Brave New World

I have now started reading the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I've read up to chapter three and the first couple of chapters are simply exposing the setting and the important factors that make up this dystopian society. From what I've read, I can infer who the hero is going to be and how he is going to present his heroism. I I believe that the hero is Bernard Marx, due to the fact that he is different than the other people who were produced in his same caste level. His caste level is the more superior and intelligent level, and Bernard is more of an individualist than everyone else in this forced society. My prediction is that Bernard will try to fight against this society and try to protect each individual's right to be an individual, different to one another, each one unique in their own ways.

The End Of The Catch!

As the book ends it is finally explained what Catch-22 is after all. Catch-22 is nothing but a rule that doesn't exist that allow the superiors in the army to pretty much do whatever they want to their subordinates.

Yossarian finally proves his heroism. He manages to get away from flying missions by going against the generals' rules, and even after being bribed by the generals - he would be promoted to major and all he had to do was support the generals and he could finally go home- he felt as if he would be betraying his dead friends if he accepted the bribe.

Yossarian is a hero because, not only he fought to protect his country in a war, but he also shows a lot of character, loyalty and dignity in his action. He also goes against his superiors to protect what he thinks is right.

He also seemed a little more resistent than a "regular Joe", he got stabbed so many times by Nately's whore and he still managed to survive.

"Who Else Will Go?"

"I'm nuts. Cuckoo. Don't you understand? I'm off my rocker. They sent someone else home in my place by mistake. They've got a licensed psychiatrist up at the hospital who examined me, and that was his verdict. I'm really insane."
"So?"
"'So'? Yossarian was puzzled by Doc Daneeka's inability to comprehend. 'Don't you see what that means? Now you can take me off combat duty and send me home. They're not going to send a crazy man out to be killed, are they?'"
"Who else will go?" (315)

Doc Daneeka raises a good point in this passage, if the crazy men are sent home who will fight? Being in a war is already enough to make someone insane, and if these people are sent home, like A. Fortiori was instead of Yossarian, sane people are going to be sent to war to replace the insane, and then become insane.

I believe that wars shouldn't even be started in the first place. But if there is no way out, don't send the people who are in the war back home just because they are mentally affected by it. Everyone who goes to war is mentally affected so if they are replace there will be more and more people going crazy. It is a sad thought but the best is to keep the mentally affected fighting until they die or the war is over.

Yossarian doesn't realize it, but his wish to get out of war has made him insane, and Doc Daneeka is one of the few that realize that they can't be sent home.

Psychologically Disabled

Yossarian is definately psychologically disabled. He still has qualities of a hero but the war images that stuck to his mind completely changed him. He showed up completely naked to his medal ceremony because he refused to wear a uniform after Snowden died in his arms and bled all over his clothes. This psychological problems can cast a shadow over hero-like qualities. In today's society, we could never accept a person as a hero or heroine if he or she did something considered obscene or wrong to society's eyes. We usually label people's actions without having any background information on why a person would do such thing. Such behavior may be a cry for help. A hero trying to come out of a shell created by past events and experiences that turns them into something they are not, even if such thing only lasts for a moment.

The love of Heroes

We have already witnessed in "The Three Musketeers" the fact that heroes have a tendency of falling in love very easily. D'Artagnan felt great affection for three different women throughout the story and this kept leading him to more trouble. With Yossarian it is not different. He had just met Luciana, an Italian woman, and he "falls in love" with her. The difference in this situation though is that Yossarian has witnessed nothing but death and sorrow for the past weeks. So, for Yossarian any sign of affection shown by a person of the opposite sex can make him fall in love.

Luciana also shows Yossarian a scar of when the Americans bombed her hometown. This event makes him even more eager to leave the war and feel remorse for being part of something horrible that not only killed many innocent people but also hurt a loved one.

Luciana then parts, and they don't see each other again. Even though they only saw each other for two days, she touched Yossarian's heart. He felt good feelings that only a hero could have felt.

Government's Fault

The reason why these characters are in these situations is because of the government involving itself in the war. They don't want to keep sending people because they waste money doing so, so instead they try to keep the ones they already have deployed in the war zones. That is why they keep raising the amount of missions necessary to be performed in order for a soldier to leave. And also, what I thought to be very interesting, is when the narrator tells us that one mission, Yossarian flew over the target twice before he bombed it instead of once, such mistake lead to the death of a fellow soldier. Instead of Yossarian being dismissed, or even punished for such mistake, he is awarded a medal. The government wanted him to stay around so they ignored his mistake.

