Q8

put entry of your choice


The novel Brave New World is an interesting book that is extremely hard to understand the contents. Brave New World talks about the world in the future, where the majority of people are living in a new world, called the Society. In the Society, the people are actually made, and they are manipulated by the technicians to have high knowledge or low knowledge. Depending on their abilities, the people are divided into a caste system. From the most talented to least talented, the people are distributed to Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Epsilon. Depending on what caste you are in, you have different kinds of jobs. If you are an Alpha, then your job is high quality job that needs a high quality mind. If you are an Epsilon, then your job is low quality job that doesn’t have special requirements. After the working hours are done, the people in the Society have free time, usually spent to have relationship with others. In the Society, there is a motto that drives everyone. The motto is that ‘everyone belongs to everyone else.’ Thus, there are no private things whatsoever. Anything that is private, the Society thinks that it is dumb and should be made public. Thus, even in relationships, everyone goes out with one another. In the Society, sex life is a thing that everyone started ever since they were kids. Spending a night with someone is more of a matter-of-fact thing for the people in the Society. Then, when the people are going through hardships or are depressed, they take soma, which is a type of drug that sends you to your own land where the mind is filled with happiness. Sadness doesn’t exist when you take soma. However, the sadness comes again when the effects of soma are gone. However, basically, the people are like people who were educated up to junior high school. They believe whatever they believed since they were young and they have no desire to stop believing it. However, there is one Alpha that refuses what he used to believe and wants answers to his questions. Later on, he finds the answers but he finds himself kicked out of the Society.
There are more details that are crucial in the novel but that is the basic summary of the story, which is confusing. To the people in the present world, the Brave New World doesn’t make sense. However, as the story goes on with Bernard meeting new people and going through many events, the novel tells the readers many things in the Society are happening in the world and some of them might happen soon. Brave New World is like a warning to the people in the present world to what might happen in the future. It’s difficult to understand but once the meaning of the book sinks into your mind, the novel is very interesting.

Q7

Are there any settings in this novel which you have found to be beautiful? or disturbing? or memorable?Describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.

The whole setting of the story is disturbing to me. The Society has rotten all the way and I don’t remember any settings in the novel which I found to be beautiful. However, there is one scene that is memorable. The setting is the setting where the Savages or the Indians live. I don’t like the traditions of the Savages or the people living in the place but the place is perhaps the last place where the Society didn’t take over, which is the reason why the place is memorable. In some way, the Society can be called as ‘contaminated area’, where people are contaminated by the drug soma and locked away from the freedom. The place where John lived, however, isn’t so wealthy or has good environment like the Society but it’s free from the rule of the New World. It is quiet. It is peaceful, the people living peacefully in the nature. In the Society, everything is artificial and it is loud with people talking and interacting with each other. I really don’t like the New World and I think that the concept of people are ‘made’, people relieving stress by taking drugs, and people being mind controlled by the Society. The New World may be perfect, with an easy way to forget hard times, and the happiness will never stop. However, I choose the world with hardships, pain, and with sadness. Instead of choosing the Lie, I would rather take the Truth, even though it may be painful because I seek for it and I think it’s more worth than accepting things that aren’t true. So, I think that the place where John used to live is the Truth and the Society is the Lie. Thus, the place where John used to live is more meaningful to me.

Q6

Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you.Why is this passage meaningful?Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

One passage from my novel Brave New World that is significant to me is ‘Everyone belongs to everyone else.’ When I read this passage, I was shocked. First of all, it didn’t sound right at all in my point of view and standards. To me, the passage ‘Everyone belongs to everyone else’ meant something like ‘Everyone owns everyone.’ In addition, in the novel, the people in the society start to have sexual relationships with different people every day since they are elementary kids. Some people have relationships up to four or five relationships a day, according to the novel. I am irritated about the fact that I have to read this book about people having sex daily with different people multiple times. The reason why the passage is significant is because it is wrong and very interesting in many ways. Nowadays, people say that they rule their own life. I agree with them and I am very proud to say that I am the one who’s in charge of life. However, the passage contradicts the concept of people in charge of themselves. Everyone belongs to everyone else meant that someone is a property of somebody else and that somebody else is a property of someone else and the someone else is a property of some other person, for example. Some weird people around the world would agree with the passage from the novel but they are some people who have mental retardation. I think that the passage is another way of saying the title of the novel, Brave New World because the passage ‘Everyone belongs to everyone else’ is like a law that exists in the society. The novel has an idea of everyone belonging to everyone else and becoming one big union of people. I once watched an animation called ‘Evangelion’ and the animation deals with people trying to be themselves, unique and special, while a director of a special organization bring an event which makes every single person in the world becomes a type of liquid called CLC and becomes united. The director himself became part of CLC but his intention was to change and unite humans in a form which they won’t harm the nature anymore. Thus, I think that the passage ‘Everyone belongs to everyone else’ has similar meaning from the animation that I watched.

