Metaphoric Criticism of Huxley’s Hyperion to a Satyr
In the 1800’s, slavery was a common practice in the southern United States. This discrimination caused a greatdeal of tension between people who believed in slavery and those who were against it. The Civil War broke out as a result of this prejudice. In the 1800’s, the discriminatory nature of man immensely hindered the advancement of our society.
Hyperion to a Satyr is a narrative in which the narrator analyzes dirt’s effect of creating class barriers throughout human history. He discusses the history of hygiene and people’s efforts to exterminate dirt and other promoters of discrimination. Hyperion, a sludge treatment plant, is explained as the effective, but still imperfect, cleanser of the environment. The speaker also talks about other symbols of class distinction and their effects on our society. He claims that symbols are the seeds of our society’s destruction. This narrative takes place fifteen years after the start of the Second World War.
Hyperion to a Satyr contains many metaphors; therefore metaphoric criticism will be used in analyzingthis artifact. What is suggested about the discriminatory nature of manin Huxley’s Hyperion to a Satyr? This is the question that I willattempt to answer in this essay. First, the narrative will be examinedas a whole to determine the overall effect Huxley is trying to create.Then, the metaphors in theartifact will be isolated and examined in context.The metaphors’ significance in context will then be used to sort the metaphorsinto four classifications: metaphors that portray the discriminatory natureof man as negative, those that portray stinky people as inferior, thosethat imply that true equality in a society i...
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...an is the "great enemy" that must be overcome. The narrator points out that society’s technological advances do not "guarantee"us against new symbols of class distinction and discrimination. The word"guarantee" implies that those new symbols of class distinction are badand a guarantee against them would be desirable. The narrator also states that symbols are "fatal." This metaphor shows that symbols of class distinction doom our society. The only "way out" is to "go beyond" all symbols andthe discriminatory nature of man.
The metaphors in Huxley’s Hyperion to a Satyr suggest that the discriminatory nature of man as thelimitingfactor of our society. Without true equality and democracy, a societycannotreach its full potential. Since the discriminatory nature of man cannotbe eliminated or overcome, we are doomed to "be content with such limitedgoods as Hyperion."
In Apostles of Disunion, Dew presents compelling documentation that the issue of slavery was indeed the ultimate cause for the Civil War. This book provided a great deal of insight as to why the South feared the abolition of slavery as they did. In reading the letters and speeches of the secession commissioners, it was clear that each of them were making passionate pleas to all of the slave states in an effort to put a stop to the North’s, and specifically Lincoln’s, push for the abolishment of slavery. There should be no question that slavery had everything to do with being the cause for the Civil War. In the words of Dew, “To put it quite simply, slavery and race were absolutely critical elements in the coming of the war” (81). This was an excellent book, easy to read, and very enlightening.
Throughout the ages, there have been many ways to identify a person's social standing. Possessions such as homes, cars, and others, help to establish a person's place insociety. There are other ways also. Education, and a person's speech patternsare other ways to do this. But in "Hyperion to a Satyr," Adolphus Huxleypresents his view that hygiene also played an integral part. Clearly, thisdoesn't hold as true in these times, but perhaps in an earlier era thiswas an accurate measurement of wealth. But what role did hygiene play tosegregate peoplethroughout history? This question will be analyzed byapplying the meaningof metaphors used by Huxley.
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are filled with many entertaining tales from a variety of characters of different social classes and background. The first two tales told, by the knight and the miller, articulate very different perspectives of medieval life. Primarily, The tales of both the knight and the miller bring strikingly different views on the idea of female agency, and as we will discover, Chaucer himself leaves hints that he supports the more involved, independent Alison, over the paper-thin character of Emily.
The majority of speculations regarding the causes of the American Civil War are in some relation to slavery. While slavery was a factor in the disagreements that led to the Civil War, it was not the solitary or primary cause. There were three other, larger causes that contributed more directly to the beginning of the secession of the southern states and, eventually, the start of the war. Those three causes included economic and social divergence amongst the North and South, state versus national rights, and the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott case. Each of these causes involved slavery in some way, but were not exclusively based upon slavery.
In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales a storytelling competition is proposed by the Host. In his mind, it was only proper for the Knight to tell his story first. The sneaky Host rigged the drawing of straws and the Knight won the honor of going first. He told a Roman Epic of loyalty and love, set in classical antiquity that portrayed his gallant manner and elevated social class. The Miller's Tale, a parody of the Knight's Tale, came next. The Miller's Tale was more contemporary and left out many of the ideals that were displayed by the characters in the Knight's Tale. This fabliau told by the Miller seemed to debase the Knight's Tale and also to debase the Knight himself.
