Brave New World Blog 4

I find a utopia to be bad, disruptive, and disturbing. Even though all the citizens are happy and do not have to worry about war, they do not have freedom or the chance to be an individual. Everyone is a twin and they are not allowed to think for fear it would mess up their society. People would not be able to exercise their minds. The citizens are not allowed to think philosophically or about science because they are afraid their system would fall apart. Also, they are encouraged to sleep with many people and to not have a steady relationship with anyone. This is so they do not get attached to a person (or start feeling emotions) and so it keeps their mind from thinking about the society.

They do not realize their situation because they do not know any better or of any other ways of living. They are always being told their lives are good and that they are happy. In addition, they are all the same with no diversity. Because their society is not diverse, it cannot improve and there will not be any new innovations. There aren’t any chances to be different. If they are different, they are looked down upon and are sent to an outside island to make sure they do not disrupt the society. Also, they do not realize how unfair their situation is. Once they are born, they are stuck into a class, whether it is the upper-class (alpha) or the lower-class (epsilon). They cannot work hard and chance their social status. They do not realize they don’t have any freedom and that the leaders are the ones who determine their destiny.

Brave New World Blog 3

Mond and John discuss how the leaders in the society control people’s minds and emotions. Mond thinks the society is fine the way it is, but John thinks there should be a change. Mond tells John that science and religion need to be restricted from the people so the citizens won’t start thinking. People who philosophize could cause rebellions and could disrupt society. The leaders do not want people to read, learn, or be independent and think on their own. In addition, they do not want the citizens to be isolated or alone because this causes them to think. Also, Mond tries to explain to John that people turn to God and religion when they get old and realize they are mortal. In Huxely’s society, people do not fear death, which means there is no need for a God. On the other hand, John tells Mond that people should be able to be individuals and make their own choices whether it causes happiness or discontent. They should learn how to deal with problems and fix them and not to take “soma” whenever anything gets difficult. He doesn’t think people should take the easy way out.

Brave New World Blog 2

The purpose of sex and games is to keep the people’s minds occupied so they cannot think about emotions, question the society, or come up with revolutionary ideas that could ruin the society. The men and women are encouraged to sleep with the opposite sex with no commitment. Also, they are not supposed to have one partner for too long for fear they might start getting attached and having feelings for the other. After sex, there is just calmness and they only think about the opposite sex. They do not get caught up with thinking about religion or philosophy. The only philosophy that they do know about is Ford, who is somewhat of a god in this society. They say “Ford” instead of “God” since they do not even know about God. The quote “ending is better than mending” means that it is better to die or to throw something away than to try to fix it. In this society, people do not fear death and this saying helps them feel better about bad situations. Once they get old and their organs start to fail, they just give up and take a lot of soma instead of trying to get better. It is like history and the past are thrown away to make room for the future. All of these things control society’s mind and help make sure they do not try to think outside of what they know. They do not want people to start being rebellious.

Brave New World Blog 1

There are several aspects of Brave New World’s society that seem relevant today. First off, Huxely separates the citizens into a five class system with the alphas and betas on top, gammas in the middle, and deltas and epsilons at the bottom. This is like today except today’s society is divided into three classes based on wealth, which are the upper-class, middle-class, and lower-class. Next, Huxely makes all the characters look young, beautiful, and healthy. Today, the population is putting an emphasis on looking young and beautiful as well as staying healthy. In some cases this means getting plastic surgery, being on strict diets, or wearing certain clothes. Third, Huxely shows how his society avoids problems and stress by taking “soma”. By doing this, they never had to worry about anything. This is like today’s society except people take drugs or use alcohol to forget about their problems. Fourth, Huxely has all the people’s DNA altered for desired results. This is sort of like today except people are genetically modifying crops, not humans. They do this to have a better result to give the greatest crop yield.

I think Huxely’s vision of there being a utopia is the most far fetched aspect of the book. I don’t think there will ever be a state of total happiness even though people want it. The only way to do it is by not letting people be knowledgeable (which is the case in the book). In addition, I think the class system is far fetched. In today’s society, people would always want to get ahead and become part of the high society. They would not be satisfied in being in the lowest class.