ibn Harm

Category: Book Review

  • Book review: twilight (I)

    This article will contain spoilers regarding Stephenie Meyer’s twilight series.

    As Thomas Nagel and specifically Bernard Williams judged Kantian ethics to be at minimum “repulsive,” so has there been a damnation by literary critics of the twilight series penned down by S. Meyer. This article will bring some balance to a prententious audience that delights in snobery for abstraction for the sake of abstraction is nothing but direct foolishness.

    The main character of the series is Isabella (Bella) Swan. A young women who moves in with her dad in an unexpected course of action chosen by Bella in the eyes of both her father (Charlie) and Bella herself. The unexpected move to Forks (an area that can be likened to England in atmosphere) from the sun-ladden environment of her mom’s is the first question that the book posits.

    Then the story continues in typical coming-off age style with Bella preparing for her first day at her new high school which raises her anxiety level and makes the reader wonder once again why she even decided to move in the first place. Her expectation of utter doom with regards to her anticipated new environment of high school is lightened by the gift of her father, which is a truck with which Bella can drive to school, removing the need of an embarassing drop-off by her father.

    Bella falls into essentializing her new schoolmates based on high school cliches but it is not entirely unforgiveable since she is later described as being gifted in academia. On a more intensified study of essentialism read Dostoeyevski’s crime and punishment. From here on out the story cannot be studied seriously from a critical point of view since the story is taken over by vampires, paranormal gifts and brilliantly horrific character names.

    The introduction of the vampire theme is interesting though since the investigation sequence is written entertainingly and there is a lot of rereadability after the realization of the true substance of some of the characters.

    The movie depiction of Bella is even more obviously infatuated with Edward to such a degree that it is understandable that jokes are made. The book is a little better.

    Bella’s choices are difficult to understand unless her self-description of “having a broken brain” is deemed both correct and interpreted in a vast sense meaning that the eventual transformation of Bella into a vampire is to a certain degree guided or destined. Hints to this fate are given early on in her ability to accurately describe the smell of blood.

    Also given Bella’s previous physique as fragile and prone to falls, from a literary perspective it makes sense that she eventually fully integrates in the vampire community.

  • God on earth? Studying the themes of “The Great Gatsby”

    It is no surprise for those with intimate knowledge of the American psyche that abundance of extravagance is associated with divinity in America. The novel by Fitzgerald is then the work par excellence that connects these themes of money and the creator of the known universe.

    Gatsby is a melancholic man which is for example expressed in his wish to reconnect with his love from five years in the past.

    As with regards to the divinity aspect of The Great Gatsby the theme of Ethics results from a accidental killing by car of a women that is not tied to Gatsby but who is the mistress of Gatsby opponent in romance vic. Tom Buchanan.

    This theme of Ethics has been further broached by Gatsby’s pursual of a married women (Daisy) which Christian ethics already warns against “do not covet your neighbour’s wife” from the laws vis-a-vis Moses.

    Gatsby pursues his romantic ambition by organizing parties which are supposed to attract Tom and Daisy so he can charm the wife of Tom.

    The character of Daisy is perhaps the most interesting character of the novel since she choses to entertain Gatsby’s advances but can not seem to make up her mind with regards to leaving her husband. On a vulgar level the novel can be read as a simple case of zina.

  • Faith and devotion

    In The Meaning and End of Religion W. C. Smith writes that the noun religion is at the end of its expiry date. He argues that instead of an abstract religion it is more meaningfull to speak of discursive tradition and personal faith. There is something to say for this dialectical analysis.

    Firstly it appeals to secular wisdom which is somestimes construed as “everything you give attention grows.” When considered in extremo this advice might not particularly make for a tranquil mind however. For more on this topic expect a sequel to this study focussing on creativity and the human mind deo volente.

    But the nominal “personal faith” does appeal to the importance of Belief in the life of human beings. This makes his theory muleable both to the secular and the sacred mind.

  • Book Review: Brave New World

    The following article will discuss the novel Brave New World by A. Huxley. Spoilers will follow.

    This novel culminates in suicide, if you are dealing with suicidal thoughts call 113 (in the Netherlands). Please reach out to family or friends if you are dealing with continuous negative thoughts 🙂

    Brave New World is an interesting philosophical novel that considers the question of what constitutes a righteous society. Parallels can be drawn to Hobbes Leviathan which described human life as “short, nasty and brutish.” The society of Brave New World has solved these problems at the cost of imagination. Life is artificially kept sub-par since Art destabilizes communal life. The caste system which regulates the lives of all the inhabitants enforces social and functional predetermination which robs its civilians of freedom and beauty. Truth is also lost since negative emotions are suppressed by soma which is a psychoactive drug which is described as “Christianity and Alcohol without the negative side effects.” When a member of the society is deemed too sad by the other inhabitants they try to push the use of soma. A part I found particularly dystopian was when the character of Linda died in the mortuarium surrounded by music and television. Till the very last moment of her life Linda is a consumer. Not everything is gloom and doom however since the interaction between the protagonists and the World Controller Mustapha Mond in chapters 16 and 17 is brilliant. The main theme recurring throughout the book is that the inhabitants do not seem to be in control of their own body. The society of Brave New World teaches that everybody belongs to everybody else which means that even your own flesh is a communal commodity. Following this the institution of family is seen as primitive. When understood correctly Brave New World thus raises a powerful critique of totalitarianism. Unfortunately this did not prevent World War II which occurred after the release of the novel.