Rani's Reflections

By definition it is the innate ability to completely connect and be in tune with another’s emotions. In a sense this sounds like a super power, to understand how someone is feeling simply from facial expressions and body language. However, this is known as a borderline personality disorder. The pain of carrying another person’s feelings can be so intense that you yourself cannot function as well. It’s seen more as a limitation because of hyper empathy it is hard for a person with this disorder to regulate their own emotions. Imagine the rush of emotions Lauren felt when taking the live of another person. Her reasoning was to put them out of pain, much like when she shot the dog, and this is a justified reasoning. However, she was completely in tune with the breath leaving this man’s body. I imagine this disorder as standing on the edge of a roof. You are constantly teetering on the edge. Lean to far and you’ll fall into the abyss of emotions and drown in what you believe you’ve caused....

The abundance of drugs in Parable of the Sower is a representation of the abuse and necessity to “feel” something in society. It warps peoples thinking that corporations have caused this spread od destruction via drugs rather than abuse of power. At the same time these corporations have the power to “help” people and in turn can pay them an extremely small salary whilst providing enough structure where staying in this cycle is better than past situations. Pyro is the drug that claims to make “watching fire better than sex”. The addicts of the drugs are called “crazies” or “paints” because they paint their skin an assortment of colors before setting houses or even people on fire. I think this drug represents the imbalance of society the “paints” are an informality attacking the rich and the poor and causing the chaos in society. The poor are mad at the rich for in no way helping the social, political, economic, or environmental situation. They are upset with the “paints” for abusing t...

  When reading Parable of the Sower the conversation Lauren has with her father about the foraging book intrigued me. It never occurred to me that humans as a whole have strayed away from their primal instinct to forage. Simply using acorns isn’t a common practice anymore and it used to be the lifestyle of Native Americans. Why this resonated with me so much was actually due to a creator on tik tok. Her handle is @alexisnikole. She even specifically has a video about consuming acorns, but that's not all. She goes to parks and forests near her town and collects plants that we might consider weeds everyday. She shows free and easy ways you can find food that grows in your own backyard. All while giving defining characteristics of each plant so you know which are safe to eat. After each forging video she will come home and show recipes for teas, simple syrup, flour, everything can be made with things we find outside. All you have to do is open your eyes and know what to look for. I hi...

  Recipe for Acorn Bread: How to prepare acorns: Moldy, cracked, or infested acorns must be thrown out (you can float the acorns, the ones that sink are good to use) You must remove all the shells from the acorns and retrieve the meat ( a nutcracker can be beneficial for this step) Next, remove the toxic tannins from the acorns by boiling them, the tannins will make the water brown so repeat this process until the color is no longer removed Once the tannins are removed, roast the acorns for an hour at a low temp. (about 250 degrees) Making acorn flour: For reference you need about 2 pounds of acorns to make 3 cups of acorn flour You can simply blend the acorns into flour using a blender or a food processor Acorn Bread Ingredients: 1 cup of acorn flour 1 cup of all purpose flour (acorn flour can only be substituted for half the regular flour content in a recipe) 2 tablespoons of baking powder ½ a teaspoon of salt 3 tablespoons of sugar 1 egg beaten 1 cup of milk  3 tablespoons ...

 The main goal of preventing our time period from being described as Orwellian again is stopping a technological takeover. Our generation grew up in a time of advanced technology with constant break throughs in devices becoming more mobile and affordable. However, as a kid my parents made sure I didn’t have access to these until it was absolutely necessary, or I was considered old enough. Much of my childhood was spent off screens and outside and I am grateful for that. It allowed me to use my childlike creativity in a setting where it wasn’t prompted. By this I mean, I and I alone was tasked with keeping myself entertained. Whether that was riding my bike for hours around the neighborhood or pretending to serve nature soup made of grass and mud. My imagination had full control of its surrounding and there were no limitations. For me, to prevent a technological takeover or an Orwellian time is to implement ways our generation was raised with our kids. So many times, I see gets si...

              Put simply, I thought the end of the book was fitting for the novel. Throughout 1984 we saw Winston’s journey with himself. Winston increasingly became more and more discontent with big brother.  The one thing that keeps society happy had the opposite effect on his emotion. The end was symbolic of the control that the party had over its people.               Originally, I was upset by the ending as I was hoping for the defiant ending, seeing a breakthrough in 1984. I saw the ending as Winston giving up but in reality, it’s far from that. Before section three of this book I would’ve argued that Winston would rather die than be under big brothers control but I seen now that he would rather fit in. Why else would he endure all the torture and betray Julia unless he wanted a chance at life again. In a way, the end is the new beginning for W...

