A Parallel To Brave New World

Sadly I forgot about the blog so I’m now doing it late.  In Sir Ken Robinson’s Changing Education Paradigms, he touches on a lot of points that Brave New World has.  On one of them he points out how adults and children have come to believe that they are not smart because they don’t match with societies claims as the standards of “smart”.  They thus feel out of place.  This happens in Brave New World.  Barnard is often singled out because he doesn’t look like an Alpha Plus.  Because he is so different, over time he has become more and more separated form society.  He began to think differently because he wasn’t accepted by society.  Barnard makes the comment, “the sight of her transfigured face was at once an accusation and an ironical reminder of his own separateness.” (Huxley 86)  Because he is not excepted by society he is singled out and is made to feel out of place and odd.  Both societies have forced their expectations on the people, when they don’t make the “grade” they are then left out and excluded.   Robinson compares schools to factory lines.  There is sector for each thing and the children get passed down the line from one thing to the next to “learn”.  This is very similar to Brave New World, where children are created in an assembly line and are moved from one area to the next as they get older,  “opening an isolated door he showed them racks upon racks of numbered test-tubes.” (Huxley 5)  In these racks are embryos, right from birth they are grouped in sections and move from one place to the next.  They are only seen as numbers, not real people.  Both societies have kids coming out in batches, there is no individuality.  Robinson say’s that through all this factory system that happens at the school, the children loose their divergent thinking skills.  Divergent thinking, for him, is seeing a lot of possibilities to one question.  Kids are taught to follow a certain way of thinking and problem solving.  By doing this, the school is punishing “wrong” ways of answering or seeing things.  The school verdicts what is right and what is considered wrong.  In Brave New World, they teach the children by repeating things to them in their sleep.  Over time they stop questioning things, they just repeat what they had heard from the recorder, even if they have no idea what it means.  Overall our school system is moving closer and closer to Brave New Worlds society.  The school has assumed the power to verdict how children should think and process things, similar to Brave New Worlds society.

Brave New World- Manipulation

                 In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Mustapha Mond in the third chapter says, "Wheels must turn steadily, but can not turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as sturdy as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment."  He is referring to society and how a man need to make sure things stay on track so that it doesn’t go off their “axles”.  In his eyes he believes that manipulating and developing people to fit their designed job is the only way to keep the wheels turning.  The people, right at the moment of conception, are developed and trained to fit a certain style of life.  They are trained to be happy in the life they are suppose to life. 

 The Controllers are the men who tend to the wheels.  Society views them as the people who keep the peace, but they are truly the once that are manipulating the people.  They make the past look terrible.  Mustapha Mond describes the past as a appalling, and inhabitable. “Home, home–a few small rooms, stiflingly over-inhabited by a man, by a periodically teeming woman, by a rabble of boys and girls of all ages. No air, no space; an understerilized prison; darkness, disease, and smells.”  Through this description the children believe that they have evolved and are superior to the past.  Yet they were only designed that way.  Through the manipulation of science they were born to be “superior”.  They are then trained and practically brain washed to except any of the ideas the government wants the children to believe in.  They are expected to exert their emotions and feelings through desire, since “every one belongs to every one else”.  It seems outrages for them to have an exclusive relationship with anyone.  Most don’t understand the concept of family and restricting your self off to one person and then having emotional ties to that family. When Lenina tells Fanny that she has only been with Henry Foster for the last couple of months Fanny is in shock.  She believes that isn’t healthy and encourages Lenina to try having other men as well. In Lenina’s society having that “exclusive” relationship with Henry is unnatural and frowned upon.

Imperialism?

In the discussions of the Tempest, one controversial issue has been that is supports imperialism.  In Aime Cesaire’s rewrite a humorous version of the original The Tempest called A Tempest.  He enhances the idea of Imperialism in the play, making Caliban look even worse than what is portrayed in the real play.  Prospero describes him as “a savage… a dumb animal, a beast I educated, trained, dragged up from the bestiality that still clings to you.”  In the Play, Cesaire illustrates how imperialism is such a big part of the play.  On the other hand, George Will in his article Literary politics, expresses how many people read to far into literature.  He feels that the tempest doesn’t have anything to do with Imperialism.  He thinks that by people comparing The Tempest to imperialism “critics strip literature of its authority.” (112)  Stephen Greenblatt on the other hand agrees with Aime Cesaire’s view of The Tempest and how it relates to Imperialism.  He feels that the only way to truly understand literature is see how it applies to politics, and what is going on during that time period.  This is the same philosophy he applies to The Tempest, “It is similarly difficult to come to terms with what The Tempest has to teach us about forgiveness, wisdom, and social atonement if we do not also come to terms with its relations to colonialism.” (115)  Overall I agree with Greenblatt and Cesaire.  Imperialism did play a part in The Tempest whether we want to acknowledge it or not.  Imperialism was prominent during that time period and it is understandable that even Shakespeare was affected by it. I understand what George Will is saying.  I often feel that some people look to far into literature to get its meaning, but for me The Tempest had a strong pull toward Imperialism.