In Brave New World in the first chapter in the middle, Mr. Foster mentions that the earlier we mature the better our world would be. I disagree with this fact because if everyone matured early we would be in a very dull world. If we all matured there would be no comedians, who are the kids at heart.
I know that people need to be serious at times but, Mr. Foster from the book claims we all need to be serious at all times. I believe there are time when we need to go with the flow and laugh at the funny jokes.
I hope that people never lose their kid at heart because the world will be full of bland and ordinary people. We need those people who live life for the jokes of life. So remember you have to find a balance between being serious and being funny.
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I agree with Jessica, but only in some ways. I believe that kids should be kids and experience fun things that all of us have experienced as children. However for some kids, a little maturing would not hurt.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen the fifth grade elementary school kid that throws a tantrum, kicking and screaming on the floor, because someone took his cookie? This is merely one example of people who act five years younger than they really are.
Other than that, I completely agree with Jessica and oppose Mr. Foster. Let kids be kids. Let them play in the mud, ride on a swing, and climb trees. As for adults, it is alright to let your inner kid shine sometimes.
Actually, I have a different perspective. Maturing doesn't necessarily mean to lose humor or fun. I think it is possible to be mature, yet have a good time. When someone matures, they gain more wisdom. Therefore they are more capable of discerning what is right from what is wrong.
ReplyDeleteIn that case, not all jokes are wrong. For example, a joke about how a business worker accidentally wore slippers to work is perfectly mature, just as long as he thinks it is funny as well. However, a joke about a business worker who purposely ate beans to fart in a very important meeting in order to embarrass his boss is inappropriate and immature. See the difference?
So you see, becoming a mature person basically just means to rid yourself of any behavior that is not suitable for your age. Yes, children should be able to play in the mud, ride on swings, and climb trees. I know kids are known for immaturity and people are often told to "stop acting like children" as a way of saying "be more mature", but immaturity is in a child's DNA. They are programmed to be immature. Adults, on the contrary, are expected to have learned through their mistakes in life; to "grow up". Also, even though children do appear immature, they are growing more mature after learning from every mistake they make.
In that way, I disagree with Mr. Foster when he says everyone should be mature because maturity should take time. It should be a life goal, and not an immediate trait. I agree with him as well because it is a common knowledge that maturity is a good characteristic and it would be great for everyone to apply even a little maturity into their lives.
Although it is true that our interchildhood should always exist in us, there is a time when you have to grow up. I don't think he meant it as be serious all the time they way I took it is that we need to realize when being a child or acting like one isn't acceptable. In the real world people are not going to hold your hand our reach out to you when in need.
ReplyDeleteI agree with May. I haven't started reading Brave New World yet, but I agree that maturity does not mean you have to lose your humor and ability to laugh and have fun. Maturing is not a stage where you get to experience the excitement of becoming a dull and serious zombie 24/7.
ReplyDeleteIn most cases, it just means you're becoming a more knowledgeable person, where thankfully, you don't laugh at poorly thought out humor (e.g. when the class clown continuously keeps asking the teacher dumb questions and clearly on purpose just to get cheap laughs), and where you grow out of giggling at words like 'sex.' You're not as easily amused because your collection of experiences has expanded, and therefore your simple mindedness is not so... simple anymore. You've become more sophisticated and you can distinguish the difference between what's worth laughing at and what's not.
Moreover, I disagree with Mr. Foster. Just like they say happiness cannot exist without there being sadness first, maturity cannot exist if we don't know what immaturity is, and we can't have immaturity if the entire population is busy maturing early.
Though it might be easier if maturity was something we possessed since our date of birth, that's almost like saying we should all be the same age. There will be no age differences. No ten-year-olds, no twenty-year-olds, just a bunch of people in their 50s. And say having maturity around every corner wasn't already dull... having no diversity in age would definitely burst that envelope.
Therefore, having different levels of maturity is just like having a vast array of ages: it's what makes our world a more interesting and better place.
And another thing, even if Mr. Foster didn't mean it as everyone maturing towards the same level at the same time, then what good would that do? Even if we all began to mature at earlier ages and we still had diversity in our maturity levels, how would we know that even at that age, we would find it to be enough?
