Brave New World: Soma vs. Shakespeare

It’s been a while since I’ve done a review, but I hope to get back into the swing of things before blogs become obsolete or something. Anyway, this is a book I read for school (the last one I’ll ever read for school! EVER!). I analyzed it pretty well since I had to write a paper on it. 

First Impressions: Brave New World isn’t a very deep book. I suppose, as with any book, you can analyze as deeply as you wish, but I don’t see that necessary. The characters are simple-minded, and the book is as well. The main thing I was paying attention to while reading this was how it compared to 1984 (review here). It was an interesting contrast. But more on that later. 

Short Synopsis: Bernard Marx is an outsider because he doesn’t like taking the “happy drug” soma. He likes to be angry and frustrated because it feels natural. He takes a woman, Lenina (who loves soma and everything in current society) on a vacation to see “The Savages.” There he meets John, who grew up feeling pain and struggling. Bernard takes John and John’s mother, Linda, back to the society with soma. Everyone praises Bernard for bringing Savages to them and he is no longer an outsider and, as a result, starts taking soma like everyone else and accepts how life is. John is outraged by what society has become and tries to isolates himself, but ends up drawing a crowd who persuades him to take soma. John realizes what he has done and kills himself. 

Bread and Circuses: One of the only authors John the Savage had access to as a child was Shakespeare. He grows up being articulate and curious, as any child would be. His mother, who grew up in the soma society until she was banished for becoming a mother, can’t answer any of his questions. She has no idea why the sky is blue, and she doesn’t care to find out. When John and Linda are in Bernard and Lenina’s society, Linda goes on a permanent soma holiday until she dies. No one has ever seen a middle aged woman before, so they are repulsed by her. Linda doesn’t really mind because she has craved soma ever since she was banished. John watches his mother die, and is bewildered when no one cares about her death and no one understands how upset he is regarding her death. Later, when he is talking to one of the controllers of western Europe, he is blown away by the fact that the controller is not ignorant at all. In fact, he knows more about art and culture than John does but he chose not to pursue it. John has the same reaction I have. WHAT?! How could someone be exposed to all these things and choose to live a life completely isolated from it forever?! But John can’t reason with the man. 

But really, who could have? This society was being well fed and entertained so there was no reason for them to question anything ever. Sure they were conditioned into the society by listening to recordings in their sleep as children and by taking soma, but societies today are the same way, even without drugs. There are people in this world who have never experienced squalid living conditions and are completely capable of noticing the corrupt conditions of the world they’re living in. But they don’t. Why would they need to? They have all the food they want and they have access to the extremely entertaining Internet. I’ve also met people who think that overall, mankind is good and there are just a few bad people in the world. They are wrong. So wrong. Overall, people are terrible and cruel and manipulative. But, as long as you are well fed and entertained, there’s no reason to ponder on this.

 Also, I think it is important to note that I’ve also met people who ponder a lot about the terribleness of the world. These people are very sad and negative, although everything they’re saying is true. So it seems like the only choices in life are to live happy and ignore all the badness or to live miserably and focus on the badness. I don’t agree with that statement, but I’ll talk about that another time because that topic is an immense digression from Brave New World. 

Parallels to 1984: The main parallel here is how reading about art and culture are viewed. Orwell’s idea of a dystopian society consisted of people who were afraid to read about art, culture, and science. Huxley’s idea of a dystopian society consisted of people who chose not to. 

Another similarity is that society doesn’t change in the end. There’s a character (in 1984 there’s two) who wants society to change. In 1984, the characters die trying, but don’t get close to changing anything. John the Savage isolates himself, which doesn’t help any, and people just think he’s weird. Both books end with an unchanged dystopian society. 

Really, though, could Huxley’s society even be considered a dystopian society? Everyone (at least in Western Europe) is happy and has what they want. Life is focused around pleasure. Is that such a bad thing? John the Savage thought so. I think so. What do you think? 

Final Thoughts: Again, this book isn’t very deep in my opinion. That’s one of the reason I like it so much. In both this and 1984 I didn’t have to analyze too much in order to understand how terrible their world is. 1984 was just more about realism and the darker side of dystopian societies while Brave New World is more focused on how people can be completely ok with corruption and such things as long as they’re kept happy. 

Highly recommend the book to anyone who likes dystopian novels. Personally, after I finish Fahrenheit 451, I’m done with dystopia. They’re all essentially the same, and the originals are the best, right? Unless someone else suggests a good modern one, I’m moving on to other genes after Fahrenheit 451. 

I have a lot of reading to do. I keep going to the library and picking up long books that I know I won’t get around to reading for a long time. Oh the curse of being a bookworm!

 

1984: A New Type of Bro Code

First Impressions: I’ve heard about this book a lot, so I thought it was finally time to settle down and read it. It did not disappoint. Now when someone mentions Bro Code, I think, "Big Bro is watching you. Dude."

Short Synopsis: The Party is the government. Big Brother is how it watches everything. If you try and rebel, you are vaporized. If you even think about rebelling, you are vaporized. Winston hates The Party. He starts a love affair with Julia, who also hates The Party. They eventually are tortured to the point where they both are forced to believe the government is always right.

Realism: The main thing that struck me the most about this novel is the realistic aspect. Now that I think about it, a lot of the books I enjoy have a realistic aspect. I think I like Realism. Anyway, 1984 is known for how realistic it is. It is completely possible that the government could become like this sometime in future. Although the book didn’t turn me into a conspiracy theorist, it did make me think. The children are complete savages, which is totally plausible if they are taught from an early age that going against the government is bad. There’s one part in the book where a guy is brought to prison because he said “down with Big Brother” in his sleep and his daughter caught him. The guy commended his daughter for catching him before it was too late! Winston comments that most parents are terrified of their children.

Another realistic concept is the people’s stupidity. Winston’s job is to make The Party always right. This means deleting or altering articles that would ever hint they are wrong. If anyone questions it, they are killed or tortured to the point of obedience. This makes sense because if there are only people left who wouldn’t rebel against The Party, why wouldn’t everyone believe the altered past. No one is allowed to have friendships or any sort of relationships. The only people left are the emotionless, dreary ones. Sex is only used for procreation, not pleasure. When O’Brien was speaking to Winston, he said that The Party wanted to make sex an annual event that would not be enjoyable, but necessary in order to create more humans.

Despite the extremeness of The Party, I can see this happening if the government took enough control and promised enough reward. This book is written realistically enough to be downright scary.

Julia: She played a big part in the story, but honestly, I didn’t notice her all that much. She was interesting, but she was essentially a second Winston (minus the rat phobia). I, personally, was much more interested in the acts of The Party, not the interaction of Winston and Julia, although it is an important aspect to the story and should not be overlooked.

Final Thoughts: I believe that 1984 is a novel that everyone should try reading. It was written in the fifties so the language is simple, and the plot itself is very digestible. But it gives a very interesting perspective on life and how controlling the government could hypothetically become. Even if you’re not necessarily interested in classic literature, I highly recommend it.

This is similar to Brave New World. Read that review here: Brave New World: Soma vs. Shakespeare