Dramatic Monologue

I am alone in this Brave New World.

Why am I different from the rest?
I do not belong to these guidelines and rules.

Do they have to stare at me as I walk by them?

They judge me and why I look different.

They all have their own opinions,

but I hear most say alcohol was mistakenly dropped in my blood-surrogate.

Oh Ford! How dare they say such absurdities.

Cannot one be slightly different from the rest?

Must they comment and remark on my smaller size.

So what if I do not enjoy playing Obstacle Golf!

And so what if I am alone most of the time!

Oh, if only everyone knew what I suffer!

I wish that Lenina would notice me for once.

Henry Foster speaks of her 'as a piece of meat.'

He wants to give her away for his friends to 'try.'

Ford, how I hate them!

I do not want a gramme of soma.

Ford, I should like to kill him!

Their laughs are taunting as they shout,

"A gramme is better than a damn!"

These women that give themselves so freely,

like the ones that follow Helmholtz around constantly.

I disagree with their carelessness, but I must admit I am jealous of him.

They never follow me or beg to go out with me.

Oh, but Lenina will accompany me to the Savage Reservation.

Lenina is different and special.

Different from the rest of this world.

I don't understand what the world is becoming.

The structure and the rules are an annoyance.

I know no other world but I hate these rules.

They are absurd!

The Directors do not allow such differences as myself.

They warn me time and again of my transference to Iceland.

Do they really believe that I will be frightened by that?

Do they think my life will be miserable there?

They really do not know that my life might be easier there,

with no one whom I would be forced to converse with,

with no soma and no feelies and no judgement from others.

Maybe I should go to this desolate island and leave this world behind,

this Brave New World of fear and shame,

this world of soma to mask the pain of reality.

Allusion Paragraph

In All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren utilizes allusions to reveal specific and unique ideas about the characters of Cass Mastern and Jack Burden. Warren alludes to Cassandra from Greek mythology to portray the relationship between Cass and Jack. In Greek mythology, the son god, Apollo granted Cassandra the power to foretell the future, but then she was punished with the curse that no one would believe her. In a way, Cass Mastern represents Cassandra for Jack. As a history student, Jack studies the life of his ancestor Cass, and while struggling to find meaning and understanding, Jack eventually comes to a realization of his own life and each individual’s significance in the world. From Jack’s research of his ancestor’s life, he creates his theory of life: “ He [Cass] learned that the world is like and enormous spider web and if you touch it , however lightly, at any point, the vibration ripples to the remotest perimeter and the drowsy spider feels the tingle…” Warren alludes to Telemachus, from The Odyssey, to show the father and son relationships throughout the novel through the archetypical father figures in Jack’s life. In The Odyssey, Telemachus was left responsible for his mother when his father when on his epic journey. Telemachus conflicted with the many suitors of his mother. Each suitor competed for his mother’s hand in an archery competition. Finally, one man prevailed in the feat and Telemachus did not immediately recognize that the man was, in fact, his father. Like Telemachus, Jack struggles with recognizing and accepting the father figures in his life. Although Judge Irwin was always in his life as a sort of father figure, it wasn’t until halfway through his life that Jack discovered that his father was really the Judge: “All during the meal it had been old times, which was another tribute to me…Old times, just before dessert, worked around how I used to make models with him.”

All the King's Men Found Poem

somebody looked into the inky-black night

in a hope of finding a little salvation from the whir of life

the soundless white haze that floats above the water

the uncertainty that prickles in an effortless motion

the lightning kept forking out of the dark

reaching for the undernourished possibilities

a glossy, new passage is at hand

like the vastness of the sea with all its fishes

the first unlocked door is opened

it is bare and unanswered

or it is a kingdom with infinite depth

it is shapeless and droopy as an unfulfilled dream

or it is soundlessly humming in beautiful hope