Friday, July 8, 2011

Brave New World 17: Conceiving and Idea Through Balance

"'And it's what you never will write,' said the Controller. 'Because, if it were really like Othello nobody could understand it, however new it might be. And if it were new, it couldn't possibly be like Othello.'" pg. 220

The people of this enhanced world are contrarily not mentally adept enough to conceive a play like Othello. John continues to revive his own spirits and make attempts at teaching the people how to feel, but they are not able. They are not programmed to do that.

John and his friends want the people to know love and anger. They want these people to be able to feel passion and rage. Because the one thing they have found to be true about feeling is that it is better to suffer having it than it is to be without both feeling and suffering.

In the real world, there is a debate similar to this one over depression medication. I have never had to choose a side, but I know that there is both support and opposition of its use. While we can never know which side is right or wrong, both obviously feel strongly about their stance, and this is similar to the opposing sides in the novel.

While the advanced humans believe that they don't deserve to feel pain, the savages don't believe its right to force people into a constant state of false pleasure. This is a lot like the conflict between western and holistic medicine.

No comments:

Post a Comment