Johns visit to the hospital showed so much truth. Johns finally is known as the character of free will. When Johns mother died he showed sadness and it trigged higher instincts inside of him. It made him act revolutionary. Johns said on chapter 16 soma kills which was true since his mother is dead. This visit lead to exile at the end because of the acts committed in the hospital. Mustafa on the other hand also shows something strange that I consider emotionally non existing. Mustard said since he’s one of the law makers he gets to breaks them. In fact, the situation is quoting Shakespeare work which leaves it stupid. Why would anyone ban that kind of literature. This simply shows how sarcastic was the world they live in. John was experiencing angery emotions that made his response become more harsh toward all things. At the end on exile john was a little happy since he planted gardens and didn’t think about most stuff that happened. When the reporter came to him and says ” hi, I’m the reporter ” showed that it’s unprofessional but it also hinted that mainly this maybe a fake world. At the end I think it’s sad that he dies even if they just hinted it’s not real it wouldn’t make a difference. The truth is that this whole story ends with John being dead. Ironic to begin with and a no happy ending means leaving readers heart broken.
Category: BNW, chapters 14-18 (Page 1 of 2)
As we finished reading through the last few chapters of Brave New World, we are exposed to multiple dialogues as to what makes a society stable.  Mustapha explained to John that several sacrifices had to be made in order to maintain a happy and stable society.  John then questions Mond’s beliefs one after another, claiming that these sacrifices for happiness will only contribute to loathsome humans.  Mond’s methods for creating a stable society is not the appropriate way of doing it.  Absolute control over the lives of everyone leads to only false happiness and a society of pure ignorance.
Mustapha implemented a sort of limit when it comes to science, but his citizens never experienced any specific scientific exposure.  A case in point would be when Mond claimed that science is dangerous and must be contained for the good of happiness and stability.  After the claim, Helmholtz questioned Mond about all of the propaganda done at the college.  Which then he replies, “‘Yes; but what sort of science?’ … ‘You’ve had no scientific training, so you can’t judge'”(203).  This quote exemplifies that the citizens of New London are being limited to the knowledge of Science and its capabilities.  All for the sake of stability and happiness, but Mustapha is also hiding the truth from his citizens.  Practically expressing the term “science” as abstract but not concrete.
The need for a God was completely removed by Mustapha, due to his idea that a civilized man doesn’t need to go through anything unpleasant.  John brought up a point that, “‘If you allowed yourselves to think of God, you wouldn’t allow yourselves to be degraded by pleasant vices'”(212).  John is bringing up the idea that if there was a God to worship then there is no need to indulge on atrocities that are allowed within their society.  So that means there will be no need for a hallucinogenic drug(soma), or the need to experience false emotions towards one another.  Mond then replies to John’s comment, claiming, “‘There isn’t any need for a civilized man to bear anything that’s seriously unpleasant'”(212).  Mustapha replies to John with the idea that citizens are preconditioned to enjoy the tasks that they are given.  Yet, whenever there is a sense of unpleasantness present, then soma will counteract that feeling.
The source of false happiness begins with soma.  During the conversation between John and Mustapha on page 213, Mond calls soma, “‘Christianity without tears'”(213).  Evidently, people are always carrying soma, as seen from previous chapters, just in case they begin to feel any sort of discomfort and wish to free themselves from any dreadful emotions.  Leading to a state of false happiness and self satisfaction.  But, using drugs in order to maintain social stability is never the correct way.  In addition, comparing a drug to Christianity seems a bit far-fetched and misleading.  Soma can be seen as a key to keep the civilized people stable, which then leads to a stable society.
In general, sacrifices made for the reason of making a society stable, can be seen as good or bad.  Mustapha took a sort of manipulative approach in order to achieve stability.  It took an outsider like John to question Mustapha and his methods, because only an outsider was able to see corruption within a society.  Mustapha’s methods only led to a society of citizens with false emotions and pure ignorance.
