Brave New World Fr., 07.11.2008

TA

Chapter 10

I think what makes it so horrible for the Director is that he as a leader in the World State has totally infringed the highest moral principle of the World State from which this Society lives – not to born individual children but to produce indentical ones.

First, what he did was thereby much worse and incorrect than what he accused Bernard of in his speech.

Secondly, he cheated his own entreprise and everything he praises of.

He had broken the moral principles of the World State by his own. This fact makes him in his position not authentic, which is his horror, I think. He could lose all the respect he gained throughout all the years and everything he built up could break down if the people would understand what this means.

So, again, seen through the eyes of someone who really believed in the principles of the World State the Director had done something incorrect, unsocial and immoral.

Brave New World Fr., 07.11.2008

TA

Chapter 10

When the Director announces the dismissal of Bernard from his office in the World State in front of the workers of the Fertilizing Room, he accuses him to be a betrayer – on the one hand because he had been abusing the possibilities he was given to due to his position in society and on the other hand because he then had also been abusing the trust he gained. Plus, he had always been counteracting the rules and moral principles, either concerning his sex-life or his behave in his free time when he criticised the teachings of “Our Ford” or Hypopaedia at all.

This makes Bernard a subverter of the Orders and the Stabilitiy, the Civilisation and the Society of the World State.

As the Director denounces, Bernard criticised the whole process people of the World State where conditionned and the way they lived due to their conditions. He did never take soma, he disliked the Solidary Service and he did not change his sexual partners very often. On the contrary, he even tried to advise the inhabitants of the World State of this bricolage as he thought it was. He even tried to commit Lenina to him impressing her with emotions.

Seen the accusations through the eyes of the Director or someone else from the World State, I think they can be considered as correct. Bernard made his job, but he always tried to brake out of the system of the World State. I do not think that he wanted to destroy the World State and its orders, society and stability. I think he more wanted to re-organise it so that everybody could think and feel. Through the eyes of the Director and the ones that are conditionned this must seem to be a harassment for the World State since it is something new that they could not understand or rather do not want to happen because the position they have.

In my opinion, however, he did not behave incorrect or immoral since my conceivabilities are contrasting towards the ones of the World State.

Brave New World Mi., 05.11.2008

TA

Chapter 9

I think John uses the quotations from Shakespeare to express his feelings for Lenina since he has never learned another way to express them. It is remakable that John was an outsider and a loner. The only person he spent a lot of time with was Linda and she does neither feel nor know emotions like love due to her origin from the World State. Up to the moment when Popé left the book of Shakespeare for Linda, the only thing he read was the book about infant conditioning she kept from her former job in the World State. Already after having read the first lines, he throw it away. Therefore I can imagine that he, even though he also did not like the first poem of Shakespeare with which Popé wanted to aim at Linda`s sexual moral, read on because of the feelings Shakespeare expresses there, the feelings his mother could never express.

Summing up, I think the reason why John quotes from Shakespeare here, is that he has no other experiences with such feelings than these he read in his poems.

Brave New World Mi., 05.11.2008

TA

Chapter 9

In this chapter we learn about the way Bernard achieves that John and Linda are allowed to come with him to the World State.

He and John make use of the occassion that Lenina is, due to her abuse of soma the day before, deeply asleep and travel to the World State where Bernard makes the arrangements for John`s and Linda`s journey.

Within half an hour he gets through the Santa Fé Post Office, the World Controller`s Office in Whitehall, argues the Fordship`s forth personal secretary and then his first secretary to let him to Mustapha Mond in front of whom he beats behind the bush his real intention but centres the sufficient scientific interest of the World State. Convinced by this arguement, Mustapha Mond sends the neccessary orders to the Warden who finally passes the permission to Bernard.

Thereby the reader gets to know the disingenuous site of Bernard.

He makes use of John and Linda as well as of Mustapha Mond to avenge the Director. Thereby he has no sruples to lie to these peoples.

Brave New World Mo., 03.11.2008

TA

Chapter 8

Due to the fact that Linda was born, grew up and worked in the World State, she has quite a different attitude towards live and morality than the people from the Reservation. She was a Beta who was conditionned like all the other people from the World State are. Therefore she is in contrary to the people from the Reservation unable to think on her own. She can only repeat the hymns of the hypnopaedia when it comes to certain questions. Before her journey to the Reservation, she worked in the Embryo Store and could not imagine to born children in the natural way. Even now, that she is a mother, she sicks at the never ending birthing in the Reservation. Once, she even points out at John that she regrets having become pregnant and that there was no abortion center close-by.

Additionally, she does not understand why people in the Reservation do only have one partner. In the beginning she changed men very often, but then got into trouble with the men`s women.

Further, she cannot repair clothes since she was used to buy new clothes if the old ones were bust.

Summing up, all these reasons lead to her thinking that life in ther Reservation is uncivilised which makes her, as a very civilised person who loved the joy she had in the World State, feel uncomfortable. That may also be the reason why she drinks so much mescal for being happy and refrains from getting up very often.