Q5

What is the mood of this novel?What happens?How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The mood of the novel starts out as rather heavy mood although the first five chapters are merely explanations of the Society. However, the descriptions of the Society, at least it made me feel heavy mood because it was so outrageous and made no sense if you were human being. Babies were electrocuted to be educated, people were manipulated to become either stupid or smart, and no moral existed. Then, the mood changes into a shallow but thick mood as Marx is introduced and the life in the Society is described. The shallowness of the mood and the Marx’s life takes the story to Marx almost getting kicked out of London. At that point, the mood is very dark, with the Marx’s actions going under the laws of the Society. Marx breaks some rules such as lack of sex life and not taking soma periodically. The director of the Society calls Marx and then tells him to watch his steps or he will be out of the Society. Alarmed, Bernard immediately looks out for anything that will make him to regain the reputation and goes over to the town of Savages. The mood of the story changes to almost like a mist, as the story goes deep into how the Director and Linda are related and how John was born. Then, the flashback describes how John learned to read, write poems and literature, learn spiritual things, gain human qualities, and morals of life. Then, John goes to the New World with Bernard, when the mood changes to a very chaotic mood. John’s trying to adjust to the new environment but he’s interrupted by many meetings arranged by Bernard and Bernard goes on enjoying his authority. Later, Bernard gets kicked out of London and John commits suicide at the end of the novel, which the mood is rather sad and hard.

Q4

What is the climax of this novel? What happens?How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax of the story is at the end of the novel, where Bernard is finally kicked out of the Society and John tries to persuade the new Director to stop what he’s doing and spread the truth. The Director calls Bernard, John the Savage, and Watson. Then, He explains that he is the one who created the rule of the Society and he is allowed to break them. However, he tells Bernard that others in the Society are to obey the rules and orders people to send Bernard to somewhere else. Bernard struggles and begs to the Director to give him one more chance but he’s forced out of the Director’s room. Then, the Director turns to John and starts to talk about the Truth of why the Society was formed. The Director, from the safe, takes out the Bible and other books such as Shakespeare that hold the Truth to meaning of life. He tells John that he read the books and exactly understands the content of the books. Stunned by what the Director said, John asks why he locked everyone from the Truth and the Director says that there are many factors that make the world unstable. He tells John that in order to form the perfect world, or the utopia, that the factors must be erased. The Society is the only way to erase the factors, the Director tells John. John tries to make the Director change his mind and tries to convince that the people will be lifeless. Then, the Director calmly fights back against John by arguing that if he does allow the people to know the Truth, then everything will be ruined including the utopia.
This event is very interesting to me because I like the way how the author described the argument and how carefully he wrote the struggle between knowing the Truth and denying the Truth. John thinks that humans need to know the Truth and the Director thinks that the people will lose the ‘freedom’ given by the Society if Truth is exposed. In the end, John fails to convince the Director but at he doesn’t allow himself to be merged by the Society.

Q3

Who are the main characters in the novel?Do you like them?Why or why not?What is special about them?What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

Bernard Marx – Bernard Marx is the character that carries out major events throughout the novel. In the novel, Bernard is carefully described as a social outcast. Unlike the rest of his group, the Alphas, he’s short, and he thinks differently. Most of the time, Bernard spends his time alone, trying to answer all of the questions that he has, starting from the main question ‘What is the thing that is missing in this Society?’ Endlessly, Bernard pushes himself to find the Truth and the answers. However, his life starts to collapse since the beginning. Bernard is an example of how humans can not live without getting loved and he himself answers why he feels something is missing in his heart but he doesn’t realize it. Also, Bernard is an example of how humans can be greedy, proud, and start lust and wrath. After he brought the Savage to the Society, Bernard becomes a start and is respected by the Society. He gets pride and greed as his fame increases and shows uncontrolled wrath and other times, he desires lets himself controlled by sexual desires. Further in the novel, Bernard collapses and his life get corrupted. Bernard regrets what he has done over and over again but nothing helps him. Bernard is the character that is second closest to a real human being but I don’t like him very much.

