Satire, Utopia, and Dystopia
1. How do issues of social inequalities get resolved in BNW? Are they resolved? Is there an ideal way to eliminate inequality? Is it possible? Should we even try? What about Gattaca?
2. How do we know that Huxley intended BNW to be satirical? Jonathan Swift with A Modest Proposal?
3. If the goal of satire is ultimately to improve the conditions of the world, what kind of plausible solutions does Huxley offer his readers? Why did he choose to write in depth about a fictional dystopia—why not just get into the real criticisms and solutions right away?
4. Is there any benefit to imagining or striving for an actual utopia?
5. If BNW and Gattaca are to serve as predictors for the future (or warnings), what would you change about our world today if you could?
6. What are the common satirical targets in A Modest Proposal and BNW?
7. What kind of plausible solutions does Jonathan Swift offer his readers in A Modest Proposal? Why did he choose to write in depth about a fake proposal—why not just get into the real criticisms and solutions right away? How does this relate to Huxley’s commentary?
25 comments:
I believe that BNW demonstrates how a true Utopia can never be accomplished. For example, Lenina made a mistake and caused a person in the future to die because he was not vaccinated. Accidents happen without purpose and without us wanting them to happen. That’s the definition of accidental. If the meaning behind a Utopia is a “perfect world,” accidents, being results of imperfection, could never happen. Proving how a Utopia can never occur, it is impossible to have a world completely without accidents, proven by Lenina and, in Gattaca, people like Irene and the “de-gene-rates.” Even in the natural world without genetic engineering, mutations still occur. All sorts of illness have been produced, and people are sometimes born with mental illnesses, physical defects, or extra limbs.
Some accidents lead to negative outcomes, but some accidents result in a product or idea that could greatly benefit society. Scientists should still continue to make advancements in technology but since perfection can never truly be achieved, there is an obvious limitation to how far science can go. This doesn’t mean that we should put limitations on science, except limitations stemming from things like human rights (weapon development) or the environment (alternative energy sources). Although science can continue the progress of society, it does not have the ability to catapult us into a Utopia. Believing that technology can cure all of society’s ails is hopeless. No matter what, accidents have the capability to create new faults that technology can continuously try to fix, developing a cycle of imperfection.
The most surprising aspect of the responses was the strength in the belief that religion and science would seemingly be at loggerheads until one proved the existence or non-existence of the other. Society, at least in America, today doesn’t truly seem to reflect this mutual exclusivity idea as people still attend their respective houses of worship while allowing science classes to “corrupt” students’ minds with the proof of gravity, biology, and other scientific discoveries that have reduced the divine scope of the powers that be. In Brave New World, Huxley explains this reliance upon a higher being through the rant of Mustafa Mond,
"whereupon God emerges as from behind a cloud; our soul feels, sees, turns towards the source of all light; turns naturally and inevitably; for now that all that gave to the world of sensations its life and charms has begin to leak away from us, by impressions from within or from without, we feel the need to lean on something that will never play us false – a reality, an absolute and everlasting truth." (233)
The choice between religion and science is not one that needs to be forced down the throats of society. When those who have never found comfort in religion, it will always be an option to turn to, as will science for those who have relied solely on religion.
