I finished Brave New World recently, and I decided I couldn't wait until an official Brave New World Thread was started on here because I had a thought and i knew i wouldn't remember it if i waited. So here it goes:
*um, spoiler alert?*
Remember the part where John Savage was talking to Mustapha Mond after the riot? Mustapha and John start trading Shakespeare quotes and discussing philosophy, and Mustapha admits to being an over eager scientist in his youth. Then he starts talking about how he was seeking truth and how John was seeking beauty, and that was why he was going to be sent away, because truth and beauty destroy stability etc. etc. OMG, Grecian Urn anyone? Truth is Beauty, Beauty is truth, that is all you ever need know, unless it disrupts society, in which case it will get you voted off (on) the island for it.
So, with that idea, I'm going to go out on a limb and make some pre-class discussion deductions.
Humanity is the search for Beauty and Truth,
Beauty and Truth are volatile and lend themselves to an unstably society,
Brave New World strips society of Beauty and Truth, and thus humanity, to create a stable society,
A stable society will never be achieved (in the real world) because humans are by nature unstable.
I don't know if these things are true or not, but I think that would be the logic of the story.
Again, way out on a limb here, these are just my immediate thoughts after finishing the book.
What do y'all think?
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I know this is only relevant to Anna, but the writers/producers of LOST love Aldous Huxley. As a matter of fact, you can probably find a fairly direct parallel between a certain "savage" John and a scientifically minded doctor on the "Island" (another Huxley novel).
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, your logical connections here are fantastic. I don't even know if I need to say anything about Huxley's underlying purpose; this one is one of the most talked about in the literature on Huxley.
Bravo.
Mr. B
Anna. I wish I had your brain... Ya... Kudos to you for picking up on the Urn reference. I guess it really is the most written about line of poetry.
ReplyDeleteI think you're amazing, Anna. But you know that already. <3
ReplyDeleteIs humanity really searching for Beauty and Truth? Because also according to Ode to a Grecian Urn, they are "all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know". You're probably right, but then that just makes humanity silly. Why search for something that we not only know, but is the /only/ thing we know.
ARG. My confusion aside, lack of Beauty and Truth equals lack of humanity. So that emphasizes the point of the Brave New World dystopia degrading its citizens to be merely resources/machinery/nothuman, right?
Beauty and Truth often lead to passion, correct? Different types of passion perhaps, but like the convo in class earlier, passion is no good for the lukewarm-ly content society.
It's all in my head, but I can't convey it properly. This is so aggravating. D:<
Still, it's pretty impressive how Literature is like a giant web. Everything is connected SOMEHOW.
Anna, I like this logic very much. It seems to make total sense to me that this is the tactic that the world controllers in Brave New World employ to create their society. Instead of using fear to control their society, they pump it full of pleasure and construe truth and especially beauty, what with the constant orgy porgy that goes on, beauty is nonexistent as having sex with one person isn't really different from having sex with another in Brave New World. Great job as usual Anna! haha
ReplyDeleteAnna this makes a lot of sense! You said, “Humanity is the search for beauty and truth.” In searching for beauty, one is also searching for the opposite, ugliness. Additionally, when searching for truth, one is looking for falsehood. Humans separate beauty and ugliness as well as truth and falsehoods. Through this separation inequality arises. Humans naturally create inequalities to draw comparisons. These comparisons lead to competition, another innate human quality. In relating this logic to Brave New World, the humans of the novel were stripped of their ability to compete. If all individuals are placed into “castes” at birth, there is no possibility to contend against one another. For example, an Alpha cannot strive to be better than another Alpha. As Anna said, “A stable society will never be achieved (in the real world) because humans are by nature unstable,” similar to the way in which by nature, humans draw inequalities.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all but the last point, people look to find truth in their lives, and to seek out new truths, to discover and expand their horizons. People are also drawn to what seems beautiful to them, be it a sunset, a skyline, a painting, etc. Also, we get into conflicts over whose truth is more true, whose beauty is more beautiful. However, I think what the book is getting at is not that a stable society is impossible, but that a stable society is only possible if we give up what it is that defines us as people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with anna in that humanity is the search for beauty and truth. humans are unstable but i think that, while that is true, because they are looking for beauty and truth there can be a somewhat stable society achieved. i think that is all you need for a stable society, everyone trying to better themselves to achieve beauty and truth. but yes in our society there will never be a time when this is everyones desire and is therefore not possible. i like brendan is right, but heather is too. people are drawn toward things that are beautiful to them, but they don't know they consider beautiful if they don't know what is ugly to them.
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