The Satisfaction of Naïve

Naivety is a mask we often use to avoid facing reality. We prefer to be ignorant to the facts in order to preserve our instilled ideals and avoid change. Naivety however is often lead by the illusion of happiness and is precisely the case in Brave New World. The characters avoid reality with drugs, false conceptions, and the idea that they are satisfied with who they are. They fail to desire more and lack ambition to get ahead. They are forever condemned to be mediocre and predisposed to be ok with it.

The majority hasn’t seen the savage world with their own eyes, and the desire to do so is abnormal if not punishable. They know only to fear the outskirts of their futuristic utopia and to be ok with knowing nothing about them. Their satisfaction and ultimate happiness is based on ignorance of the unknown. They have no desire to learn beyond what is fed to them and thus never learn more, “The D.H.C. looked at him nervously. There were those strange rumors of old forbidden books hidden in a safe in the controllers study. Bibles, poetry--- Ford knew that…. “It’s all right, Director.” He said in a tone of faint derision, “I won’t corrupt them.”” The government keeps works of literature and other works of intellect that encourage free thought hidden from the citizens and uses a drug to keep the citizens non-craving of the knowledge. This all goes towards maintaining the government’s goal, stability.

The characters are also naïve in the fact that they don’t understand the extent of dehumanization they are being put under. The mere fact that women are not allowed to have babies is proof that the people live without basic human rights; the right to create a family, “out of the realm of mere slavish imitation of nature into the much more interesting world of human invention.” The citizens however don’t know any better so they accept their instilled innate fate. They don’t seek love because they haven’t ben predisposed to get pleasure out of the feeling. They don’t have the ability to love or to be loved.

Naivety drives the characters happiness and allows them to accept their dehumanization. They are thus able to live happily in complete ignorant bliss. 

The Dirt that Lies Beneath

Pastel pink, polished with a hint of white at the tip is the essence of a perfectly kempt individual. It is the very pastel pink that coats the rough cuticles, weak texture, and grime underneath the nail. Like the nails superficial perfection and hidden filth Brave New World proves that even when complete human stability is accomplished dirt still builds up where we least expect it.

In Brave New world everything appears to be perfectly stable but Huxley shows the reader the dangerous undercurrent that such a society has. In this particular civilization the individuals are deprived of morals, emotions, and dignity. Yet they don’t regret not having them nor do they crave them, on the contrary they live inhumanly happy. Happiness however is not achieved on their own terms; they are predisposed to be happy since their cellular existence. The government takes away the citizens right to do things on his or her own terms, "…what would it be like if I could, if I were free – not enslaved by my conditioning." "But, Bernard, you're saying the most awful things." "Don't you wish you were free, Lenina?" The citizens are chemically made to be part of a certain social class and genetically altered to be ok with it. The ugliness comes out when Huxley depicts the promiscuousness of the women and lack of sexual control. He portrays the citizen’s addiction to the commonly accepted drug, soma and the lack of desire to achieve greatness. The characters are deprived of the very aspects that make us human.

Huxley is not the only author of the time that shows lack of human qualities in a work of literature; F. Scott Fitzgerald has a similar comment on society with his novel The Great Gatsby. Women in Fitzgerald’s novel lack dignity and morals. They are perfectly kempt and are physically up to perfection but their rotten attachment to money makes there inside as filthy as the underside of their manicured fingernails. They are brought up to be, “beautiful little fools.”

In Brave New World not only are the citizens deprived of human qualities like the ability to love and be loved but also are constrained to consumerism. They depend on the material world. They are dependent on drugs, sex, and novelty. This is not far from our 21^st century existence. As humans we are predisposed to crave these things as well. We may not have soma but we have other things like alcohol and cigarettes that create just as dependent citizens. It makes the reader question whether humans can ever really be innately happy. It is these things that society provides that drive their happiness. Society makes them dependent on their own happiness.

The method of government control over the masses in Brave New World makes the society dependent and inhuman. This is the very making of the dirt that lies under a polished and superficially superior world. Just like the polished nail, perfection is used to hide ugliness. 

Destruction of Originality 

''Hug me till you drug me, honey;
Kiss me till I'm in a coma;
Hug me, honey, snuggly bunny;
Love's as good as soma."

While engaging in literary enlightenment with a new book, Brave New World, some aspects of my very own, definitely non-utopian world, came out to me as pieces that played key roles in the making of this idealistic society. The drug “soma” for instance, in Brave New World is used to keep the society pleased and on track. In my 21^st century world we most definitely have our modern variations of soma that form a piece of our daily lives and are commonly accepted among society.

Our first dose of soma is consumed at the break of dawn in a liquid form, coffee. Like soma it gives us the spark we need to begin the day, “--- or if ever by some unlucky chance such a crevice of time should yawn in the solid substance of their distractions, there is always soma, delicious soma…” (Page 55).  In the novel, the common reader would be predisposed to conceive a negative connotation of the widely accepted drug, yet the irony is that the common reader can’t, if not under hypocrisy, say he or she has never consumed the 21^st century variation of soma.

