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wingedbeast) wrote2017-12-04 10:00 pm
wingedbeast) wrote2017-12-04 10:00 pm
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Brave New World Deconstruction: Part 14 The Enduring Value
Chapter twelve is a simple chapter. It's short and it gives a great deal of tell but not show, regarding the story Bernard, John, and Helmholtz. But, for all of that, it's also showing us a great deal about the society that Huxley wrote about.
And, here I think that Huxley's aware of how much the chilling society he wrote about mirrors his own comfortable society, which he fears falling to the, as Bernard says, inexpensive life.
I have my disagreements with Huxley. That's unlikely to end any time soon. There are two important consolations for Huxley on that regard. The first and most obvious is that Huxley, even assuming that he continues to exist, probably doesn't care, in the slightest, what I think of his book.
The other is that this chapter is the clearest example of this book's continuing value.
The chapter starts out with a high-society party being ruined on account of John's refusal to come out of his room. There were very high-profile guests. The Arch-Community-Songster of Canterbury is an obvious parallel to other societies. And, he's very put out about having been tricked into being polite to Bernard Marx, his Gamma-minus physique, and his unorthodox views.
And, all of this is very much like a common trope to stories told of Huxley's own culture. The socialite who does (or has to) use some rare vision or entertainment as an enticement to socialization. On top of telling us that Bernard's time in the limelight and social acceptance is over, this also shows us, quite clearly, that Fordly society is Huxley's society with find-and-replace on some of the surface values.
Bernard, in his popularity and in his parties, has still been objecting to Fordly society, talking about... well, I don't know what. There's been very little specificity on that point. But, I well imagine that, in Huxley's own context, there would be commentary on the harm done by British Colonialism.
The Ach-Community-Songster even gives Bernard the talking to about needing to mend his ways, of course only after the amusement of John-the-Savage was a no-show.
This leads into a reconciliation between Bernard and both John and Helmholtz. And, that is punctuated by one of the books momentary glimpses into the daily life of World Controller Mustafa Mond.
Now, a lot is exaggerated in this book for effect. Hypnopaedic conditioning is just a replace for a far more complex set of socializations from a whole host of sources. World Controller should be seen similarly, as a replacement for a host of various social, political, and religious authorities.
In Mustafa Mond's snippet, he reads a paper on biology that addresses the concept of purpose in a mathematical way... and I have no idea how to even start imagining how that would work. But, because it addresses purpose, as a concept, it can't be allowed.
Huxley wrote in the thirties, and there can't have been any absence of scientific controversies. But, it's worthy of note that, in today's world, Aron Ra (an atheist who, among other things, lobbies the Texas Board of Education to maintain accurate teaching of evolution in biology classes) has dealt with people have told him something similar to Mustafa Mond's response to his biology text. Namely that it's true but it's of supreme moral requirement to teach that it isn't true.
The rest of this chapter has two main themes.
1. Bernard doesn't like how easily John and Helmholtz get along, immediately better than either of them get along with him. This leads to Bernard being snippy about Shakespeare (and the worshipful attitude people have of Shakespeare demands some snippiness, to be honest).
2. Bernard and Helmholtz don't have the right social context in order to appreciate Romeo and Juliet. Helmholtz laughs about the whole thing, when what's really happening is that he doesn't get it. It's a different culture with different practices and different values, so he doesn't get the pressure of things.
John doesn't seem to see the mirror of his own reaction to Three Weeks in a Helicopter (but if anybody is of a mind to try, I would totally want to see a Shakespearean take on the premise?). But, here is where I see this chapter as the clearest example of this book's value.
The more I read into it, this time, the less I see the chilling real threat of things to come. I don't see society going this way and the version of this way that I see coming close isn't so restrictive or limiting as Huxley imagines.
But, to the issues of social conditioning, the impulse to reject ideas that one views as dangerous, the difficulties of looking outside of social context, this remains valuable. It takes the same practices that were present in Huxley's time, that he probably didn't see as problematic, and shows them in a different light.
If we are fish swimming in cultural conditioning, this book is valuable for showing us a color-shifted picture that we can use to examine our waters. Maybe, with this, we can more easily notice some pollutants.