As a result, the inhabitants of the Reservation must think that Linda is stupid, a bad mother and as well a bad woman since she changes men or rather takes them from their wifes for sexual satisfaction instead of becoming pregnant.

She is a outsider, seen as a sinner and probably also compared to a prostitute which can be considered from the fact that Popé who actually benefits from her sexual morality, leaves her the book of Shakespeare and that John`s classmates, probably children of the angry wives, point their fingers at her and sing silly songs.

Brave New World Do., 30.10.2008

TA

Chapter 7

I think that when Bernard sees John for the first time, he already notices that he is different from the other Indians. Therefore he is interested in him.

When John tells him the story of his mother Linda, who was born in the Other Place and once came to the Reservation with a man called “Tomakin”, became pregnant and therefore feared to go back, while the father probably left her since she was found by some hunters with her head hurt allone in the mountains in the North, Bernard must be reminded of the story the D.H.C. told him when he asked him for the permission to this journey. John`s mother, however, was brought to the Pueblo Malpais and must have never again heard of Tomakin since John has not yet met his father. This fact corresponds to the story of the Director, too. He also does not know what happened to his girlfriend and did never return to the Reservation to search for her. Additionally, it would be dishonourable for him as well, if the World State would knew that he as a Controller has a child. Therefore he had a reason for not coming back.

Bernard who does not like the Director probably is aware of this fact. So, I think that he might plan to use the news about the past life of the Director, either to hold him to ransom, to endamage him (e.g. by broadcasting the news) or to instance this story as the normal, irrepressible way of human life.

                                                                                                                               TA

Chapter 6

In my opinion, the reason for Bernard feeling strong enough to fight the system is that he notices in the conversation with the Director that even such a controlled man can make faults.

It is quite remarkable directly at the beginning of part 3 of the chapter that the Director and Bernard dislike each other a lot. Bernard is intimided by the Director because of his sour glance (p. 81, l. 27) and the returning of the paper without any comment (p. 82, l. 4) when he fetches his permission for the New Mexican Reservation.

But when the director notices that the permission is for a journey to this place, he loses his self- control. He immediately begins to tell Bernard about his experience at the Reservation. He lost the girl that accompanied him there one night and all his efforts to find her stayed without success. In this story the Director for the first time shows feelings and some human attitudes., as following statement points out: “Dream of being woken up by that peal of thunder and finding her gone; dream of searching and searching for her under the trees” (p. 83, ll. 23ff.).

This compassion the Director shows there, might give Bernard the impression that he could never sent him to Iceland as he threatens him after he realizes what he just had done.  This threat and the quick change of his physiognomy cannot prevent Bernard`s feeling of being superior anymore. Already at the beginning of the narration of the Director, he had noticed his fault . “A man so conventional, so scrupulously correct as the Director – and to commit so gross a solecism!” (p. 82, ll. 14ff.). Here the gloating of Bernard starts. Every trial of the director to compensate his words make this gloating of Bernard even worse. The director makes clear that his relation to the girl, of course, was not indecorous and that everything was “perfectly healthy and normal” (p. 84, ll. 1ff.). The phrase “I really don`t know why I bored you with this trivial anecdote.” Can be understand in that way that the Director wants to make Bernard forget the things he had said. Probably he fears the consequences it could have since Bernard is a very intelligent psychologist. To undermine Bernard`s higher position in this case, he leads the conversation towards his disbehaviour saying that “Alphas are so conditioned that they do not have to be infantile in their emotional behaviour” (p. 84, ll. 12f.).

However, his efforts are helpless. Bernard already understood that not everything is “ perfectly healthy” and that the conditioning of the Alphas does not prevent them from infantility in their emotional behaviour. This knowledge makes Bernard feel stronger than the system, since he now understood that the system does not work without faults when it comes to emotions.

                                                                                                                               TA

Chapter 6

The attitude of Lenina and Bernard towards their time spent together is quite different. As we already learnt in Chapter 4, the reason why Lenina addresses herself to Bernard is that she does not want the others to think that she has only Henry as sexual partner. However, Bernard seemed to be really interested in her in the preceding chapters.

In this chapter, it becomes quite clear that the reason for Lenina spending time with Bernard is just to have fun, while for Bernard it still is his affection for her.

As the first sentence of the chapter points out, Lenina thinks that Bernard is odd. It is said that he has alcohol in his blood- surrogate and therefore is so strange (p. 76, l.1). Henry already warned Lenina that Bernard is a rhinocerus, a person who does not respond properly to his conditioning (cf. p. 76, ll. 6f.).

The first afternoon with Bernard was in her opinion particularly fine (p. 76, l. 16). But when it came to decide what to do, there were certain discrepancies. Lenina wanted to have fun, but Bernard preffered going for a walk in the Lake District (p. 76, ll. 20-24).

