George Wells. Aldous Huxley. Henry James

LITERATURA INGLESA
GEORGE WELLS: THE TIME MACHINE
• THE SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND.
• Born in 1866, die in 1946.
• XIX "Victorianism"−−−Queen Victoria−−−related to Puritanism. Then her child, Prince Edward,
brought another conception of morality.
• XIX "Industrialism"−−−new conception of morality and life.
• People in the country moved to city.
• Large families were impossible when industry developed.
• At the beginning of industrial revolution, there wasn´t much literature. Universitie were only a place
for privilegiated people.
• Social classes depend on the economic level.
• Abolishion of lavery−−−first step to human rights.
• Second step−−−movements to help working class:
1.−Christian Socialism= started in Saint Simon (France)
built schools and tried to teach.
2.−Chartism= fight for a shorter working term
the right to vote (for the working class).
3.−Fabians= antichristians and socialists
intellectuals, young people from the universities
wanted to educate people in socialism
interested in political and social problems
their influence was based on teachers, writers and important people.
• CHARACTERISTIC OF HIS NOVELS.
• He always tried to be a social reformer, but he never tried to destroy the upper−class, he only tried to
be better. He belonged to the working class, and noticed the disorder of society.
• He liked reading books, when he was seven, he broke his leg, and read a lot of books. He studied
science, and became a teacher. He tauch children to read, and basic knowledge. He knew the
importance of education and knowledge, to be better than others.
• His sexual life=disorder. He married very young, but his wife hadn´t culture enough to be his
companion. So he started going out with an university companion.
• Disoder in politics. He became a political reformer, and attacked with political books. In his books he
makes a political worn of how the world would be in future.
This disorder in his life and in society, is reflected in his books.
1
• APROACHES TO THE NOVEL.
• Science−fiction.
• Novel of ideas; we are not concerned with the adventure GENRE
of the time traveller, but with the ideas.
• We know the idea as it develops.
− First person; two points of view:
one guest NARRATOR
the TT AND
• The narrator is subjective. We find Wells´ ideas NARRATIVE
along the story.
• Main theme: development of men as social animal.
• Minor themes: responsability of future
fear is the only feeling that survives THEME
uselessness of science to help human
beings to become more humans
• Stream lined: a scene brings another.
• The story is related to the climax.
• Dialogue.
• Descriptions.
contrast STYLE
− Use of paralelism
irony
• Cultural references.
− The story develops with the idea.
− climax: social explanations about the two species. UNITY
• Main character: behaves as expected
good
embodyment of an idea. CHARACTERS
• Round characters: each one has it´s peculiarities.
2
• Action dominates the novel.
• Simple language.
• More narratives than dialogues.
• 2 languages in the future world: Eloi and Morlock.
landscapes USE OF
− Descriptions of colours LANGUAGE
life
• Time very important.
• Place is almost the same.
− Darkness and light:
Darkness: somethimg oscure inside a man. Ignorance.
Light: with the light of the day everything can be explained. Intelligence.
• References to the creatures of the new world:
− The way they speak: few words, so few ideas. Soft pronunciation is related to the feelings, with their sweet
and nice character.they are more interested in words than in content.
− Comunism: they all live together, family doesn´t exist.Men and women are alike.
ALDOUS HUXLEY: BRAVE NEW WORLD
• BIOGRAPHY.
− 1894−1963.
• He began writing very young.
• He doesn´t explain scientific explanations.
• He wasn´t a politic man.
• He was quietly admired by young people.
• BRAVE NEW WORLD.
• Novel of ideas. The characters are mouthpieceof his ideas and they are not neccesarily important
because the author is more interested in the theme than in the characters.
• Two different worlds.
Brave new world:inmediate future.
Malpais, reservation: primitive society.
• We find Marxist ideas:
Revolution Marxist= poors against rich.
3
Revolution Burgeois= the burgeois against aristocracy.
• Paralelism with French Revolution: community, identity and stability,
libertè egalitè fraternitè.
• Value of intelligence: it´s important for us to develop our intelligence. But in BNW, man must not
develop the intelligence, because if they do it, they won´t be happy any longer.
