While
reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley,
I noticed multiple similarities between the social positions of Helmholtz and
Bernard despite their obvious differences. The two seem to be unlikely friends,
but they have much more in common than what meets the eye.
Bernard and
Helmholtz are different from the rest of the perfect society presented in Brave New World. Whereas Bernard lacks
certain physical aspects, Helmholtz has too much mental capacity. Bernard is
estranged for being almost less than what an alpha of his status should be, and
there is a rumor that when he was still a fetus that alcohol was accidentally
put in his blood surrogate, stunting his growth. Unlike Bernard, Helmholtz is loved
by all, yet those superior to Helmholtz discuss that he was “perhaps, […] a
little too able” (67). It can be seen that whereas Bernard was low on the
scale, and Helmholtz was at the top, both were criticized: Bernard for not
being good enough and Helmholtz for being too good. I find that in today’s
society, this is also an issue.
As students, sometimes the kids that aren't smart
enough, normal enough, social enough, or funny enough get left out as friend
groups are formed. Sometimes, they become the target for being made fun of or mocked.
On the flip side, students who have good social standing, high grades, talents,
and are what some would call popular get talked about behind their backs and
every flaw is nit-picked because they are supposed to be “perfect.” I feel this
is a big issue, but largely due to the group that makes up the middle ground. Those
that mold right into what society says that they should be, people such as
Lenina and Fanny Crowe in Brave New World,
are most often the ones spreading rumors and excluding others, as seen in the novel.
This issue isn’t just taking form in teens, but as in Brave New World, this issue continues into adulthood, as the
immature whisperings circle around the factory in the novel.
In Brave New World, everyone has the same
basic interests and principles. To take soma,
to love your class, to look down upon the lower classes: these were the
socially normal and acceptable, mass-produced personalities of the common person.
Anyone who stepped outside these lines was immediately ridiculed. Today, we
have a broader understanding of each other, as equality and unity in our
uniqueness is the primary goal, but isn’t it interesting that even with this
mindset, there remains to be such exclusion? I wonder what it would be like if
we all saw each other as fellow human beings equal in creation, and respected each
other for our unique qualities, instead of judging people for having those
differences?
Hannah Rockwood
It's never going to end, the exclusion that exists. For so long as personal agendas exist, so will exclusion and gossip co-exist. We live in a society, as do Fanny and Lenina, where self-appraisal is pursued, where feeling good is the only thing that matters. From our society to the Brave New World, nothing changed in wanting pleasure for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, pleasure for ourselves can come from many different things, including the destruction of others. I agree with everything you said, but the thing that caught my eye was that the bulk of where the gossip comes from are from those in the middle ground. I realized that the reason why people in the middle ground have so much to say is because they're in the middle, with two people on each end. They have to both scrutinize the weak and find flaws in the strong. That's why Bernard was both scrutinized while he was still known as the one with alcohol in his surrogate, and Bernard was heavily dropped for having the flaw of failing to bring the Savage.
I do believe that we are all human beings equal of creation, but I don't think it's our differences that separate us but rather our greed for being in the top.