Dawn, Post 1 by Moshe Henderson

Moshe Henderson. April 9, 2012. Revolutions and Symbolism of Dawn. (Chapter 1-2, pages 3-20.)

In Chapter 2, Elisha had been asked to give up everything and join the revolution in Palestine. This is similar to how the Khmer Rouge built its own revolution in When Broken Glass Floats. The Khmer Rouge had forced its civilians to give up everything they owned though; Elisha had more of a choice. Also, I don’t think the Jewish revolution has as much control over what Elisha owns and does as the Khmer Rouge had over the Cambodians. The two different groups used different tactics to control its people; the Khmer Rouge used fear and power over resources, and the Jewish revolutionists (Zionists) used a sort of sympathy and bribery. The Zionists rallied up their people and shared their anger towards the way the Jewish people had always been treated in the past. The Zionists were actually representing their people; the Khmer Rouge did not.

The reference to “dawn” is already used multiple times in this chapter. At first it just refers to the time that David ben Moshe and John Dawson will be executed. The next time it is referred to as an actual idea and thing. Gad says that the dawn where Elisha had been staying was gray, but the dawn in Palestine was red. Somewhere along the lines red had become the color for revolution, probably because blood is red. (I find it ironic that red also stands for romance.)  Anyways, the reason the dawn was “gray” where Elisha had been was because the revolution had not yet sparked there. They would have to go to Palestine and join the revolution there in order for it to spread to rest of the world (as it had when they kidnapped John Dawson).

(I also wanted to write that it was cool to see part of my name in the book. I usually don’t see my name too often in literature unless it is referring to Moshe Dayan or the book takes place in a Jewish community. This book takes place in a Jewish community. “Moshe” means “drawn from the water” by the way.)

Brave New World, Post 4 by Moshe Henderson

Moshe Henderson. April 9, 2012. Opinion and Analysis of Brave New World. (Chapter 8-14, pages 198-259.)

I hate this book, but I also have a respect for it. Although I think the plot could have been more interesting, the point of the book was not to be a thriller such as Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 were, but instead more of an analysis of human nature written in a form that is more tangible for an audience to understand. I had found the society in Brave New World to be disgusting and undesirable; however, I found that the reasoning for the way the society was to be very rational.

People were created to be simply happy and not have to endure the burdens of truth and beauty. If you don’t know what you’re missing, what is there to truly miss? I now sort of feel comfortable with the society in Brave New World as odd as that may seem. Mankind has a natural desire to just be happy, as selfish as it is. The society in this book does things for the better of all mankind by nurturing the selfish desire in its people. There is no need for people to have religion or relationships because they are happy and experience no pain.

Despite how much I find the human psychology behind this book to be riveting, I did not like the last chapter at all. I understand why the events happened though. In the end, John gets basically what he asked for; he wanted to live an unhappy life in order to be happy. Two parallel ideas that still intertwine. He brings physical and emotional harm to himself in order to live like the society we currently live in does. Emotionally he destroys himself by killing Lenina near the end of the chapter. (I believe he killed her. It doesn’t clearly define this event in the book, but it sounds like he had beaten her well enough.) He physically destroys himself by whipping himself (a religious exercise practiced by Jehovah’s Witnesses I believe) and by ultimately committing suicide. I assume he was happy to kill himself despite his actions being brought on by Lenina’s death. Death was one of the things he agreed to in order to be happy when he was talking to Mustapha Mond. (I found John’s action and character to be somehow related to that of Gandhi’s; however, Gandhi’s actions and character were not as selfish as that of John’s.)

Another thing I find weird is that no one who saw John persecuting himself felt any sympathy for him besides Lenina. Society had kept the majority of people away from savages; yet no one tries to keep people from seeing John. I guess society (which really seems to be just Mustapha Mond) might be using him as an example for people to continue enjoying their lifestyles and soma. In this way, Brave New World is like The Hunger Games where they persecute the few in order to make society appreciative of how their lives are now.

