Literature Analysis: Gulliver's Travels

1.)  Gulliver's Travels, written by Jonathan Swift, is a Four Part satirical adventure novel narrated by the main character Lemuel Gulliver.  The novel begins at sea.  Gulliver's business as a professional surgeon failed and now he is off at sea.  A storm hits and he is shipwrecked on a tiny island here he is held captive by a native people the size of his index finger.  These people, the Lilliputians, feed Gulliver and are very hospitable.  After being caught in a war between the natives on this island Gulliver fixes a bought and leaves.  He intends to reach England.

             After staying shortly in England with his family, Gulliver sets sail again to an island of giants, known as the Brobdingnagians.  He quickly meets the royal family and court which are delighted by him.  He is very entertaining to them for he is so tiny and musical to them. During his stay he becomes very disgusted by them for their flaws are magnified due to their gargantuan size.  Towards the end of his stay here, Gulliver, while caged, is caught by an eagle and taken off the island.  He lands in the ocean where he sets sail yet again.

            Next, Gulliver lands on a floating island called Laputa.  This island is full of intelligent, academic people called Theoreticians.  These people oppress the people of the island they float above called, Balnibarbi.  After this he goes to Glubbdubdrib where he witness the recreation of historical heros which he finds rather boring and unimpressive.  He then visits the Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs after which, he is then able to travel to Japan where he finds a way to get back to England.

Tools That Change the Way We Think

             "Back in 2004, I asked [Google founders] Page and Brin what they saw as the future of Google search. 'It will be included in people's brains,' said Page. 'When you think about something and don't really know much about it, you will automatically get information.'

             'That's true,' said Brin. 'Ultimately I view Google as a way to augment your brain with the knowledge of the world. Right now you go into your computer and type a phrase, but you can imagine that it could be easier in the future, that you can have just devices you talk into, or you can have computers that pay attention to what's going on around them and suggest useful information.'

            'Somebody introduces themselves to you, and your watch goes to your web page,' said Page. 'Or if you met this person two years ago, this is what they said to you... Eventually you'll have the implant, where if you think about a fact, it will just tell you the answer."

-From In the Plex by Steven Levy (p.67)

             I agree with what Page said about Google becoming part of our way of thinking.  I can clearly see it being a part of mine.  When I am curious about a topic I immediately check Google and see what comes up.  If I really get interested I will dig more and even go to the library to get some books.  However, it never starts with books for me.  Unlike my parents.  

In Search Of

After watching the TED video on Filter Bubbles, I wasn't surprised.  I did really enjoy the illustrations though and the overall quality of the speech.

After re-doing my William Shakespeare search with Filter Bubbles in mind, (I used Dogpile instead) I got all the same results with a few new sources.  I got sources from Google that I got on Bing and on Yahoo.  It is as if all of the search engines use and collect the same signals I give off.  I never use Bing and Yahoo, yet I get from them what I get from Google.  Almost, like there is some big library all about me, that these engines go to to make the best tailored search.

Notes on Hamlet

My thinking and view of Hamlet has changed a lot since the first scene of Act I.  I still view Hamlet as a young adult/ teenager of 18-25 or so that still is prone to deep emotion conflict and turbulence; more so than an adult of 30.  However emotional, Hamlet isn't immature about it, like most teenagers, as i thought he was.  He isn't out of control, indecisive, and volatile.  He isn't anything Cliff notes or Spark notes says he is.  He isn't anything that most people think he is.  He is very smart and emotional and uses the two to make a ruthless plan of revenge on Claudius.  He is emotionally driven and intellectually focussed making him very powerful.  Why else would Claudius fear him and desire to ship him off in a box?  Hamlet has turned out to be a dynamic character that I really enjoy.

Like one of my favorite artists, who from age 19 to 35 wrote about his sadness, isolation, anger, and love; turning his emotions into art.  This demonstrates control or at least channeling.  I find this very similar to Hamlet who channeled his grief and anger into a plan.

I am excited to see where the play goes from here.  What is to be of Hamlet now that Claudius has the upper hand due to Hamlet's murder of Polonius.  I am thrilled to see where Hamlet goes as a character.

