Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Life Without Purpose: Chapter 12 of Brave New World

"'The author's mathematical treatment of the conception of purpose is novel and highly ingenious, but heretical and, so far as the present social order is concerned, dangerous and potentially subversive. Not to be published'" (177).

This was one of the most profound scenes to me because it truly demonstrated the amount of control rulers had over the public. Mustapha Mond was able to censor literature to keep certain ideals from the people in order to maintain the "perfection" of society. Also, I was able to see what the characters were missing in their lives: purpose. This saddened and surprised me because I can not imagine living without purpose. This is why men like Bernard and Helmholtz are so displeased with their lives; lives without purpose often lack meaning. The fact that rulers considered an analysis of purpose to be heretical fully illustrated the sad state of the society. The reason society believes that everyone is happy is because no one knows anything different. They were taught to be satisfied with life and not to strive to be greater or to find a purpose to their existence. I think that this is the greatest difference between our society and the modern society, between a chaotic world and a utopia. Considering what I have learned about this fictional utopia, I prefer the chaos and imperfections of the world around me. I believe that the author's goal was to illustrate how unappealing the quest towards perfection is and that perfection can never really be achieved; even a utopia has flaws.

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