the significance is of the horse to the paragraph. I thought of it as interesting how when i come to think of a horses noise, i immediately think of very low pitched, raspy, and almost a painful noise to hear. I did not see it as a sound to be considered great. But when you picture the actual horse, with grace, brilliance, and being noble you see other wise. Another sound that the great Director produces. The sounds seem to tie the paragraph together, they begin to get ready by "bending over their instruments"(4) then when the Director arrives there is pure silence before he begins. As he starts to conduct the music begins, the scribbling the hums and the sounds flow through. The Director leads the students by speaking and they respond by playing or scribbling in their note books. Then the paragraph concludes with " The D.H.C. for Central London always made a point of personally conducting his new students round the various departments"(4) to end the piece. I think through this passage the author is trying to send a message through music about how the setting of the center is controlled like it's being conducted.

Journal 6

Meursault
It is true i killed a man
The sun
glistening with sweat
brightly colored fans
my lawyer seemed ridiculous to me
Morning
night
Cell
My ears had never heard so many noises or picked up such small sound
meant nothing to me.

Journal 5

There was a lot of change in the setting. From Meursalt being free and living in his own apartment, the beaches, and being outside, to this confinement of the jail and being inside all of the time. There was light in the part one and now in part two everything is in more a dark feeling, with prison and the court trials. Meursault describes it as kind of sad and that he misses his old life when he keeps describing all of the things he missed the most. Such as Marie's dresses, the smells of the foods, being able to go to the beach, the sights, and the smell of night time when he was able to be right there. These changes suggest that Meursault is beginning to think more about what is going on his life. That in a way i think that Meursault is changing himself. He is becoming more aware of his surroundings and of other people. That he did actually think more about these things than all of the people in the court room had accused him of. The minor characters are seen as more on Mersaults side than ever in the court cases. They are seen more of as his friend than anything. They are also seen in more detail, and more sad as well, at the beginning each of them seemed a big hateful and careless, but in the second part of the book they become more caring when they show their sadness and care for Meursault as they try to prove that he did not kill the Arab on purpose. Marie is seen still for her appearance, but rather than that the second part shows more of her emotions other than her laughing, it shows how sadness and anxiety when she has a "pout" in her lips when she smiles. Some new characters appear for the court case and for Meursalt being in jail. The policemen help ad a new side to Meursault because he is always talking to them and telling them thank you for talking to him and saying things to him in a kind manner. It showed a more caring side of Meursalt towards people instead of part one where he did not seem as kind towards other people. The motifs surrounding the setting have gone from happiness and bright things like the sun to prison cells and death.

Journal 4

Quotes:
"On my way out I was even going to shake his hand, but just in time, I remembered that I had killed a man"(64).

"I explained to him, however, that my nature was such that my physical needs often got in the way of my feelings"(65).

"I felt the urge to reassure him that i was like everybody else, just like everybody else"(66).

"I was looking at the countryside around me. Seeing the rows of cypress trees leading up to the hills next to the sky, and the houses standing out here and there against that red and green earth, I was able to understand Maman better. Evenings in that part of the country must have been a kind of sad relief. But today, with the sun bearing down, making the whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhuman and oppressive"(15).

"A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so. She looked sad"(35).

"I would rather not have upset him, but I couldn't see any reason to change my life, Looking back on it, I wasn't unhappy. When I was a student, I had lots of ambitions like that. But when I had to give up my studies I learned very quickly that none of  it really mattered"(41).

The authors use of first person point of view was to put focus on the main characters thoughts, and to show what he thought and how he saw it. He uses first person point of view to explain everything through Meursault's eyes, and to show his descriptions of the situations and how he reacted to them. To me it seemed like Meursault did not care much for things or considered them to "not matter" or they were not important to him. That everything just happened but it did not have any significance.The point of view aligns with the protagonist through how it directly shows that the main focus is on the protagonist (Meursault) and what his reactions and opinions are. The point of view connects to other parts of the book, the point of view being Meursault and how he in a way connects the sections together and why they are significant to the theme.


