Brave New World Journal #3

Topic C

This book is a warning of society's focus on easy living and lack of struggle in life, the mindset we have of getting rid of anything unpleasant, as opposed to working through it. The mindset of happiness being linked with a lack of effort or critical thinking. The authors vision is very believable, of course it is an over-exaggeration of the idea, but still, it correctly demonstrates the dangers that lies with a lack of individuality and the neglect of the pleasures that lies in the struggles of life. The alternative that the author gives us is to rid ourselves of some modern day conveniences. He shows this through John; he can't handle the society because of it's lack of individuality and focus on stability rather than freedom, so he leaves to purify himself without any of their conveniences. This makes no sense to the citizens of the society because they are so stuck in their ways and have never considered another way of life; they are blinded. This is what the author is trying to tell us, that we are blinded, that we are caught up in the trend of easy life. This is why this book was written.

Brave New World Journal #2

Topic B

Bernard is the obvious character who is involved in a struggle against his society. Bernard is victimized by being treated the same as everyone else, but because he is "abnormal" by society's standards, this has a negative effect on him. Everyone else in the society is happy to be treated the same, but Bernard is not. He resists the lack of individuality in society by attempting to have a relationship in a different way than what it is supposed to. In this society, relationships are supposed to be strictly sexual, but Bernard wants a real relationship that includes emotions. This is not successful because he is the only one who wants this. He cannot break the conditioning of the rest of the citizens of this society. They are all trained so well that no matter what he says or does he cannot convince even one person (Lenina) to try his radical idea of a relationship. After behaving in a way that was socially abnormal, Bernard is reprimanded by a person of authority. Even though he is threatened to be excluded from the society, Bernard is happy because even thought it was negative, he was recognized as an individual for the first time in his life. "in the thought that he stood alone, embattled against the order of things; elated by the intoxicating consciousness of his individual significance and importance" (Huxley 66)

Brave New World Journal #1

Topic A

"'Think of water under pressure in a pipe.' They thought of it. 'I pierce it once,' said the Controller. 'What a jet!.'
He pierced it twenty times. There were twenty piddling little fountains. (...) Mother, monogamy, romance. High spurts the fountain; fierce and foamy the wild jet. The urge has but a single outlet. My love, my baby. No wonder these poor pre-moderns were mad and wicked and miserable. Their world didn't allow them to take things easily, didn't allow them to be sane, virtuous, happy. What with mothers and lovers, what with the prohibitions they were not conditioned to obey, what with the temptations and the lonely remorses, what with all the diseases and the endless isolating pain, what with the uncertainties and the poverty- they were forced to feel strongly. And feeling strongly (and strongly, what was more, in solitude, in hopelessly individual isolation), how could they be stable?" (Huxley 27)

This metaphor is a good representation of the mindset of this society. Emotion only leads to pain and misery. In the old society (similar to our current society), the single piercing in the pipe represents family life, how there was too much love and concern for each individual. In their eyes, this led to "mad and wicked and miserable" people. Strength in society lies with the lack of emotion. Towards the end of the passage, Huxley writes about how strong feelings leads to instability. In this society, instability is the worst possible thing on earth. Everything must be stable and efficient, and if anything is not, things go wrong. This is why all of the people in the society are conditioned exactly the way that the elite members want them to be, because this creates a stable society. Instability is feared more than anything else in this society, and instability is brought on by the presence of emotion. This is why all members of the society are taught to not become emotionally attached to other people, which is one of the reasons why Bernard is viewed as abnormal, because he feels emotions towards Lenina. This passage shows the society's main views on life.