Even worse, coffee is not the only soma affecting the society like a malignant tumor; alcohol and tobacco can’t be dismissed. Among the teenage and adult worlds a cigarette is a common stress relief after a hard day at work or a relationship quarrel. Although it is not nearly as accepted as it was in the mid and late 1900’s it is still a very prevalent and commonly used “soma”. Just like the drug in Brave New World it is used upon encountering an uncomfortable situation, "Lenina was still sobbing. "Too awful," she kept repeating, and all Bernard's consolations were in vain. "Too awful! That blood!" She shuddered. "Oh, I wish I had my soma."” The thought of not having soma present in an uncomfortable situation was almost terrifying to Lenina as it is to any tobacco addict or alcoholic. In today’s world feelings are repressed by these substances, not to mention the even heavier illicit ones. Alcohol, tobacco and soma all have one thing in common, they are legal and widely accepted.

What makes soma particularly controversial is the fact that it is also a hallucinogen. Today hallucinogens are illegal but in the book, which is set in a futuristic utopian world, they are legal and reinforced by the government. It leads the reader to wonder if making drugs legal, and thus ending the “war on drugs”, will lead to an even bigger problem with the acceptance of them. The novel shows that the accepted drugs become a way to reinforce stability in the society and thus brain wash them. One can only imagine what could become of the world if this sort of drug were used as a mean of control, a way to control the masses, and a path to the destruction of original thinking.

Procrastination, My Most Ironic Blog Post

Procrastination, My Most Ironic Blog Post

To procrastinate, or not to procrastinate, that is the question that will ever take the reigns of my life. I find myself writing this the night before the deadline where I must post my writing to be judged by the world, and most notably Mr. Ferrebee. Like Hamlet I tend to find myself in a whirlpool of impulsivity and half rational actions. I am a labeled procrastinator.

Like the author of the BBC article, my work is most likely to be completed 12 to 4 hours before it is due. I work when I am under stress and in dire need of completing something. Out of the article I have found my new favorite quote, "I love deadlines - I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." Story of my life. It is not only in academics that I procrastinate, but in my everyday life as well. My decision making process hits an all time climax minutes before the decision is to be made, or sometimes even afterwards when my life becomes clouded with regret. My essays are turned in as soon as my inbox crams up with angry emails from my parents living abroad and becoming fond of the new “missing assignment” email system. Like Hamlet I suffer from my indecisions and ponder doing something for longer than it takes to actually get it done. Killing King Claudius took Hamlet a mere fencing match. He ranted about it for a whole Shakespearean play. This blog post was pondered about for at least a week before I sat down, listened to every new song on Youtube, discovered a series or two, and finally got down to opening up a word document titled, “Procrastination.” Oh the irony.

Yet the truth is, as a human race we are al pre-formatted to be procrastinators. There are islands of floating plastic, yet we still resort to buying a 3 dollar water bottle. There are holes in the O-Zone, yet we still buy Hummers. Shakespeare knew before all of us that procrastination was a common human characteristic; inevitable, and the common cause of humanities lack of action. Unlike the author of “View Point: Why do we procrastinate so much?” I am realistic about my procrastination; those days will be never ending. 

Prison Hamlet

Prison Hamlet

Prison grounds would be the last place anyone would expect people to appreciate the genius works of Shakespeare. Yet, it turns out to be the one place where the actors can fully take on the characters roles emotionally. They all knew what it was like to ponder and feel guilt after a crime. They could take on their roles in first person.

The majority of these prisoners come from very rough backgrounds where being the meanest and toughest guy was what helped them to survive in their environment. These are people who most likely lack a good education. It is fascinating how one woman, Agnes, could get them to interpret and understand Shakespeare’s genius work of Hamlet. It is difficult to get a class of educated wealthy teens to appreciate Shakespeare, and much more a group of emotionally and psychologically broken down prisoners. When one of the prisoners talks about taking upon the role of the ghost and feeling the words as if the man he killed, William Pride, was talking to him it was very emotionally striking. The prisoners could also reflect on themselves and how they had changed while rehearsing the play. It was almost therapeutic, and better than any psychological practices they had been exposed to. The prisoners realized that they were no longer the criminals they used to be, and that they deserved their punishment even though they knew they were changed men. They matured.

Jack Hitt, the narrator also went through an interesting moment with the prisoners as he began to read their files and discover their crimes. He had developed bonds with the prisoners so it was shocking to discover how bad the crimes were that they had committed. He knew they were changed men because he had been working and creating friendships with them, yet there was something still very unsettling about discovering the darkness in their treacherous past.

Upon listening to the pod cast it becomes obvious what the audience is supposed to grasp from the story. To really understand and become the character you are interpreting, you have to place yourself in that characters scenario. You have to tap into your feelings from your past and use it to portray the characters emotions and expressions. The prisoners were able to come in touch with a part of them that they probably didn’t know was still there. These are men who have been dehumanized. They were losing their ability to come in touch with their sentiments. They were losing their passion for life. Interpreting the play made them feel human for the short time they were rehearsing. The feeling James Word describes having when he was praised for his performance almost restores faith for these men to get better. It the prisoners feel like they were something more in society than just the man the world could look down on.