The fortunate thing about social inequalities in BNW is that citizens do not have any problems with their status or what role they have in society. Inequality does not seem like a problem there because the people have been conditioned to appreciate their jobs and what they contribute to their civilization. To us, inequality is frustrating and unfair, and has the potential to stand in the way of our goals; the people in BNW realize that inequality helps maintain the stability they value. Inequality is unfair, but it keeps societies going. We owe it to those who work tedious jobs because it’s their work that helps keep the rest of us going. It is not right to look down on poor people, or believe that because one person may have more money, they are worth more than another person. The problem with our society is that nobody wants to be a low-class citizen—people want money, wealth, and power. In Gattaca, Vincent was unhappy with his social status in society because he knew he was capable of more. He did not want money or wealth—he wanted respect, Vincent’s issues with inequality were solved, but it was very rare, and it took a massive amount of hard work and dedication. Since he had a birth that was “left to chance”, his social status was lower, but he knew he was better than a label given to him based on inequality. He was not brought up to appreciate his social status like the children in BNW. On page 27 in BNW the visitors listened to the hypnopaedia that Beta children were listening to: “I’m so glad I’m a Beta…Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfully glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas.” These sayings are repeated over and over as these children are growing up so that they learn to love the position and social class they are in. These children are taught about every social class and the pros and cons of each, and at the end of the day, they still accept who they are and what their role is in their society. The inequality that takes place in the Brave New World keeps their society efficient and running smoothly (for the most part), and there are no issues with it because any issues that could possibly occur are prevented with hypnopaedia or soma. Since all citizens in BNW are content with their social status, as well as everything else in their lives, there seems to be very little conflict that arises, and the society members are “happy”. Unfortunately, in the real world, we are faced with difficulties and cruelty many times by members of every class.
In Brave New World Society people are conditioned from birth to fit into a specific social caste system. A broad range from Alpha Plus to Epsilon-Moron dictates one’s behavior, intellect, occupation, activities, and who one associates with. Since everyone has a “conditioned” place in society, it is reasonable to think that the people of BNW are content with their situations. “All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny” (16). Therefore, the controllers of BNW think that social inequality can be resolved by making everyone happy with their lives.
This conditioning, however, does not solve the problems of social inequality because it decides whether a person will be intellectually superior or inferior, and thus, decides who has power and who is subservient. For example, throughout the text we see Delta’s and Epsilons behaving as mindless drones that do the most menial work in hospitals and helicopter launch stations. On the other hand, although they do not have intellectual freedom, Alphas and Betas have superior intellect and physical stature that allows them to hold jobs from working in the Hatchery and Conditioning Center to teaching at the College of Emotional Engineering.
Furthermore, it is contradictory that while creating the social castes, BNW society conditions people of certain groups to not like other groups. This in itself creates inequality and division between castes, “I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able to read or write” (26). Although conditioning children to not like other groups may make them happier with their place in society, it creates division between castes and promotes inequality.
The ideal way to eliminate inequality in society would first be to eliminate greed. Beyond divisions among race, gender, and religion, the idea of greed for the limited resources of our planet would have to be removed from the human mind. It would have to be a conscious choice made by every individual (not imposed by government or other institutions) to take what they need and leave enough for the rest of society. Next, the people in the society would have to accept the fact that we are all human beings with the same needs and desires for food, shelter, and happiness. If humans eliminate the barriers between them, they will be able to work toward the common good of all. This plan is very idealistic but could become a reality if people are educated to be more conscious toward one another. This plan would also take many years to take effect because it involves a complete restructuring of the human mind, consciousness, and culture.
In Gattaca, humans are bred to be genetically superior or inferior. One’s DNA determines their place in society. Those with inferior DNA, like Vincent, are face genetic discrimination and prejudice. Vincent, through pretending to be Jerome, makes his way through the ranks of Gattaca to flying into space and transcending his genetic limitations imposed upon him by society. The societal structure of Gattaca parallels that of modern America. Those from the disadvantaged and discriminated against groups are born with society against them; they are forced to work twice as hard to break through the barriers to a better life. Sadly, very few are able to transcend social barriers like Vincent, and this illustrates the extreme inequalities faced by millions in America.
My silent dialogue response dealt with the inequality that exists within the Brave New World society. My thoughts were that it was flawed because there is no room for people to aspire to be greater than the jobs assigned to them. Without the possibility of great accomplishments, there is no need for ambition or creativity. People never have the chance to excel and achieve great things. In GATTACA, the system of that setting gave each newborn a life expectancy and list of possible flaws. The idea behind this was to weed out the weak and only select the strong for important jobs and positions. The movie’s main character was told that he would live only to be around 30 years old and would have a failing heart. This should have stopped him from accomplishing his dream of flying through space. With the help of man with much more compelling genes, he outperformed what was expected of him and achieved greatness, like every human should have the chance to do.