The last of what I find dissatisfying in this book is how characters are quickly introduced then forgotten. None of the characters most talked about in this book are truly important except for those who know the truth about society, Mustapha and John. This is ironic because just as unimportant many of the main characters are to this society, the same unimportance they seem to have to the book as their endings are never defined.

Brave New World, Post 3 by Moshe Henderson

Moshe Henderson. April 7, 2012. Shakespeare and People's Character. (Chapter 8-13, pages 123-197.)

It excited me to hear the reference “brave new world” from Shakespeare’s The Tempest in this book. It explains the title. John thinks of the modern society his mother talks about to be wondrous just like Miranda felt about the new world of men. John also compares Lenina to Juliet. He is greatly stressed though to find that she is nothing but a whore. This shows the power literature has on our lives. It shapes our views. John thought the society in the Outside World was as romantic as Shakespeare and his mother had told him; he comes to realize that much of romanticism no longer exists and shuts down socially.

Bernard changes dramatically in these last few chapters. He hated society when it mistreated him, but when he gained power in it, he began to enjoy it. He still wanted to change society but only because he liked how it felt to be powerful, not because he wanted to help others like the old him. He is completely selfish like the rest of his society is. It is interesting that although the society claims to work for the greater good of all mankind how it encourages selfishness in its people at a young age. Everyone feels the need to be important in order to fulfill themselves.

I honestly thought there was a sense of true love between Lenina and Bernard in the first few chapters. I had compared there love to the type of “Indiana Jones” love in my previous post. In Indiana Jones though, the girl is always different in the next movie; so it does not surprise me that Bernard and Lenina never built a true emotional relationship. I feel that no one can build a strong relationship in this society. I thought Lenina actually had true feelings for John, but when she just throws herself on him despite his protest, it seems to all just be lust.

Brave New World, Post 2 by Moshe Henderson

Moshe Henderson. April 6, 2012. Humanity and Religion. (Chapter 5-7, pages 72-122.)

It is interesting that no matter how much a society has control over its people it can never completely erase a certain degree of humanity. Although many people in Brave New World believe terrible philosophies, the ones that were built with the power to think still manage to feel emotions. When the D.H.C describes how he had lost his female partner on a savage reservation, he becomes distraught. He realizes that he had built an emotional relationship with her, and it greatly upset him because it went against his society’s beliefs. It makes him human and a little like Bernard.

This sense of humanity that can never be completely erased reminds me of the Khmer Rouge leaders in When Broken Glass Floats. Not all of the leaders are truly cruel; however, they are forced to fight for the Khmer Rouge and teach its philosophies. Nonetheless, they will sometimes show generosity and kindness towards others due to their instinctive humanity.

You also gain a sense of passion between Lenina and Bernard. They might just have a chemical attraction to each other, but something is keeping them together. Bernard feels sympathy for Lenina, and Lenina enjoys a sense of adventure with him. It sort of reminds me of “Indiana Jones” relationship, a kind of hate-love relationship.

I also find it intriguing that there is still a need for some type of religion in this society. Although it is not acknowledged as a religious ceremony, the Solidarity Services are very much like Quaker services. In man, there is always some desire to worship or appreciate some greater being or thing. The society in Brave New World has met these needs by creating a new god for its people to worship.

Brave New World, Post 1 by Moshe Henderson

Moshe Henderson. March 22, 2012. Response to Zibraan's Post. (Chapter 1-4, pages 3-56.)

In response to Zibraan's post, the quote “Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun..." reflects the ideas and morals encouraged in this strange society. Specifically, an orgy is a group of people involved in sexual behaviors with each other at the same time. The word "orgy" is rhymed with "porgy" in order to make this activity seem more playful and something everyone, even kids, should be involved in. As you stated, Zibraan, sexual activity is encouraged for all ages in this society as way of keeping people pleased. It keeps the people of this brainwashed society from having the time to think about the errors and corruptness of this society. 


