Author: Liv

Personal Response to Brave New World

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley got me feeling a little bit of discomfort but it also got me thinking about the modern path of society. This society is Huxleys vision of a extremely controlled, technologically higher world where the elimination of individuality instead of group unity is both unsettling and strange. This novel made me think and reflect on ways which our own world and society relies on technology to control and make our lives, from using social media platforms to using AI to do our work for us, and how these inventions could impact the real connections and values from a true person.

The differences between Benard, Lenina, and Johns personalities fascinated me. The fact that in the novel Benard felt lonely in a town and society where everyone is supposed and expected to fit in made me think of how many of us in different way these days most of the time feel that we don’t fit in with what and how the society expects. Lenina stands for the risks of seeking happiness without thinking or emotional detail. Her life is consistently pleasant although it is quite obvious that she doesnt feel fulfilled with her life. John although his exposure to a higher “natural” life is destroyed by the society he becomes apart of. Johns situation seemed to be example of the impossible issue between independence and social pressure.

Huxleys study of how learning and technology potentially could influence some human behaviour was very confusing. There are some worries about the trade off between freedom and happiness because of the way that the government uses soma to keep all the people full of happiness and to remain calm while preventing them from ever having and experiencing a genuine sad emotion. it made me question wether if we actually live in a better society where effectiveness and comfort are are valued more than personal freedom and emotional detail.

Overall, Brave New World is a cautionary story emphasizing the risks of disregarding independence, critical thinking, and personal independence, instead of social peace and temporary happiness. Although I thought this book was good I think that it is not something I would read on my own because it is not the type of style of reading I like but I would recommend this book to those who are interested in science and books about mystery.

PW#4

I am going to be writing about my trip to Costa Rica, Tamrindo. To get to Costa Rica for the holidays we have to take 3 planes which took us 2 traveling days. When we first arrived to Tamrindo which was a city in Costa Rica it was gorgeous lots of trees and it was warm. The people in Costa Rica only speak Spanish and very little English which made it challenging for us. Most of our days were spent by the beach or by the pool and sometimes we would go out and explore the towns. We cooked our own food in our Airbnb and we ate outside together. We spent 2 weeks there and when it was time to go home my whole family was sad.

IRJE#4

My Fault by Mercedes Ron. My Fault is a book about love and change. If you really love someone are you willing to change to become a better person or are you are you going to let them go to keep your pride and ego. My favorite quotation from this book is.

“Noah, what are you scared of?” I asked. After a few seconds, she replied, her voice wavering: “Right now, Im scared of you.” I stood very still and tried not to make a sound. p. 318

I choose this  quotation because Noahs was abused in her childhood by her father who is in prison so she is afraid of violence. When Nick grabbed onto Noah she thought that he was going to hurt her because of her trauma and because Nick likes to fight. By the end of the book Nick quits fighting and cuts violence out of his life so that he can be with Noah without making her feel scared.

PW#3

My big achievements this school year are my grades and my courage to make new friends. It was difficult to begin the school year without my best friends, Regina and Fernanda, since they returned to Mexico. Even though that was difficult, I still ended up making some amazing friends. This year, my marks in school have improved a lot because I am putting more effort into getting good grades, focusing better and learning from mistakes I had in the past. Overall, I think I made a lot of good achievements so far and hope to make many more.

IRJ#2

The book that I am currently reading is called “It Starts With Us” by Colleen Hoover. I am almost done this book and it is one of my favourite books already. I think that this book as a good meanings and good wisdom. One of my favourite quotations from this book is.

” when you’re told you are nothing for years on the end by everyone, you should mean something too, you start to believe it. And you slowly start to become nothing.” (P.96)

I chose this quotation because I found that it really had a meaning to what real life is and helps people understand different types of feelings.

PW2

For this personal writing piece I have decided to write about the trip that I am going on Monday morning. On Monday at 3 in the morning my brother dad and I are going to meet my mom in Montreal and we are all staying there for a week. We are staying in Montreal for a couple days than going to old Quebec city. I am very excited for this †rip because i can learn more french than i already know and go to the ice palace. I think the thing i am most excited for is to go on a trip with my family and go to la grande roue de Montreal. My parents and I like to travel a lot and the reason we are going on this trip is because my mom leaves on Friday for a meeting in Montreal and so we decided to take a family vacation after her meeting. I think that this trip will be educational for me because I will learn a lot of history about old Quebec city. I am also excited to go to the airport and travel to a new place where I have never been before.