An interesting response I got during the silent dialogue suggested that although imperfect, the BNW system of inequality would be hard to break. The author of this response clearly thought that stability was worth sacrificing many of the freedoms that our society enjoys.
After reading the responses in the silent dialogue, I was intrigued with a comment made with respect to the price that people pay when technology becomes available that essentially controls the way that a person thinks and behaves. In other words, people lose the ability to enjoy their individual character traits and/or pursue their intellectual curiosities. However, what struck me the most was the idea that people from Huxley’s novel were not allowed to develop close relationships, much less get married and have a family.
In A Brave New World, for example, John the Savage is interested in getting to know Lenina better and developing an intimate relationship with her. She, however, has been conditioned to live in a world that does not allow monogamous relationships and instead uses casual sex a means to forget real problems and enjoy pleasure. When John tells Lenina about his feelings for her, she makes sexual advances upon him. This is upsetting to John, who truly wants to get to know Lenina on an intimate level. He attempts to explain that he does not want to have sex with her until they married and proceeds to ask her to marry him. “There was a moment silence; then, in a very low voice, ‘ I love you more than anything in the world,’ he said.” (174) However, when Lenina advances toward him and holds out her arms, “the savage retreated in terror, flapping his hands at her as though he was trying to scare away some intruding and dangerous animal.” (176) The inability for Lenina to develop a normal human relationship and understand what real love and commitment means made me realize how advancements in science and technology are creating a world that does not appreciate the important things in life such as intimacy and commitment.
Although the satiric nature of A Brave New World is an extreme example of the sacrifice of human attachments, I can even see how this is beginning to happen in our present society. At this point, it seems like people would rather text a question than bother to pick up the phone. What comes next?
A utopia cannot succeed due to the many definitions people have of utopia. It literally translates to a perfect world, but a perfect world to one may not be the same to the next. While people may have ideas involving common themes, reaching a utopia as a society would ultimately force its citizens to sacrifice portions of their lives. Not everyone would ever reach complete happiness, which leads me to believe that we are better off living for accomplishments, success and happiness in an imperfect world.
I think that social inequalities don’t get solved in BNW because they are set up on purpose so no one wants to solve them. Also no one is really aware of the inequalities except for the Alphas who don’t mind it. Unlike our society, no one in BNW puts up a fight about their class level because they were taught that theirs was the best. I don’t think that there is an ideal way to eliminate inequalities; I think that laws help now, to prevent mistreatment and more inequalities. I don’t think it is possible though to ever eliminate inequalities because there will always be something that makes us different and something to judge people on, like in Gattaca. In Gattaca almost all of the inequalities that we face now are eliminated. We see all races and genders working together, although gender might still be an issue. In the movie though, we see how even after all of the improvements and adjustments they still find things wrong with people’s genes and they discriminate. Like I said in a response to one of the other questions, discrimination and inequalities will never end and technology will just open up more reasons to discriminate.
In response to what Ellie said, it is possible to create a utopian society, as that is what they have done in Brave New World. As people are decanted in to it, they have no idea that life was not always that way. if they had that knowledge, they would have different ideas about what a utopia is. However, as they are all placed into the same world and are conditioned to like it, their civilized world is a utopia.
In response to Melissa's ideas about how technology is beginning to control our lives, I agree. I believe just as technology is often the easy way out of doing harder tasks, we become accustomed to this mindset. We then begin searching for easy ways out in other parts of our lives including relationships and school. It is no coincidence that as time goes by and new inventions arise, more and more people are promiscuous, an easy way to deal with problems in relationships. Promiscuity or the ridiculous way so many of us use text messaging as our main form of communication provide easy way outs of actually dealing with our issues. This makes me wonder if religion isn't our version of soma...maybe it's text messaging?
