Rhetorical Analysis

http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/509/brave-new-world-and-the-threat-of-technological-growth

Derek D Miller's article discussing Brave New World's theme of technological advancement first mentions an author, Neil Postman, to establish a notion that gives him credit. Moreover, the vocabulary (words like "hypnopaedic proverbs") that he uses suggests that the intended audience may be people who have read the novel, people who are interested in the novel, and/or an audience with a developed language.Therefore, this suggests that Miller's purpose of the writing his article is to relay his analysis of Brave New World to a group of people who are familiar with the novel and its thematic messages. Miller additionally does not have an intro for introducing the novel, in other words he does not have a detailed description of Brave New World's plot. This further suggests that he wrote his article for an audience that is familiar with the novel.  Breaking away from the norm, Miller does not start out with the usual famous quote or question: he instead gets right to business and begins his analysis of the novel. Miller focuses on the themes of what happens when the world is suddenly industrially, economically, and technologically oriented. What I find interesting is Miller's comparison of the novel to our present. To illustrate here's a piece from the article: "The similarities between how our education system puts children in groups by age and has them taught to think that there is only one answer. Robinson points out how students are taught linearly instead of divergently (RSA). This standardization of education reflects the caste system in Brave New World and how each caste is conditioned to be only able to do the job their caste demands. Each caste is conditioned through hypnopaedia to only think one way, this resembles the culture of our education system and how students are taught to think only in terms of if one score high on tests, one is intelligent and will have a good job and if one scores low, the person is unintelligent and must have a laborious job". This comparison of the present to a work of fiction gives you that feeling of how dangerously close our society is to Brave New World's society. Factual information of today helps to support Miller's logic that a technopoly in Brave New World is not far from reality. This foreboding feeling gives me a sense of fear in that I can relate to what Miller is trying to say about how reliant humans are on technology (I see how reliant we are on technology everyday with smartphones and many more technological devices) and how it is that reliance that may get us to where Brave New World is. The first half of the article is structured around religion while the second half focuses more on the lost of individuality. Both parts have a text-to-novel comparison: for example, Miller uses these textual evidences "In fact, the dating system used in the novel is based upon A.F. and B.F. which is the abbreviated form for After Ford and Before Ford, which Huxley clearly used to parody our current dating system of B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno domini)" and "In society today there is the idea of ADHD being an epidemic in America. Sir Ken Robinson points out that there is not really an epidemic and that children are being medicated carelessly. They are given Ritalin and Adderall so they can be focused in school. A non-medical problem is being cared for with medication (RSA). This strongly resembles the Soma in Brave New World. If someone isn’t happy, they simple take Soma, and suddenly they’re content again. This reliance on drugs is a parallel between Huxley’s novel and Sir Robinson's video" to support the discussion of religion and lost of individuality format respectively. Each paragraph, with the exception of a few, starts with some statement or introductory phrase, followed by textual evidence. Miller then goes on to end his article with a series of questions that challenge the reader to think critically about the by-products of technological advancement. Overall, I feel that Miller establishes himself as an acceptable authority on the subject of Brave New World; his use of appropriate textual evidence along with some strong emotional appeal and logical statements made me think about the dangers of how our society today is heavily reliant on technology.