11. When ability is confused for opportunity, society takes the blame. When freedom is traded for happiness, society takes the blame. When total equality is achieved, there will be no more achievements. It is obvious from this story that total equality diminishes everything. It causes complicity in stupidity. It causes hubris in those above of the fray. It paves the way for the authoritarians to corrupt under the guise of “perservativation”. What the story of Harrison Bergeron, more specifically Kurt Vonnegut, is telling us, is one of warning. And it must be heeded.
"Do they read Shakespeare?" asked the Savage as they walked, on their way to the Bio-chemical Laboratories, past the School Library. "Certainly not," said the Head Mistress, blushing.
...nly contemplate living as an alpha or beta because we cannot contemplate living without being able to formulate ideas or basically think. No one considers living as one of the lower castes and only working throughout life until death. Thus, it seems that Huxley intended to portray an acceptable society on the surface with undesirable traits hidden deeper. In conclusion, both of these novels portray an attractive life in a utopian society, if one can conform to the rules. When people cannot conform to the societies in which they dwell (as the main characters of both novels cannot) they are branded as subversives and punished as traitors. Life in 1984 would be almost too unbearable to live. Life in Brave New World is only acceptable if one is willing to live a life of the caste one is in, that is to produce (as a lower caste) or consume (as a higher caste).
Priscilla. “The World Economy and Africa.” JSpivey – Home – Wikispaces. 2010. 29 January 2010. .
In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Chaucer the author and Chaucer the pilgrim are both quick to make distinctions between characters and point out shortcomings. Though Chaucer the pilgrim is meeting the group for the first time, his characterizations go beyond simple physical descriptions. Using just twenty-one lines in the General Prologue, the author presents the character of the Miller and offers descriptions that foreshadow the sardonic tone of his tale and the mischievous nature of his protagonist.
The American Civil War was the bloodiest military conflict in American history leaving over 500 thousand dead and over 300 thousand wounded (Roark 543-543). One might ask, what caused such internal tension within the most powerful nation in the world? During the nineteenth century, America was an infant nation, but toppling the entire world with its social, political, and economic innovations. In addition, immigrants were migrating from their native land to live the American dream (Roark 405-407). Meanwhile, hundreds of thousand African slaves were being traded in the domestic slave trade throughout the American south. Separated from their family, living in inhumane conditions, and working countless hours for days straight, the issue of slavery was the core of the Civil War (Roark 493-494). The North’s growing dissent for slavery and the South’s dependence on slavery is the reason why the Civil War was an inevitable conflict. Throughout this essay we will discuss the issue of slavery, states’ rights, American expansion into western territories, economic differences and its effect on the inevitable Civil War.
The Canterbury Tales begin with The Knight’s Tale; which chronicles the tragic love triangle of Palamon, Arcite and Emilye. The following tale, which is told by the Miller, is also a love triangle, and is in many ways similar to the Knight’s tale. However, the Miller’s tale sharply contrasts the Knight’s, almost parodying it. The Knight’s tale is a tragic of nobility, heritage and focuses heavily on mythology and astrology, whereas The Miller’s tale is a comedy, focusing on the common-man and his less civilized, and bawdy lifestyle. The two stories mirror one another in many ways, but are presented from completely different sides of the spectrum. When the two tales are looked at closely, it doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that they occur back-to-back to one another as there is a stark contrast between the two.
A small glimmer of hope in an imperialistic world is only taken away in order to ensure equivalence in an imperfect society. Harrison Bergeron is a classic sociological tale written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that is based on the sociological aspect of everyone being equal - not one individual could be above another. This short story focuses on the idea of symbolism by using masks and handicaps to force the social norm of being the same while foreshadowing the courage of being unique in a seemingly perfect world, all while displaying irony through the way in which our society runs today. This story relates to today’s society in that both are alike in that individuals want to break free from societies constraints of social norms.
Thomas More’s Utopia and Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World , are novels about societies that differ from our own. Though the two authors have chosen different approaches to create an alternate society, both books have similarities which represent the visions of men who were moved to great indignation by the societies in which they lived. Both novels have transcended contemporary problems in society , they both have a structured, work based civilization and both have separated themselves from the ways of past society. It is important when reading these novels to focus on the differences as well as the similarities. The two novels differ in their views of love, religion, and the way to eliminate social classes. These differences seem to suggest that if we do not come closer to More’s goal in Utopia, we will end up in a society much like that of Huxley’s Brave New World.
Because of the place and development of this society, it has formed a certain alterity or “otherness” to it's culture that is vastly different than what we see today. It is all used as a blown up concept of what life is today, and even in the 1930s when the book was written. Huxley is showing where we have placed ourselves as a society and how we have set the direction of it for the future. Aldous Huxley sets out and makes true connections and assumptions that with time our own society is becoming more exotic from one generation to the next. We change in sexual morality, what we value changes completely and we begin to see our own alterity in the culture we have so blindly and carelessly shaped.