A utopia is an impractical, idealistic scheme for social and political reform. In agreement to what Ellie had said I do not believe a utopia cannot ever be accomplished because our society will never reach the perfection required in order to have a utopia. What may seem as perfect to one is not necessarily someone else’s definition of perfection. We are born to love competition, strive to be the best, and achieve our goals any way we can, it is the joy of living. Having that feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when we have succeed is what pushes us to do more, be better, reach as close to perfection as possible. In a utopia, such as the World State society, no one can ever be more successful or perfect then anyone else because they all have the same jobs, play the same sports, and are all conditioned to think the same way. In Brave New World they had accomplished a utopia be demolishing history so make the citizens believe this is how the world has always been, therefore the don’t know any better disagree with their society. In our world, history is passed down all the time, through teachers, parents, friends, and media. There is know way to eradicate the past and until someone discovers how to do that, a utopia will never work out.
To respond to Jen, the Brave New World society is not a utopia. Just because the citizens of BNW don’t know any other way of living, that still doesn’t mean that their society is perfect. We don’t have to look at the world from their perspective to judge whether it is perfect or not, we can look at it through ours. There is no need for relativism, there is a certain set of criteria that needs to be in place to label something as a utopia, and BNW doesn’t have it. Just because the citizens are happy, that doesn’t make it a utopia. Just because the citizens are ignorant, it doesn’t make it a utopia. All that this means is that the world controllers and their colleagues did a very good job of brainwashing the public. Further evidence to show that BNW isn’t a utopia is that Helmholtz, Bernard, and even Mustapha were not happy in the society. The people who think for themselves didn’t like it. Also, Lenina forgot to immunize one of the embryos to something, which eventually killed it 30 years later. These facts alone show that even BNW is not perfect, thus not a utopia. And Alice T makes a great point that just because there is not competition and everyone is happy doing society’s bidding, it isn’t good. Although people are conditioned to do it, they really have nothing to live for. The individual offers no merits to society because society doesn’t care what they can do if it doesn’t better society. People can’t make BNW better because they want to but because they have to (forced by the government). This seems very far from perfect to me.
In response to Ellie's post I agree that a utopia cannot exist because of the contrasting ideals that can create conflict. However, I do believe that we should always be working towards a Utopia and that although it may take the sacrifices of some members in the society it is worth it because it forces the society to progress. If we are not working towards something, what are we living for? Is it acceptable to be merely “content” with who we are and where we are in the world? It isn’t really about creating an “actual” Utopia, but the things people accomplish in the process.
In accordance with the above ideas, I agree that utopias remain, impractical, idealistic, and possibly detrimental to society. However, I do recognize benefits of imagining and striving for such a world. Recognizing flaws allows for a constantly advancing civilized world. By contrast, imagining a potential utopia, such as Brave New World, allows us to evaluate communal goals. Huxelys satirical novel presents an extreme example of necessary precautions we must take when striving for perfection. Predicting an outcome allows for better understanding of present day issues. Huxley used Brave New World as a warning for the technologically advanced, consumer run world in which he though his society was headed. Thus, while we cannot remain stagnate and must always strive for improvement, imagining a utopia allows for more effective and ethical goals of improvement.
In response to Dave Z's comments, I think that the fact that BNW doesn't allow room for creativity and ambition is exactly the way BNW is meant to be. I think that if it did not work that way, BNW wouldn't be a utopia for those that created it intending to be a utopia. Those constraints allow the BNW to thrive in the WAY the creator's believe would most likely allow it to be perfect. It seems flawed to us, but it is vital to believe that their world is a true utopia when confronted with other ideas.
In response to Ellie's comment, I agree with the statement everyone has his or her own idea of a utopia. To simply categorize everything “perfect “ into one group would not only be faulty but would show everyone’s ideas do not hold the same meaning. However, in our society I believe every single person is striving for perfection, so in other words his or her own utopia. If every person just settled for mediocre there would not be anything more to live for. In Brave New World there is no fight for perfection, to them it has already been achieved. So I read the book and wonder what they are reaching for, what real goals do they have and how can one have a utopia if there are many in the society that disagree with the way they are living and find themselves unhappy.
I strongly agree with Laura’s post. As several posters before me have recognized, the concept of a utopia is inherently flawed. However, it is human nature to strive for progress. Humankind will always be making strides bringing us closer to a more “perfect” society. It is satires like Brave New World that allow us to continue to progress, while avoiding potential slippery slopes into the complete destruction of individuality.
