Question+5

Rajan Khanna Brave New World Response Paper Problems- We Just Can’t Let Go  Although I can rattle off a decent number of books that take place in utopic or dystopic worlds (//Brave New World, The Giver, etc.)//, the reality of the situation is that I only know and have experienced one world during my lifetime. That being said, I have traveled quite a bit in my lifetime. I have been to Italy, Africa, India, Canada, Mexico, St. Johns Island, and Hawaii. Most of these places //seem// like different worlds than the western suburbs of Chicago. In fact, from my point of view, some of these worlds seem like utopias, (i.e. Hawaii and Italy) while others seem to have dystopic qualities. No matter how beautiful the place, the people, or the lifestyle was in any of these places, people still found problems. For example, even though the Hawaiians lived “in paradise”, they were generally unsatisfied with the lack of opportunities in “paradise.” On the other hand, people in India, a relatively poor country, were not completely depressed all the time. In fact, many people were happier than those of Hawaii or the western suburbs of Chicago. In //Brave New World,// Aldous Huxley sets his story in the most beautiful place with the most beautiful people and the most delicious food possible. To make it even better, everyone is engineered to be perfectly content with whom they are and to never want anything they cannot get. It is stated numerous times throughout the book that the stability that this civilization brings also brings its inhabitants happiness. On the surface, this seems to be a fairly logical statement. But in order for it to be true, there would have to be hard evidence to support it. Huxley highlights four characters living in this society throughout the book—Bernard Marx, Lenina Crowne, Helmholtz Watson, and John (the Savage). Bernard, Lenina, and Helmholtz are all originally from the Brave New World, and they are all highly ranked members of the society. As the most powerful members of this utopia, they should have nothing to complain about. However, they all seem to have severe psychological issues, especially after Bernard and Lenina return from the Savage Reservation with John. Bernard, even though he is an Alpha, the highest rank in the society, is a complete misfit in his society because he is short, which is extremely rare for Alphas. Lenina, who is an extremely beautiful Beta, has insecurities regarding her beauty and her relationships with other people. Helmholtz Watson has the most intriguing problems, however. He is portrayed as the man who all men want to be and who all women want to be with. However, he struggles to find a purpose in life, especially because he is a writer. John, the Savage, also does not fare well in the utopia after coming to live there with Bernard. After moving to the Brave New World, he is appalled by their hedonistic and seemingly meaningless lifestyle and eventually commits suicide, even though he is treated as a phenomenon. As we can see, all of the highlighted characters are unhappy with their lives. What is even more remarkable is that these people are the cream of the crop in a perfect world, and they still cannot be completely satisfied. From this occurrence alone, we can tell that Aldous Huxley is trying to prove a point. He is trying to show that no matter how good or bad a human’s situation is, they will always find problems. The prime example is Helmholtz Watson, whose situation is simply as good as it gets. Lenina Crowne, a woman who is called stunning in a society full of beautiful people, finds it hard to live her life. As we can see, human nature simply tends to create problems whenever they are living a relatively trouble-free stretch in their life. By creating these characters with pristine situations that still have problems, he is clearly showing how problem-oriented humans are. Throughout the story, Mustapha Mond, the World Controller, harps upon the word stability. He implies that stability leads to a virtual nonexistence of problems. However, as Huxley demonstrates throughout the novel, humans will find problems no matter what. Instead of trying to eliminate problems, people should try to solve the problems. Instead of trying to achieve security by preventing problems, Huxley is trying to show that people will benefit more from tackling whatever issues life throws at them head on. As a result, they will achieve personal confidence, which is much more valuable than security because problems will be created if they do not exist. Ultimately, Huxley is showing us that people have a choice of being confident or safe. He shows us exactly which path does //not// lead to happiness, so we only have one other option.

