wingedbeast | Entries tagged with bravenewworld

I... can't view Brave New World as a key dystopian fiction, anymore. It's a straw-man fiction, much like if anti-feminists were to write a fictional world of the feminist ideal. It's less a chilling view of the future and more of a chilling view of how people view you when they're unwilling to actually see you.

I'm going to tackle two chapters at once, because they're basically the same thing, a drawn-out discussion on why Fordly society is as it is and why it is inferior, though happier, to previous ways of life and society (which is to say, ways that Huxley approves of). And, again, I'm put amind of the recent Kevin Sorbo movie "Let There Be Light".

In that movie, Kevin Sorbo plays the world's top atheist who presents atheism as being about sex, drugs, and music with rocks in. His home-life is one of bitter, alcoholic loneliness. The notion, much like at the heart of this book, is that it's impossible to be different, to not have these particular values, without having different, quite important values to replace them.

I'll go over the beats.
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There's part of me that doesn't want to be too hard on John, here. After all, he's just lost his mother. What's more, he's just lost his mother to her own decision to OD on Soma, a drug that, as presented in the novel, is nigh-impossible to overdose.

This could have been her opportunity to take joy in introducing John, as someone she knows and loves, to the home that she has so longed for. Instead, once she's reached that home she longed for, she decided to seek oblivion. She preferred what was openly stated to be killing her to spending time alive in the world in which she had given birth to John.

That, plus the years of abuse he suffered by her hand directly and by the Malpais people responding to her, he can lay (perhaps not justly) at the feet of Fordly society.

Yet, my point from last week remains. What we're seeing isn't a realistic society. It's a straw man concocted by someone who doesn't understand the new value sets he's criticizing. And that puts a light on what's to come.
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There are two competing elements of this chapter/scene. It's short and it packs an emotional punch. At the same time, that emotional punch is delivered because it is a culture depicted by someone who isn't interested in it.

Here is the chapter where Linda dies. Or rather, here is the chapter where John is there for Linda's death. And, in that much, you can't help but feel for John. You don't have to like him at this point, but you have to feel for him at least a little. His mother is dying and suffering from severe dementia.
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I've repeatedly mentioned that the world Huxley creates for this novel isn't sex positive and is not the alternative to his culture's attitude towards sex, one which we can label "purity culture". Instead, it is a sex-mandating purity culture to mirror Huxley's own sex-averse or sex-controling purity culture. That makes this chapter Purity Culture Clash.

Were I to guess at Huxley's intention, I would imagine that he intends for us to agree with John's judgment but, at the same time, sympathize with Lenina. When I first read this book, back in the 90s and back as a High School Student, I did. Then again, I had a lot more agreement than disagreement with Huxley back then.

This chapter begins with Lenina being distracted by her affection for John. Her job is, apparently, administering vaccinations to feti.

Note: InquisitiveRaven, way back at the first part of this deconstruction, commented that the vaccinations are issued at a point before a fetus would have a functioning immune system. It's just more science that we have to forgive for the sake of the story.
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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.
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Chapter eleven has two intended themes and one big unintended theme.

The first theme is that Bernard is getting caught up with his newfound popularity. This is more told than shown and I'm mainly alright with that.

Thanks to his association with "the savage", Bernard has something to offer women to get dates and a reason to be invited to all the best parties, where people listen to what he has to say. And, I'm perfectly okay not seeing all of that, particularly the part where he "has" six girls in a week.

About the only thing that's left subtle is that Bernard is engaging in the exact same behavior that had him so angry at the beginning of the book. This much is fairly simple.

On this, I have only to say that, during this, I don't like Bernard... but I have to admit how easily I would have, given the opportunity, done the same. I view this, like my view of 1984 as very High School in nature and the person I was in High School, given a shot of popularity, might very well have gotten caught up just like Bernard. I don't know if it was to my benefit or detriment that I didn't get that option.
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There's one part I didn't get into when the opportunity was there. But, right now, it makes for some good compare and contrast. I talked about John's reaction to the Director and, by my guess, the expectation that the Director would regard him as a son rather than the mere concept as an embarrassment. But, let's talk a little about how the Director presents one of the core theses of Fordly society.

The topic is Bernard Marx and the Director's insistence that Bernard must be held to account. He's very good at his job, which would be a reason to accept eccentricity. The Director responds...

"I know. But that's all the more reason for severity. His intellectual eminence carries with it corresponding moral responsibilities. The greater a man's talents, the greater his power to lead astray. It is better that one should suffer than that many should be corrupted. Consider the mater dispassionately, Mr. Foster, and you will see that no offence is so heinous as unorthodoxy of behaviour. Murder kills only the individual-and, after all, what is an individual?" With a sweeping gesture he indicated the rows of microscopes, the test-tubes, the incubators. "We can make a new one with the greatest ease-as many as we like. Unorthodoxy threatens more than the life of a mere individual; it strikes at Society itself. Yes, at Society itself," he repeated.

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John, in chapters nine and ten, gives us a demonstration of someone who's expectations do not conform to any realistic appreciation of reality. I'm not going to say that he's mentally ill because I don't believe that any of his behavior requires that. I am going to say that, in terms of his expectations and his model of human relations, he's not well.

That's understandable. It's important to remember, in chapter nine, that there are three major models he has for how humans are supposed to relate to each other.
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I'm thankful to Huxley for one thing about Chapter 8. In this chapter we get a few quick glimpses of John's life in the Pueblo. It looks at the culture that is a mishmash of various cultures and one with a lack of what we, today or in Huxley's time, would consider advanced technology. It would have been very easy for Huxley to present us with the "Simpler Time" narrative.

You know how the trope goes. The "Simpler Time" wherein people were better to each other, more neighborly. They might not have had all our gadgets, but they really cared about each other and they would never...

