In modern society, we have grown to take things for granted as
our obsession with convenience has dominated, just as Huxley predicted in his Brave New World. We may have a
government that places restrictions on us, but there is no force that deprives
people of “autonomy, maturity, and history” besides our own selves (Postman). Rules
and regulations established by the government in the present day are mainly intended
to protect its people rather than take control of their lives and move them
around like marionettes, contradicting what Orwell proposed in his novel.
As we become more materialistic and careless, the value of
things that used to be very important is lost. For example, libraries are
becoming less and less popular because we have lost interest in them and have resorted
to technology. Huxley feared that nobody would want to read books anymore, and while
that seemed absurd when he wrote it in 1936, it is now becoming a reality
(Postman). In school, teachers used to tell students to put their books away
when class was starting. Now, hardly anyone says that teachers say to put
phones away. Even outside of school, most students do not read books besides
what is required as an assignment. Pleasurable laziness has caused this change
rather than a figure taking away from the power for us to do so. Society today has
allowed people to essentially destroy their own selves. There is only so much
time we have left before we become the fictional characters of Brave New World, too caught up in satisfaction
to notice the disaster that our lives had become.
I really liked your idea to talk about the prompt we read in class. I loved your last sentence where we are becoming the fictional characters of the Brave New World. I also agree that we are taking all our comforts and things for granted and making Huxley's vision the reality.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you analyzed this piece, and I really like how you described the effects of materialism and carelessness on the value of certain items.
ReplyDelete