In character analysis, one may often ask what is the effects of nature vs. nurture? However, this question does not provide many concrete answers. In regards to the literary work, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, this question becomes even more perplexing, as the “modern” society lacks many aspects of the natural world and relies on conditioning rather than nurturing.For all intents and purposes, the citizens of what John dubs “‘[the] brave new world’” are little more than infants or pre programmed dolls, carrying out the orders and beliefs that have been instilled in them since birth (141). Perhaps the most interesting case of character comes from John himself, who grew up in a society whose beliefs lie far outside of those of the modern society, yet remained ostracized from it due to his parental connection to said modern world. Alienated by two distinctly …show more content…
By facing down the sea of unreactive twins, John challenges the predestined path of the advanced society, which is too far separated from his way of thinking for him to change, showcasing how the radical one holds little power of the dulled, herd-mentality minds of many. One of the most interesting clashes of ideologies comes from the Mustapha Mond and John’s discussion, for despite their similar views on the arts and conditioning, Mustapha was still brought up following the ways of the Ford Society and, like John’s own mother, is unwilling to give that up. Whereas Mustapha is content to keep from going against the grain, to live out his life in comfort away from the islands he was threatened with in his youth, John, who is unable to return to the Reservation expresses his desire to continue living what his childhood at the Reservation his deemed a worthy life,
Richard Mulcaster, a British instructor of English, once wrote, “Nature makes the boy toward, nurture sees him forward.” Mulcaster recognizes that both genetic and environmental factors determine the type of a person one becomes. Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood gives the reader an opportunity to see prime examples of how nature and nurture influence one’s character. Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood introduces the reader to two men; Richard Eugene Hickock known as Dick throughout the novel, and Perry Edward Smith whose lives of crime are almost identical; although both Perry and Richard come from very humble backgrounds, their childhood particularly their family life, has very little in common. It is not until later in their lives that we begin to see similarities between the two men. Despite their differences, Perry’s upbringing and Dick’s genetic disposition allow both men to share a disregard for life, which becomes apparent on the night they gruesomely burglarized and murdered four innocent members of the Clutter family.
John and Montag have lessons to teach us in the real world. This paper will be analyzing Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet. While some differences between the character development of John and Montag may be noticeable, the similarities are much stronger. Two of the similarities between these two are that they learn knowledge is power, and figure out that they are not satisfied near the beginning, and one difference is that John limits his knowledge intake because it can destroy. There are strong similarities between John and Montag are important and should be analyzed carefully.
Aldous Huxley once wrote, “If one's different, one's bound to be lonely.” This is clearly a statement about public acceptance and tolerance of dissimilar people. Aldous’ beliefs can be seen in his book, Brave New World by two outcast characters, John Savage and Bernard Marx. Bernard and John are both outspoken about their ideas on society, but differ in their actions when faced with temptations.
“Twenty-seven years later, in this third quarter of the twentieth century A.D., and long before the end of the first century A.F., I feel a good deal less optimistic than I did when I was writing Brave New World. The prophecies made in 1931 are coming true much sooner than I thought they would.” Resting anxiously and awaiting the Final Revolution in his psychedelic afterlife, Aldous Huxley still echos an invaluable wisdom to the generations of today and the future. The prophecies he made in Brave New World, written in 1931, are some of the most compelling ever made through the medium of fictional prose narrative. The previous pessimistic postulation though was not made in his opus, but rather it is from Huxley 's non-fiction work Brave New World Revisited, written in 1958, in which he concluded
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World introduces us to a futuristic technological world where monogamy is shunned, science is used in order to maintain stability, and society is divided by 5 castes consisting of alphas(highest), betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilons(lowest). In the Brave New World, the author demonstrates how society mandates people’s beliefs using many characters throughout the novel.