• The importance of history: history must be forgotten, we are new people and we don´t have to look
back, we have to look to the future.
• Different classes: Alphas
Betas
Gammas
Deltas
Epsilons
• The individual doesn´t exist.
• Society is materialistic and it´s philosophy is voluntarity. People are conditioned to like their job: "do
like it".
• Cultural references:
Education of conditioning:
Memory= ideas, remember the ideas.
Intelligence=use the intelligence with these ideas.
Will to act= you take decisions.
Cultural reference related to the babies. Parents don´t exist.
• Literature: in BNW no books.
• Family: in the reservation, family is related to the concept we have in our world.
• RELIGION IN BRAVE NEW WORLD.
• Ford: materialistic God.
• Ford=Lord is a pun(juego de palabras).
• APROACHES TO THE NOVEL.
• Science−fiction.
• Plot: everything in the story happens because
something in the story happens before. GENRE
• Flash−backs.
• Plot and structure are always related.
4
− Narrated in 3rd person.
• He shows the future vision of society. NARRATOR
• The narrator of the story is the author himself, but with the use of AND
dialogues, we see the different points oj view of the people who talk. NARRATIVE
• The actions are narrated cronologically.
− Advance of science
• The price of happiness.
• Anarchy vs social stability.
• Sexual freedom.
• Dictatorship in BNW. THEME
• Real danger vs stability.
• Freedom vs community.
• Identity.
• The right to be unhappy.
• Use of senses: sight and smell
• Setting: London.
• Symbolism: John the Savage=sacrifice, spiritual values. STYLE
BNW=future.
Reservation=past
Literature=spiritual values, feelings.
• There´s unity.
• Climax: conversation between controllers and the other characters.
• Action dominates the novel.
• Speaking differences between John and the others. USE OF
− Different language in the reservation. LANGUAGE
− Simple sentences.
• Not very long paragraphsrelated to the theme of the book. GRAMMAR
• Very simple grammar, it shows the simple minded people.
− Lenina: wants to go to the reservation
is beautiful
lives accord society rules and her conditioning
doesn´t develop.
5
• Bernard Marx: Alpha plus, thinks for himself
feels alone in BNW
took John to BNW
is different phisically
doesn´t know very well what he wants
develops at the end.
• Helmhotz Watson: as Bernard has his own ideas
doesn´t like BNW
helps the savage at the end CHARACTERS
attractive and good−looking AND
he´s questioning things and develops. CHARACTERISATION
• John the Savage: enbodiment of the spiritual values
needs someone to understand him
rebels against BNW
his death is the death of spiritual values
the only person with the capacity to fall in love,
so the only real person
wants to go out of the reservation
develops, understanding that in BNW ´s no
place for him.
• Mustapha Mond: Alpha has his ideas
The controller
Explains everything to the others
Intelligent, prefers living in BNW
Doesn´t develop.
GEORGE ORWELL
6
• BIOGRAPHY
• Eric Arthur Blair 1903−1950.
• He is an influence of many social ideas in the 20th century.
• Belonged to the low middle class.
ANIMAL FARM
• THE BOOK.
• A fable; animals are representative of human attitudes.it´s about the past related to the present and
created in the future. Animals are simple, and they simplify problems.
• Roman−a−clef: a novel with a key. The key is Russian Revolution.
• Orwell manages to put in his novels the distorsion of language in order to change history, the
distorsion of history.
• A characteristic of a fable is Irony: "pig" is the leader because is the most intelligent animal, and had a
programme.
• CHARACTERS.
• Pigs: we identify pigs with political leaders.
Old Major: starts the revolution=Marx−invents the theory
Snowball: idealistic leader=Trotsky−goes on with the theory
Napoleon: became a dictator=Stalin−takes the power
Squealer=Lenin−goes on with the theory
• Sheep: the crowd.
• Cat: believes in revolution but thinks of his confort.
• Dogs: bodyguards for the politicians.
• Clover: a woman with children, intuitive.
• Boxer: good sacrifice worker, idealistic. Made the strongest work.
• Benjamin: donkey representative of the man that only wants to survive. No much hope about the
future.
• Molly: a pretty girl who does nothing. Reresentative of the burgeois.
• USE OF LANGUAGE.
