Post-modernism in Cat's Cradle

Modernism was the era of enlightenment and the search for the absolute truth in life by using science and logic to disclaim all the myths and past grand narratives. As we kept advancing in technology and expanding our knowledge of the universe around us we seemed only to confuse things more rather than finding the ultimate solution to everything. We believed that this conquest of never ending knowledge would bring us to be a happier people and possibly one day create a utopia. What did all this science and research bring us? It surely did not bring us happiness it actually lead to nuclear weapons and two World Wars. This truth that we were looking for through science did not bring us to this utopia we envisioned it actually happened to be just the opposite because it lead us to chaos and turmoil among opposing nations.

Now we are in the era of post-modernism. Post-modernism is a movement that ultimately contradicts the ideas of modernism, but post-modernist never say this because that would be a grand narrative in itself and they avoid the idea of central narrative because that becomes oppressive and there is always a minority. Post-modernism supports the idea that each different community has their own set of narratives that they live by because it fits to their culture. Also in the post-modern era the belief is that there is no actual truth that can serve everyone. Everybody has their own interpretation of life, and we all make understanding of life in different ways.

Cat's Cradle definitely serves as postmodern text because all the themes in the novel revolve around skepticism and what it actually true. For example, Newt becomes obsessive with the string game called Cat's Cradle and repeatedly states, "See the cat? See the cradle?" (Vonnegut 179). This statement is shows that there is no actually no cat and no cradle, but it is actually a bunch of X's that make no sense. This game of X's never ends. This metaphorically shows that life has no one truth, but we all see things in different ways and one person's truths can be another man's lies.

Post-modernism in Cat's Cradle

Modernism was the era of enlightenment and the search for the absolute truth in life by using science and logic to disclaim all the myths and past grand narratives.

"Brave New World"

In Brave New World Aldous Huxley portrays a new society in which everybody is happy with their economic position in society. The World Controllers control every aspect of humans' lives. They have eliminated natural birth and have made all reproduction processes take place in a laboratory setting. They also condition every human at a very young age to serve whatever needs they see fit for the community. Most of the ideas relate very closely to the insights in 1984. For example, in 1984 the government, "Big Brother", also controls everything by manipulating reality through rectification of the past. In both novels humans are conditioned to support the government or World Controllers. In both cases they use different techniques to keep their citizens under oppression and to keep them always in support of the government. I think these authors were criticizing some of the industrial motives that we have seen in the past and present day society. We have attempted to create a perfect society or otherwise known as a utopia.  In both books there are characters that do not quite fit in with the rest of the perfect society. Bernard Marx in Brave New World feels out of place probably due to his differing physical appearance from the rest of the Alpha class. This leads him to believe that he is also different in some sort of emotional or mental way. He feels there is more to life than what he is experiencing in this new world that the World Controllers have created. Also in 1984 Winston also feels that he does not belong and that there is more to life than just serving every need of the government and being happy while doing it. These characters are looking for some alternate purpose in life than what the government or World Controllers have given them.

"Brave New World"

The speaker in the video criticizes today's education system because our education is trying to teach us our economic position in society. It is a common fallacy that if you possess a degree you will have a guaranteed job. Education was discovered in a different era and has not changed with time. In "Brave New World" everything is based on stability. Mainly they are focused on on achieving social and economic stability. They have succeeded in creating stability which is the goal of every economic system but most of them fail.  World controllers control everything about human production. They genetically engineer humans to act in a certain way and to enjoy every aspect of their life. Humans are conditioned are conditioned at very young ages by a technique called "hypnopaedia." Humans are conditioned to dislike nature because if they enjoyed nature they would not be consuming and taking part in the economic machine. Everything is accounted for so there is always economic stability. For example, Mustapha Mond is lecturing interns and he states, "Wheels must turn steadily, but cannot turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as steady as the wheel upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment."  Everything is controlled like a machine that cannot fail.  They condition people to not have any intimate connections with each other. They have eliminated family.They are even conditioned to death and to accept it as a part of life at a  very young age. Basically they have taken everything out that could cause emotional instability. Because if somebody becomes upset over a death of family member for example then they cannot be as efficient as possible while doing their job, and if somebody does not do their job as efficient as possible then somebody will be affected by their poor work quality.