A "Ford" is used to measure time; however, it does not specify in the book if a Ford represents a year or an hour. I assume it is purposely not defined because time does not matter in this society. Time only exist in their society as what it is now. They don't need to know how life was because they are happy with how how their lives are now. They past brings pain to them, so they simply choose to forget it. This is parallel to the society in The Hunger Games. In The Hunger Games, the society deliberately creates barbaric situations from the past to understand how lucky they are to be living in the time they are. They are trying to make people grateful for the government they have and not feel the need to question it. This is the same goal of the government in Brave New World. Nonetheless, they obtain this goal by using hypnopedia on children. Through hypnopedia, they are able to make people enjoy the position society has put them in.


"Kiss the girls and make them One. Boys at one with girls at peace..." means that men and women should be comfortable with having multiple sex partners and never establishing relationships. They should all feel at peace because society says it is normal to never have a personal relationship with your partner.


"Orgy-porgy gives release" is what society has allowed as an escape for people's anger and emotions that can't be completely erased. They release anything that burdens them through sex. They never question or revolt against their corrupt government because they are distracted and appeased through their own sexual pleasure.

Themes- Zibraan Ali

One of these books had the greatest theme a book can give. In Brave new world the theme I noticed was not to let anyone control you. That is because if you let someone control you, you will never be able to live a peaceful life. I reached to this conclusion because in the book people were being controlled on how to live and Bernard didn’t like it and he tried to change it. He did partially succeed but he was jailed in the end. In Dawn it was the opposite. Well I didn’t really see a theme in the book. It was because in the end the captain was killed and Elisha didn’t do anything to stop it. Well maybe there is one theme. That might be that never do anything bad because in the end you will see your face in the others place. I think that’s the theme because of the ending of the book. The author writes down that Elisha sees his own face in the boy. Both of these are great but I think that Brave New World sends a better message to its readers than Dawn

Characters- Zibraan Ali

While reading both the books I noticed that Brave New World has more “real” characters in it whereas Dawn has less real, more spiritual characters. In Brave New World the main character was like Winston. He lived the life of the colony but then his views started to change. In Dawn the main character resembled O’Brian because the main character was compassionate but in the end he killed the captain. Both of these characters started of a point that led them to a life changing event. In Brave New World the author gave the characters a good side with a commonsense but in Dawn the author gave the character an evil side, even though the character was put into a situation which he couldn’t get out of. In Dawn I liked that fact that the author made these spiritual characters come and guide the main character through his obstacles. In Brave New World the characters weren’t that moving or helpful. What did you think about it? 

Setting- Zibraan Ali

These two books are really different in the context of its setting. Dawn is set in the past whereas Brave New World is set in the future. The past is a better setting because the authors and the readers know what had happened in the past unlike the future. If an author sets his book in the future he should make it more realistic and understandable to the readers and he also should describe the setting more, well that’s what I think. Dawn was set during World War II in Palestine and Brave new world is set in a city landscape with a lot of futuristic gadgets. I believe that an author’s book becomes good when he/she has a good setting for it. Dawn has a really nice firm setting and it doesn’t skip back and forth it is the same with Brave New World. I like futuristic books but Brave New World wasn’t really that good. The setting of the book wasn’t that firm or good. What is your point of view on the settings? I do like both the books settings but Dawn’s was better.

Comparison of the plot- Zibraan Ali

I really enjoyed both the stories. These stories told a story like no other even though it is set on a main topic. Brave New World was a book about how these people lived in an unset, unreal, messed up society. The main characters of the book started to see some sense in the wrong that was happening in their society and they decided to change it. When they tried doing that they weren’t successful and they were jailed. While reading this book I started connecting it with 1984 because in 1984 the main characters tried to do the same thing as these characters in this book. This book started of bad but ended shockingly. I liked this book but it still can’t beat Dawn. Dawn was a book about how the main character was ordered to kill a captain of the military. Before he could kill him he was distracted by obstacles in his path. One of the major obstacles was the dreams and spirits of his family. I liked this book a lot because this book was in the past yet the author used his imagination by bringing in spirits. Overall these two books are really well written and they are really nice to read. I enjoyed reading both the books and thought that it had many point of views not only one. Though I think that Dawn is a better book than Brave New World because Dawn is more realistic and is set in the past unlike Brave new world.