Brave New World Discussion Questions
...the Utopian life. 4.Toward the end of the book, the controller Mustapha Mond sums up the benefits of living in the Brave New World Utopia: "The world's stable now. People are happpy; they get what they want, and they never want what they cant get." It sounds like perfection, and yet the world Mond describes is deeply, intentionally horrifying. Why? What exactly is so bad about the society of the future? Is there anything good about it, anything we could learn from and try to adapt to our own uses? --- The world Mond describes at the end of the book is horrifying because it show just how controlled the people of the Utopian society really are. He says “People are Happy” this is true yet scary because these people do not know any better. They are told they are happy, so they believe it. They do not know any other way of life. He goes on to say, “They get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get.” The people of this society are told what they want, not being allowed to think for themselves. This lack of free thought does not allow them to want what they cannot get, making them truly controlled. This society is bad in my opinion because of the loss of individuality. The people are controlled by the “soma” making every person follow the same way of life. I do not believe there is anything we could adopt into our society from this book that would be beneficial. 5. As dehumanizing and oppressive as teh brave new world Utopia is, the alternative in the "savage reserve" is in many ways worse - dirty, violent, unhealthy, cruel, uncomfortable. What point is Huxley making about human nature and the nature of human communities? Is his vision totally negative - or does the book hold out some shred of hope, some alternative mose that fosters both freedom and community? ---In comparing the two societies in Huxley’s book, we see that no perfect society exists. All human communities will have problems. Having John commit suicide at the end of the book shows how negative Huxley views humans. It makes the reader think there is no way to have freedom and community. 6. One of the most striking - and comic - aspects of Huxley's Uptopia is the way our sexual mores and assumptions have been turned on their head: monogamy is bad, passion is deviation, casual, meaningless sex is the socially approved norm. What is Huxley getting at here? Is there any expression of human sexuality that he finds acceptable? Is sex at the hear of the "problem" in his view of human nature? --- Huxley was trying to show how as a society anything “fun”, in this instance the casual, meaningless sex, is what feels good, and what feels good must be right. The human emotions are what make things bad, the thought process, the depression, the guilt over right and wrong. These are what Huxley believes to be at the heart of the problem. 7. Talk about the morality of the book. Is it a christian morality? Socialist? Anarchist? --- The morality in Huxley’s book is almost non-existent. There are definitely no indications of Christian morality. The society is just a free for all. Socialism plays a role just in the fact that the government controls all of the money and how people spend their money. There is no part of an anarchist society in Huxley’s book. There are definite rulers, and they are in control of all. 8.In many ways, the main characters of the book are cartoon figures - Helmholtz Watson the alienated superman, Brenard Marx the cowardly, hypocritical intellectual, Mustapha Mond the cyincal all-knowing leader, John the doomed idealistic. Discuss the book as an allegory and elaborate on what each character stands for. --- Brave New World has the characteristics of an allegory, with each of the characters symbolizing a virtue or a negative trait of society. Watson represents those who speak big words, but have virtually nothing to say. Bernard Marx symbolizes the virtues or traits that we do not want. He is depressed, lonely, moody, and physically deformed. Mustaph Mond could be thought of as a “father figure” of sorts. He is in control, diplomatic, and gentlemanly in his dealings with the society. John, the “savage”, is a symbol for the person striving for happiness, yet totally lost, a man trying to free himself. Lenina represents the aspects of human nature where feelings win over intelligence. 9. When John first starts reading Shakespeare, he discovers that the words make his emotions "more real" -they even make other people more real. Talk about the power of language in the book, the power of the word to influence thought and behavior. Why did Huxley choose Shakespeare as the medium of Johns intellectual awakening? --- The written word can be a powerful medium, such as Shakespeare is to John. John uses Shakespeare’s words as guidelines to how he believes life should be. Huxley c...