Sunday, November 20, 2011

Reading Blog #1: Brave New World

In Brave New World, the government creates equality and conformity by conditioning everyone at a young age. The people in the society believe that everyone is equal because they know that all people are "physico-chemically equal". The government also creates conformity by separating everyone into a caste and making people dress according to their caste. 
In their society, religion, art, and literature are all eliminated. By eliminating these factors, conflict is also reduced. These three factors all encourage people to question their surroundings, so without these, people don't know to analyze and think about what's going on. Also, to ensure that everyone loves the caste they're decanted into, they hear things when they sleep according to their caste. For example, the Betas hear "Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I'm so glad I'm a Beta" (Huxley 40). After hearing this multiple times per night, the children learn to love who their are and their caste. This in turn reduces conflict.
The government makes everyone happy by telling everyone that they're happy. For example, when Bernard asks Lenina, "don't you wish you were free?" she responds by saying "I am free. Free to have the most wonderful time. Everybody's happy nowadays" and then Bernard says "Yes, 'Everybody's happy nowadays.' We begin giving the children that at five" (Huxley 101). This shows that the government has been telling 5 year old children that everyone is happy and the children believe it. Also, in there society, there's such a thing as "soma" which can be taken to make one feel happy. This cures most of the gloominess in society. 
The society in Brave New World is a utopia. Everyone genuinely believes that they're happy, except for strange exceptions like Bernard, and everyone is perfectly content with their status in life. Although to us the government's way of decanting babies and forcing people to like the caste seems horrible, most people in their society like the government and the way everything works. So, for them, it is a utopia.  

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