Appreciate Everthing

"'They're not sorry they still have their dam, or their good lives on the Frontier; they're sorry they've been made to feel gulity about how they got these wonderful things. Maybe that's not fair. Maybe some of them really do feel bad. Oh well, as far as I'm concerned they can be sorry as much as they like. I tell 'em, "Next time you eat cherries, remember who picked 'em. Next time you swig water, stop and wonder where it came from.'" (435.Adlington)

This quote made me wonder a lot about what we're not thankful for. The littlest things can always be appreciated. According to Luka, even the water we drink we should appreciate where it came from. With Luka the one screwing on bottles of water and suffering everyday by her boss at the factory, of course she would be grateful for everything she has now, because what she had before was nothing. All these factories making everything we have, we never consider thinking about the people who incorporated their times and hard working hands into it. But sometimes the government purposely hides certain information from the public, because it doesn't seem right with the conditions of the work place. In the book, the factory place was a place hidden from the public because of how bad the conditions were. Noticing now that the working place aren't exposed and told about, make us wonder what really goes on in those factories that the public doesn't know about? Why do we know so little about factory conditions? Especially clothing brand or shoe brand companies. They don't seem to show the public what their factories are like. This can also wonder how much corrupted work conditions are out there, hidden from public. As us, the consumers who purchase these items, should always consider what the effort was put into everything. 

Factory Workers

"Then came the pictures,all drawn with Harpo's scientific precision. The crowd began to murmur. What did it mean? Who were these skeleton people lugging stone in a quarry? Who were those beasts with twisted faces beating workers emerging from the slit of the dam foundations? Was this the the way their dam had been built? These ghosts in white, were they the ones filling bottles of bubble Blue Mountain? Those bodies on the factory floor, were they actually dead?" (395.Adlington)

With the corruption of unfair factory labor exposed to the whole community, they were all flabbergasted. While the society was drinking their delicious Blue Mountain beverage, they had no idea that the people working in the factory was being abused. Luckily, an escaped factory worker and some friends exposed the horrible conditions of the factory to everyone. Q Essnid, the governor was aware of what was going on in the factory, but tries to hide this secret from everyone that admired him. Q Essnid tries to deny the fact that he knew anything about the conditions of the factory, but he definitely was aware. Factory labors has been around for a fairly long time. Till this day there are still factory labors with people working crazy hours and getting extremely low pay, like in China. But not as bad as the one described in the book. I predicted that in the future, working conditions would improve, just like how they improved from the past. But, it got worse, and the factory only brought in a certain race to do all the labor work. That is a combination of both inequality and corrupted work labor. Apparently in the future, racism and horrible work conditions will get worse, not better. If workers are starving to the point that they look like skeletons, and dead bodies are on the ground, than factories have really reached their limits of providing any rights to the people. Are there factories somewhere in the world that is like this? And we as the people, are not aware? People in prisons now, even have a better condition than the workers in the book. Might as well be in prison and get fed then working for hours without any pay or chance to leave. 

The amazing Q Essind

"During the drought the had triggered the war, the O-HA was created, sending life-saving shipments of pure water. United behind Q Essind, the Frontier was proud to say they'd never succumbed to the racism of the cities. Unsurprisingly, Q Essnid was elected Frontier governor every year without fail. His face smiled out from poster along the length of the town hall, advertising the O-HA's upcoming rally."(114-115.Adlington) 

Immediately reading the book, it became obvious that Q Essind was the figurehead in the New Frontier. Described in the book, Q Essind is an attractive looking man, who doesn't only govern the New Frontier, but also models for every poster and signs in the community. Anyone as the figurehead in a utopian book is usually the bad guy. He puts on a fake appearance for everyone to assume that  he is this amazing guy doing everything perfectly and helpfully for his people. But in reality he is over powering them and deceiving. Although Q Essind helped create everything that is in the New Frontier, he used wrong tactics to achieve it. Killing a certain race just to satisfy racist governments is corrupt. But the people living in the New Frontiers weren't aware of his actions, because of all the other great things he has done for the society. With such great actions, of course they wouldn't have expected him to do anything wrong. It's just ironic how not only was he the most "perfect" governor, but he also had the looks to advertise everything. This may say something about present day. Many large corporations like to use beautiful women or handsome men to represent their company. This may be a trick of propaganda. Using good looking people can influence others to want to be like them or look like them, persuading them to buy and use whatever they're using. I think with Q Essind's looks captured many people to believe that if they follow his advise and instructions, they can be like him. Propaganda is all around us. We just never notice it. Based on the novel, how far can propaganda influence us to do?

