Throughout the novel Brave New World, John puts his beliefs, ideals, and religion first. This is also the case in our world, many people let religion dominate their lives; it determines their actions, beliefs, and even personality and disposition. This is true for John as well, he lets his religion get in the way of his wants and aspirations. He puts his religion so far forward, he kills himself for it. He is repeatedly seen Flogging himself, not only for his own sins, but for the sins of everyone around him. We can even relate John to Jesus, they both died to repent for the sins of everyone around them, except for that John killed himself while Jesus was crucified. John couldn't accept this new society he found himself in, it went against all his religion preached. He is seen lusting for Lenina, yet his religion makes it so he can't be with her; this leads to John attacking Lenina, chasing her around calling her names. In our world, religion domination leads to even worse things; radical Islam has led to multiple terrorist attacks, including the September 11th attacks. Radical Christianity led to the Crusades, the Dark Ages, and the Spanish Inquisition, all terrible times of regression. Overall, religion itself isn't inherently bad, It's what people do with it.
-Dylan Rankin
I actually strongly agree with this statement. I read somewhere (I can not remember at the moment) that there was a hospital that was denying access to birth control to female rape victims. Since this was a Catholic hospital, and apparently (as I have done some research to not sound like an ignorant egghead) birth control is forbidden in the religion. Thus, the victims will have an unwanted child that they may not be able to support. There was also this news story on my instagram feed that a customer did not tip a waiter because they were homosexual. Since they were 'Christian' and homosexuals are not, in a sense, welcome in Christianity, decided not to tip them. Now, I'm not saying that you always have to tip the Waiter/waitress since it depends on the service, but the majority of the waiter's income is based on the tips that you leave them. They even wrote on the receipt, "Sorry, you were a great server, but God does not like you people. So, I will follow his will. Bad tattoo!" (the person had the gay pride flag tattooed on his inner forearm.) So, yeah, do not let religion take over your life, or you'll probably ruin some one elses.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely understandable and valid in many cases, but it does not mean that religion dominates society. There are many people who follow their religion passionately and they do it with consideration for others; they have empathy and respect for those who have different values. This could relate to how the media puts out all the negative stories, which is important, but they never really put anything positive. There are many religions where service to their community is something they value. Just because there is negative, does not mean there is not positive, and just the way there is positive does not mean there is not negative.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholly with your last statement: "Overall, religion itself isn't inherently bad, it's what people do with it." There have been countless acts of violence and terror in the name of religion, using religion as their purpose to justify their actions. These claims to religion have earned certain faiths a sense of hypocrisy, as many of these religions call to love others. However, the acts of individual people cannot be used to lump together the entirety of religious groups.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I take a different view point on John's actions regarding religion. It is not just his religion that says he can’t be with Lenina, it his belief. You see, without belief, religion becomes a mere set of rules, pointless without faith. But John believes in what he has been taught, and possesses a moral compass of right and wrong according to his beliefs. It is obvious that John likes Lenina; he wants her, yet he does not take action upon his lusts. This is due to his beliefs and principles, just as Lenina would not have married or given birth due to her principles. John finds that such intimate relationships outside of marriage are wrong, and Lenina finds the very thought of mothers horrendous. John’s reaction to Lenina undressing was not a correct or civil response, but in turn, Lenina should have asked if that was what he wanted first instead of forcing herself onto him as she did. It was unnecessary for John to attack Lenina and call her such names, but Lenina was not entirely in the clear either. Main point being that I believe John’s actions were wrong, but they were majority reaction, spurred by the actions of those around him that influenced his thought.