During one of Winston’s countless torture sessions, O’ Brien states that it’s not enough to follow the party you must love it. Love the party, a simple thing that Winston cannot comprehend to do. He is empowered by his hatred for Big Brother and wants to die with control of his own thought. However, throughout the book it’s always been the mind under control and I never realized how important a love for big brother is. In the end the love for big brother is what keeps society happy not the control of thought. In theory everyone might hate what they are told to think but their blind love for big brother prevents them from realizing it. In the end of this section we begin to see Winston break from this. Winston realizes his hatred for big brother in begins screaming in his cell and inevitably is taken to room 101. Here, O’Brien places him in a chair and informs Winston that this will be the worst torture he has endured. O’Brien explains that a cage of rats will feed on flesh and at thi...

  Newspeak In George Orwell’s 1984 the language newspeak is arguably one of the main forms of brainwashing. This works by slowly diminishing the vocabulary until the language is so bare-boned that room for thought can’t fathom to exist. Whilst this is not like languages today some of the aspects are still similar. We tend to shorten phrases in our language today our formal form is not how we speak in our everyday lives. For example, we wouldn’t say, “I would like to invite you to my house tonight” rather “we would say do you want to come over tonight”. Newspeak eliminates the language down to a basic structure where there is no formal and informal way of language. It’s universally simple.  There are a couple articles claiming that newspeak is much like our language now. These articles don’t speak of newspeak in a grammatical structure but rather as language being an expression an extension of our identity. The argument of these articles is that our language is limited by socia...

               Throughout George Orwell’s 1984 a common theme emerges, that piques the curiosity of certain individuals. The past. Winston is mesmerized by what it would be like to live in the past, how simple times would be, how freedom could exist, a society without control. Past is introduced in objects in the book. For example, razor blades a tool of the past that are extremely hard to come by. However, they are still useful and hard to come by since society has stopped manufacturing them. This item is merely wanted but many other items invoke thought.               Due to the party’s brain washing Winston struggles to collect his own thoughts, he can barely remember his own childhood. The party is known as the savior of the past, to many people this is a happier time. Winston finds many objects of the past that allow him to reconnect with himself and express thought. In t...

                    Hate Week is a large event in George Orwell’s 1984 which happens during the summer. The event is basically a week of celebrations hating on the biggest enemy of the time. It is a cultivation of all the two minutes of hate that happen each day and ultimately leads to a week of intense and passionate hatred. The celebration consists of parades, speeches, propaganda etc. When reading of hate week my mind immediately went to religious festivals such as Diwali, Holi, Ramadan, etc.               Whilst these events are drastically different one is a passion of hate whilst the others are a celebration of enthusiasm, they do hold the same passion. These events are celebrated by a vast amount of people who are passionate about the purpose of these religious festivals. Big Brother is much like a religion in this sense, the characters of 1984 worship Bi...

               It’s interesting to look at the stark differences these societies have in this semi-compliant universe. However, one thing that differs completely is sex. In Brave New World it is encouraged to have multiple partners, you don’t want to be tied down to one person and sleeping with many keeps you young. Marriage disgusts the characters in Brave New World, it’s laughable and erotic. However, marriage isn’t frowned upon in 1984, rather it’s an uncommon choice. A choice made not for love or intimacy but strictly to bear children. Whilst, celibacy is more common in 1984 with the “junior anti-sex league” being a prominent voice in most children’s lives, marriage is still acceptable. What’ strictly forbidden and considered thought crime is lusting your partner. Marriage in the eyes of society is simply marrying someone you enjoy and would provide children, eventually they would become a person you are slightly closer with but nothing m...

      As a daily part of the job you must participate in what’s known as a physical jerk. These jerks are a short stretching routine to keep you active in limber whilst sitting at a cubicle all day. They are about 5-10 minutes of exercises shouted out live by an instructor, everyone under 45 should be able to touch their toes, and you must stay in shape for the possibility of being drafted for war. However, whilst some of what Orwell’s physical jerks is similar to the 1980’s it isn’t completely accurate. Before, the 1980’s gyms were largely for body builders or any professional athletes. Slowly exercising became a more mainstream activity with live aerobic classes becoming very popular. The motto was “self-improvement” we weren’t working to get stronger but to improve ourselves. The downside of these live aerobic classes is people became scared of messing up in front of the class. Thus, home aerobic videos were put on the market, paving the way for this was Jane Fo...