This is both a question and a post.
While reading Brave New World I realized that, to me, this did not seem like it was appropriate for high schoolers to be reading. My grandmother also agreed.
Yes, we realize it is a college class...but does that mean that the books have to involve drugs and promiscuous sex?..and not to mention...making those things sound good!?
My grandma had a great point when explaining to me why she didnt like BNW...
When students who read books like Brave New World, and believe that since everything they talk about in the book is okay to do and everyone is always happy, the students want to live in that world and they want a life like that. They try to do so by raiding their parents medicine cabinet looking for perscription drugs to try to get the same feeling as if there was nothing bad in their life. They also go out and have sex between the ages of 14-16 and young girls end up getting pregnant accidently then that's also what causes over-population in our state.
But kids think it is okay and they think they want a so called 'perfect' life like the people in the book...But that is not reality.
Reality is,....kids should not be taking drugs that they aren't supposed to and they shouldn't be getting pregnant if they can't raise and support a child properly.
So why are teachers assigning these type of books to high-schoolers who can possibly ruin their lives just because they see it's okay in another world so it must be okay in ours....???
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I thought the book was fine the way it was written. Huxley I believe was trying to make us realize something creating a world that avidly encouraged sex and drugs. Of course, as you said there are some children, pardon me, I meant high school students, that read the book and think it is okay to run around doing such things. They probably missed the point of the book if that were the case. But maybe Huxley's book is also good for something else: Making people think drugs are good and sex is okay. A doubled-edge sword? I wonder.
ReplyDeleteI slightly disagree with this.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is that Brave New World was actually a great book because it in fact did express the realities of sex and drugs, yet amplified to an extreme future case. The intentions of this book, or any book, is not to change the morals of young people. It is to educate them, get their mind working, cause them to think outside the box.
If we really think about it, half of the books given to us to read throughout high school are not of a "clean" or pleasant nature. That's just the Reality of the world. Whether people of youth get these ideas from a book or not, they are still going to be attempting drugs and sex at young ages. When asked WHY they were doing these things, in an attempt to save their appearnce, they might claim, "It's the book's fault!". How sincere would this reasoning be? Not very sincere at all.
I disagree, in no way did this book make me want to go raid the medicine cabinet or go have sex.
ReplyDeleteI think the book is wonderfully written, as for drugs and sex I think Madeleine is right it did amplify it to the extreme. And the books purpose is to educate students to steer them away from these things.
If you think about it todays music is a bad influnce, much worse then books. Have you ever heard the song toot it and boot it (I think its called) the whole song is about a man cheating on his wife, getting drunk and sleeping with other women. correct me if I missed the point of the song but thats what I got out of it.
I like todays music don't get me wrong but it has such a bad influnce on people.
Heather, I see where you are coming from but I cannot agree. Your post says: "kids should not be taking drugs that they aren't supposed to and they shouldn't be getting pregnant if they can't raise and support a child properly."
ReplyDeleteAnd to me, that just sounds like judgment. I don't think this book will make people go out and have sex and load up, like David stated. I think it will open their minds to all the possible things that can happen in the world, which is not always so "happy", we don't live in a perfect world--we've got to make our own decisions, not just take the world on by how we read it in a book. Let's see, we all watch T.V., right? But just because we see a man kill a man on T.V. doesn't make most of us believe it's OKAY, right? Because you already have the knowledge that it's wrong--and because we know that him killing a man is wrong, it gives us a feeling of "OH NO HE DIDN'T!" which is what the producers of the show want us to feel. If we didn't feel that, it's not much suspense is it? Just how we have the knowledge to know "what not to do" what we read in Brave New World. I've read several "dirty" books, but I wouldn't call it dirty as you say, I would call it poetic art. Playboy is dirty. Not a book. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov was wrong on so many levels, but it was a beautifully written book. (I don't know if you've read it but you were in my class when I presented it.) Nabokov's character, Humbert made the readers think what he was doing was okay, even though in the back of your mind you know it's wrong to incestuously abuse you're step-daughter. He made you love the love he felt, even though you knew it was WRONG to "fall in love" with a 12 year old girl. He persuaded you, just for a moment, to pity him...even though you knew it was wrong of him to take away poor Lolita's childhood. If an author can do that, that is a work of art...a masterpiece. Regardless, some people shouldn't have unprotected sex if they can't take care of a baby--but who says having sex shouldn't be done? But as for Huxley's novel, I agree with David and Madeline, it was wonderfully written and I don't regret reading it. Like you said, we are high schoolers, not babies. We can read at a more mature level without thinking we have to mimic the action of those in the novel.
I completely disagree. Books do not cause teenagers to do stupid stuff, and honestly if any person is so unintelligent as to do stuff because a book made it seem fun and cool should not be reading the book. We all have minds and whether we choose to make good choices or bad choices is up to us and us alone- no book, song or any other influence can make people do these things. We have minds and we know how to use them, and for those people who decide to engage in the activities you mentioned it is their choice and theirs alone with no one to blame but themselves.
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