Lenina Crowne – Lenina Crowne has perfect physical appearance and all men desire to spend a night with her. According to my comprehension and terminology, Lenina is simply a big prostitute. Lenina shows stupidity of being a coward to see new things. She is trapped in the Society’s standards and she only knows how to deal with situations that are in the standards. She’s a complete robot controlled by the Society. Lenina is an example of how weak humans can be if they are placed in low standards. In my opinion, Lenina is totally useless and I don’t like her because she’s corrupt.

John the Savage – Unlike Bernard and Lenina, John was actually born and has parents. John grew up in a tribe and learned human qualities. He went through many hardships and realized that humans do need to go through it. Once he meets Bernard and goes to the Society, he’s shocked by how corrupt the New World is. He tries to make the people realize what they are doing but he fails. While he’s in the Society, Lenina tries to spend a night with him and John refuses. John later steps out of the Society and commits suicide, after finally admitting that he has been contaminated by the Society and he can not handle it anymore. I like the way how he struggles to solve problems.

Q2

Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel?What are they, and how do they relate?Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved for "fixed"?

The world itself is slowly becoming a type of ‘Brave New World’. Today, many people are becoming like robots, turning away from the morals. In general, everyone in the world is craving for happiness. They want to be away from hardships and take the easy way out, and they don’t care whatever happens as long as they get what they wanted. It would be strange for someone not to have any desire at all, but, however, people are starting to desire for more than enough. For example, let’s say a kid wanted a toy car. Let’s say that he got his toy car on his birthday and as he grew up, he wanted an actual car. One day, he becomes a millionaire and buys his dream car. Once he gets the car, he wants to get the latest model of the car. He would buy it again and spend more money on cars. What I’m saying is that people today have way too much money and they don’t know how to use it. While they are wasting money, they lose their human qualities. They turn self-centered and don’t care about others. The novel doesn’t show any solutions to solve the problem, the expansion of dystopia. However, in the novel, through John’s struggle to fight against the Society, it is shown that if there is anyone who has a slight idea that something is wrong and has hope to change the world, then, dystopia can be changed and take a step towards utopia. Of course, the world never can be utopia, but it is possible not to be a total dystopia.

Q1

what is the major theme of this novel? why is this theme important to a teenger living in 2007?

I’ll get to the point straight away. The major theme of the novel, Brave New World, is that no such thing called utopia can exist in this world. The Society in the New World thinks that their society is perfect and is the ultimate utopia. Everything is perfect and everyone is happy, according to the society. When someone is not feeling good, they can take care of the problem by taking some soma. Everyone has their job and they get the reward they have worked for. It seems nice, everyone is happy, everyone gets what they have worked for, and there’s nothing wrong is the society such as murders. However, away from the Society’s perspective, the society itself is the problem. First of all, there’s a problem with the people. The people, since they were young, they were taught that only facts are important. No morals exist. The people heavily depend on a type of drug called soma to relieve their stress. They are encouraged to take some frequently. Since there are no moral, they give no honor when they are having relationships whether it’s dating or sexual. To be correct, the point of having relationship is to fulfill their sexual desires. Second, the leaders of the Society are the problem. They are no different from the people living in the Society but they just have better jobs. The whole society is corrupted and it’s more of a dystopia, a perfect dystopia, to be correct. To summarize the ideas, the major theme of Brave New World is that no such thing as utopia can exist in this world but if there is someone out there with a hope, then it can bring the world close to utopia.

The theme gives a major impact to teenagers these days because it forces the teenagers to see the world differently even if they don’t want to. To put in it other way, it’s a horrible way to make the teenagers change their perspective. Teenagers are hungry to have freedom. A type of freedom which they can do whatever they want whenever they want. They don’t want to go through hardships and want to take the easy way as solution to every problem. The situation is presented in Brave New World and it shows no utopia but a dystopia with no hope. The theme doesn’t make the teenagers to think back and go ‘Wow, I should start thinking more deeply about this moral and world,’ it forces their mind to think and go ‘Don’t be like this or it is yourself who will suffer for eternity.’ So, I think the theme can help the teenagers to grow mentally in a very good way.