Huxley, for all that you probably wouldn't care, we have our disagreements. But, you've still got a valuable work. We still need to talk about your unhealthy attitudes regarding sex, women, and Shakespeare, though.
And, here I think that Huxley's aware of how much the chilling society he wrote about mirrors his own comfortable society, which he fears falling to the, as Bernard says, inexpensive life.
I have my disagreements with Huxley. That's unlikely to end any time soon. There are two important consolations for Huxley on that regard. The first and most obvious is that Huxley, even assuming that he continues to exist, probably doesn't care, in the slightest, what I think of his book.
The other is that this chapter is the clearest example of this book's continuing value.
The chapter starts out with a high-society party being ruined on account of John's refusal to come out of his room. There were very high-profile guests. The Arch-Community-Songster of Canterbury is an obvious parallel to other societies. And, he's very put out about having been tricked into being polite to Bernard Marx, his Gamma-minus physique, and his unorthodox views.
And, all of this is very much like a common trope to stories told of Huxley's own culture. The socialite who does (or has to) use some rare vision or entertainment as an enticement to socialization. On top of telling us that Bernard's time in the limelight and social acceptance is over, this also shows us, quite clearly, that Fordly society is Huxley's society with find-and-replace on some of the surface values.
Bernard, in his popularity and in his parties, has still been objecting to Fordly society, talking about... well, I don't know what. There's been very little specificity on that point. But, I well imagine that, in Huxley's own context, there would be commentary on the harm done by British Colonialism.
The Ach-Community-Songster even gives Bernard the talking to about needing to mend his ways, of course only after the amusement of John-the-Savage was a no-show.
This leads into a reconciliation between Bernard and both John and Helmholtz. And, that is punctuated by one of the books momentary glimpses into the daily life of World Controller Mustafa Mond.
Now, a lot is exaggerated in this book for effect. Hypnopaedic conditioning is just a replace for a far more complex set of socializations from a whole host of sources. World Controller should be seen similarly, as a replacement for a host of various social, political, and religious authorities.
In Mustafa Mond's snippet, he reads a paper on biology that addresses the concept of purpose in a mathematical way... and I have no idea how to even start imagining how that would work. But, because it addresses purpose, as a concept, it can't be allowed.
Huxley wrote in the thirties, and there can't have been any absence of scientific controversies. But, it's worthy of note that, in today's world, Aron Ra (an atheist who, among other things, lobbies the Texas Board of Education to maintain accurate teaching of evolution in biology classes) has dealt with people have told him something similar to Mustafa Mond's response to his biology text. Namely that it's true but it's of supreme moral requirement to teach that it isn't true.
The rest of this chapter has two main themes.
1. Bernard doesn't like how easily John and Helmholtz get along, immediately better than either of them get along with him. This leads to Bernard being snippy about Shakespeare (and the worshipful attitude people have of Shakespeare demands some snippiness, to be honest).
2. Bernard and Helmholtz don't have the right social context in order to appreciate Romeo and Juliet. Helmholtz laughs about the whole thing, when what's really happening is that he doesn't get it. It's a different culture with different practices and different values, so he doesn't get the pressure of things.
John doesn't seem to see the mirror of his own reaction to Three Weeks in a Helicopter (but if anybody is of a mind to try, I would totally want to see a Shakespearean take on the premise?). But, here is where I see this chapter as the clearest example of this book's value.
The more I read into it, this time, the less I see the chilling real threat of things to come. I don't see society going this way and the version of this way that I see coming close isn't so restrictive or limiting as Huxley imagines.
But, to the issues of social conditioning, the impulse to reject ideas that one views as dangerous, the difficulties of looking outside of social context, this remains valuable. It takes the same practices that were present in Huxley's time, that he probably didn't see as problematic, and shows them in a different light.
If we are fish swimming in cultural conditioning, this book is valuable for showing us a color-shifted picture that we can use to examine our waters. Maybe, with this, we can more easily notice some pollutants.
Huxley, for all that you probably wouldn't care, we have our disagreements. But, you've still got a valuable work. We still need to talk about your unhealthy attitudes regarding sex, women, and Shakespeare, though.