"Brave New World"

Mustapha Mond is comparing humanity to a machine. They worship Mr. Ford because he created the assembly line which acts as a machine pumping out more supply than ever before. Mustapha Mond and other world controllers want their people to always be focused on their specific job and not have emotions affect their work. For example, the narrator states, "Cryimg: My baby, my mother, my only love; groaning: My sin, my terrible God...how can they tend the wheels?" (Huxley 42). If people have emotional ties with other people than their duty to the society could be influenced by emotions. Someone could have a death very close to them and their output into the economy might not be up to standard. When people aren't putting their greatest effort into their job then the community as a whole becomes unstable. The governments whole foundation is based off stability. They condition all the people in the population to act a certain way and have certain instincts. The world controllers use a method called "hypnopaedia" to condition children when they are very young. They can insert whatever information they wish into the childrens' minds. They control what people they will interact with, favorite colors, food, hobbies, etc. With this sleep teaching technique they can account for all the people because they exactly what they will consume. The biologically engineer each human to be happy with their job in life. If everybody is happy with what they are doing then it creates stability, which is the goal for every economic system. They create different social classes so every individual has their place in the community. It is basically an extreme and successful version of communism.Communism was unsuccessful because some people were not happy with their place in society, but Musapha Mond and other world controllers have discovered a way to engineer humans the same way a person would hard-wire robots.

The Tempest Controversies

In discussions of The Tempest, one controversial issue has been the subject of colonialism and how The Tempest portrays the imperialistic attitude. On the one hand, Stephen Greenblatt argues that there is a hidden message that lies within the literal text that exposes Shakespeare's view on colonialism. On the other hand, George Will contends that writing should be taken as what the text actually says and there is no need for further analysis on authors' writings. However, I agree with Stephen Greenblatt and his ideas. Everybody has a different set of experiences that changes the way they might interpret a text. I feel that we should be able to read someone's writing and take what we learned from it and dig deeper than what the literal text says. I believe the best pieces of writing are the ones that have more than one possible meaning and allows the reader to have their own view on the subject. However I do not think you should be able to re-write somebody's work as Aime Cesaire did. He completely changed the tone of the piece and basically altered somebody else work of art to make his own. If he wanted to put his input on the subject of colonialism he could have used some of the ideas of The Tempest and write his own story that possessed whatever point he was trying to get across. I believe it is important to build of previous ideas, but it is not right when someone takes the same exact characters and story line and alter what the text says so it serves as a completely different meaning. In the end were all going to have our own opinions, and make our own interpretations on pieces of literature. Literature should be open-ended, so we can explore other points of view because it is relative that we do not only see one side of a subject. 

Opposing Views

George Will and Stephen Greenblatt have opposing arguments on The Tempest and what ideas are presented in this piece of Shakespeare's writing. Their completely disagree on how Shakespeare represents Imperialism in The Tempest. George Will believes that the The Tempest revolves around political views, however Greenblatt feels completely contrary to this idea. 
    George Will states, "All literature is, whether writers are conscious of it or not, political." Will claims that every piece of writing has some sort of latent content behind it that serves as a political view point. I do not agree with this statement completely. I believe that some writing serves as a political but definitely not all writing. I think that some writing is just for entertainment and it should be read as it is and that there is no need for further analysis. On the other hand some writing has tons of underlying meaning that needs to be analyzed in order to get the full meaning that the author was trying to portray. Stephen Greenblatt declares, "And it is similarly difficult to come to terms with what The Tempest has to teach us about forgiveness, wisdom, and social atonement if we do not also come to terms with its relations to colonialism." The Tempest presents many ideas that teach many lessons not just on the subject of colonialism. I agree with this because most pieces of writing have more than one hidden meaning that tries to teach us something. There can be many ways of interpreting writing rather than just seeing it as a political piece of literature. Having more than one point in writing gives more meaning to the text and in my opinion makes it more interesting. When there are different ways to interpret a certain text it allows readers to dig deeper and get more out of the writing. 

