From the start Nova works hard to convince readers the society presented to us has no culture. Set in 32nd century Nova’s message The characters explicably tell us there is no culture but they show us evidence to the contrary. Culture is inevitable. I would like to focus on three supporting arguments; that Nova is a culture of appropriation, that work itself can create culture, and that cultural capital persists even when the applicable societies think otherwise. These layers blend together to create the unique culture presented in the novel.
Nova has clearly appropriated elements from 20th century Earth culture and Vegan culture. Cultural appropriation is when a culture adopts elements of another culture. Cultural appropriation is different from cultural exchange in that exchange is a mutual and unforced process. There can be no mutual exchange in Nova as the cultures they pull from are long dead. The novel refers repeatedly to a historic “Vega Republic," which flourished several centuries prior to the novel’s beginning. At some point in the past the Republic staged an uprising. During those years the Vegans created a new style in furniture, fabrics, and architecture. The uprising was suppressed but the styles created by the Republic persist on. The intellectual upper class views these remnants as a novelty. The 20th century is the dominant contributing timeframe. Throughout readers are dazzled by excess of the upper class that echoes American culture before the stock market crash of 1929. Prince Red throws a party reminiscent of Gatsby’s party in The Great Gatsby. Prince even goes as far as to have incandescent light bulbs run on an ancient generator. The word “airy” is used throughout, “…beautiful party. Per...
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...spects of society such as class, artistic tastes, and economic motivations have been passed down from generation to generation to form 32nd century culture.
The fate of culture is not to be worried about. The future of culture in Nova is an optimistic one. Lorq Von Ray’s quest will produce a major shift in culture for humanity. As readers we can only speculate on the future that is waiting for the inhabitants of Nova’s worlds. Culture is an inevitable and persisting force. Work, appropriation, reproduction, and cultural capital combine into one “inchoately modern” culture. As long as humanity is in existence culture in one form or another with persist and grow.
Works Cited
Delany, Samuel R. Nova. New York: Vintage, 2002. Print.
Farmer, John S., and William Ernest Henley. A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English. London: Routledge, 1905. Print.
All the characters are products of their own society, Veronese society. Status is everything, money buys anything. Woman must marry well and produce many offspring. Men believe strongly in defending their honor by any means available especially violence.
In D.H. Lawerence's short story, “The Rocking Horse Winner”, and Grahm Greene's “The Destructors, there are many truths to consider. Although these two stories are considerably different, the message is the same. Whether in a life-like story, such as “The Destructors”, or a fantacy, like “The Rocking Horse Winner”, the seeds of materialism are planted and nourished in lives of the characters. The aspects of materialism in these two stories develop desired conclusions by its characters. In order to understand the similar message of Greene short story “The Destructors” and Lawerence's “The Rocking Horse Winner”, one must scrutinize the various aspects of each story.
Carraway describes the atmosphere as “spilled with prodigality” (Fitzgerald 44). Gatsby’s fills his parties with wasteful extravagances like alcohol, and his efforts toward love end up as futile. The people, instead of appreciating Gatsby, backhandedly gossip about his past as a German spy, and simply partake in the alcohol being served (Fitzgerald 48). Instead of representing the upper echelon’s of 1920s’ society, in contrast to the poor, the party-goers appear weak, superficial, and unworthy of such acclaim, especially when given their tendency to gossip. With this depiction of the partiers, Fitzgerald showcases the hollow nature of 1920s society, lacking in morality and
1.a. The society that is represented in the novel is futuristic in terms of the actual date, yet incredibly underdeveloped to what we experience today. The political structure obviously works, because there doesn't seem to be much discontent among the citizens. The technology is obviously incredibly lacking compared to today's standards. There don't seem to be any social relationships, because one cannot prefer one man over another. However, the quality of life seems decent. There was no talk about starving or anything disheartening. Everyone seemed well taken care of. The education is horrible, because people can't have interests. They just listen, not learn.
The lavish parties in Gatsby are perfect illustrations of our social lives that have become overzealous and desperate in light of the controversial prohibition laws. Fitzgerald describes the “floating rounds of cocktails permeat[ing] the garden” and “amusement park” behavior of typical partygoers with unmatchable insight (40). The debonair host, Gatsby, is a man we have all met at some point—significantly wealthy and relentlessly mysterious.
Ruth Benedict discusses her views of culture as personality-writ-large in her famous novel “Patterns of Culture”. This means that a culture is a magnification or reflection of the personalities of the people in a group. In other words, what one could say about a group of people could also be said about their culture. Benedict believes that what constitutes culture is not the material or external aspects but stems from a shared mindset, stating that “what really binds men together is their culture—the ideas and the standards they have in common,” (Benedict 1934:16). Basically, traits of a culture rely on inherent and intrinsic natural instincts. She emphasizes the notion that the individual and their broader culture share a “consistent pattern of thought and action” constantly intertwined through their principal ideals, motives, values and emotions (Benedict 1934:46). It is through this shared system of beliefs that core...
The image of parties throughout The Great Gastby represents Fitzgerald’s belief that the American dream is only attainable in parts. These parties represent Gatsby’s grasp of superior status, which was part of his original goal to get Daisy back. To do this, however, he could not just hold a simple get-together. Gatsby had to throw the most outlandish and lavish party in town in hopes that Dai...
The distance between the wealthy class and the rest has grown, but so has the idea of noblesse oblige. The Great Gatsby clearly shows all of these issues as they were in the ‘20s, and all of them can be paralleled to show the same issues in today’s times. Works Cited Auchincloss, Louis. A. “The American Dream: All Gush and Twinkle.” Reading on the Great Gatsby.
My research is in response to the essay “Culture Baggage” by Barbara Ehrenreich on page 298. In her writing, Ehrenreich discuses on language, race, and ethnicity and how it applies to cultural baggage. Ehrenreich points out that there were many of other people who already knew of their beliefs and culture and they stood proud for their roots and in heritage, as she slouched back into her seat as if she knew nothing about her culture or where she really were from. Culture refers to the learned and shared behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values and material objects that characterize a particular group or society. Which is a group of people who share a culture and a defined territory, however society and culture go hand in hand neither
Again, it is part of the definition of a subculture, as of a culture, that is relatively enduring. Its norms are termed a style rather than a fashion on the grounds that the former has some endurance while the latter is evanescent. The quarrel comes of course when we try t...
In these novels, Gatsby’s parties and the Everglades are places that show how the 1920’s have great communities and spiritual center. Gatsby loves to throw magnificent parties in hopes of luring Daisy to his home. These parties are very extravagant, with plenty of food and entertainment, “the air is alive with chatter and laughter, [...] and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other 's names”(Fitzgerald 40). This reveals how much Gatsby’s parties bring people together to enjoy each
The 1920s, also known as the golden age, was a time of crime, art, music, literature, and unimaginable parties. The stock market was booming, the country was thriving, buildings were being shot up from the ground, cities drowning with people coming in to seize all the economic opportunities they have dreamed of. Yet, of all that we know about the 1920s no other book has ever been able to portray the golden age as well as the famous Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Of all the activities and events that were common throughout the time period, Fitzgerald makes it a point to depict the wild parties that took place in that time. He uses stylistic elements to show how Nick feels towards the parties and what their intentions are.
While reading the article, Salter reads a sentence which in turn makes him stop and question himself about culture itself and what has become of it. According to Salter, “Culture is language, art, history, and customs.”
Furthermore, to say that only bourgeoisie or higher class can experience culture would also be a false approach. People may give the inability to get academic education as an example for this situation. For example, in the UK or the USA, one must pay some certain tuition fee in order to go to college or universtiy. While some in countries this tuition f...