A cultural difference, the french are catholic and so are all of the people against what Meursault did ( killing the Arab) i thought it was interesting how it seems like a battle against Meursault's thoughts of meaningless and how God does not matter and the others ( investigators, magistrate, jury) and their thoughts of how everything is meaningful and how with God being the reason that everything is meaningful, that the battle being against religion, purpose and reason for life. Kind of like the Absurd, being the thought that everything is meaningless, but we still reach for meaning and dwell on purpose and finding a reason for everything in life. What made me come to think of this is the court trial against Meursalt's killing of the Arab.

Journal 3

The book has many different meanings in different languages. I started thinking about the English version we started reading "The Stranger". It connects with all of the people who surround him, people he does not connect with and or know very well. Such as the old women who were his mothers friends. He did not know them at all they were complete strangers to him but they knew his mother well. Also the old man who his mother had befriended. He had no clue who this man was but he watched the stranger continuously at the funeral. Another stranger i saw in the book was Salamono, The main character watched him, and knew about him well, but he did not know his complete back story or anything else about him besides what he could describe about him. He only saw the man as someone who would walk around with his dog and started cussing at it then eventually lost his dog. He watched the man but never really got to know him, he was just another stranger. In my perspective, The leading character is sort of a stranger to everyone, and everything, his surroundings, the people and how he thinks himself. It made me think of how at times he seems a bit indecisive or careless, like he didn't know what he wanted or thought towards a specific thing. He didn't care, like a person would not care about a random stranger they saw on the side of the road, they see them but they do not take the time to care they just keep on moving past and forget.

Journal 2

I thought it was interesting how Salamano and his dog were inseparable but at the same time Salmano still treats his dog the way he did. "The two of them have been inseparable for eight years"(26). I understand that the dog has to stay with it's owner to survive but i wonder why he keeps his dog it all he does is beats it for everything? Walking to fast or too slow, Salamano beats his dog and cusses at it. The dog is more dependent on Salamano and maybe Salamano just needs his dog for company. Salamano seems like a slight perfectionist to me for some reason. He always goes on the same route every day with his dog " They haven't changed their route in eight years. You can see them in the rue de Lyon, the dog pulling the man along unlit old Salamano stumbles. Then he beats the god and swears at it"(27). The man always seems to beat the dog after any imperfection the dog does, like walking too fast, walking too slow, or taking too long to go to the bathroom. He wants everything to stay the same and not change.  

Journal 1

"In Paris they keep vigil over the body for three, sometimes four days"(8)
A vigil is in relations to french Catholicism. A vigil is a mourning process for a loved one where family and friends come together and have concessions and just mourn together surrounding the deceased person. Camus brings this topic up a lot in the first chapter, starting with the main character heading over to the vigil. Camus makes the vigil out to be a time waster through the point of view of Meursault. He keeps thinking that "it's not his fault" when talking about the vigil and his dead mother. This shows his carelessness and how it's just any other day to him, that he would rather be sleeping.

"I'd never noticed what huge stomachs old women can have. Almost all the men were skinny and carried canes"(10).
"The woman kept on crying. It surprised me, because I didn't know who she was. I wished I didn't have to listen to her anymore[...] Now it wall all these people not making a sound that was getting on my nerves"(10-11).
He seems annoyed by everything in a way, and can't be satisfied at times. When he is at the vigil his mothers friends were crying and that annoyed him greatly, you'd think that when they stopped he'd be at a better mood, nope, he goes right on finding another aspect to be annoyed by, the silence. Why did Camus create a protagonist of such sorts? Maybe it could it be that in the future his carelessness and annoyance will lead him into bad things in the future. Plus putting focus on his carelessness that even when strong emotional parts come he still reacts the same that he would to any other thin any other day. He treats everything the same in a way, getting annoyed by the woman's noises and by them not having noises, by his mothers death and a regular day. Camus created a very interesting and simple yet complicated character.

"I had the sky in my eyes and it was blue and gold"(20).
"The sky was clear but dull about the fig trees lining the street"(22).
"The sky changed again. Above the rooftops the sky had taken on a reddish glow, and with evening coming on the streets came to life"(23).
The Sky
The main character likes the sky a lot, and he talks about it a lot, how it looks, how it changes, and how it sets a mood. The sky is described as it is, but when it brilliant with colors and has a certain look to it the main character always brings it into focus and uses a lot of detail to explain how it looks. In a way i see it as sort of a peaceful things to him, or all of his emotions, the sky is the only emotion a really see in him when he describes it. It's color, warmth, in a way it connects a lot to his mood.