Postcolonialism and The Tempest

In Acts 2 and 3 of The Tempest each person on the island had their idea of what was taking on place on this island, they each had a different perspective. For example, "many post-modernists posit that all reality is a social construct...no single or primary objective reality exists; instead, many realities exist" (Ashcroft 234). When the boat was shipwrecked and everybody made it to the island, each group of people had their perspective on what reality was, but in fact the only person that understood the situation was Prospero. Once again Prospero manipulates and controls what happens on this island with his magical powers. Moreover, Stephano is convinced that he is going to be the king of this, "Monster, I'll kill this man. His daughter and I will be the king and queen..and you and Trinculo will be our governors" (Shakespeare 129). Stepahno believes that he is going to be in control of this island with Caliban and Trinculo as his subjects. Their reality is different from Prospero's because Prospero knows that Caliban has planned a plot against in order to gain his freedom from Prospero. They each have their own reality that is true to both of them, but they are completely different so they act in a way that they both serve the social construct of reality. Both of the foreign intruders want to colonize and rule over the island. They want to enslave Caliban which is represented as the native in the The Tempest. Caliban is referred to a monster and they treat him as if he is a savage when in reality is the native of the island. This correlates with Hollywood's portrayal of the Native Americans because they were shown in a negative light so people would support colonization. They look down on the Native Americans and Caliban because they have a different culture. The invading imperialists come into their land and force their own beliefs onto these people because they feel their customs are the right way. The colonialists are very similar to Prospero and the other people that became shipwrecked on the island. They march into Caliban's land, or the Native Americans', and take control of the natives and push their hegemony on the native people.

"The Tempest" Act 1

Prospero uses his magic and historical narratives to manipulate the world around him to serve his personal needs. In example, Prospero explains to Ariel that "it was [his] magic that saved [him] when [he] arrived on the island..." (Shakespeare 37). Ariel back talks his servant because he was promised freedom if he complied to everything that Prospero ordered. Prospero reminds Ariel that he saved him and if it was not for him he would still be trapped inside a tree. This makes Ariel feel guilty; this makes him remember that he owes his life to Prospero. Prospero is able to bring up the past to keep Ariel under his control.  Moreover, Prospero explains to Miranda that they were not killed "because the people of Milan loved [him] too much" (25). Prospero claims that he was adored by the citizens of Milan. This narrative shows Miranda that her father was a good man in Milan, and that his brother, Antonio, was an evil man. This story could be completely false and quite possibly Prospero could have been exiled by the whole city of Milan. Miranda is forced to think that her father was a good man. With this opinion of her father she supports everything he does when he could be doing things with evil intentions, and she could be helping him achieve his goals without realizing what she is taking part in. In addition, Prospero reminds Caliban where he came from, "You horrible slave, with a wicked hag for a mother, and the devil himself for a father..."(41). Prospero's constant reminder to Caliban that he is evil makes him feel like he does not deserve freedom. If Caliban was not reminded of his evil mother and father he might not be so bad himself. Then when he does do something terrible Prospero can use it as an excuse to keep Caliban under his control.

"The Danger of a Single Story"

Single stories can be very dangerous. If there is only one story regarding a certain subject then that becomes truth in the minds of that people that have read this story. If a person could control all the stories and narratives then he could   choose what becomes fact and that alone is very dangerous. One could manipulate reality very easily if they could perfect this technique of a single sided story. This relates to our class discussions because it elaborates on the risks of having a story that only contains one view point. Narratives play a crucial role in a child's life. Young childrens' brains act as sponge to new information. If a child only reads one book or story on a single topic then that text that they read ultimately becomes truth. It is very important to introduce multiple ideas on the same subject because it allows for analyzing and deriving of an opinion from our minds rather than what is being forced into our brain. History is very biased when it comes to recording past events. The victor decides what goes into the history books. Many people do not realize how subjective history books are. If somebody different had won previous wars then the history books would most likely tell a different story. A lot of the things we read portray people of certain ethnic groups in only one light. We do not realize that all humans are more similar than we are different. These single stories do not tell the whole truth, but only a fraction of the facts if any at all. I found it amazing that the speaker in the video had a CD from Mariah Carey. I notice that I have been given a single story of Africans also. From my previous knowledge before this video I perceived all Africans as being poor and struggling to survive. This case may be true for some Africans, but just like us they have different social classes. It is quite possible that Africans see Americans as rich snobs when in fact there are a lot of homeless and poor people struggling to make ends meet and to keep food on the table. These single stories are distorting reality just like in 1984. Before these discussions I would have never thought of these issues to be relevant, but now I see things in a different way. I have learned not to believe everything in the media or in books because they could be feeding me lies to change my opinion to serve whatever purpose that they see fit. 

New York Yankees

         The New York Yankees is my favorite team in the MLB. This picture is of Derek Jeter, the captain and short-stop of the Yankees. The Yankees have won 27 World Series titles.