It's like changing the starting time of school. We say it'd be enough if school could just start at nine o'clock everyday, and we truly believe it'd be enough for us and for waking up to not be such a pain in the neck. But have you seen college students? Once they've become accustomed to new life, they can't even remember how they ever managed to open their eyes at six in the morning five days a week. After more nine o'clock days, there's more of a chance that we'd ask for more rather than be satisfied with what we've got.
The more we're given, the more we want. Another example is technology. No matter how much it improves, have you noticed it's still never enough? From dial-up to wireless, high-speed internet and it's still "it isn't loading fast enough, this computer sucks" constantly. From basic phones whose purpose was solely to communicate, to complex phones nowadays, it's still "UGH, my phone is crap, it doesn't have a camera or music storage, and there's not even any games!"
So why is it any different with maturity? If we all matured at an earlier age, there would just be someone else saying, "Why can't we just mature earlier? Things would be so much easier." If we kept having our way over and over, after a decade or two, maturity would probably be starting as early as development in the womb.
I agree with you Jessica, Mr. Foster says "Long years of superfluous and wasted immaturity. If the physical development could be speeded up till it was as quick, say, as a cow's, what an enormous saving to the Community" (Huxley 13-14)!
ReplyDeleteI believe this is a mockery of what childhood is, we were all kids once and we all definitely loved it and miss it. It is like Mr. Foster is saying being a child is a waste. Growing up too fast is not fun and i wish kids now would embrace being young. But on the other hand, it is irritating when kids our age are STILL making childish jokes and remarks, this subject just depends on who it is implied to.
I have not read Brave New World yet, but from reading from these responses to growing up and immaturity given me an insight to Huxley.
ReplyDeleteI beleive in a 'happy medium' of seriousness and immaturity, it is completely human to laugh at some childish jokes from time to time. To put it simply, there are times to laugh and times for buisness.
I dont think being mature means to be boring or 'square', but to be experienced, wise and understanding. Everyone matures eventually, others have diffrent humor and some are just born serious. What is great about this world is the variety of people. I mean, what is a world without the pranks and the silly lip-syncing videos? It's okay to laugh.
Humor is subversive, always. You can see how a political regime that is oppressive would fear and suppress humor. For example, a fatwa was declared against a political cartoonist in Sweden (I think it was Sweden...) when he portrayed the prophet Mohammed in a cartoon. Fundamentalists of all stripes and political extremists cannot abide jibes...do you think Hitler had a good sense of humor?
ReplyDeleteI am rereading this thread as I score your work, and really, in the context of the passage, isn't Foster talking about sexual maturity? I mean, why else would he talk about cows? You don't see cows running around cracking dumb jokes, or acting all serious. Cows can reproduce quickly. The connection to make here is to see the human being as a commodity to be exploited, like cattle. I'm going to have to go back and find the passage, but I'm ready to bet cold hard cash that I'm right.
ReplyDeleteAs I go back and look at the first chapter, I can see Mrs. Fletcher's point. The first chapter talks about reproduction, and how they can control it. They see mass production, of humans, as progress. The people there (Mr. Foster and the Director), try to get as many adults possible from one ovary. They use their process of fertilization to control the population. I believe this is similar to the manufacturing of goods. So in that sense, Foster is referring to sexual maturity. By achieving sexual maturity at a younger age, they can reproduce faster.
ReplyDeleteNow there is the question of whether it is a good or bad thing. It is hard to chose a side because who am I to question their society? Our society isn't perfect, so how can we criticize theirs? Although, the book teaches people different things from our society, that is how they were raised. I believe that sexual maturity at an early age may not be the best thing because it takes things away from being a child. But that raises the question of technology (e.g. televisions, computers, ipods). In their society sex is similar to the technology in our society. We grew up with this technology, and it would be difficult to live without it. In Brave New World, the children grew up with sex.
I believe if we took out sex in Brave New World, it would have the same effect as taking away technology in ours. However, I do not know if the outcome will be good or not. That is why I would have to say sexual maturity at an early age is neither good or bad.
I also agree with Melinda. As time moves on, things improve and get faster and better quality. Once things improve, people forget how they use to live and want the improve materials.
I know I'm not ready to go back to the stone tablet or even to the carrier pigeon, and ESPECIALLY not to pigeons forced to carry stone tablets. Highly inefficient and a little cruel.
ReplyDeleteoh back on the hitler thing, he probably did have a sense of humor because his mustache was inspired by his favorite actor Charlie Chaplin, who was famous for his silent films (which were mostly comedic)
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