The way how things are in life, some people may believe in God, though some people don’t. After reading Chapter 17 in “Brave New World,” this chapter talks about how they view on who God is and what he does. People may believe onto the things that God has done for humanity, but they would mostly believe in the top famous humans more than God.
Let’s started off on how God is suppose to be. It started when Mustapha Mond was reading a book to the Savage about the happiness of God. The quote that was most important about God was when Mustapha read “We are not our own any more than what we possess is our own. We did not make ourselves, we cannot be supreme over ourselves. We are not our own masters. We are God’s property” (208). This shows that people who are at the top ranks can’t be the true leaders. This quote is saying that we are the children of God. When he read the book to Savage, he asked Mustapha about why people don’t think that there is no God. Then he said to him “But he manifests himself in different ways to different men. In premodern times, he manifested himself as the being that’s described in these books” (210). Mustapha also told Savage that “He manifests himself as an absence; as though he weren’t there at all” (210). These quotes show that in certain times, citizens would think of God as not a real person. Meaning that they think that God doesn’t exist.
For this matter, we readers can related that in real life. The way how people would believe in God is because of religion. In the ways of religion, you would mostly see Christianity give praise to God. How they would do that is when they would go to Churches. They would have Books of Hymns, a choir to sing about God and the pastor. Also, people would say that God was the one who created mankind. Unfortunately, for those who don’t believe in God would that it was science that created mankind. They would say that it was because of evolution of a monkey turning into a human. So whether people believe in God or not is their choice.
So seeing the things we’ve gone over, it’s a saying that people have their own opinions. Some may say that God is a fact, while others say that that they would disagree with that statement. Now the real question is, “Do you think that God exist or not?”
Chapters 14-18 you come to understand the price paid in this civilization to maintain control, and to keep the society the way it is seen throughout the story. In Chapter 16 page 201 Mustapha Mond tells a story the world controllers giving a island called Cyprus the freedom that we would have today. They left twenty two thousand alphas run the island with no other caste to do any of the dirty work. He goes on to show how if a society where there were no lesser humans or “Epsilon semi-morons” to do any of the “dirty work” it wouldn’t survive. “All agricultural and industrial equipment was handed over to them and they were left to manage their own affairs. The result exactly fulfilled all theoretical predictions. The land wasn’t properly worked; there were strikes in all the factories; the laws were set at naught, orders disobeyed; all the people detailed for a spell of low-grade work were perpetually intriguing for high-grade jobs, and all the people with high-grade jobs were counter-intriguing at all costs to stay where they were”. Mustapha Mond gave legit factual evidence to prove why freedom and a society where everyone is looked to as equal will not work while John questioned the way things are. It took a civil war and the death of over half of the population of the island for them to want to return to the grasp of the world controllers, that is the reason why the society is as it stands as Mustapha Mond said “Because we have no wish to have our throats cut”(pg. 200). Â Johns questioning of the use of the “Bokanovsky Groups” brought a very interesting reaction from Mustapha Mond, which tied into his story about the Alphas. It showed that a society of people who think they are equal it will not work, for there always has to be someone to do the “dirty work”. “A society of Alphas couldn’t fail to be unstable and miserable. Imagine a factory staffed by alphas- that is to say by separate and unrelated individuals of good heredity and conditioned so as to be capable (within limits) of making a free choice assuming responsibility. Imagine it!……It’s an absurdity”. His reasoning is that Alphas can’t and aren’t conditioned to do work lesser than their “class”. Â Mustapha Mond’s reasoning behind the way their society is makes sense, but it’s still wrong. He explains why things are the way they are and the price they pay to keep them, but even he is “Conditioned” to think so. But in reality it is really fear that keeps them trapped in this delusion of Happiness they continue dwell on.
To understand what is good for civilization one must know what is bad for it. To seek out what is good or bad, one must be able to do so without the fear of reprisal. One must also understand what one finds not just that it is good or bad. Knowledge leads to improvement but it also leads to chaos, for it changes what is known.
