In the first few chapters of Brave New World, it talks about children being able to have sex for pleasure. If we as a society approve of children having sex, it's not only being okay with it, but would bring devastating consequences by raising a generation that would be lost. The generation would devalue their morals. When they start to do this they not only lose respect from the society, but they also lose respect from themselves. However, with losing that respect it begins to destroy their identity little by little. I would like to ask who are we without our identities? Well, we can see the difference between someone who knows their identity and someone who doesn't with John and Lenina. John stays true to his morals, leading him to an identity of a strong character. Since, Lenina has no morals whatsoever this makes her weak in which she can't make her own choices. On exterior one would think that they live in a perfect world, but on the interior you will see all the imperfections. They have no more morals, no identities, and can't even think their own thoughts without taking soma afterward. What we consider our morals and living a stability life they would think of it as being in a prison. As I was reading this book I began to think that this utopia is slowly becoming true, but is this the way you would want your children to live their life?
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I think that open childhood eroticism and the destruction of morals and identity are completely unrelated. This link that you have created seems a little farfetched. Sex is a very natural thing, whether the reason for it is to have a baby, or simply for the pleasure. Children are very curious and it is not uncommon for them to experiment with a friend, yet this does nothing to change their personality. In the Huxleyan society, sexual activity is accepted and even encouraged, making it morally acceptable. Furthermore, while the lower class members of society are not very individualistic, that is due to them being identical to each other. The upper class citizens, however, all have separate personalities, even though their opinions may be different than our own.
ReplyDeleteI oppose Nick's comment because I think childhood eroticism and the destruction of morals are directly related. When morals perish, people will obviously begin doing bad things. In our world, adolescents take drugs and get each other pregnant. In the Brave New World, they have the exact same thing but with different names: soma and the children's erotic games. The children should not be doing these things so young, but they think it's normal because they've never seen anything different.
ReplyDeleteSEX, it's bad! Why is sex so bad when one is young but when you are older it is normal? I believe that sex has had a bad connotation for the reason that the outcome is reproduction. What is worse than a child without a parent or a child having a child. When one is older there is more awareness of the consequences of sex but even then accidents occur. People have just made it sound bad and forbidden so a twelve year old won't be running around being a mother. Of course back in the day being a mother at twelve was normal; now we have goals set for ourselves and the need for people to aspire. It is true that when one has sex with multiple partners respect is lost and identities as well.
ReplyDeleteAHHHH!!!! Finally someone that can see how sex has a bad connotation, that our society has only recently, in relation to the span of mankind, developed. Society also sugar coats sex with phrases such as "making love". I'm not condoning having sex all the time with a bunch of different people, that's rather disgusting. I'm just saying that society should be so prude.
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