“Individualism is rather like innocence; there must be something unconscious about it.”

The World State functions so efficiently and successfully (in the terms that the society accomplishes what it deems worthy goals) only because individuality no longer exists. Their motto is “Community, Identity, Stability.” The three words are not separate and equal entities. The meaning is in the cause and effect relationship between the three terms: in order to achieve stability, the community must have only one identity.

It is shocking to see a government completely stifle individuality, but more startling to see a regime stifle individuality by allowing citizens to be superficially fulfilled. At times, the arrangement seems like a paradox. Whereas one might expect a government to control its citizens (who know they are being oppressed) through cruel punishments, torture, and sheer fear, the World State controls its citizens (who are, in fact, extremely content with their situation) without them even knowing it. Scientific advances have enabled the regime to create “engineered” people even before birth and to have those biological modifications last until after death. As I said before, people are trained to be happy, do their work, and gain pleasure from activities deemed appropriate. They are fulfilled by what is given to them and therefore have no desire to seek personal freedom in the activities they choose.

What perhaps bothers me the most about the World State is the complete lack of emotions, especially friendship and love. People have no familial relationships; indeed, they cringe at the word of “mother” or “father.” Since they have no one to lose, death is not an event requiring grief or tears. Obviously, this idea is at the center of this book: the search for meaningful connections takes a great deal of individual effort and must be eliminated in a society like the World State. As I finished the book, I realized that this complete lack of sincere emotions is the biggest reason why everyone is exactly the same. Humans are social creatures, meant to interact with others and respond to outside stimuli. The different ways people respond to situations, whether they feel generous, gloomy, cheerful, enamored, desperate etc, differentiates one person from the next. Without these constantly evolving feelings, there is no personal journey and really no humanity at all.

Finally, the people of the World State simply cannot be individuals, because morals, values, passion, and emotions create instability; these characteristics are not compatible with the consumer economy. Consumerism is about instant and materialistic gratification. On the other hand, relationships and connections are based on one’s emotional longing and love for another. In effect, individualism has been sacrificed for an artificial happiness and a stable society where everyone gets what they want when they want it. Huxley makes us ask ourselves if its worth it.

Essentially, the government eliminates anything that could culture individuality. Mainly, human “truths” are completely destroyed in exchange for a community identity. Science is suppressed as it is way to control and therefore is stability. Art is expelled because it requires passion and is not a commodity. Equality is sacrificed to a growing economy. “History is bunk.” Huxley’s list goes on and on, reminding and possibly warning us of our often contradicting values and the future we may face. (532)

"Literature is my utopia."

The World State Government is all-powerful and because it controls every facet of life, it creates a productive, self-sufficient, and “perfect” society.  Individuals do not naturally form and mature, rather they are pre-natally programmed and conditioned to behave exactly like the next embryo that passes down the assembly line. 

The Government controls the likes and dislikes of each caste. Some babies are trained to hate flowers and books, by associating a shrill sound and electric shock with the two items.  Individuals shrink away from the horror of botany and academics all their lives.  In fact, this conditioning technique was inspired by Pavlov’s experiment, in which dogs salivated at the sound of a bell because the sound was usually associated with food.  However, the Government was not programming humans for superficial reasons.  The dislike of flowers actually encourages workers to stay busy in factories and the dislike of books eliminates people’s tendencies to waste time reading and gain heretic knowledge. Therefore, society is always productive because citizens have been psychologically altered: to work hard and efficiently is the status quo.

The Government creates a self-sufficient society because the workers are the consumers and the consumers are the workers.  For citizens, all leisure activities are commodities and commercialized.  Citizens drive the capitalist economic system even when they are not working, by readily consuming expensive sports equipment and elaborate transportation vehicles.  Indeed, it is extremely odd for any person to not play “Obstacle or Electro-magnetic” during his/her free time (Ch5).  The World State ensures a prosperous economy and the status quo by conditioning people to want and always want more of whatever the economy produces.  To act otherwise, to act as an individual would be idiosyncratic.  Thus, the economy continues to thrive. 

Finally, the Government creates a society full of happy people, happy jobs, and happy fun.  First, the government controls the behavior of its citizens to obey without question.  People exhibit child-like obedience and adhere to the World State morals because of peer pressure and government laws.  Bernard faces ridicule and criticism because he has not reached the promiscuity standards and people are watched constantly by everyone else.  The elimination of a private life and the belief that this elimination is the norm provides the Government with limitless control.  Second, through one of Mustapha Mond’s speech, readers realize that citizens have no idea about any ideas before Ford, such as culture, marriage, parenthood, and emotions, especially love.  Obviously, these institutions have been, literally, erased from memory in order to achieve social stability: “History is bunk.”  If people understand no history and do not have access to any records, they cannot envision an alternate way of life and therefore will not rebel or seek change.  Third, since people never meaningful connect with others and create lasting bonds, they are solely loyal to the state. 

In the World State, there is never a need to question the Government’s decisions.  If the people only know happiness, and they are prevented from ever learning about or wanting a different life, they will always be content. (509) 

Sources (JStor):

“Oedipus in Dystopia: Freud and Lawrence in Alduous Huxley’s “Brae New World”

“The Two Future Worlds of Aldous Huxley”

“Science and Conscience in Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’”

"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science."

Chapter 1-4

At first glance, Brave New World seems to be a science fiction novel, featuring startling and futuristic scientific discoveries.  Readers are awed by the scientific achievements that modern-day society can only dream about and adamantly set as technological goals.  The novel is based on innovations such as rapid growth, human cloning, and prenatal determination.  However, we quickly realize Huxley’s purpose in writing: while we may look at technological advancements as progress, our increasing dependence on science can lead to a dystopia.  Soon, we may live in a world in which technology is religion, the government is all-powerful, and the people are neither individualized nor natural human beings. 

