~Community, Identity, Stability~

Continuation...
Another post is due for Brave New World because I find this book containing such rich metaphors that it is a rip fertile ground to harvest.

To start with one, take all the characters in the book. I found it very interesting that none of the characters were definitively heroic, neither perfect nor entirely likable.

First, the Savage is the "hero" of the story but as the story progresses he is not completely heroic. His act of heroism lies in resisting the "masses" and sticking to his beliefs, choosing a life of imperfection, hence discomfort and unhappiness. This is what sets him apart. Yet he is unrestrained, rash, violent and towards the end turns into an extremist, going through great lengths to set himself apart from the world.

And there's Bernard Marx, he starts off as the one most disconnected to the capitalist mentality and society. He is attune to his emotions, not fearing solitude and preferring to go against conventions. Yet, once he brings the Savage back and his presence gives him popularity, he changes. Marx becomes a prideful buffoon salivating in the limelight the Savage brings him, the attention he now gets from the ladies that before ignored him and found him weird, the inclusion and acceptance as part of society, whom before relegated him to the sidelines. This drastic change brings about the revealing of his imperfections and his nature: just a man longing to be accepted.

Then there is the writer, HELMHOLTZ WATSON . His role in the story plays a dual part, one of giving the reader a glimpse of the yearnings of a writer and portraying the importance of solitude, innovation and the breaking from convention that is necessary to indulge in the art that is writing. His is a character that proposes and confirms that idea that writing is an act that cannot be streamlined by the media, by society nor by the governing rulers and their ideals. Writing is a task entirely apart from all those aspects of life. It is an act of disengaging oneself from the surroundings and revealing the connotative that therein lies.

These three main men, all play an interactive and integral role in humanizing the story told to us readers in this book and further concretizes the ideas herein presented. This books isn't so much an intricate plot driven story but a work meant to expose specific and intricate ideas in a tangible manner.

There is a surplus of ideas and concepts that can be explored in this book but I leave that for the readers to explore in their own time as they read Brave New World and reflect on its' connotations.

In-depth, links:
one
two
three

Brave New World: "Community, Identity, Stability"

I finished Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World and what can I say...
I had heard many reviews of this book before reading it, some good, some so-so and others not so. But this book is amazing. I found it replete with allusions, allegories, metaphors and wonders.

This book presents the reader with a futuristic world, where the capitalistic mentality has seeped into every fabric and layer of life. It is a world centered on the utopia ideal, which in turn becomes a dystopia. This concept raises several interesting rhetorical questions: can man create a perfect society? What are the limits of human development? How much is too much in the structure of society? What is happiness?etc.

The book opens describing and explaining a human hatchery, where humans are created. And they are consequently reared and shaped through hypnopædic lessons and training that indoctrinates children from infancy upwards. In these drills children are disciplined according to a caste system that delineates the job and future of each human being.

Sexual pleasure is reduced to its most basic form, love does not exist, neither does passion. The arts are non-existent, books are unheard of, except reference books for logical reasons, and individualistic ideas are absent. This is a society where movies are in the form of porno graphical propaganda that advances the ideal of like-mindedness, there is no individual thought, and seeks to satisfy the most basic of sexual needs. In this society, there is no time for solitude, "everyone belongs to everyone else," and happiness lies in social stability as a whole. "The world's stable now. People are happy: they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get. They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill' they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age' they're plagued with no mothers or fathers they're got no wives or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they're so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave." And there's also soma, a pill rationed out every day, after work, that functions somewhat like prozac in its' essence. All these tools accumulate to veil the population to the facets of life that we are currently accustomed to. And there is no God, no belief in any deity, no life after death, no transcendental thought. There is no dirt, "ending is better than mending", cleanliness is next to godliness and the capitalistic model underpins thoughts and actions. Violent Passion Surrogate releases the human need for precisely that: violence and passion. Everything is clearly delineated and classified, surprises are not part of the social organization.

This books is not without its minor defects but as one whole, it is a masterpiece that has surpassed the deterioration of time.

Here, the last part of the final, most important conversation in the book between the Controller (Head Governor) and the Savage (who wasn't raised in this structure):
"But I like inconveniences." -Savage
"We don't, we prefer to do things comfortably."
"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."
"In fact you're claiming the right to be unhappy."

In the end, I highly recommend this jewel of a book, it will awaken thoughts and ideas that might have been dormant.

Here are helpful links that gives background information on the book: http://foothilltech.org/rgeib/english/bnw/

A Dickensian excursion: Hard Times

A week ago, before reading Geisha a Life, I finished reading Hard Times, a Charles Dickens creation. I found the book to be educational and incisive and very good, albeit with a few acceptable flaws. Admittedly, it wasn’t up to par with his other works: Great Expectations, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities,  etc., but more than a work of prose, this books' intention is conveying a message, one that Mr. Dickens felt needed to be portrayed. 

In this book it was more important to him to get his point across than weave an intricate work of literature. It isn't filled with action, most of its pages are dedicated to character formation and exposure and this enables the reader to understand in depth how the writer, Charles Dickens, feels about the subject that underlines the entire book: the upbringing in a utilitarian mentality and the effect of the industrialization on the human psyche.  

One comes across two archetypes, those that abide by and are surrounded by the FACTS of the utilitarian mentality, prevalent during Dickens' time, and those that are the total opposite, mostly comprised of the working class. These two clash and change as the plot progresses, giving the reader a delightfully educational look into a topic that was and continues to hold relevancy in this day and age. 

What I felt deficient in this work is the extremes; the characters are defined in a such a way that the two archetypes described above contrast vividly leaving very little room for the evolution of the characters. Louisa undergoes changes but doesn't fully live up to her potential of breaking free from the prevalent mentality. One reason for this could be that Dickens wanted to highlight the lasting effects of being brought up in such a harsh and cold environment; as opposed to Sissy, Cecilia Jupe, who remains forever a simple woman and goes to live a life full of happiness and warmth.

Of course, me being a 21st century woman I cannot fully relate to Sissy nor Louisa, they both have qualities that shine and vice versa but I disagree with some of the aspects in their portrayal.

Nontheless, read the book, it is a good read.

Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. The Modern Library ed. New York: Random House, 2001. Print. 
325 pages