To understand what is light you must know what darkness is and to understand what darkness is you must know what is light. You require a point of reference or a comparison to be able to create a relationship between two or more things. To know what will cause harm requires the knowledge of what that harm is and how it is achieved. To treat a bullet wound one must understand the idea behind the bullet and how it is used. Once you understand the purpose of the bullet and what it is meant to achieve you can then start to come up with ways of preventing it and treating it. In the case of the bullet its purpose is to inflict bodily harm that will either lead to immediate or slow death. This is done by destroying human tissue, bones and organs along its root in the body. Therefore it is necessary to remove the bullet fragments, stop the bleeding and administer antibiotics and then closed the wound to prevent further damage. Therefore, one must know how harm is inflicted to be able to mend it. It is by this example that Mustapha Mond collected, read and understood many old world texts (207-208,). John didnât understand the value of Shakespeare and his experiences in life until he came into conflict with the new World. He was not amazed by it, he didnât believe that it better than his own (146,148-149) and later was horrified by it (176-179, 183-184, 191-193, 216). He said he was poisoned by civilization (216), showing that he saw it as a negative VS the wonder that all other view it as. John wanted to be free to do as he pleased with his life, to suffer, to feel joy, to have something precious, conflict and a higher meaning tying it all together(214-215). Mustapha Mond was able to understand and add to Johnâs ideas with his own (208-215). That is what separates John and Mond from the rest of the people, their understanding of things beyond what society sees as ideal, standard, savage and to be forgotten. They are capable of higher though and have meaningful conversations in many topics VS the babble of all the clones, of all the mindless conversations about what people plan to do after work or on their breaks and other things that are mundane. And all this was made possible by both of them reading material that the society believed was better to be destroyed or forgotten. It is knowledge that was able to bring savage and the controller to the same field of thought.
The meeting of the minds of John and the Controller was able to take place due to the fact that both of them were immune to outside forces while seeking knowledge. John was free to read whatever he wanted for no one would stop him on the savage reserve. And he also was an outcast which led him to solitary, giving him plenty of time to read and learn (121-122). The Controller being one of the most power figures in the society was able to seek out knowledge from the old world with nearly no risk of questioning of his actions by others. Also, unlike Bernard, Helmholtz and John, the Controller didnât seek to distribute or discuss what he learned and how they changed his believes if they ever did with the rest of the world. He, in fact, did his best to hide of the old world artifacts that he uncovered (207-208), and only gave small hints at what the old world was in order to further the new teachings (40-62). All the knowledge he had was used subversively to remove the old ways and anything linked to them. This would not be possible if he didnât understand the core concept of the past and be able to seek them out.
The Controller had great grasp of a world that no longer exists. He knew all the works cited by John and was able to recall relative material that coincided with that work (197-199) (207-211). This allowed him to create counter points to Johnâs statements on behalf of current views, while agreeing with his own (199-203). The Controller has more academic perspective on old world literature, while Johnâs is more focused on his internal resonance with the work. However, this is enough to be able to transmit ideas back and forth between them with both understanding the otherâs argument. They both agree that the older works of literature and plays were great, that they had a spark of life in them (197-199). However, that spark of life is an old one. One that the current world is lacking. The new world lacks what the old had, and that is the ability to be free and alive (197-199). The current world only understands what it wishes to in order to remain happy and in control. The old world had conflict, but that conflict created uniqueness. Much like Johnâs case, he is an outcast in the world of the savages which led to many altercations with them. But these events shaped his psyche and view of the world (120-128). No one else would have the exact same one as him or even come close to understanding it. The same way you cannot understand fire by just looking at it. To understand it you need to feel the heat that it produces, see how the wind plays with it, and how it destroys anything it touches. On the other hand fire gives light. It removes dangers. It can be used as a weapon and it can be seen. But one cannot see the mind of another person, you can understand the ideas that they are telling you but not fully grasp where they come from. Two people can share the same idea but have two completely different reasons why and how they came to it. It is also important to understand why good is done and why bed is done as well as how. From whose eyes do you judge? From the majority, the dumb masses or the few wise man who see the world completely different. How do you look at the world? And where do you want to lead it? In the case with the Controller, his duty is not to lead the world but to maintain what has already been done (207-215).
