I find it quite odd how much the people in Brave New World discuss that stability is very important. Not only that, but they say that it's the primal and ultimate need. However, while Mustapha Mond is talking about this with the students, Lenina is conversing with Fanny and Fanny is telling her that she must not be so committed with Henry Foster. She specifically tells her that she must be more promiscuous. If stability is so important, then why do they encourage promiscuity? How can there be stability in a relationship if both the man and the woman in the relationship are continually with others? I believe Huxley made both of these conversations occur simultaneously so that the readers could open their eyes and make the questions stated above. The reason why in our culture (although this has decreased) it is taught to wait until marriage or wait until we are more mature to have sex, it is because that way we won't be promiscuous, which could lead to being in relationships only for sex. Hence, these relationships would be unstable since there is no real connection between the couple. Instead, we are taught to start off the relationship with that connection. In the book, the characters are taught to be promiscuous since a very early age, which would lead to unstable relationships when they are older. Therefore, it is contradicting to what they say that all they do is in order to have stability throughout the people.
Mario Ayala
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The fact that there is no connection between the people is what helps keep the stability of the utopia. In order for the government to keep having control over the population it has resolved to provide the people with endless happiness. It allows the people to have sex at any time because it is a basic want in humanity to reproduce and provides pleasure. The people have sex stops the people from realizing they're under the government's control.The utopia is mass-production based and ,because of that, it makes its people enjoy buying things. When Mustapha Mond says stability he does not mean a person's feelings he means a stable amount of people consuming so that business and the government can thrive.
ReplyDeleteWhile i understand what you are saying, you have to remember that in the Huxleyan society a relationship does not exist. Furthermore in the opinions and morals of society, being promiscuous and not becoming attached allows for individual stability
ReplyDeleteTraditional relationships are a thing of the past in Huxley's world. Stability is kept up through the fact that everyone belongs to everyone else. If they didn't have open relationships, jealousy, anger, lust, and greed would run rampant. In this way, all of their negative emotions are funneled into outlets: soma and promiscuous relationships. Thus stability is maintained and relationships are to be had without heavy emotiona baggage.
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