Question 1. What is the overall message in BNW?
I believe the overall message in brave new world is that you have to deal with feelings to be human, there is no way out of it, but you can deal with them. When people in Brave New world feel sad, angry or troubled they can take soma and watch their problems fly away. But in our world we cant do that, we have to deal with the problems. Sure, we have electronic distractions, but we also have people to help us cope with the situation. Thats what I think Huxley was trying to teach people, that feelings and emotions are necessary to live a good life.
Question 2: In what ways has Brave New World made you think about the concept of happiness?
Happiness in Brave New World showed up for me when John and Lenina started liking each other. I thought it meant that John was going to break Lenina out of the Have everyone mindset of brave new world and they would live together and fall in love and run away together. It showed that people can be different and they don't care about it. It even lead me on when Lenina said she liked John very much, and I thought she was rejecting her conditioning to be happy with John. This meant that happiness can be found in love, not just having every person in the world, falling in love with one person and being happy with them. But then my dreams were shattered as Lenina stripped and John called her a mean word and felt assaulted. But I still believe Love was the happiness in brave new world, well at least for me anyway.
Question 3: What does John mean by saying nothing in civilization costs enough?
When John says civilization costs enough, he means that everyone gets what they want, without having to go through the hardships of getting it. If someone, probably an Alpha wanted a new iphone, he would have to work for it and get the money to pay for it, and thats not just it you would also have to pay the phone bill, but in brave new world they get their distractions for almost free. The higher up classes don't have to work for it, and the lower classes barely work, in the book Mustapha Mond even said not straining on the muscles or mind, and they still get rewarded a good amount of soma. The people in brave new world don't have to feel pain, or sadness, or anger, they can distract themselves easily, not like we can in our world, we still have to deal with these emotions, but thats a good thing, thats the cost of civilization.
Question 4: How much of our society do you think is focused on comfort and how much do you think is focused on truth and beauty? Give overall percentages and explain why.
Society puts a lot of effort into making comfort goods and to make people beautiful. There still are people who focus on the truth, but that is a little amount. I would say, in my opinion, that 50% works on Making people beautiful, 40% work on the comfort, and 10% work on the truth. I could be wrong but this is just what I experience every day. On TV there are so many commercials for skin cream and makeup to make people beautiful. I also see it in my sister, she spends so much time putting on makeup, and she is only an 8th grader. But a lot of people focus on comfort. Think of all the comfortable things in your house, a bed, a couch, a nice pair of socks, people put effort into making those things, and they neglect the truth. Finally, I think the truth is about ten percent because of the news. I dont know if the news is biased or not, but sometimes I feel that it lures people into believing false information. Only people that have been to an area the news is talking about actually knows what's happening there.
I believe the overall message in brave new world is that you have to deal with feelings to be human, there is no way out of it, but you can deal with them. When people in Brave New world feel sad, angry or troubled they can take soma and watch their problems fly away. But in our world we cant do that, we have to deal with the problems. Sure, we have electronic distractions, but we also have people to help us cope with the situation. Thats what I think Huxley was trying to teach people, that feelings and emotions are necessary to live a good life.
Question 2: In what ways has Brave New World made you think about the concept of happiness?
Happiness in Brave New World showed up for me when John and Lenina started liking each other. I thought it meant that John was going to break Lenina out of the Have everyone mindset of brave new world and they would live together and fall in love and run away together. It showed that people can be different and they don't care about it. It even lead me on when Lenina said she liked John very much, and I thought she was rejecting her conditioning to be happy with John. This meant that happiness can be found in love, not just having every person in the world, falling in love with one person and being happy with them. But then my dreams were shattered as Lenina stripped and John called her a mean word and felt assaulted. But I still believe Love was the happiness in brave new world, well at least for me anyway.
Question 3: What does John mean by saying nothing in civilization costs enough?
When John says civilization costs enough, he means that everyone gets what they want, without having to go through the hardships of getting it. If someone, probably an Alpha wanted a new iphone, he would have to work for it and get the money to pay for it, and thats not just it you would also have to pay the phone bill, but in brave new world they get their distractions for almost free. The higher up classes don't have to work for it, and the lower classes barely work, in the book Mustapha Mond even said not straining on the muscles or mind, and they still get rewarded a good amount of soma. The people in brave new world don't have to feel pain, or sadness, or anger, they can distract themselves easily, not like we can in our world, we still have to deal with these emotions, but thats a good thing, thats the cost of civilization.
Question 4: How much of our society do you think is focused on comfort and how much do you think is focused on truth and beauty? Give overall percentages and explain why.
Society puts a lot of effort into making comfort goods and to make people beautiful. There still are people who focus on the truth, but that is a little amount. I would say, in my opinion, that 50% works on Making people beautiful, 40% work on the comfort, and 10% work on the truth. I could be wrong but this is just what I experience every day. On TV there are so many commercials for skin cream and makeup to make people beautiful. I also see it in my sister, she spends so much time putting on makeup, and she is only an 8th grader. But a lot of people focus on comfort. Think of all the comfortable things in your house, a bed, a couch, a nice pair of socks, people put effort into making those things, and they neglect the truth. Finally, I think the truth is about ten percent because of the news. I dont know if the news is biased or not, but sometimes I feel that it lures people into believing false information. Only people that have been to an area the news is talking about actually knows what's happening there.
Reaction
During the Conference, We talked about how suffering can lead to happiness, and most people agreed with it, and said it can. I also believe it can. In Brave New World no one suffers, and we were questioning how they could be happy. The seminar group thought they had soma to distract themselves from their problems so they wouldn't have to deal with them, but that made artificial happiness, as corry said during the seminar. I personally think that without suffering people cannot achieve happiness.
Self Evaluation
During this Socratic Seminar, I felt that i could have talked, but i didn't, because i was afraid of the answer. I had many thoughts and opinions right as sara read the question, but i remained quiet, a thing i regret doing. During the past seminars i have been in i feel that i have grown, because i still talk a little bit. Last year at mountain when we had socratic seminars i wouldn't even respond to people who talked to me, but now i feel that i could try to answer the question thoroughly if i had opinions or ideas about the subject.
Take Away
If i had to take away something from this Seminar, which i will, it would be to talk first as soon as you have an idea. I had many ideas as soon as sara read the question, but i didn't say it because as i said in my self evaluation i was afraid of the answer. If i share my opinions or ideas this could not only help me in future seminars, but also getting a job or helping improve a business.
During the Conference, We talked about how suffering can lead to happiness, and most people agreed with it, and said it can. I also believe it can. In Brave New World no one suffers, and we were questioning how they could be happy. The seminar group thought they had soma to distract themselves from their problems so they wouldn't have to deal with them, but that made artificial happiness, as corry said during the seminar. I personally think that without suffering people cannot achieve happiness.
Self Evaluation
During this Socratic Seminar, I felt that i could have talked, but i didn't, because i was afraid of the answer. I had many thoughts and opinions right as sara read the question, but i remained quiet, a thing i regret doing. During the past seminars i have been in i feel that i have grown, because i still talk a little bit. Last year at mountain when we had socratic seminars i wouldn't even respond to people who talked to me, but now i feel that i could try to answer the question thoroughly if i had opinions or ideas about the subject.
Take Away
If i had to take away something from this Seminar, which i will, it would be to talk first as soon as you have an idea. I had many ideas as soon as sara read the question, but i didn't say it because as i said in my self evaluation i was afraid of the answer. If i share my opinions or ideas this could not only help me in future seminars, but also getting a job or helping improve a business.