Sacrifices

"' He's done it all-all of this. Look at it! Celebrate if you still feel like cheering! He gave us what we wanted-our peace, our prosperity, this giant monument to all things great and glorious! All it cost was a few Galrezi lives. He said it was all for the best, that good would come of it. Yeah, like the ends justified the means, Daddy.'" (410-411.Adlington)

This all relates to the government needing to live in a Utopian world. Every Utopian world must sacrifice something to "perfect" a society. Unfortunately, whatever the government chooses to give up for the dystopian world is usually something really important. like their life or freedom. Based on all the Utopian stories I have read, there are always dystopian protagonist fighting their way from the government to expose the reality of the "perfect" world. In this quote, the figurehead's son is revealing his dad's horrific actions to have "peace" in the New Frontier. The action to get rid of a certain race to form a greater and more peaceful world reminds me of the Holocaust, with Hitler's attempt to kill all the Jews in order for a "stronger" Germany. This concept was always the wrong approach and unacceptable to think that killing will lead to some kind of peace. Most of the time, the people living in the society aren't aware of what the government are doing to maintain peace. Killing innocent people for someone's wanting is self-centered and morally wrong. Luckily, there are many people who see this philosophy as improper. This makes us question, what has the government done behind or backs to maintain a good society? Have they ever killed innocents for the sake of their people? Or is it okay for us to sacrifice a few for the thousands of people that want a better life? Personally, the concept of even kill one innocent for a Utopian world is unacceptable and useless, because in Utopian societies there are people that are always miserable. It is impossible to have everyone satisfied with what the world. So there is no point in killing anyone if not every single person will be happy with how the world is functioning.   

The Atsumisi, Mazzini, and Galrezi

"Back in the bad old days there'd been fierce competition between the three different gene clans- the Atsumisi, Mazzini, and Galrezi. Rivalry hadn't been helped by a severe drought that had everyone gasping for more water. Sly propaganda set the gene clans against one another, with citizens soon starting to judge one another on the color of their hand IDs." (23-24.Adlington)

Based on the novel Cherry Heaven by L.J Adlington, discrimination of race will return. Even though the character in the book described the racism in present tense, there was obviously still tension between the clans if the reader continues to read the story. This relates to the topic of inequality, because of the separation of different race. The fact that history can repeat itself from 1900s, when racism and discrimination was at its highest. Fortunately, during that time, Martin Luther King Jr spoke up against the situation. But in the future, if this does happen again, who will be the one speaking up? In the year 2011, we predict that inequality will eventually disappear, however this story disagrees. Comparing how bad inequality was in the past to now, it has definitely improved. I would assume that there are people who are against inequality than for it. With so many people expecting a Utopian society for the world, inequality shouldn't be part of the plan. This makes me question whether or not things will improve or worsen for the future. It also makes me wonder what the author of the book is trying to say about people now. Even though racism and discrimination has lessen, till this day there are people who inhabit these characteristics. There are still KKKs out in Texas opposing to African American events. Hopefully the government will not allow this to happen. If the government agrees to bring back the injustice of inequality, that would be extremely shameful. In order to prevent this to happen, the government should ban anything that encourages such acts. Instead of dividing the world, we should bring it together and attempt for peace so that everyone will get along with one another.

Cherry Heaven: The O-HA

"Brilliant above the welcome sign was a screen showing scenes of life on the New Frontier, where people smiled as they work, wallowed in hot spa pools, or even hiking on the new heartland. Everywhere there were adverts for Blue Mountain water, as well as the silver insignia of the O-HA--the Overseas Humanitarian Agency. The O-HA was responsible for hugely generous donations of water and aid to the five cities during the war. Without the support of peace-keepers form the O-HA, the cities would have suffered much higher death tolls. The O-HA had no interests in gene-clan distinctions. They had kept faithful to the original ideals of the planet's colony: peace, peace, and above all, peace." (26-27.Adlington)

Right when Tanka and Kat first arrived at the New Frontier to Cherry Heaven, they were immediately overwhelmed by propaganda of the O-HA and their goals for "world peace" They were flabbergasted by how much promotion was around them, because they came from the cities that was ruined by a horrific warfare before arriving to the New Frontier. It was obvious that the O-HA was a big part of where they were soon moving to, assuming by how much the name is mentioned on large poster boards near the welcome sign. It's interesting how the O-HA advertisement is right next to the welcome sign, makes the O-HA look really important to this new society. Also, the Blue Mountain water reminds me of Poland Spring that we have here, because Poland Spring water has a large propaganda in the East Coast, almost seems like Poland Spring is the only spring water that is available for us, because of how dominant the brand is around. Of course there are other brands of spring water available for us, but we don't take really care about them. The government is obviously responsible for all this propaganda. With the O-HA being so popular in the New Frontier, the government believes there is not other philosophy other then the one they have now. But it doesn't appear realistic for a whole community to have nothing but peace. As much as the New Frontier wants to create to Utopian society for their people, it just isn't possible. The government is so caught up to perfecting the community, that they don't notice that damage they could be causing for the people who are physically and mentally damaged along the way. To have an Utopian society, there must sacrifices. This shows that in our present day society, that propaganda can start to control our everyday lives, and we won't even notice how much they have taken over.