IRJ#1 Twisted games by Ana Huang

The book that I am currently reading is called Twisted Games, this is the 3rd book of the Twisted series. This book is a romance book. I really enjoy this book particularly out of the whole series so far. I enjoy reading this book because seeing the characters grow and change through their relationships is something that I think can relate to real life. I also like reading this book because the story feels extremely real and the way the author wrote this book described the feelings of the people in the book extremely well. In the quote I chose the boy Ryhs Larsan is talking to his girlfriend Bridget.

“You filled a part of my soul I always thought would be empty, and you healed scars I never knew existed. And I realized… it’s not that I didn’t believe in love before. It’s that I was saving it all for you.”(pg. 410)

I chose this quote because the guy who said this was a very mean and cold person before and he didn’t like people but he changed for a girl that he loved and he became a better person for her. I think that after reading most of the book and than coming to that quote explains that a person can change how someone is as a person.

Prose (Parts 1 & 2)

While reading “All Quiet On The Western Front” and WWI prose, I think that my favourite is All Quiet On The Western Front, because I find that the story is easier to understand more than WWI prose. I think that it is easier to understand because there is a plot in the All Quiet On The Western Front and WWI prose was journal entries and small writing pieces from soldiers in the war which used language that they used back then but that we don’t use now. I also found that All Quiet On The Western Front is a very well written story and it is a very realistic story with language that people now will understand though it was a little shocking to me how the story ended. Also throughout the book it had me thinking about a lot of different things such as “if Paul dies in the end how did they write this story?” “is this really what happened back then or is it just a story?” ” why did guys want to volunteer to go to war at such a young age and pretend to be old enough for war?” stuff like that I was thinking about. Overall I enjoyed reading both pieces because it is interesting to see how All Quiet On The Western Front is similar to WWI Prose and how they are not similar also it is very interesting learning about the war and the past.

PW#1

My personal writing is gonna be about the top 3 places I would like to travel to and why. The first place I would like to travel to is Paris. I have always wanted to go to Paris since I started becoming really good in French. I have always wanted to go see the tower especially at night which is a reason I would like to go I want the other reasons are because Paris is really beautiful and they have really good pastries that I have always wanted to try. The second place I would like to travel to is Hawaii, and specifically Maui. I have been to Maui 2 times but each time I have always loved it, there is lots of activities and it is very beautiful my favourite part is watching the sunset and its even better because its right on the beach. Lastly I would like to travel to Spain, I would like to travel to Spain because I have seen lots of photos and heard a lot of good things about it and it sounds really amazing I would really like to see the castle building in the Barcelona.

Olivia’s Introduction

Hi my name is Olivia McIntosh and this is my second year at Brookes Westshore. I am 15 years old, and I enjoy reading, volleyball, Jujitsju, painting and lastly I like spending time with my family. I live somewhat close to the school so I don’t have to drive very far to come to the school. Since I have been attending Brookes Westshore I have enjoyed it a lot. My favourite part of the school is the experiences you get by getting to know new people from around the world. Last year the school planned a 2 week trip to the UK, which in my opinion was very fun, we got to visit London and the small towns and attend the Brookes School in the UK. Im very eager to learn and try new things. I live here in Victoria, BC with my younger brother, Evan, who is in grade 8 and mom and dad. Most of my extended family from both my mom and dad side live in the Vancouver area. Over the summer break or other breaks we try to visit them. I love to travel, and hope to travel quite a bit when I am older. Every year for Christmas my family and I try travel to some where tropical which I always enjoy. Another thing about me is that I have a job working for my mom and her business, on the weekends from 10am to 3pm I create gift boxes for my moms clients and send them out. Also this summer I have been tasked with writing 800 Christmas cards and sending them out to my moms clients. I hope this post gave you a little bit of information to my life, and I hope to learn more about you all as well.