As I read Brave New World, I start to really question how Aldous Huxley really saw our future. The motto of the society is "Everybody belongs to everybody else" or "Everybody works for everybody else." Also, perfecting babies and placing them in castes, just by depending on their biology when in the decanting process. The book was published in 1932 and now its been 85 years since then, but I don't see this happening.
Bernard, one of the characters of the book, doesn't agree with the ways of their society and believes that the old ways would be better. Like for example, when he goes out with Lenina, he does most things other men wouldn't like wanting to talk with her instead of taking her out to games or events in the society. He really likes her, but doesn't like the idea of Lenina sleeping around with other men, basically doesn't like that they're treating her like meat. What really gets him mad is that she's okay with the idea of being meat to other men, like she's being passed around men after men after men and he gets upset about it.
Another idea this society has is castes. There are many books I've read where there are castes like Divergent, The Selection and The Hunger Games, though they are divided by districts, but same concept. The lower the caste you are, the more discrimination you get from the higher ones. We live in a society today, where we're all created equal. That's the idea they want us to have, but we can see that we sometimes discriminate those who we see as below us. For example, in the 17th and 18th centuries, many whites believed they were higher than black slaves. They were seen as trash and unworthy, these slaves also had to tolerate the abuse of their masters until the 1950s, when the civil rights movement began.
So, we're slowly becoming the society Huxley described in Brave New World in today's world. But what do you think? Are we really becoming the world described in the novel? Can we change in time to avoid this kind of future for these next generations?
- Chelsy Rodriguez
Well there are problems with our society still facing racism and discrimination but the good thing is that we recognize that as a bad thing, and we hope to change that view and mindset that those people have. That's what I think is the beauty of our society, if we see something that isn't right we hope and strive to change that for a better future. So I don't believe that we are becoming like the society in the novel. :)
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ReplyDeleteI feel like Huxley wrote this book specifically to warn us about what our modern society may become. Like in many of the other posts, many mention the similarities and parallels between Huxley’s society and ours. In one of Huxley’s chapters, he mentions that Alphas date other high caste members such as Betas, never an Epsilon. In other words, the higher caste do not date the lower caste; in fact, we see that today. Many monarchies (royalty) only marry to nobility, and Jewish only marry Jewish. I agree that we are slowly becoming the society Huxley describes in Brave New World.