Passage 1
“Did you ever feel, (…) as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out? Some sort of extra power that you aren’t using-you know, like all the water that goes down the falls instead of through the turbines? (…) I’m thinking of a queer feeling I sometimes get, a feeling that I’ve got something important to say and the power to say it-only I don’t know what it is, and I can’t make any use of the power. If there was some different way of writing… Or else something else to write about…”
Detailed Paragraph 1
This paragraph is
important to the book’s development because it is the beginning of someone’s
understanding that everyone has some sort of extra “something” inside them.
There seems to be a special power in everyone, but just might not know it yet. They
should talk about this and make a change to the community they live in. Because
of all the conformity and soma, someone should use what Helmholtz is talking
about and spread the word. Try to persuade your friends and grow bigger and
bigger; to rid of conformity. Everyone
in society must be themselves, come out of their shell and try to mix things up.
Knowing that one person was able to figure this out must be a sign that people like
Bernard should take. Everyone needs to resolve this situation and act to it.
Passage 2
“The world’s stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get. They’re well off; they’re safe; they’re never ill; they’re not afraid of death; they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they’re so conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there’s soma.”
Detailed Paragraph 2
This paragraph is important to the
book’s development because it explains how the world in the book has become
conformed and what people do about it. Mustapha Mond explained to John how the
world is much better civilized with conformity, and if there is any problem
then they would take soma, which is even worse. He told him that everyone is
happy and busy doing their normal tasks they were made for. Even though, they
don’t know, no one is happy, but just following one another until it becomes
natural. As in the text, “they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve
got no wives, or children, or lovers to fell strongly about…”. This could mean
since everyone does not have anyone to care for, including themselves, life
should seem easier, but it is seemingly dreadful.
Passage 3
“You got rid of them. Yes, that’s just like you. Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it. Whether ‘tis better in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them… But you don’t do either. Neither suffer nor oppose. You just abolish the slings and arrows. It’s too easy.”
Detailed Paragraph 3
This paragraph resonates
with the book’s development because of what John is saying to Mustapha Mond. He
is telling him about how he has created a system of living by getting rid of
everything in harm’s way. Making how they live now “better” even though it is worse.
As in the text, “You just abolish the slings and arrows. It’s too easy.” And it
is too easy. Mustapha Mond isn’t opposing the “mosquitoes” or letting the
people learn to live through mosquitoes, he just ended their existence, so they
didn’t have to worry about it. The people are living their lives in a terrible
manner, and the only one who knows this is John.
To what extend does conformity influence our society?
Conformity definitely influences our society to limits beyond imagination. Conformity could display more in your school, your neighborhood, your family, or your society in general and comes in all shapes and sizes. Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society. There are lots of different ways people conform; things like wearing the same clothes or sharing beliefs with your family or community. Things can cause conformity too, like peer pressure, public opinion, and others including social pressure. The novel Brave New World has made a statement, to me, that conformity is not the way to go.
Caroline Berens, a student who attended Dartmouth College, shares a story in the article, “Through the Looking Glass: A Campus of Conformity”, about how she went through conformity during her college years in Dartmouth. She was influenced by the Dartmouth traditions and the students surrounding her. She had even traded her clothes for new ones and participated in activities she didn’t enjoy; but they were the things that everyone else there seemed to do, so she should do it, right? This pointed out that conformity could happen anywhere and that it happens in schools nearby. It is even showed in movies revealing how peer pressure could change behavior, looks, or personality of another person and it ends up becoming a serious act. Conformity did affect Caroline at Dartmouth and she questioned why she even followed everyone in the first place and how her society had influenced her so much that it changed her entirely (Berens, 2-3).
Schools all over the world have entertained the thought of requiring uniforms for students; but the thought of uniforms is different to everyone. As in the article written by Andrea Dashiell, she explained that it makes sense for schools to have uniforms in some situations, but it depends on the community as well. One of the main reasons students and surveys have shown to dislike uniforms is because it distracts their act of free expression. However, Social conformity has also been seen to be a key motive to require school uniforms. Uniforms also help with student safety and giving them a sense of pride. As in the article, “They also contend that dressing in a professional manner at a young age instills a sense of pride and responsibility- and sets kids up with a mental attitude that will enhance learning.” (Dashiell, 2). In the novel Brave New World, it explains, “Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfully glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki.” (Huxley, 27). Here in the story, certain people are made to wear specific colors and clothing only, which is a big part of conformity. But doing this takes away a person’s ability of creativity and critical thinking. When schools make the decision for students to acquire uniforms, they are making the decision if the students should conform or not (Dashiell, 2-3).
The idea of cloning has now become a reality. We are now able to clone animals and bacteria; humans could be next. As in the article “Just What is Wrong with Human Cloning?” it stated, “Cloning would also generate children who would lack a genetic mother or father.” And, experimenting and cloning on non-human primates could also bring us closer to cloning children (Foht, 2). Brave New World is centered around the idea of human cloning. Cloning is the opposite of non-conformity because it is making a duplicate of the same previous organism, which is why we shouldn’t be cloning anything at all. It could all lead to conformity. There have been lots of cloning instances around the world already, which could lead us to humans next.
Studies have shown that there are many ways people can conform. And we know this because scientists have done many experiments on conformity. As an example, in the article “What is Conformity and How does it Influence Behavior?” scientists asked a participant a question alone, and then asked the same question of that person in a group setting. Often the answer had shifted when in a group. The behavior of a person is a result of their thoughts or preferences but can be changed because of different types of conformity and often lead to regret later(Cherry, 2).
Conformity also affects our political beliefs, speech, and our history. Our personal opinions can not only be molded by conformity but our political views as well. Beliefs on who would be the best candidate is a big deal, but persuasion and the opinion of a close friend can change your final answer. During an election, even one state’s political votes may affect another state. As in the article “Why Non-Conformity is a Good Thing” Lana Buchanan stated, “If we conform to what society dictates without questioning or daring to take a stand, when society demands conformity at the expense of common sense or reason, we would still be ruled by the Church of England.” (Buchanan, 2).If it weren’t for non-conformity our reality could be much different than it is today. We often believe that the world is a free place where we can speak our opinion, but that may be slowly changing. In Brave New World it states, “Listen, I beg of you, (…) Lend me your ears… (…) Don’t take that horrible stuff. It’s poison, it’s poison. (…) Throw it all away, that horrible poison. The words ‘Throw it all away’ pierced through the enfolding layers of incomprehension to the quick of the Delta’s consciousness. An angry murmur went up from the crowd.” (Huxley, 211). This shows that when John had spoken up to the conformed crowd, what he received in return was angry mobs of people attacking him and the authority telling him to never do it again.
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