BNW7 - Bernard the Protagonist

"Ignoring the interruption. 'It suddenly struck me the other day,' continued Bernard, 'that it might be possible to be an adult all thetime.'" (Brave New World, pg. 94) I'm starting like Bernard. Yes the people find him odd - but I find that thats what makes him special. As the book progresses, it is becoming apparent that Bernard is the protagonist. He is the one who is going to fight against this society. This is evident in the way he doesn't think like the others. Plus, he knows all about why people think the way they do - he is one of the administrators of the conditioned response training. He is able to keep a clear mind and think about what is going on in his society. Bernard is able to understand that what he is living in isn't true happiness. It's drugged and false happiness. I see him setting out to reveal this - maybe through Helmholtz's paper, or through taking other people through his thought process. If he manages to stay at the Hatchery, he might try to tinker with the conditioned response systems. Only reading will tell what Bernard will do next. I am enjoying this book more than the other as of now.

BNW6 - Super-Strings

On page 80 of Brave New World, a single word popped out to me - "superstring." Yes! As this book is a science-fiction book, many physics references are made. This word really got me thinking though. The society they live in isn't really all that advanced. They still use helicopters, airplanes, taxis; they still use fossil fuels for their energy; they don't have any real scientists. Normally a society this far in the future would have mastered the use of renewable energy - particularly solar energy. They would be able to colonize Mars, and travel throughout the solar system. Then why, nearly 500 year into the future of our world, are they stuck on simple machines and not advanced theories such as relativity and super-string theory? I will tell you why! Yes, everybody is "happy" in this society. But that requires conditioned responses from childhood and a happy drug. These leave no room for real scientists. Nobody can think completely clearly; and therefore, no real advancements are made. So, yes, everyone is happy now. But wait until the world uses up its supply of coal and oil - how will the society continue? Scientists can't be conditioned - the only way to let a real scientist work is to let him think of whatever he wants. This would jeopardize the "stability" of the society. While it may seem like an ideal utopia right now, it is destined to collapse.

BNW5 - Choo Choo, Here Comes the Quatrain

"Come, Greater Being, Social Friend,
Annihilating Twelve-in-One!
We long to die, for when we end,
Our larger life has but begun." (Brave New World, pg. 81)
Huxley uses this quatrain as an example of the ceremony called Solidarity Service. It is an odd service in which the people offer their lifes to Ford. This quatrain revealed something about this society we are learning about. Something I did not believe this society have. Faith. It's a  twisted, corrupted faith much like a cult, however. Through the lines in the quatrain, we see the people's dedication to "Our Ford" much like our dedication to "Our Lord." They will die for their Ford like a martyr. But that wasn't what suprised me as much as the last line in the quatrain. "Our larger life has but begun." (BNW, pg. 81) Earlier in the novel, the director and commander said that heaven was something people ages ago believed in, and these people were ridiculous. However, the people themselves say that their life truly begins after their death - a key believe in Christianity. This shows that the people really don't understand what they say - they're just pawns of conditioned response. If they understood what they were saying, they would realize that they were living in a paradox. I found these quatrains particularly revealing about the people and how effective their drug soma is.

BNW4 - A Flowing Simile

"Some sort of extra power that you aren't using-you know, like all the water that goes down the falls instead of through the turbines?" (Brave New World, pg. 69) This simile is gushing with significance. Helmholtz Watson represents the man with a rational mind. He has the intelligence of many of our great minds of today. He represents the old word - along with Bernard Marx. When he says this quote he is in a way referring to the beliefs of the world before Ford. He is saying that all of this pleasure is short of true pleasure - life with Christ. While he may not be saying this exactly, I'm extracting a feeling of emptiness from his life of immoral pleasure. He knows he has the potential to be someone better, but he doesn't know what it is since he has been brainwashed by the neopavlovian society. I feel that he is going to rebel against the society he is currently living in - through the newspaper and propaganda. This simile revealed a lot about Watson.

BNW3 - Diction - Funny Words yet Miserable Reading

"Hoity-toity." (Brave New World, pg. 54) "...soma..." (BNW, pg.55) "...morocco-surrogate." (BNW pg. 52) "...promiscuous..." (BNW, pg. 43) This chapter had its fair share of entertaining diction. Not to mention a confusing attack of three conversations alternating lines. Somehow, I survived the misery. But beyond the entertaining words and sufferable style of writing, the diction helped set the setting for the story. Mr. Huxley does a good job of using scientific words and expressions to help put the reader into the scientifically "advanced" society - though the idea of them being a better society is debatable. Without words relating to science and drugs of the future, the book would lack authenticity and would keep the reader from getting into the story. I do have one question - When Bernard Marx declares: "Damn you, damn you!" - where is he damning the Mr. Foster to? They don't believe in Hell - so maybe its to a life of instability? Or perhaps Marx is a single believer out of a world of millions.

BNW2 - Allusion

"Infant Nurseries. Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms, announced the notice board." (Brave New World, pg. 19) Ah-ha! This notice board is a reference to a well-known Russian scientist, Ivan Pavlov, who discovered the use of conditioned reflexes. A conditioned reflex is such that an animal (humans are animals) will respond in a certain way after a recurring stimulus. For example, Pavlov trained a dog to drool for food when it heard a bell. This was done by ringing a bell every time the dog was fed. So, after numerous repetition, the bell was rung without food, and the dog began salivating all over the floor. We see this exact training performed by the hatchery to the humans. While it is unrealistic that this time of training would still be performed in this advanced society (it would be easier, and more scientific of them to simply mutate the DNA of the specimens), it would be an effective, yet cruel, way of training humans. However, I will forgive Mr. Huxley for his blunder because the truth about DNA had yet to be fully realized. Even today we don't understand all that it contains.

BNW1 - Moodymoodmood

"And in effect the sultry darkness into which the students now followed him was visible and crimson, like the darkness of closed eyes on a summer's afternoon. The bulging flanks of row on receding row and tier above tier of bottles glinted with innumerable rubies, and among the rubies moved the dim red spectres of men and women with purple eyes and all the symptoms of lupus. The hum and rattle of machinery faintly stirred the air." (Brave New World, pg. 11) This first chapter of Brave New World puts the reader into a mysterious mood. The building we explore is unknown and futuristic to us. The creepy rooms, such as the one above, augment the elusive mystery of the society in which the characters exist. I see this society as a parallel universe that went astray. While the existence of such a society is possible, its probability of existence is much lower than the one in which we subsist. The mood makes the society seem to be a cross between the Dark Ages and scientific advancement - a seeming paradox. But the author is effective in setting an appropriate mood for this dark story.