Instability, stability, happiness, uniformity. Which one do you prefer? Truth, pain, sacrifice, luxury, instant gratification. I don't think society exists in complete uniformity. I mean, society's got to be made up of individuals; and BNW's "civilized society" is just a bunch of robots. Thoughts are planted, minds are practically controlled, these "humans" are designed to go on a perfect and unquestioning assembly line (that's probably why Our Ford was their saviour).
Stability is not a long term success. Sacrifice is always necessary. Life can't be without pain. Utopia is fake. Mustapha Mond's vision of the happiness is something ironic. What is the use of happiness if you're always happy? No pain, no gain. It's a very materialistic world. It's tasteless and uninspired. Even death is straightforward happy. There's no passion.
You know, truth would set you free; but there is no reason to look for the truth. Everything is plain and smooth. The people are in a prison but the prison's disguised as Disneyland. I would be extremely depressed if I was either Bernard or Helmholtz. There they are - thinking that they should be feeling content but there's something itching. Bernard, especially, searching for something he's not even sure of. Finally, they realize there's an error (a big one). Unfortunately, nothing is fully understood. They'd rather leave to the Island where they can answer their own questions. Their desire won. Their happiness and fullfilment won over the chance to save society. Of course, they're only human.
I think there would always be pain if true happiness exists. Instability comes alternately with stability. Balance is key. Utopia/dystopias are always major fail. ):
Well ignorance is bliss, right? But I guess you can't be truly happy without first knowing what it's like to be sad. I also agree with you about Bernard and Helmholtz. It's better to feel than be a robot, but it must be lonely and depressing because even if they were to have a moment of true happiness, they'd still be alone surrounded by a sea of indifferent people. They'd still be given strange looks because they aren't artificially happy like everyone else, because they feel things that no one else knows how to feel.
ReplyDeleteI'm still reading Brave New World, but what you said about how Mustapha Mond's vision of happiness is ironic, and how the people are stuck in a prison disguised as Disneyland is also completely true. I didn't think of it that way before but it makes me look at the book in a different, better way now.
:)
I am going to have to agree with you on this one, Mika.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Melinda. Once upon a time, I was told by a wise man that people enjoy happiness a lot more when they have experienced what it is to be very sad. Sure people are happy, but then happier when they know what it is like to be sad. When I first heard this as a little kid, I thought to myself, "What the heck is this guy talking about? I have never been very sad, so does that mean I am not as happy, as someone who has been?". Then, I realized one day, that everyone is on their own level of happiness. There are many different perspectives and interpretations of supreme happiness. To me, since I haven't experienced what it's like to be severely unhappy, I have a different perspective on what it means to truly be happy. Does that make me less happy that someone who is happy after being severely sad?
I don't think that is the case at all.
In the book, everyone is happy with the same things and everyone dislikes the same things. In our world, what makes someone happy, can make someone else very sad, but in Brave New World, since everyone is conditioned to like everything that everyone else likes, there isn't a reason to be sad or mad at each other. Thus, acquiring the ulitmate feeling of satisfaction. Sure, to us this seems wrong, but of course it would. we aren't conditioned to like things as a whole society. Sure it's possible to be conditioned by our families and the media, but there are always a handful of people that disagree with their families and the media.
Like Bernard and Helmholtz and John in this society, of course we would be unhappy. Mika's analogy about being trapped in a prison that is disguised as Disneyland is dead - on accurate. Who can be unhappy in a society disguised as Disneyland? Only those who can see past so called perfection, and see what they are really in; a prison.
Great post. :]
I completely agree with you, Gabby. There is a major flaw in the one or more of the characters that causes them to fight the life that they are supposed to lead.
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