Few people within any organization have the clairvoyance to see the organization in a different light, it is often the view from outside that gives the best insight on what the organization truly is. However, something seen as evil by outsiders and agreed upon to be evil by those within will not change for it is not meant to be good in the sense that it is perceived as. There is a meaning as to why it is evil. For the meaning of it is hidden while remaining good. It takes understanding to formulate a valid reason why something that is evil can be good. It is knowledge, for knowledge can lead to greatness or downfall.
âLife, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,â those are the three virtues bestowed on American citizens as dubbed by the Declaration of Independence. Notice the attention to wording when saying âpursuitâ of happiness; though one may never get happiness, you are allowed to go for whatever you determine to provide happiness to you. London in Brave New World makes attaining happiness very simple; by devaluing both liberty and life, you are able to obtain happiness.
The conditioning of people from birth to death sets the boundaries of a person, determining both what is considered âhappinessâ and, more strictly, what isnât. When everything is meticulously planned out and limits are set, then a person does not realize what theyâre missing something and must by default be happy; the old adage of âignorance is blissâ comes to mind. And Mustapha Mond/the other controllers of the world realize this:
ââBecause our world is not the same as Othelloâs world. You canât make flivvers without steelâand you canât make tragedies without social instability. The worldâs stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they canât get.ââ (p.198)
â… and they never want what they canât get,â the conditioning that everyone undergoes prevents people from even yearning for something more. This clearly eliminates a personâs ability to have free-will; meaning you canât choose how you attain happiness, happiness is given to you and you accept it because the scope of your understanding is limited strictly by your worldview. But in turn, this is a limiter on peopleâs ability to live life the way they want to and are thus not free.
But even happiness itself is an obstacle, because how can you be happy while not knowing what other emotions are. We know what darkness is because we have light, and so on. The struggle of getting happiness in turn creates dullness:
ââOf course it does. Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations of misery. And, of course, stability isnât nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.ââ (p.199)
There is no point to living without having a struggle, which is why we in our society âpursueâ happiness rather than full on obtain it. The journey is more rewarding than the destination; as shown with John appreciating self-sacrifice (self-flagellation) more than being given everything, seen throughout the entire last chapter of the novel.
In the end, real happiness is obtained through the ability to freely think about what you want to do and then go after it. Helmholtz and even the Controller both strive to do more than be complacent with being constantly, positively stimulated:
â…Anything for a quiet life. Weâve gone on controlling ever since. It hasnât been very good for truth, of course. But itâs been very good for happiness. One canât have something for nothing. Happiness has got to be paid for. Youâre paying for it, Mr.Watsonâpaying because you happen to be too much interested in beauty. I was too much interested in truth; I paid too.â (p.205)
Helmholtz, loving the idea of being expressive, is not happy because heâs shackled by the ability of having free-will and knowing he wants to do more in a world that universally sees happiness as over-stimulation of sex and drugs. The Controller, in an oddly sympathetic way, is striving to make everyone else happy and to maintain a status quo; thatâs his goal in life, to make everyone else happy while suffering himself to not pursue his true passion of science.
So are you truly happy when youâre completely complacent with yourself and what you currently have? Or are you happy when you do what you want to do, yearning to make more out of what you donât currently have/achieved? In other words, should you strive for happiness or for freedom?