A Group Of Heroes

The first few chapters of this book describes its interesting characters. Most of these characters had a comfortable life before the war and now they are being forced to kill and live under pressuring conditions of being killed at anytime. They are afraid of dying, and that does not make them cowards, they are victims. For example, Hungry Joe used to be a photographer for Life magazine, and now he screams at night and keeps waiting for his documents to go back home, which keep on being postponed and will never come. There's also Doc Daneeka who keeps complaining about how this war took him away from his clinic back home where he was making good money.

The question I pose is, are they heroes?
I think so. They are sent to a place where they have to kill people and do their best to survive. Most of them don't want to be there and yet they are forced to. Such events can change a person's life even after the war is over, and if they are capable of staying alive then they certainly are heroes.

Catch-22: Yossarian- Hero or Zero?

In this new book that I have started reading, the main character, Yossarian is completely against the war, which he thinks is a waste of young lives. Yossarian is a bombardier in a U.S. squadron stationed in Italy, with some other interesting characters who make up his squadron. Our hero is tired of the war and he wants the people he hasn't even met to stop trying to kill him. He is constantly faking illnesses in order to be grounded from missions, he also tried to use insanity as a way to stay out of missions. But Dr. Daneeka explains to Yossarian the Catch-22 rule that says that, in order for a soldier to be grounded for insanity, the soldier must ask to be grounded, but once a soldier asks to be grounded it proves that he is sane, since no sane person wants to be shot at, therefore the will to be grounded and live.

Yossarian is almost the opposite of D'Artagnan. What D'Artagnan lacked in ethics he made up in courage, while Yossarian is a "coward", who doesn't want to go to war. Well, that doesn't take his heroism away because to fight in a war such as WWII, you couldn't rely only on your skills to stay alive while in D'Artagnan's time his skills in sword fighting was enough for him to fight his way through his "troubles".

Good Always Wins

In the end of the book, the musketeers capture Milady and kill her and the Cardinal realizes the great people that the musketeers are and decides to spare their life and even promote D'Artagnan to lieutenant of the musketeers. Dumas' message in this book is that being a hero takes a lot of honesty and heart, by heart I mean courage and loyalty. If you have those qualities, they overcome your other traits and make you a real hero. He proves that in the end of the book when he shows that all the good characters turned out to have a happy ending. D'Artagnan became lieutenant of the Musketeers, his goal when going to Paris was to only to become a musketeer. Aramis became a priest, like he always wanted. Porthos married the attorney's wife, the woman that he loved, since the attorney died. And Athos remained in the force for a few more years and then moved to small piece of land in a calm place.

Show Offs or Men in Need

In chapter 46, the three musketeers and D'Artagnan go to an inn in order to plan out their next move. Once they get there the place is packed with soldiers, very noisy soldiers. There was no way they could do any planning there, and they could be killed. Athos then makes a bet with four of the soldiers there, he wages that him and his friends can hold the Bastion Saint-Gervais by themselves for an hour, if they complete this task then the soldiers would have to buy "an unlimited dinner for eight."

Then in chapter 47, they manage to hold their council at the bastion and they fought off two waves of attacks. Their lives were endangered but they all managed to survive.

In my opinion Athos has some sort of greed for glory. His ability to use words to influence his friends help him a lot with this tendency of his. I believe that Athos, even though he told his friends it was the only way the could hold their council without the Cardinal's men finding out, wanted the glory of being known for his heroism of holding the bastion with three other friends only.

The Villain vs. The Hero

In chapter 40, there is a very interesting encounter between D'Artagnan and the "big kahuna" of the villains, the Cardinal. In this encounter, the Cardinal refers to D'Artagnan with much respect and compliments him in his bravery, by calling him a "man of head and heart". In this same conversation the Cardinal offers D'Artagnan a well paid job in his company of Guards. This is where Dumas shows the big difference between a hero and a villain. The villain, the Cardinal, has just cowered and asked D'Artagnan to join him. He fears D'Artagnan, so he wants him as friend rather than an enemy. While D'Artagnan, who is loyal to his king and friends, refuses this great opportunity.

This part of the story reminds me of the scene in the movie "300" where the Spartan King Leonidas comes face to face with the evil Persian King Xerxes. King Xerxes feared King Leonidas because he has been killing thousands of his troops with only 300 hundred soldiers, he knew that King Leonidas' army was the only one who could ruin his rule. When they come face to face King Xerxes offers an alliance to King Leonidas, all he had to do is surrender his land of Sparta and he would give him a position of warlord of all of the known world. King Leonidas refuses the offer and insists in fighting, making funny remarks about the inability of his opponents soldiers.

In conclusion, a hero never cowers, and never drifts away from his objective, while a villain is a big coward who is willing to join his enemy in order to maintain his power.

The link below is for the scene from the movie 300 that I mentioned above:
http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=iA1GC3T-Ldg&feature=related