Literature

Brave New World is a novel by Aldous Huxley, and is yet another dystopian society where there are predefined 'castes/classes' that humans fit in due to them being "manufactured" that way. Mind control is done via the consumption of Soma, and brain washing is used to keep every caste in its place.

• Summary of Brave New World
• Full Text of of Brave New World

Animal Farm by George Orwell depicts how oppression and injustice unites the oppressed to overthrow their master, but after a revolution against injustice, a few usurp it to their own benefit. Then the masses are in the same misery after the revolution much as they were in before, replacing the old oppressors with new ones, their ex-brothers in arms.This was a critique of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party after the overthrow of the Tsar of Russia.

The novel 1984 by George Orwell is popular today as it was decades ago.

Ancient manuscripts provide a fascinating link to the past.

The following novels and movies all share the fact that they are mostly a critique of existing or perceived dangers to society. They all have a political or a moral message warning society of those dangers, or critiquing them.I provide here a brief description of what the novel is about, and a link to the summary of it to those who are short on time.

Is it just me, or did someone else notice?

Initially, after seeing "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone", and "The Fellowship of the Ring", I thought there are too many similarities between them to be coincidental.

After seeing "The Chamber of Secrets", and reading a bit about "The Prisoner of Azkaban", I saw "Lord of the Rings" trilogy again at home on DVD.

I thought that there was a lot of borrowing that J.K. Rowling did from J.R.R. Tolkien.

Let us see a list of similarities:

Those who are familiar with Frank Herbert's famous novel Dune will notice his analogy for the spice, and the surrounding struggle for it, with the crude oil of the Middle East. The novel is symbolic about the dependence of the West on the oil, and the power struggles to control this valuable resource.

But what is not so obvious to the average Western reader, is the sheer quantity of terms that Herbert borrowed from Arabic and Islamic culture, old and new, and incorporated them into his novels.

You may have heard about Postmodernist Deconstruction? Have you wanted to know more about it?Well, start with the Postmodernism and the Deconstruction articles on the more than excellent free user-written encycolpedia Wikipedia.

What this web page is all about?

The Paper Air Ship and its First Trip (Suhaila - 7April 1999)

The Tornado and the House flying to Canada (Suhaila - April 1999)

The Tree that Gobbled up Disobedient Kids (Sarah - 1997)

The Factory and the Dinosaurs (Sarah - 30April 1999)

What is this web page is all about?

As Lewis Carrol has written Alice in Wonderland