Death is prominent in Chapter 14, how these contrasting cultures take it is entirely different. Linda is at the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying when John goes to see her. We know what is imminent as the Nurse said that “When somebody’s sent here, there no….(chance of living)” to John but refrained from the latter to not upset him. (page 181) In her final moments, John remembers all the good times he shared with her as well as the overwhelming guilt that he feels; he feels like he caused her death. All the meanwhile a man grieves for loss of his mother, a group of kids who were in the ward for their death conditioning were astonished at the ugly fat woman in bed 20. John is angered that they are even around, disrespecting his time to mourn in peace and bearing witness to such an event. He sees them like maggots swarming on a carcass. The children are amused and somewhat taken back by Linda, which infuriates him. In a blind fury, he makes his way out of the hospital.
This all spills over to John’s denial of such a society that takes soma, death and sex like a walk in the park. To a lesser extent, Hemholtz also realizes his rejection of society. John cries out to crowd of Deltas that soma is “poison to the soul and body”. He is so convinced that everyone is stuck in their own blissful ignorance, he decides to really captivate them the only way he knows how, to throw the soma away. Met with violent opposition in an attempt to liberate these poor fools, Hemholtz joins the fray as John is punching the Deltas from getting the soma. “Ford only helps who help themselves”(pg 194) is what he said when he came to his realization. He too did not want part of this society and that inner power he wanted to unleash; he was doing it there.
Lastly, there is the self hatred of when you become the very thing you hate. John is trying to get used to a life outside of the society by moving to an abandoned lighthouse. He reverts to his old ways of flogging himself to atone for what he has done, from almost having sex with Lenina to Linda’s death. His attempts to live outside of society are thwarted by the interest of the newspapers and then, gawking tourists who come to see ‘The Savage’. He eventually gives in to the torrent of the people who want him to whip himself for their amusement, when they began their Orgy-Porgy singing. “Stupefied by soma, and exhausted by a long-drawn frenzy of sexuality, the Savage lay sleeping in the heather…he lay for a moment….then suddenly remembered- everything” (pg 231) Covering his eyes with disgrace, he proclaims “Oh, my god, my God!” (pg 231) We find out how he deals with this shame when he is found, feet dangling in the lighthouse.
Hey all this week as we finished Brave New World i took an interest in Johns quest to rid himself of his impurity’s. Its something i kind of saw coming since John could never assimilate into the world. In chapter 15 John makes it clear that he has given up on this Utopia willing to break all rules.
John shows that he now sees elements of this society as toxic, in chapter 15 after the death of his mother he makes a clear statement on his opinion with Soma. Â When a Soma distributor tries to do his job John doesn’t let him stating “Dont Take that horrible stuff. Its poison, its poison.”(pg191) and then “Poison to soul and body”(pg191). This no Soma stance must have been strengthened due to John recently watching his mother die of Soma usage. This death must have a significant impact since his mother was never their in her deathbed but in a mental holiday with Pope, which caused John to despise the drug even more. This hatred towards false happiness and mental holidays causes him to directly oppose the norm since Soma is used by everyone.
Through Johns trials of purification we soon see that he could never rid himself of civilization. Through his talk with Mustapha Mond John learns that what he desires is “the right to be unhappy”, an ideal directly related to his traditional Malpais upbringing. Because John feels that he has given in to the sins of civilization he tells Helmholtz “”I ate civilization”… “It poisoned me; i was defiled  and then” he added his, in a lower tone ” I ate my own wickedness”” (pg216) and”Now I am purified… I drank some mustard and warm water”(pg216). John here shows that he imagines civilization as something that’s literally infecting his body and wanting to remove it with sickening remedies.
Regardless of what anyone does civilization seems to stick around us everywhere. John also physically isolates himself in his new home which was described as
” his hermitage the old lighthouse which stood on the crest of the hill between Puttenham and Elstead. The building was of ferro concrete and in excellent condition- almost to comfortable the savage had thought when he first explored the place, almost too civilized luxurious. He pacified  his conscience by promising himself a compensatingly harder self discipline, purification’s the more complete and thorough.”(Pg 218)
What i first found interesting was that John did not like his light house since it was so “Civilized”. In the text we see the words “Pacified” and “Compensatingly”. These two words show that John cannot fully get away from civilization even finding it in his hiding spot and having to cope by harsher purification rituals.