Rosanna Lederhausen Brave New World

It is safe to say that I like asking questions. Let’s be honest, during class I practically burst into speech when it is clearly someone else’s turn to talk in class. I am fascinated by questions. My most recent question, thanks to Aldous Huxley, is happiness. What it is? Was this possibly why he wrote this book? Why doesn’t he give us more clues as to what he is trying to inspire with his book? I mean in all of my fifteen years, it has been hard enough identifying my own questions. Fortunately, after a question is formed in my brain the fun part kicks in. Attempting to answer them. There are many ways to go about doing so with one of my own questions. I usually go through and see where the idea came from. Then work my way around that to make it have some sort of meaning. The question about happiness is a particularly difficult one. It made my brain hurt. Literally, I had to take a break between writing this. Happiness is involved in so many aspects of ones life. It is especially hard when every single person on this planet has a different idea about happiness. How could I know their definition of happiness when I have my own? To better understand this, I started thinking more about the importance of things being relative. I mean if I say hitting a ball into a hole eighteen times is fun, then its fun right? False. Most people would hate that, but for some reason I have been doing it for almost all my life, almost all year round, almost every single day. So relatively, I think its fun, and hey, I can even say that love it. For example, when all is white all you see is white. But when black and white are together you can more clearly see the differences between the two. Happiness is the same. If everyone is happy, you don’t know the concept of sadness because you simply can’t see it. Just as it’s the same with depressed people. Let’s take music for another example, to clear things up. If there were only notes on a page you wouldn’t hear the music. It is the silence between the notes that make you hear the music more clearly. Huxley writes about these ideas of white and black contrasts through the people in his book. He creates a perfect and “stable” society in which the people live. If Huxley wrote the book with all the main characters, like Bernard and John, as white happy people we wouldn’t be able to see his main ideas laid out. Obviously, Huxley is a writer, so he made the main characters black in order for them to stand out and make an impact. Huxley chose to make the gammas, betas, and all the others happy and somewhat unaware of things on purpose. It makes the book more interesting and his concepts clearer to the reader. So, I answered at least one of my questions today. I learned what Huxley was saying when he wrote the book about a perfect world with main characters that were all depressed. All he wanted to do with writing about these so-called “black” characters was to have them stand out and get his point across. That still leads me to the main question. What is happiness? Where is it in the book? So I looked long and hard to try to find this answer. Finally I came to a conclusion that while reading this book we need to look through different lenses, like we did first semester. These glasses, as I like to call them, help up point out the black spots that Huxley is trying to show us. The glasses that you wear are specific to your own ideas and experiences in life. The experiences that you have shape your glasses and alter the way you see the world. Personally, when I look through my glasses at the world Huxley has created, I am very fearful of that world. Honestly, if the world looks like that later I don’t have much hope, nor would I be excited about my future. I mean, really, do you want to be genetically modified to be whatever society wants you to be**.** Maybe you do want to be made a little stupider so that you can “preform” your job well. Who knows? When the people in the Utopian society put on their glasses, they see their world as magnificent, delightful even. They don’t see the horrific sides that we see, because they have never gotten the chance to look at any other world but their own. The Utopians are just looking at white on white. They can’t see the black, so this makes them happy by default. But, personally I see the white, black, purple, orange, and green at times because I love looking for patterns and learning about people. Huxley’s ideas about happiness are hard to look through with just one pair of glasses. From my perspective, I think that happiness only takes part in the book when describing how the world “should” work. Like Mond says, “ People are never alone”(234). To him, this is an amazing idea that everyone should follow. Why be alone and miserable when you can be with others and live a wonderful life. But, with my glasses I can see that I quite enjoy being alone and having time to think. But, in the glasses of the Utopians, they feel that being alone should be looked down upon. Huxley portrays Bernard as being quiet and to himself, but for this he is depicted as the black in all of the white. He stands out. Again, in the glasses of the Utopians standing out is bad, whereas I feel that standing out is a good way of reassuring that you are special. In a good way, not in the “my mother says I’m special” way. What have I learned from my analysis? Happiness comes from oneself and ones own perspective. Look at it this way. I can certainly feel that the people in the Utopia are unhappy. But that’s just because I look at them with my glasses. I feel like I have learned something important also about studying history. When we read about the past we sometimes react strongly about histories and cultures we study. But it is just because we are entering their world with our glasses. We see their world with our eyes. Not theirs. The good news is that we can decide what makes us happy. At least in the society we live. Some may even feel like the Utopians are happy and we should live that way. They have that right of course. Who is to say what ones own perspective of happiness should be. That’s the beauty of the free world. Lastly, Huxley shows us that it is important to understand the world, not just how we see it with our own eyes. Not even just about happiness in general. About everything. Someone once told me, “ You don’t see the world as you see it, you see the world as you are.” So, next time something happens to me in life, which it should, I will take a step back and view all the sides of the situation, whether its about happiness, cruelty, or just plain old friendship. Thanks Huxley.