I would agree with Ellie's comment. When we started talking about the idea of a utopian world in class, the first thing that was asked of us was to define what our personal utopia would be like. After sharing with classmates, it was evident that everyone had a different idea of what their personal utopian society would look like.
In Brave New World, there is an attempt to set up a society in the aftermath of a terrible war that would actually stop future destruction from happening. However, in order to due this, the society took everything away that caused conflict. Everything from religion to relationships were removed. In their attempt to create a utopian society a distopia was the final product.
Social inequalities are solved my conditioning the people of each class to love being in their class the most. The conditioning starts from birth and every class is born with different traits. Episoles have alcohol pored into their tubes so they r stupid and small, but they are also born in twins of usually around 60 so they appear to all be the same. And as the social levels move up the the people in the different levels progressively get smarter all the way up to the Alpha's. The lower classes are left to do the more blue collar jobs and the assembly line jobs while the upper class alphas and beta's have the lab/desk jobs.
so basically the social inequalities are kept by keeping the lower classes dumb and restricted. So they are not even really able to comprehend what it means to be lower class. or to know that they are conditioned to remain there.
In our modern world that we live in, anything can be satirized. For example, our celebrities are so important to us that someone could make a story about them running our government. We try to dress like them, act like them, and talk like them. We even watch their lives on MTV. Religion is another thing that can be made fun of. For example, in BNW, they have Ford become their new god because of material making and status. All they have to do is believe in something and it becomes divine. The followers of Jesus created Christianity, the Greeks created mythology, Martin Luther created Protestant religion and Joseph Smith created the Mormon religion.
Yes, it’s very good to strive for a utopian government. I believe striving for utopia is a way of dreaming of how society should be run. It gives everyone goals and helps the creators of the government to think about how to make everyone happy. For example, in BNW, the creators of this new world didn’t want suffering, so they created soma to get rid of diseases, anger, fear, and disgust. They have that drug cure those problems and turn them into relaxation and happiness. In our world, our forefathers created America because they thought it was a perfect place where everyone could be free and have their own rights. By doing thinking that, they created the U.S Constitution. It’s a very good idea to try and strive for a utopian government, but the only problem is it is impossible to get a utopian government. No government is perfect and when they have problems they have to deal with it. For example, In BNW, when John and Helmholtz got into fights with the security guards, they had to dose them with soma gas to stop the fighting. Another example is when there is someone different in society, the ban them to an exiled place so the government doesn’t have to worry about them. In our world, it seems the people that are banned are equivalent to the people in our world going to jail for committing a crime. The only difference is the people that are banned will be happy where they are going because they will be with others who share the same views as each other and are like them, but jail is filled with evil people who will try to kill you if you make them mad. Our government and BNW’s government has to deal with different problems every day. Which proves, our government and BNW’s government can be great, but never perfect.
In BNW people from birth are conditioned to live and act a certain way. The BNW society is trying to be a utopia which is impossible because utopia is a "perfect world" and no matter how hard this society tries to condition everything like sending people away if they cant obey the BNW society standards.
I 100% agree with Zach that everything and anything can be satirized. Going along with his comments about celebrities that we do tr to talk, walk, dress and act like our favorite celebrities. It gets to a point where if i was watching a concert of kanye west on he internet, that i can just click on his clothes during his performance and buy the exact clothes and shoes and sunglasses he has on. Also, my paper topic is about a utopia society and if achieving a perfect world and life, will you still be happy in the end? Like in BTW people of their society are raised to act a certain way and they are controlled what t like and not like because the are just a lab experiment that goes wrong. People of the society weren't able to think for themselves and show their true emotions and feeling because it was all just a fake life.
Striving for a utopian society is something everyone wants, but never can be done. I believe through all the failures that every book talks about for example the BNW and the Giver shows that a utopian society is impossible. The problem with a utopian society not being to work out is because humans creates error and we aren't perfect, so causing all theses errors will turn everything into chaos.
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