John soon suffers from having to repress normal feelings associated with society. we see this in
“Poor Linda who he swore to remember. But it was still the presence of Lenina that haunted him. Lenina whom he had promised to forget. Even through the stab and sting of the juniper needles, his wincing flesh was aware pf her unsecapably real”…”Oh Linda, forgive me, Forgive  me, god. Im bad. Im wicked”(pg225)
John connects his sexual desires to civilization since he has romantic feelings for Lenina making them sinful. He can no longer accept his natural feelings since hes developed them in this civilization. Later due to civilization obsession with the “savage” we see that they have come to him stopping his purification and forcing him to indulge in his sins. John fails at his attempt to free himself due to the fact that he is a part of civilization just like they are a part of his and want to be with him .
Aldous Huxley guides the readers of Brave New World to a grim conclusion. The final image is disheartening. A man who fights for freedom is left with only one option to attain it. From the bleak world Huxley has painted, it may be inferred that true freedom is a facetious concept. Itsâ definition is paradoxical and liberty cannot be given nor attained.
True freedom is unattainable. It almost escapes definition in its intangibility. John and Mond argue primarily not with their own words, but by quoting people long since deceased. Even in this small regard, they are not free. As the two argue about freedom, Mond proffers this repartee âBut as time goes on, they, as all men, will find that independence was not made for man- that it is an unnatural state- will do for a while, but will not carry us on safely to the endâŠâ (209) To Mond, independence is âunnatural,â it doesnât exist. Furthermore, to Mond freedom would not entail completely autonomy, it would only entail a different master, God. Monds words are disconcerting, yet persuasive. Hypothetically, what true freedom would entail, is frightening, it would unravel society.
Forcing freedom onto someone is a paradoxical act, futile even. It pains John to see people being rallied like cattle, it disgusts him and prompts him to act. John attempts to shake them out of their atrophy, he berates and yells âDonât you want to be free and men? Donât you even understand what manhood and freedom are?â … âIâll teach you; Iâll make you be free whether you want to or not.â (192) The desire for freedom has to come from their own volition, and it is not in their hearts. They react with violence; they fight for the drug that sedates them. Their loyalty to pleasure is near irreparable, they are forever slaves to it. True freedom is not real. Even after the being released, the ghosts of our desires, vices and addictions linger, whispering in our ears.
John is perpetually haunted by his memories; he contemplates freedom through death. John sequester himself to a lone lighthouse far from civilization to atone for his transgressions. Nonetheless, he feels deplorable for the small comforts granted by the ocean and distant skyline. Memories of his ardor for Lenina drive him to self-harm. With a spade in his hand, John thinks to himself, âAnd all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. A convincing thunder rumbled through the words.â (226) Here Huxley uses Shakespeare to bring light and death together to a focal point. Having John hide in the lighthouse has become grimly ironic and foreshadows his passing. The thunder acts as an ethereal approval of his thoughts, and foreshadows the imminent arrival of his torture. The fact that he cannot escape from his past manifests themselves in the crowd that surround him. We cannot be free of our past no more than we can from our shadows.
âThere is no such thing as a good influence⊠all influence is immoralâ was one of Oscar Wildeâs many witticisms. Our desires remain our captors long after our release. All of our acts and words are indelible, even the most innocuous of words can alter another person permanently. How can we be free if all our actions have consequences and if we secretly seek a master to guide us? Freedom, in all its incarnations, is illusory.
