"During the first days, the Savage lived alone and undisturbed." (pg. 246)
This chapter was just weird. I honestly could have done without it, although I'm sure it's very important. I wasn't really all that surprised when John killed himself. He never would have been able to handle living like this, so this was kind of his only out-not that I'm promoting suicide. I just couldn't see him being okay with people gawking at him all the time.
I enjoyed reading Brave New World much more than Never Let Me Go because I felt it was much more engaging. And I liked in the end that there were islands and people like Helmholtz weren't just killed off. I do have to say that the ending of BNW did not have the shock factor of NLMG.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Brave New World-19
"'Art, science-you seem to have paid a fairly high price for your happiness.'" (pg. 232)
I think these last few chapters were Huxley's call to action. Don't sacrifice things like religion, art, and science for a stable "happy" world. Without these types of things, people lose their humanity.
I like how science was noted as one of the things people lost. The whole book is very scientific, but this is a very limited form of science. Scientists can only study and do what their told; there's not room for them to think and ask their own questions. I see this world as very gray. There's no beauty or inspiration or passion because that would be a threat to the stability. There's no room to create, or even think for yourself.
I think these last few chapters were Huxley's call to action. Don't sacrifice things like religion, art, and science for a stable "happy" world. Without these types of things, people lose their humanity.
I like how science was noted as one of the things people lost. The whole book is very scientific, but this is a very limited form of science. Scientists can only study and do what their told; there's not room for them to think and ask their own questions. I see this world as very gray. There's no beauty or inspiration or passion because that would be a threat to the stability. There's no room to create, or even think for yourself.
Brave New World-18-Implied Metaphor
"'You cannot pour upper-caste champagne-surrogate into lower-caste bottles.'" (pg. 223)
This metaphor means that a high-class person can't live the life of a low-class one. In this society, I have to agree. People are so well conditioned that anything out of their ordinary isn't okay. Their taught that this is there station in life, and that's all there is. For our culture though, I do think it's possible. For someone who's lost their job, they may not have a choice to take a job that isn't quite up to par with their previous level of work. It's necessary to make sacrifices like that to make a living. The people of this book, though, don't have to worry about losing their job because their economy is stable, and the word sacrifice isn't even in their vocabulary.
This metaphor means that a high-class person can't live the life of a low-class one. In this society, I have to agree. People are so well conditioned that anything out of their ordinary isn't okay. Their taught that this is there station in life, and that's all there is. For our culture though, I do think it's possible. For someone who's lost their job, they may not have a choice to take a job that isn't quite up to par with their previous level of work. It's necessary to make sacrifices like that to make a living. The people of this book, though, don't have to worry about losing their job because their economy is stable, and the word sacrifice isn't even in their vocabulary.
Brave New World-17
"Grief and remorse, compassion and duty-all were forgotten now and, as it were, absorbed into an intense over-powering hatred of these less than human monsters." (pg. 212)
John has pretty much lost his mind. I completely agree that these people need to be freed, but randomly running around causing havoc is not the way to go about that. I'm surprised the Deltas didn't kill him for taking their soma. This doesn't seem like the kind of society that tolerates this type of thing, so I don't think these guys are going to be alive for much longer.
Bernard's reaction to the whole thing was, I thought, understandable for the kind of person he is. I have to say, I'm really surprised he didn't just run away. He's shown himself to be very fickle when it comes to friends, so I thought he would deny it when the guards asked if he were friends with them. It may not end well for him, but at least he wasn't a coward.
John has pretty much lost his mind. I completely agree that these people need to be freed, but randomly running around causing havoc is not the way to go about that. I'm surprised the Deltas didn't kill him for taking their soma. This doesn't seem like the kind of society that tolerates this type of thing, so I don't think these guys are going to be alive for much longer.
Bernard's reaction to the whole thing was, I thought, understandable for the kind of person he is. I have to say, I'm really surprised he didn't just run away. He's shown himself to be very fickle when it comes to friends, so I thought he would deny it when the guards asked if he were friends with them. It may not end well for him, but at least he wasn't a coward.
Brave New World-16
"...as though any one mattered as much as all that!" (pg. 206)
I'm not really sure how I feel about how the people of this society treat death. They look at it just as a fact of life, and this eliminates all the sadness from it. At the same time, these people are all alone. They're conditioned to be okay with that, but still. I obviously can not understand how they feel, but I don't want to die in a hospital room all alone. At least Linda had John.
John's about to go do something crazy, and I don't think it's going to end well. First the thing with Lenina, then his mom dies. Especially in a society focused on stability, John is very unstable right now.
I'm not really sure how I feel about how the people of this society treat death. They look at it just as a fact of life, and this eliminates all the sadness from it. At the same time, these people are all alone. They're conditioned to be okay with that, but still. I obviously can not understand how they feel, but I don't want to die in a hospital room all alone. At least Linda had John.
John's about to go do something crazy, and I don't think it's going to end well. First the thing with Lenina, then his mom dies. Especially in a society focused on stability, John is very unstable right now.
Brave New World-15
"Twenty-two years, eight, months, and four days from that moment, a promising young Alpha-Minus administrator at Mwanza-Mwanza was to die of trypanosomiasis..." (pg. 187)
Obviously, none of my predictions were right. Society doesn't change if they're still using the caste-system twenty-two years from now. I have to say a revolution wasn't really looking that promising anyway, but I still hoped.
My predictions about Lenina and John could not have been farther off. I thought that she might come to love him, but I think she's so well conditioned that love may not even be possible for her. I was not at all expecting that reaction from John. I think civilization is making him lose his mind. I'm not saying he should have been with her, but I was shocked by his violent reaction. Lenina, on the other hand, should have used some common sense to see that he wasn't going for it.
Obviously, none of my predictions were right. Society doesn't change if they're still using the caste-system twenty-two years from now. I have to say a revolution wasn't really looking that promising anyway, but I still hoped.
My predictions about Lenina and John could not have been farther off. I thought that she might come to love him, but I think she's so well conditioned that love may not even be possible for her. I was not at all expecting that reaction from John. I think civilization is making him lose his mind. I'm not saying he should have been with her, but I was shocked by his violent reaction. Lenina, on the other hand, should have used some common sense to see that he wasn't going for it.
Brave New World-14-Couplet
"'Oh! she doth teach the torches to burn bright.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night...'" (pg. 178)
This couplet, obviously taken from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is very important to John. He sees himself as Romeo and Lenina as Juliet, but the problem is that she just sees him as another man she wants to be with. Helmholtz has not only never heard Shakespeare, but he has never heard most of the themes within them. I'm not surprised when he laughs about love. In a way, it's the same thing as when I laugh about their lack of love. They're two very distinct cultures, and they don't really have much in common. I'm surprised that John was that offended about Helmholtz laughing, because at this point, he should recognize that these people don't view love and marriage as he does. Shakespeare is supposed to be banned, but they're all reading it, so if they're caught, they're going to be in a lot of trouble.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night...'" (pg. 178)
This couplet, obviously taken from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is very important to John. He sees himself as Romeo and Lenina as Juliet, but the problem is that she just sees him as another man she wants to be with. Helmholtz has not only never heard Shakespeare, but he has never heard most of the themes within them. I'm not surprised when he laughs about love. In a way, it's the same thing as when I laugh about their lack of love. They're two very distinct cultures, and they don't really have much in common. I'm surprised that John was that offended about Helmholtz laughing, because at this point, he should recognize that these people don't view love and marriage as he does. Shakespeare is supposed to be banned, but they're all reading it, so if they're caught, they're going to be in a lot of trouble.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)