Huxley speedily reveals how the World State’s “religion” is based on technology.  First, the calendar begins on the date that Henry Ford presented the Model T and its ingenious type of production, the assembly line.  All dates after that are denoted by “A.F.” or “After Ford,” similar to our “A.D.” marking the dates after the birth of Jesus.  The idea of Ford and his scientific achievements penetrate all aspects of society.  People make the sign of a T on their stomach when talking about Ford.  (It is humorous to think that all the crosses had their tops cut off to fulfill the new state religion.)  Instead of saying “Oh God,” the people say “Oh Ford.”  Our Ford is always capitalized.  And the controller is even called “fordship Mustapha” instead of “lordship.” 

Second, Ford is linked (and possibly confused in the eyes of the World State citizens) with Freud.  Mostly, Ford and Freud are seen as the same person: two distinct individuals are of one indivisible Divine essence.  This belief reminded me of the Christian Holy Trinity.  Third, the “Predestinators” pick what caste the embryos will become.  This belief in predestination parallels the Calvinist belief that God marks people as the damned or the saved before they even enter the world.  Fourth, all citizens must attend Solidarity Services, Community Sings, and Ford’s Day Celebrations.  Indeed, the entire Solidarity Service is s a satirical version of attending a religious gathering or place of worship.  Bernard dreadfully foresees his failure to “achieve atonement.”  The state encourages the group to “lose their twelve separate identities in a larger being.”  And they sing hymns together and seek to “hear Ford.”

Finally, religious practice is often directly related to achieving social stability.  Some even say that religion has enormous potential to solve today’s social problems.  Huxley shows how religion, so in this case, technology, can ultimately be used to achieve social stability and peace.  In the World State, individuals happily accept their position in society because of their prenatal conditioning.  Lower castes can only think of serving others and they are only happy when they are servile.  Individuality is a luxury.  Anonymity is necessity.  Higher castes stick to themselves and split their time between work and leisure.  All castes are conditioned to be content with their situation and any needs built into their anatomy are automatically met.  For example, people always get their soma.  The government cracks down on any rioting so that any type of rebellion or individual thought is suffocated.  Thus, in the end, World State citizens have no worries and thus no passion for change and no reason to be active citizens, agitating for the lifestyle they deserve.  Through this warped caste system, Huxley warns us that social stability comes with a disparity in the distribution or privilege and money and achieving this noble goal with the wrong means can end in catastrophe. (587)

The Silken Tent

The first line immediately displays Frost’s purpose; the poem is an extended metaphor between a woman and a silken tent.  Frost is not comparing a woman’s character to any old tent, but to a specific representation of a silken tent, lightly bending and swaying in the sunny breeze.  The dew, which would have soaked the cords, has dried and the cords are slack.  From the imagery in the first four lines of a tent leaning with the wind, readers sense a relaxed and comfortable woman.  The natural movement of the tent and its cords reflects the woman’s lack of tension, strain, and anxiety.  However, Frost stops us from thinking that the woman is a push-over or wimpy, easily “swayed” and influenced by changing “winds” or fads and fashion.  He describes her central pole as strong and supporting.  The tent’s cedar pole is parallel to a person’s backbone and, in this poem, conveys firmness in character. 

Frost points out that the woman’s strong character does not derive from any single thing, but from her “ties of love and thought to everyone on earth” or her connections with her family and friends, which also literally means the tent’s cords are tied to the ground.  The woman has many different investments, many different ties with many different people, yet she does not find her relationships suffocating or entangling.  In fact, she does not even notice how limiting all the obligations of so many different relationships can be.  Thus, the silken tent, the woman, is able to stand against the breeze because of its central support, her strong character, and the support of its ties, her relationships to those she loves. 

After the first reading, the poem seems formless, lacking rhythm, meter, and rhyme; however, this assumption is false.  Indeed, closer examination reveals the poem’s true rhyme scheme: a specific pattern in which the first line rhymes with the third, the second line rhymes with the fourth and so on.  The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.  It is interesting to notice that Frost does not forcibly rhyme words. Instead he lets the words flow so that the rhyme ends up being less noticeable, less stressed, and does not interrupt the poem.  In other poems we have read, rhymes are placed at the end of lines when a reader would take a natural pause, creating an emphatic rhyme.  Frost, though, avoids many end-stopping lines so rhymes are less noticeable.  For example at the end of line 2, it is unnatural to take a pause between “breeze” and “has.”  Most would read it as a single phrase “a sunny summer breeze has dried the dew”

Some people may still be convinced that Frost wrote a shapeless poem.  Actually, “The Silken Tent” is a Shakespearean sonnet.  Each line has ten syllables, and they follow a pattern of alternating weak and strong syllables, which is called iambic pentameter: At MIDday WHEN a SUNny SUMmer BREEZE.  However, Frost does take liberty with this strict meter.

Finally, it is important to note that there is only one period in the entire poem.  The whole work is a single, lengthy sentence covering fourteen lines.  I believe that iambic pantameter’s strict guidelines make composing poems difficult in the first place.  Frost has already achieved a conversational tone in a strict meter.  He has doubled his challenge by completing his poem in one sentence.  The poem itself actually reflects the subject within it.  The single sentence gracefully and naturally unfolds within Sonnet rules; Frost effortlessly conveys a metaphor within strict meter and rhyme.  The woman’s life is full and relaxed; she is free within her boundaries.  At times, she is not even aware of the boundaries because she is easily comfortable within them.

This poem is truly a product of “form is function.”  The shape and form of the poem actually reflect Frost’s language.  The magic of the poem is Frost’s ability to seamlessly blend form and content.  (663)