Bridget Edith Gilmore Discussion #5

Progress and beauty is the name of the game. In the Brave New World everything is sterile. Diseases, annoyances, garbage, and pessimistic thinking have all been eliminated. With the use of science and technology, man can control his fate. Or does he? The civilians within are being oppressed and manipulated, many without the intelligence to be aware of this conspiracy, if that is the correct word for it. The Savage Reservation on the other hand is filled with violence, filth, disease, religion, and discomfort. But in the reservation, a person is at liberty to choose their own marital partner, fend for themselves, and navigate their own fate. However, the society itself has the capability to cause severe unhappiness, without //soma// for relief. In the book, Huxley explains that the reservations were areas where it was too difficult to industrialize. In AP European History, this reminded me of a chapter entitle “Lands that Time Forgot,” meaning countries that were left behind in the Industrial Revolution. This statement demonstrates the issues that arise from technology. Science has shaped and will further shape the world. Science allows me to type this essay, it allows me to have swift communication and transportation; however, science also leads to destruction, alienation, and through these things unhappiness. But as the people of the Brave New World are taught, “science is everything” (pg. 225).

But look what science has done to happiness. Now happiness comes in grammes, in flavors, in large quantities without negative repercussions. I think that Huxley, by showing the unhappiness of characters in the utopia demonstrates the negative impact that a lack of individuality can have on a person and the pressure society possess to cause people to conform. As a high schooler, is it more important to fit in or is it more important to be happy with who you are and what you like to do? Personally, I have always believed the latter. I would rather be my eccentric self, who loves to use an “expanded vocabulary,” who isn’t embarrassed to excel and be awkward simultaneously. I love being a leader, leading discussions, being voted MVP, being who I am. But in a //Brave New World// it is evident that those who are different like Bernard, who possess a different level of skill like Helmholtz, or have different beliefs like John are put on the fringe of society.

John doesn’t have a place where he feels he belongs. He only feels happy in isolation, but even solidarity is too much to ask for. John never feels truly happy or accepted, on the reservation he is left out despite his avid religious beliefs, and in the brave new world where religion is both irrelevant and unheard of so he feels misunderstood. Is john committed to unhappiness even in a world where everyone is supposed to be happy? What does this say about human nature? Can humans ever be truly accepted for what they believe in and for who they are or must they constantly be conformists? Must you always adhere to the rules of society?

I wish I could say I knew the answers to these questions. But, I do think that happiness for me is not just getting what I want but learning something in order to attain it. However, if this same satisfaction could be manufactured without any physical expense, it would be too tempting to resist especially if it was considered the social norm. This issue of conformity is seen easily when comparing and contrasting Bernard and Linda and the role of sex in society. Bernard is nearly forced out of the utopia to go to Iceland for not “having” women at the rate he was supposed to. On the other hand, in the Savage Reservation where people are bound to one person, Linda is chastised for sleeping around. This disparity in thinking also yields another question, what is the alternative? Should Bernard just have sex with other women in order to conform to the ideals of society? Likewise, should Linda not sleep with other men in order to avoid abuse and alienation? Is either punishment worse than the other? Well, of course that depends on the person and his or her sexual preferences. However, this demonstrates how the Brave New World and the Savage Reservation, while very different in approach, both have the capability to alienate those who are different and then put them on the fringe of society.

For me, to be human means to be able to control your existence, meaning your likes, dislikes, preferences, and talents. This is what I have always believed to some degree. No one can make him or herself a prodigy, some are born with talent, but I believe that with hard work you can shape your future. If I wanted to become a writer I could. If I wanted to become a veterinarian, I could (with the proper education). Is this notion only true because I have the resources? Maybe I really can’t control anything and none of the previously listed things are possible. After talking about our actual control in class, I am not so sure that if I wanted to pick up and leave Hinsdale as soon as I turn 18 and become a waitress in Colorado, spending the weekends snowboarding I would really be able to. There is no way my dad would allow me to “throw my life away” like that. He still thinks that my older sister shouldn’t be a high school history teacher due to her prowess in math. It’s easy to estimate his disapproval. Now how does this depict humanity? Is every society oppressive to some degree? Am I stuck in a caste just like the characters of //Brave New World// living their “utopian” community?