These are first remarks of the different intentions the two have. Bernard wants to be alone with her to talk while Lenina wants to have fun. In the end, it is Bernard who gives in, so that they go to the Semi-Demi-Finals of the Women`s Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. This is not enough fun for Lenina. She takes soma and offers Bernard some as well. The slogan Lenina says to persuade Bernard to take some soma seems to be programmed in her mind. “A gramme in time saves nine” (p. 77, l. 11). Bernard nevertheless refuses. He explains that he would like to be free and happy in some other way (p. 78, l.l. 27f.) and that he does not just want to be “a cell in the social body” (p. 78, l. 8). This is also the reason why he regrets in the end that they had both taken soma and had sex that night. Lenina cannot go on listening to his talks, but onething she picks up, is that Bernard says: “I want to know what passion is [...] I want to feel something strongly.” (p. 80, ll. 28f.). Lenina on the contrary says : “When the individual feels, the community reels.” (p. 80, l. 30).

As a conclusion, it is to be stated that still Lenina`s attitude towards the meetings with Bernard is just a self-serving one. Of course, she likes Bernard, because of his “nice hands” and “the way he moves his shoulders” which is very “ attractive” (p. 81, ll. 18ff.). But actually she seems not be interested in him. She wants to have fun and as long as this is secured the meetings are ok for her. If he gets one of his odd talks, she still can take some soma and just do not listen to him untill it is over. In the end, she knows, she will get her will, anyway.

However Bernard`s attitude towards the meetings is more from his interest in Lenina as a person and a girlfriend. I think, that he is dissapointed when he notices that Lenina is different from what he had expected, e.g. when he talks to her about being free (p. 80). After this first disappointment he takes the first time in the book soma to benumb his senses, probably to not notice this discrepancy anymore. After their second discrepancy in the dialogue after they had had sex, his attitude towards Lenina and their meetings seems to have changed a little bit. When she askes him whether she is to pneumatic, he thinks that she is like “meat” (p. 80, l. 7). Here he takes away the soul and everything that could be special about Lenina and reduces her to just meat and talks to her in such a plump way that even she notices his disapproval (p. 81, ll. 12-15).

                                                                                                                          TA

Chapter 5

In my opinion the most important difference in the meaning of the word “solidary” in the church and in Brave New World is that  in our society it means listening to each other, talking about problems and giving hope by praying to God while the Solidary Service in Brave New World tries to make people feel better by giving them drugs and icecream. This could be compared to the charing of bread and wine in church.

Instead of religious hymns people in Brave New World sing ridiculous songs.

So, the only things that are similar in both groupes, in the Solidary Service and in church, is the priciple of joining toghether und doing something to feel better, to make the others feel better. Therefore both groupes are lead by a kind of priest who presents something which is repeated.

Since the Solidary Service is comparable to our church, it becomes quite clear that people, no matter in what situation they are, need something that gives them hope, something to rely on. Maybe they also search for a reason for them to live. A reason why they are on earth, why they were created. Except for that, the Soildary Service shows quite clearly that people will always need other people. They want to be in a community. All this they need to be happy. Only the way to achieve this happiness could change as it can be considered from the way the people at the service reach their state of happiness compared to the religious way in our society. However, the main things stay the same.

                                                                                                                              TA

Chapter 5

I think that the description of the Westminster Abbey Cabaret is written in a very prophetic way. Huxley uses many stilistic devices to create the atmosphere in this Cabaret.

The night, Lenina and Henry go there is “a night almost without clouds, moonless and starry” (p. 65, ll. 6f.). “giant letters” that glared “invitingly”(p. 65, l.11) from the facade of the Abbey almost leave no choise to them instead of entering. The wailing of the sexophones is compared to the wailing of cats under the moon (p. 65, ll. 19f.). A inversion makes a sentences start with the word “rich”: (p. 65, l. 21) “Rich with a wealth of harmonies, their tremulous chorus mounted towards a climax- louder and ever louder [...]” The idea of a “wealth of harmonies” is even a double of two positive words.  Instead of “in uproar” Huxley uses the term “in all but silence” or as well “ in all but darkness instead of “ in luminosity” (p. 65, l. 26). A tripatite augmentation “How kind, how good-looking, how delightfully amusing everyone was!” (p. 67 ll. 14f.), avers the feeling of Lenina and Henry during the show.

Then after the Cabaret sung their song “bottle of mine” the word bottle is used as a leitmotiv. First, they repeat the refrain of the song “Bottle of mine, it`s you I`ve always wanted..” (p. 66, l15). Then the word “bottled” is set on the beginning of the phrase and of the parts of the sentences: “Bottled, they crossed the street; bottled, they took the lift up [...]. And yet, bottled as she was, [...].” (p. 66, ll.32ff.).

Additionally to that, there are many poetic phrases like e.g. “ The depressing stars had travelled quite some way across the heavens.” (p. 66, l. 26).