• Usually language is used as a tool, but in Orwell language is a theme. People with power can use
language to change history. If you want to change history, you have to make others forget the past and
they will forget the past if you manipulate language.
• Distorsion of words = distorsion of history.
• CLIMAX.
− The animals admit a lie inside themselves.
• The pigs bring Moses back, he is taken back because of the church.
• Last scene: the pigs have made connection with neighbouring countries.
7
• The others can vote but can´t think, so it´s like doing nothing.
• STRUCTURE.
• The novel develops as the language develops.
• Round structure.
• The structure is around the Windmill and around the 7 commandments until the last changes.
• The theme is language.
1984
• USE OF LANGUAGE.
• Political speech: must give the impression of true and logical.
• Poetic language:about proles and paperweight.
• Language in the description of landscape.
• Language in the description of London streets.
• Dialogue of the members of the party.
• SYMBOLISM.
• Golden country = freedom.
• Paperweight = beautiful.
• Proles = lower classes. 85% of the population, but they have very little importance. They are kept
through ignorance.
• Diary = remmembering, memory.
• Room 101 = last degradation.
• Country = innocence.
• APROACHES TO THE NOVEL.
• Novel of ideas.
• Scientific romance; combined political GENRE
compose with artisticskiils as a novelist.
• Narrator is omniscient, in 3rd person.
• What we hear is the voice of the author NARRATOR
and the characters are the mouthpieces.
• Language as a tool, the tool of the party.
• Preciousness of human freedom and it´s stability.
• Contrtol of time; present controls the past and also the future. THEME
• Newspeak is in process of invent. Newspeak finished, Ingsoc
stablished.Newspeak the way to achieve Ingsoc, when Ingsoc
is achieved, everybody would speak Newspeak.
• Events are narrated cronologically.
• Some flash backs taken of the mind of Winston(childhood).
8
• Winston thinks different because of the flash backs.
• All members of the party forget the past.
• Setting: England.
• Short sentences in descriptions. STYLE
• Senses are very important:
Sight:when he goes to a shop.
Touch:when he touches Julia.
Smell:flowers, grass...
Noise:all the time listening to the telescreen.
Taste:bad food and drinks.
• When Winston and Julia are looking out of the
window of his room.
• In room 101, when the rat is put in Winston, and CLIMAX
he says: "put it to her". This betrayal is the end
of his humanity.
• Winston: develops. Remembers fragments of his childhood
he is interested in keeping his memory
remembers his mothers love, and this gives him
dignity to be human
loves Julia, and accepted Big Brother.
• Julia: not complex but interesting
Unlike Winston, she wants to enjoy life CHARACTERS
Only interested in Winston and herself
• O´Brien: a member of the inner party
Winston believes that Obrien understands him, but
Obrien is quite orthodox
When Winston is tormented Obrien is the one that
knows what he thinks.
9
HENRY JAMES: DAISY MILLER
• BIOGRAPHY.
• New York 1843, Rye 1916.
• We study him as an English author.
• In his books appears the confrontation between America and Europe.
• CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AUTHOR.
• He was a realist. Realism consists on a partial vision of life.
• Few characters, and never low class characters.
• He was more interested in the description of the character in any situation than in the picture of
aspects of life.
• CHARACTERS.
• Daisy Miller: central point.
• Winterbourne: the central intelligence. We know all about Daisy through Winterbourne´s eyes. This
central intelligence needs a confident.
• Mrs. Costello is the confident. Winterbourne changes his ideas about Daisy Miller because of the
influence of the confident.
• Mrs. Walker: the other confident.
• Giovanelli: outsider. A person who doesn´t belong to their society. He helps to understand the
characterbut always in relation with the central intelligence.
− Social theme; confrontation about spiritual values.
America vs Europe
innocence knowledge
spontaneity ritual THEME
action inaction
nature art
natural artificial
honesty evil
• The setting is in Europe in a small town.
• Vocabulary very well used.
• Narrated in 1st person. "I" is the author, so we LANGUAGE
notice everything through Winterbourne´s eyes.
− Daisy Miller´s death is a symbolical death: it´s a sacrifice. She died spontaneous and uneducated.
10