Who Was Shakespeare?

In this search I went as follows:

1.)  Google.com

2.)  Wikipedia.com

3.) Back to Google and on to www.william-shakespeare.info

4.)  From there to link:  William Shakespeare Identity Problem

5.)  Back to Google and to www.online-literature/shakespeare/

Shakespeare was a poet and playwright who is known as the greatest writer in the English language.  We know quite a bit about him as far as the plays he wrote and his family.  But so much more is either vague or completely unknown and fervidly disputed.  Such as his physical appearance, religion, and authorship.

To Facebook or Not to Facebook?

My initial thoughts on reading the article were very against Mark Zuckerberg.  The fact that he wants 12 year old children on Facebook, where those children who know nothing about a positive or negative internet footprint, what information to share and not share, and the sometimes lasting results of posting very bad things, I dislike.  These children are exposing themselves too early and are being exposed too early to internet trends and influence.  It is like I am seeing a trickle down effect where fashions and behavior is working its way into younger generations.  Teenagers were having sex, now it is pre-teens having sex, and eventually 8 year olds will be having sex when they're too physically immature to even ejaculate.

In addition, M. Zuckerberg is pushing for his agenda, against protecting 12 year old children and under, with triple the amount of lobbying that Facebook already takes part in.  He clearly has plenty of money to spend so much on lobbyists, yet he wants more money from the 7.5 million Facebook users that are 12 and under.  Zuckerberg even has a political committee composed of ex-Bush and Obama officials to push against constricting Facebook age requirement.

Literature Analysis: To the Lighthouse

1.)  To the Lighthouse, begins with The Window.  James, Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay's son is watching the lighthouse through the window; he wants to go tomorrow.  Mrs. Ramsay tells James they will, however, critical and rational Mr. Ramsay says they will not; it is going to rain as the clouds indicate.  This bluntness of Mr. Ramsay, James hates.  Mrs. Ramsay is knitting a stocking for the man in the lighthouse's son.  Days past and guests arrive at the Ramsays house: Charles Tansley, Lily Briscoe, Mr. Carmichael, Paul Rayley, Minta, and others. For the majority of The Window, Virginia Woolf speculates on love, the disingenuous and tenuous relationships of adults, and the impact of one's childhood.  Her narration is stream of conscience, jumping from each character's mind to another's in fluid train of thought.  The largest event of this section of the novel is the huge dinner Mrs. Ramsay hosts.  All of the guests are there and interacting.  Here, Woolf plays with her observations of human social tendencies and falsities.

If this were a movie, here, the screen would dim, time would fade on this table, and Time Passes, would begin.

(Don't) Be Hamlet

To clutch one’s honor from others, or to prevent plaguing one’s family with dishonor; these are justifications of suicide dating back to the time of Dynasties and the Samurai.  Others may be the absence of Will and the failure of achieving anything.  In all of these examples, Hamlet grasps onto none. He has failed at nothing; in fact, his life has barely begun, since he is just desiring to attend college.  Hamlet has caused no dishonor to his royal family and he is in no position in which his honor may be lost.  When held up in this light, Hamlet has absolutely no rationale to carry out suicide, and, thus, must he “suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

A marionette, melancholic and broken, manipulated by his own volatile, puppeteering emotions, wishing to kill himself for no other reason than, “life, is so cruel.”      This portrait of Hamlet portrays him much in the likeness of Holden Caulfield, or, more ecumenically, in the likeness of an adolescent, a youth, a young adult, who still immaturely and unwisely considers suicide at all.  Hamlet, to overwrite the wrongs of Claudius, must seek life, not death.  Diving off the ice burg will not equilibrate the two sides; Wrong and Right.  It will only give way to Wrong, tipping it further into the depths.  Only through remaining on the ice burg, only through life, could one set the balance.  In this position, Hamlet finds himself, and yet, through the veil of immaturity, he looks to suicide, and fancies it.  After all, he sees no reason not to end his life other than the uncertainty of what will be lying in wait for him in Death.  However, this reason bears minute magnetism when held against the more compelling reason to live; revenge.