Reading the last chapters of the book, I can only tell that Huxley arduously dedicated the last chapters of his literary work to discuss several social conflicts that were implied in previous chapters of the novel. One of the main conflicts is the concept of true happiness and how individuals attain this happiness. In this Brave New World, people have been adapted to reject and detest things like human emotions, new ideas, and knowledge about the world. The government have banned anything that allows an individual to learn, think and feel since they believe it might change the individualâs thinking and bring instability and unhappiness to the society. So in order to establish a happy and balance world, the people have to pay a high price in exchange of what they mostly mention it as âhappinessâ. Not only the society, but, the characters in general have also given up something at a particular point in their lives in order to attain this certain type of âhappiness and stability. One of these clear examples is mainly shown in the conversation between Mustapha Mond and John which becomes the central point as it makes the entire novel more explicit to the readers. Through this conversation we are revealed how things such as art, science, religion and freedom had been sacrificed to achieve happiness where people can live in a more socially stable society.
The world society is a vivid example of people making sacrifices for the sake of their own happiness. Throughout the chapters we discover that the society have to give up several things in order to promote a more stable and satisfied society. They have been brainwashed to the extent that they believe that, feeling emotions, establishing human connections, and having different views and ideas, are the most nefarious and terrible things in the world. This fact is revealed during Mustapha Mond and Johnâs conversation about Othelloâs books. The Controller reveals to John that any form or art and science and any act of human relations have become useless and unnecessary to the society of this time since its people have been conditioned to reject any feelings, new ideas and understand things beyond their mediocre knowledge. He states that by doing this the world has reached an outstanding level of harmony: âThe worldâs stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they canât get. They are well off; theyâre safe; theyâre never ill; theyâre not afraid of death; theyâre blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; theyâre plagued with no mothers or fathers; theyâve got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about…â(pg. 198). They have eliminated any human emotion that causes people pain and unhappiness and replace it with superficial thoughts and desires. This would bring a stable society where everyone is satisfied and happy.
It is not only the society, but also some of the characters in Brave New World have sacrificed something in life in order to reach their happiness. One of these characters is the head of this dystopian society, Mustapha Mond. Mond is the creator of this materialistic, ignorant, and inhumane world who restricted the society from using any scientific knowledge and developing deeply feelings that make humans unhappy. He arguments that things should be sacrificed in order to develop a more stable and happy society. He also reveals that becoming a World Controller was a sacrifice that he had to make to achieve happiness. During his youth time, Mond was also man with a great passion towards science and art and with questions about life; âI was an inquisitive young scullion onceâ (pg. 203). However, the government did not agree with his ideas and questioning and saw Mustapha as a threat to society. They asked him if he would rather live to an island and be isolated from society or to possibly become a world controller. He gives up something that is more valuable and powerful and chooses to be a world controller; âI chose this and let the science goâ (pg. 204). Mond justifies that his sacrifice was made to bring harmony and wellbeing to the society what he describes as âhappinessâ. He decides to pay the price by putting other peopleâs happiness before his own âThatâs how I paid. By choosing to serve happiness. Other peopleâsânot mineâ (pg. 205).
Then we also have our main character John, who decides to sacrifice his freedom to accomplish what I would call true happiness. Contrary to Mustapha Mond who sacrifices science in exchange of a wicked and false happiness, Johnâs happiness is based in truth and his desire to stand up with his human feelings without caring the consequences. This is revealed when the Controller tries to persuade John that things such as art, science and religion are a worthless thing that should never exist again because they only cause instability and suffering to the world. However John can only see that Mustapha wants to control people in a way that they are restrained to have their own ideas, acquire a more extensive knowledge and learn values such as love, family, religion which is the beauty of life. He feels repulsed and tired of living in a synthetic and fake society where people are customized to not feel any emotions, rely on drugs, and treat individuals of lower classes as tame animals. He rejects all these things that are comfortable for the society and accepts what, according to Mustapha, causes unhappiness to them. Â As he manifests in the text, âBut I donât want comfort. I want God. I want poetry. I want real danger. I want freedom. I want goodness. I want sin.â (pg. 215), John chooses to live a more authentic life. Even tough Mond tells him that all his choices would lead to unhappiness, John accepts them but does not abandon his ideals. He chooses to be exile to an island but this sacrifices causes him joy and satisfaction.
Recent Comments