In chapter 2 of Brave New World, The director mentions the word 'parent' and the boys squirm. One boy quotes:
"Human beings used to be …" he hesitated; the blood rushed to his cheeks. "Well, they used to be viviparous."
Viviparous means producing living young instead of eggs from within the body. It made me wonder why it was necessary in A.F. 632 that words referring to family relationships have been made words of embarrassment, ridicule and pornography. But I assume this shaping of language has been a significant aid to the conditioning process. Reproduction is why we are on Earth and it is a truly beautiful thing. Thinking about the contrasts made me laugh, the director even said this:
"These," he said gravely, "are unpleasant facts; I know it. But then most historical facts are unpleasant."
This books, is similar to the book The Giver where they lived in an alleged "perfect world", so it makes me wonder if this were to be forced on us right now but we were educated and knew perfectly well from "right" and "wrong" and "ethical" and "unethical", would you accept being an Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta or Epsilon or would you rebel and break their conditioning process? And why? Is it because you want to reproduce babies of your own? Or is it because you want equality and Democracy? I'd love to hear your opinions.
I mean, what's so wrong with trying to make the world perfect? Ha.
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I, for one, would rebel againt them. I mean, what were they doing at the beginning of chapter 3? They were, as the book calls it, playing "a rudimentary sexual game." The D.H.C called this "charming." They are in a world where they have the innocence taken from them at a very, very young age, and this is NORMAL for them. Childhood is a very sweet thing, and every child deserves it.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for the catergories? Think about it. Don't people either put themself in one or put others in one? People are classified as either the nerd, the princess Miss Popular girl, the jock, the rebel, and the just plain weird one; like in the Breakfast Club. In the movie, they talked about after detention. Would they talk to eachother in the halls and be friends or would they simply ignore eachother and go on with their lives? They agreed to ignoring eachother. They were too scared for their friends to laugh at them and ask why they would ever even think of talking to them. Is that how our schools are now? Not to that level, but there are groups at school known for different things. If being in groups is supposed to make the world perfect... then why isn't it "perfect" yet? That's just my opinion; I'd love for you to tell me if you agree or totally disagree with me (:
If the lower castes were able to “break and rebel,” don’t you think they would have? I would rebel, of course, but the fact is, if our world was like that, we would have no knowledge to rebel in the first place. That is what makes the society in Brave New World so unique. Just like The Giver, the citizens have hardly any choices. So the question of would you rebel or not is technically not answerable if we were to live in a world like theirs.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand your last question: “what’s so wrong with trying to make the world perfect?”
What is your definition to “perfect”? Is the society in Brave New World perfect to you?
You do have a point. They were taught everything, so how would they even think of rebelling? BUT they do make their own choices. Let's take Lenina, for example. Most of they people in Brave New World have many partners, but Lenina only had one for 3 months while Fanny thought it was crazy. Maybe that's their way of rebelling: doing little things that no one notices, but if people or the man in charge found out... she'd be looked down upon.
ReplyDeleteIt’s hard to reply to your question, because as you read in “Brave New World” you see how much control there is. I always wondered how they decided who is going to be an Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta or Epsilon. I like to imagine myself as the one who would rebel because it seems to be in my nature to do so. Although if I were in the book I probably would not have a will of my own to choose. When people in the book talk about the old ways of life, they really do seem to find the subject embarrassing and funny, but can you blame them? They have been taught that those things are embarrassing from day one. In that sense their reaction is completely normal. To us it seems weird that they react that way, because in our society these things are perfectly natural. I believe we are all born with an inner sense of what is right and wrong. Even though Bernard Marx was raised in his society one way, he always felt it wasn’t right. As for your statement on why a rebellion may occur, you do bring up good points about having babies the normal way and just plain old equality for all. The reason why I would rebel is because I would want to obtain the things I find myself being pushed away from. It would be my “forbidden fruit” that I can’t help but go towards. I just want to be able to decide the path I travel in life. My own opinion of a “prefect world” would never come to be. I find it really hard to imagine it since man kind has too much self knowledge. We go off what we want, and do whatever we can to obtain that. I agree that this story seems like “The Giver”. I have question for you. Who, in your own opinion, is the one who carries the burden of truth in this world?
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this section of the book it was hard for me to grasp why they would seperate their society into groups. It was also heart breaking reading what they did to the epsilon.I feel its is extremely unfair for them to starve the epsilon of air just to make sure the epsilon can't reach their full value. Because of this I feel as though if I were put into Aldous Huxley utopian I would rebel until my hearts content, purely because their technique is unethical, and just plain wrong.
ReplyDeleteInnocence according to what we were taught. The characters of the book are taught that these are things fit to be childish games. The author might be trying to show what the world would be like if the morals were different; most of them the complete opposite to what they are to us.
ReplyDeleteBrittany Fattohi;
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and I like how you make your points and reasoning loud and clear! Why place people, human beings (with feelings and emotions) in categories? That's technically another form of rejection, it's like saying "Oh, you aren't athletic enough to be in this group so..hmm, we'll put you in the un-fit, un-muscular, loser, skinny punk wad section." It still happens in High School and maybe throughout life, but in Brave New World it's on a whole other level! It's insane!
In response to Jessica Frantz;
ReplyDeleteYou indirectly and unclearly asked me this questions; Who, in your own opinion, is the one who carries the burden of truth in this world?
I am unsure on how to answer your question the way you want answered. So I will respond with a corny, cliche but truthful answer; God. I suppose in my head I believe God or any higher unseen authority holds the burden of truth. He is responsible, he is liable, he is the "Go-To" man so to speak. With faith in him I will never fail in life. Yes I doubt his existence at times and yes I call his name in vain but he truly has the truth. Whether you believe in God or not, he has it.
And lastly, In response to mharoon, you stated in your comment in reply to my blog post; If the lower castes were able to “break and rebel,” don’t you think they would have?
ReplyDeleteYou misunderstood my post. You are telling me that the castes in the book have no choice because they aren't educated enough to know any better, and I am already aware of this. What I was asking though, was to imagine yourself living in that world knowing what you know now. You would be awfully smarter than those book characters wouldn't you? You would know that the society's teachings were wrong wouldn't you? Sorry if I confused you with my post, but I agree with your comment 120% actually, it was an in-depth response that you would rebel and I would rebel too, no doubt.
And about my last line; I mean, what's so wrong with trying to make the world perfect? Ha.
It was sarcasm, but I can tell how that can be misinterpreted over the internet. Hahaha.