Except... here... no.
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I spent the last part complaining about the colonial attitudes of Lenina and Bernard. And, in part, that's what Huxley intended. In part, it isn't, because I think we're supposed to side with Bernard on this, not siding with Lenina when she's the only one who will even express a desire for the lack of a human sacrifice.

But, all of it is necessary in order for John to happen the way he happens.

There was the sound of feet in the inner room. Lenina did not move, but sat with her face in her hands, unseeing, apart. Only Bernard turned round.

The dress of the young man who now stepped out on to the terrace was Indian; but his plaited hair was straw-coloured, his eyes a pale blue, his skin was a white skin, bronzed.

"Hullo. Good-morrow," said the stranger in faultless but peculiar English. "You're civilized, aren't you? You come from the Other Place, outside the Reservation?"

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We've been leading up to this for a short while. For so important an event in setting up the story, we're half-way through the story. That's mostly me reminding myself. This is a quick read of a book, such that even taking one's time to deconstruct it a bit at a time still makes me think I'm breezing through it. There's a reason I read this twice in High School and at least once in College.

Still, a big part of last chapter was the buildup to just this moment. Bernard questioned Lenina's resolve and reminded her that this wasn't going to be... well, it is a walk through the woods at some points but only literally. Both she and he made their resolve clear. They wanted to see this.

So... you know... maybe they might try not being jerks about the whole thing when they get to the Savage Reservation? Nah... I'm not going to be as defensive of Bernard in this chapter.
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I'm sticking with the end of Chapter 6 for another post to, before we actually get to the Savage Reservation, look into the question of why such a thing exists. In my bit of shameless self-promotion in the comments of other blogs, someone asked the question of why the Savage Reservations even exist.

The Doylist reason (that is, from the perspective of the author) is so that we can meet Jon. Jon will be an important counterpoint to the Fordly way of life. Jon needs to exist, to enter Fordly society, and not be perceived as a threat by Fordly society. For those ends, a Savage Reservation makes an ideal tool. It's outside Fordly civilization but small enough that the average Fordly citizen is aware of but not bothered by it.

The Watsonian reason (that is, from the perspective within the world of the fiction) is related.

It's also related to slavery and Rent.
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Chapter six spends some time focusing on how the world treats Bernard and how Bernard treats both the world and himself. And, in this chapter, I find myself getting defensive both of Bernard and of what it seems that Huxley may be attempting to criticize.

To the way the world treats Bernard Marx.
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This is an entire chapter of more show-don't-tell in exposition. None of it directly serves the story. All it does is inform us of the world and a bit of how two of our major players fit into it. Still, I enjoy reading it and, were this translated into a television series, I would enjoy watching it.

I'm not just giving credit where credit is due. I do like all three of the books that I'm deconstructing. I find them to be engaging reads, such that I could quickly read through any of them in a couple days. I'm trying to remind you (and myself) that, even though I sometimes make very loud objection, they're still valuable elements of our public discourse.

So, let's go over this example of exposition done well... and then get to the part where I get a little angry with Bernard.
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During the 1984 deconstruction, I repeatedly noted how, on the level of emotional maturity, the whole thing felt like High School. Winston Smith was a burnout who wasn't really rebellious but found a way of making his internal rebellion a source of perceived superiority to others. Well, the High School feelings aren't going away any time soon.

Chapter 4 is broken into two parts (and we're going to handle both parts in this post, no I'm not deliberately padding these things). The first part focuses attention on Lenina Crowne's perspective. She walks through the lift room, noting the various men there, having spent the night with most of them at one point or another. (Although, it should be noted, if she spent one night with all of them, that's okay and it's not like this sex-mandating purity culture would object. I just note the possibility as something Huxley probably didn't imagine.) And, she has her own aesthetic concerns on any of them.
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We're still in Chapter three and we're only now meeting two... maybe three of the major characters in this story. All of what we've gone over so far has been exposition. And, let me say that Huxley did a great job with exposition, far better than Orwell.

Orwell just explained the various ministries, which was well enough in getting the information to us. And, hey, it was interesting enough information.

On the other hand, Huxley literally gave us a tour and answered our questions. The exact nature of the responses and which questions weren't asked also gave us information. And, he topped it off with a spite-filled rant about past sexual and familial politics that's well articulated but filled with enough bile that it might foam at the corners of the world-controller's mouth.

Good job to Huxley on that one.

Now, let's meet three of the major players.
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Chapter two shows us a bit more of the conditioning, this time some eight-month old Delta infants. The area is prepared with bowls of flowers and bright, colorful picturebooks. All of it made to be enticing to little infants with little infant hands that like grasping bright, colorful things. The sun comes out at just the right moment to really make it all that much more enticing.

Much like for the babies, themselves, we're being set up. As all the identical babies make their way over to enjoy the colorful books and flowers, the head nurse presses a lever. Explosions, shrill sirens, alarm bells, all the things that exist to scare a baby... literally, that is their purpose. And, those are followed up with a mild electric shock to the infants.

Books and loud noises, flowers and electric shocks-already in the infant mind these couples were compromisingly linked; and after two hundred repetitions of the same or a similar lesson would be wedded indissolubly. What man has joined together, nature is powerless to put assunder.

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Here we start with Chapter 1 and already I realize that I'm going to have to cut Brave New World a tiny bit of slack that I did not cut for 1984. I did not forgive 1984 its sexism and I will endeavor not to do so for Brave New World. But, I just can't read Brave New World unless I forgive its science.

The first chapter takes us to the Central London Hatching And Conditioning Centre. That is, it's the place, in London, where humans are made. It's the place, in London, where humans are mass-manufactured.

Males and females donate their respective gametes.