Socratic Seminar Reflection

Our Socratic Seminars proved to be a more than adequate method of researching further into BNW well as a rather fun way to use class time to build our understanding of the book, and the benefits of calmly discussing as opposed to arguing. Prior to entering the discussions I never realized how unlike Bernard Marx and Karl Marx were. I thought there were quite similar, but thanks to Connor, I now know differently. He pointed out that Bernard being Bernard, an individual in his time, goes against Karl's idea that eventually all individuality will be wiped away. So as opposed to the Marxes being quite similar, they are ironically different. Of course preparing for my seminars gave me a deeper knowledge for the book. I recall realizing that Huxley's use of the word "pneumatic" does mean having a good feminine figure (which explains why he used it to describe Lenina so often) but it also means full of air! Hollow, void, empty! And those words describe Lenina, as well as most members of the society perfectly. I finally realized just how careful Huxley was with his words.

I must say, my groups were quite insightful, and my contributions helped bring the group through those awkward silences, as well as commented in the heat of near-debate. The example with Connor previously mentioned almost erupted into argumentation, but the topic thankfully changed.The difficulty laid not in the talking, or the continuation of the conversation, but stopping when time was called. I remember asking a question with less than ten seconds left and continuing to talk about the subject for a few more minutes. One attribute I discovered about my self is that when push comes to shove I can keep a conversation going as well as an audience laughing. Honestly, there is nothing I would change about the seminars, or my performance, the former it seems like Sophocles perfected.

The Sophoclean Seminars were a wonderful way to share information and learn about our own discussion preferences. More later would be quite preferable, and would more than improve upon my working knowledge of whatever text we are researching.