Brave New World Entry #2

1.       Do the high ranking officials really fear new ways of thinking as a threat to civilization?

Answer: The officials don’t exactly fear new thinking as a major end threat to civilization yet. First of all, they don’t really make anyone who doesn’t conform disappear as seen in 1984. Rather, they simply try to defend the public from radical views without going overboard. For example, the Director tries to isolate Bernard from the rest of civilization by proclaiming “In Iceland he will have small opportunity to lead others astray by his unfordly example” (Huxley 149). This shows that rather than completely taking the minority idea off the face of the earth, the government simply tries to keep it from reaching the public. Therefore, the officials cannot view the radical ideas as a major threat to their civilization.

2.       Could the “Ford State” survive without soma?

Answer: It would be nearly impossible for the Ford State to survive without their precious soma tablets. In Brave New World, soma basically takes the place of nicotine in the modern world. The citizens have developed a psychological need or addiction for soma. “Oh, I wish I had my soma,” said Lenina when the encountered the repulsive savage reservation (Huxley 116). The need for soma tends to come from being in an unpleasant situation. In a world with so many unpleasant aspects, taking away soma would be devastating to the population. The Ford State would be unable to function. People would not have the physical capacity to perform daily actions. It would be the end of the Ford State as they knew it.

3.        Could Bernard start a possible philosophical rebellion against standard Ford principles?

Answer: Yes, but it would have to be with the lower castes. The bottom line is that Bernard does not have the required presence to influence high ranking Alphas and Betas.  Huxley describes Bernard as a “creature with a Gamma-Minus physique” (173). If that’s the case, then shouldn’t he be better equipped to lead people such as the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons? Until becoming good friends with the Savage (John), Bernard was looked down upon by his colleagues. Almost all of them were taller and better looking than him. That said, they certainly aren’t going to want to take orders from him. It makes sense that he would have better success leading a thought rebellion with lower classes as opposed to talking up to more popular authority.

Brave New World Entry #1

The Ford State has created equality and conformity through misleading equality through social castes. These castes determine what jobs they will hold, their personal preferences, and their influence in society. This, however, is not 100% equal from the outside. Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons, for example, are considered the lower class in this society. They take all of the factory-like jobs. The Alphas and Betas, on the other hand, take the leadership roles in society. They have the more sophisticated jobs, such as those in the conditioning centre. There is clearly a gap in lifestyles between the Epsilons and Alphas. "But in Epsilons, we don't need intelligence" Mr. Foster says (Huxley 15). The groups are staggered in order to fill all positions needed for the society to thrive. However, these groups are actually conditioned to be content with who they are. "I'm so glad I'm a Beta," says the Director (Huxley 27). In a typical social caste system, one would likely aspire to be of Alpha status. But in this system, the groups are made to have negative reactions to the other castes. For example, the Betas argue that the Alphas "work much harder than we do" ( Huxley 27). This system allows for greater conformity and minimal rebellion from the lower class.

The Ford State has reduced conflict by establishing both a national religion and a lack of exclusivity. First of all, everyone in the society worships "Ford", a godlike being from which the state is named after. In many instances, the phrase Ford has taken the place of where the word God would normally be. For example, phrases like "Our Ford", "Thank Ford", and "Oh, for Ford's sake" are very common in the society (Huxley 90, 92, 94). Worshipping any other religion is highly frowned upon and nearly impossible, since the only people who practice "Chrisianity and totenism and ancestor worship" are savages (Huxley 103).  Secondly, the exclusive nature in which today's monogamous couples live in is completely impossible in Ford society. "Everyone works for everyone else" is the perfect way to describe the lack of privacy in relationships (Huxley 91). There are no marriages and no couples. Anyone can be with anyone at any given time. Faithfulness and love go out the window, thus making the citizens less unfaithful to the government.

The Ford State has created happiness by creating specific points of view for each social caste. Each group has reasons why they are glad to be what they are. For the most part, it's because they have only experienced life in one social caste (their own). Epsilons, for example, "don't know what it's like being anything else" (Huxley 74). Each group has different preferences as identified in their conditioning. Therefore, they don't think any lifestyle is better than the one they are living now.

The Ford society is definitely a utopia because of the lack of government intervention required to keep the society running. In 1984, the government basically had to silence (kill) anyone who tried to talk bad about the government. However, the Ford society hits that problem at the source. Instead of allowing people to generate their own thoughts in their mind, they pre-condition them to think and act the way they want to. Every physical, mental, and social aspect is controlled from the beginning of the creation process. The government is free to do what they want because there isn't any possibility for revolt. Those who are born don't have any objections to what the government does because they don't know any better. For example, the government can say that "Making ninety-six human beings where only one grew before" is "Progress" without taking any heat from the public. There is a lack of wrongdoing in the society. Therefore, the Ford Society must be indentified as a Utopia.

Final 1984 Blog

Big Brother has won over Winston simply because Winston no longer has the fighting spirit and hatred he once had toward Big Brother. He didn't have that same desire to hate the government any more.  Even though it said "He had won victory over himself" on page 245, he was actually being controlled by Big Brother. He had submitted to their demands, and they were able to destroy his will to rise against the system. He didn't want to go against them now. The mental and physical toll had done enough damage on Winston. Therefore, Big Brother won over Winston.

One way the One State can be destroyed was if the Party was to completely block off their territory from the proles. They would grow in number and become a bigger threat. Eventually, someone would organize a rebellion while the major nations were at fierce war with each other. Then, the proles would attack from the inside out, slowly pushing the Party back to their borders. Eventually, something would have to give. They would have to either let the proles rule over them or submit to their Eurasia and Eastasia.

Even though Orwell describes that "The long-hoped-for bullet was entering his brain" at the end of the novel, I think he was describing the death of Winston's rebellious spirit inside of him. He no longer showed resenment towards Big Brother. He was tired of fighting for what was right and not getting anywhere by doing so. The metaphorical bullet entering his brain completes he re-birth into the society. As the last line of the novel reads, "He loved Big Brother." Eventually, I think he is killed by the party, but that is not what Orwell was describing.