Monday, November 21, 2011

First Brave New World Reading Response

Conformity is created through the use of color-coded castes with titles such as Alpha, Beta, etc. People are conditioned to want to be a part of whatever caste they're born into. It's an unequal system, but the lack of desire people have to interact with other castes at least maintains some sort of equality in that people only interact with those in their own caste.

This society wants to say they have no religion, but their worship of Ford and their seemingly religious practice of waiting together for the great coming speaks otherwise. This 'church' is state enforced, too, giving off even more overtones of a state religion. This unity that people feel (and the fact that if they were to oppose this 'religion' they would surely be punished) helps prevent conflict. There are no conflicts with relationships because everyone is incredibly promiscuous. In fact, any sort of stable, committed relationship is frowned upon. A person is seen is dirty if they don't have multiple partners. In terms of individual rights and emotions, "When the individual feels, the community reels" (Huxley 103). After all, if someone were to have a certain emotional reaction to something, while someone else had the opposite reaction, (for example, anger and joy) there would be a conflict. By having personal emotions looked down upon, it discourages these conflicts.

Although the majority of people in this society are happy, this is a dystopia. Since everyone is born into separate castes and conditioned to enjoy the caste they are in and not associate with other castes, a sort of widespread societal contentment is created. It's a dystopia, however, because any sort of individuality is crushed. If someone wishes to have only one partner and wishes to commit solely to them, they're looked down upon. If someone has any sort of feeling about something, you are looked down upon. A person might be happy with the way things are, but they still cannot do as they might please.

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