Between the Reservation in which John grew up and the modern world surrounding it, there are many differences which John finds both alienating and enriching throughout the novel. Through these differences, John feels alienated in the Brave New World that conflicts with his personal beliefs. However, John also finds enrichment in making the case for a life containing work and misery. This combination of alienation and enrichment experienced by John serves to juxtapose basic ideals about how individuals ought to live.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, exemplifies the idea that in an ever-growing modern world, one who demonstrates traditional values about love will be unable to cope up with the questionable morals and differentiating, controversial values present, seen through John’s difficult experience in the Brave New World. In the novel, there is a severe disconnect between what John was taught and the ideals of the Brave New World, which encouraged ruthless, unemotional, and quick interactions with someone found attractive instead of a stable relationship with a loved one. As a result, John struggled greatly to try to adapt to the Brave New World while still trying to maintain his own values, and proved to be unfit to stay there. It is evident that John could have never survived in such a society, due to the great difference in between both of their morals, and the Brave New World’s disapproval of his own values, seen through John’s reaction to the recreational activities, the people in the Brave New World’s mockery of his most favorite pieces of literature, which formed his ideas on love, and finally in his own relationship with Lenina. However, while John’s downward spiral of his mental and emotional state in the Brave New World and his unwillingness to accept their values cause him to leave London, his final conformity and unwilling acceptance to the Brave New World ideals cause the final tragedy at the end of the novel, revealing that he would have never been able to survive in this society, for he was bound to be tainted by their values.
Smith, Henry Nash. "A Sound Heart and a Deformed Conscience." A Norton Critical Edition, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism. Ed. and Trans. Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beaty, E. Hudson Long, and Thomas Cooley. New York: Norton, 1977. 365-385.
There have been philosophers that have been philosophizing for thousands of years. Discovering new ideas and different ways to think about things. Thinking in new, creative ways is an inevitable future that humanity will face unless stagnancy in the development of technology and morality occurs. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World displays this possibility incredibly and makes stagnancy look unappealing. With stagnancy and lack of new and imaginative thoughts, however, complete happiness seems like a less menacing task than before. Nobody questions why certain luxuries are not available. The whole world can be content. Why would this not be favorable for humanity? Happiness is hindered greatly by the ability to think.
Why are we the way we are? Is it because we want to be that way or because we were made that way? The debate regarding the nature of humans is one that will never end because there is so much support for each side. It is an issue that humans have spent generations pondering. Two of those people are Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Both have made compelling arguments regarding nature versus nurture.
It is human nature to strive for perfection, but we are striving for something that can never be reached. Nothing can be perfect according to Leo Tolstoy, who stated, “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content”. (Tolstoy) We as humans have strived to reach perfection for many centuries now and we still have yet to achieve perfection, but this is no surprise. Wais, who wrote the paper Does Perfection Exist, said, “Perfection exists as an abstraction of our minds, but is not attainable in the physical world.” (“Does Perfection Exist”, Wais) The struggle for perfection in Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World demonstrates that humanity can never be perfect.
The people in a society are often a product of the presiding government’s policy. In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, many of the citizens are artificially made and act like robots. However, in a reservation next to the new world, there exists a boy named John who was born and raised like a human. John is excited to go the new world because he believes that life will be better there. When John enters the new world, he sees many abnormalities that go against his beliefs, and the citizens call him a savage because he is not one of them. By juxtaposing John, the so-called savage, against the “refined” society, Huxley demonstrates the extreme extent of humankind 's atypical actions under the subjugation of a totalitarian government.
Genetic engineering, by definition, is "the science of making changes to the genes of a plant or animal to produce a desired result" (Genetic Engineering). Throughout Aldous Huxley 's novel, A Brave New World, genetic engineering played a key role in the "utopian society" (Huxley 5). The people are no longer born naturally by reproduction, but instead they are born from bottles (Huxley 12; Huxley 36). This occurs in order to fulfill the World State 's motto, "Community, Identity, Stability" (Huxley 3). Similarly, today genetic engineering, an ever exploding field with far reaching effects, is used as a tool for improvement.
I stood in front of the television screen in horror and disbelief at 10 o'clock on September 11, 2001. Watching as the second plane struck the World Trade Center in a fiery ball of destruction, I thought for sure that this world as we know it was coming to an abrupt end. Seeing the first tower fall and then the second, with over 100 stories each now a pile of twisted steel and death made me want to vomit. In two short hours, the stability of America’s foundation became questionable. I wondered how such a terrorist attack could happen in this society. Then I began looking for warning signs. Ironically, all the warning America needed lies underneath the cover of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World published in 1932. Huxley warned America prior to World War II and almost 70 years prior to the “Attack on America” that materialism, ethnocentrism, complacency, and racism could all lead to ultimate destruction. America chose to ignore him.
Paris, Bernard J. Imagined Human Beings: A Psychological Approach to Character and Conflict in Literature. New York: New York University Press. 1997.