Postmodernism and Brave New World

First off, I would just like to say that Postmodernism confuses me at times so i'm sorry if this post isn't 100 percent insightful.

Societies often use stories or myths to help explain things that their culture believes. Many people fit in with society only after they have heard the myth. This gives all the people an easy way to relate with one another because they just so happen to share a common belief. The bonds these stories create are much deeper than the actual story being passed on. These stories are usually called narratives.

Narratives are pretty much stories that are passed down in order to explain something. I think in Brave New World, the people use machines and methods of manipulation to pass on narratives; like how the conditioning center brainwashes the children into believing that they like their jobs and various other ways of life. They do not need to pass down these narratives by word of mouth because the people are taught these ideas as they sleep. That way, the people never really have an original thought because they don't need it. They can simply rely on the magical voice that tells them clever little chants that they can remember forever and recite on que. The worst part is that the people know they have been brainwashed yet they are completely content with it. All the people are told the same thing which means they have had a massive grand narrative thrown at them. This makes it possible for the society to keep certain truths from its people. Nobody will ever question the system because they were never programed to do so. They do not really know anything about the past so they don't really pay much attetion to it. That is their way of life so it is completely normal to them.

The society shown in Brave New World is a very scientifically advanced world. I think this idea merges with postmodern ideas nicely. The people in Brave New World have created an extremely efficient society. The level of scientific skill used to keep the world running is amazing. They seem to have everything down to an art. Postmodernism states that "science is no longer concerned with truth but with performativity--performing--producing more of the same kind of research" (31). The novel easily shows an example of this with the mass production of children. Not only are twins or triplets produced, thousands of children are made that are identical. The world shows a huge emphasis on productivity and they pride themselves on having the capability of producing that many kids from one uterus. They might even be too efficient for their own good, which could potentially ruin the society.

Brave New World

The book, Brave New World, which is written by Aldous Huxley, is pretty interesting so far, at least in my opinion. Ok, maybe some parts are a little hard to follow...like the dialogue in chapter three...but other than that, it's not bad.

One of the most difficult things about this book are the ideas presented to us. It is so hard to comprehend the world that Huxley has made up because we are so unaccostumed to it. I mean, i'm pretty sure none of us have ever been conceived by a machine nor do we find it odd that we have parents who generally love and support us. In fact, in the book, the characters even find it disturbing or disgusting. They regard the terms "mother" and "father" as we regard swear words nowadays.

Also, promiscuity is a wonderful thing to the people in this book because "Everybody belongs to everybody." Today, this is frowned upon and seen as highly inappropriate. But the people in Huxley's world find it normal because they have been taught to act this way.

This novel shows a world that is completely reliant on corporations and manufacturing. Instead of believing in a god, they put all their faith and worship into Ford. The world Huxley has created is obsessed with material possessions and status. The characters are openly prejudiced towards one another. Like, the Alphas are better than the Betas so that means the Alphas must be treated better since they are of higher society. However, there is discrimination within the specified groups as well. The society tries to make the people who are in the same class equal to one another but not even this works. No matter how hard they try, somebody is always going to be better than somebody else. Take Bernard for example. He is an alpha but he feels inadequate, as though he does not belong in this group. This just shows that even in a society where people attempt to be equal, the people are not truly equal.

since birth. Intimacy is not a good thing in this world because the more attached you are to a person, the less concerned you become with your job which means the manufacturing business will suffer. And that means the population will fall because not are just like products that are made in a factory and then sent to different parts of the world where they are needed.

In Brave New World, people are made for a purpose. They are content to be brain-washed and placate themselves with drugs. These things are completley normal.

1984 Changes History...

History is history. It stays the same. However, it changes with each new person's perspective on the events that have taken place. It is possible, as 1984 suggests, to change the past in order to control the future. History always tends to be a controversial subject when the whole population tries to collectively decide what children should be taught, what should be emphasized, and what should be left out. The fact that people all across the world have different opinions means that we all have a different idea about what in the past is worth mentioning in the present. Each group of people want the power to state their beliefs as truth. This would give them an advantage or a certain hold over all the other people. It is possible for them to control what innocent minds learn at a young age,, which makes these young children more susceptible in believing what the group in power is trying to pass off as truth. By showing certain events in a biased light, these groups can easily turn kids on the what they believe. When they brainwash kids into believing their propaganda, they have more followers. This takes away the children's right to make their own decision. We only know what we are taught and when we are taught to believe a lie, the lie becomes truth, it becomes sacred. Whoever chooses to question the so-called truth is deemed unpatriotic and becomes a stain in society. In 1984, these kinds of people would be said to have committed a thought crime and their punishment would be vaporization...which means the person would be completely erased from history. This gives the group in charge even more power and grants them the illusion of intimidation.