Mariah Love Ms. Jensen AP Literature - 1 2 Feb. 2011 Final Thought Paper Ahead of its time in both societal psychology and advances in technology, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World inhibits the social ideals of religion and pain through conditioning. "Christianity without tears- that's what soma is" (Huxley). As John ponders why the World State has banned religious text Mond attempts to convince him that religion is but a form of coping with death and other tragedies and in the World State there is no need for that. Without conditioning John has a mind free to feel tragedy and pain but he can also have freedom, something that the conditioned society lacks. I find it intriguing that Mond believes religion only to serve those lesser fortunate without conditioning. He also makes it abundantly clear his position in which he believes conditioning has replaced coping measures such as religion. John then continues to argue with Mond and explains to him that by brainwashing these people and making them feel as though they are happy when in reality they don't know what happy is, he is in fact degraded their existence. Mustapha Mond then proceeds to blow off John's comment and exclaims to him that they live in different worlds with different values and ideas. Obviously Mond feels as though his world is of superiority to John's because in his world the people who inhabit it don't have to feel pain they can just live in a drugged and hazed existence pretending to be what seems happy. I believe that in The World State Mond and his followers confuse numb with happy, they figure if they can't feel pain they must be happy when in reality that is a grave misconception.
started by Mariah Love on 03 Mar 11
Ms. Jensen
AP Literature - 1
2 Feb. 2011
Final Thought Paper
Ahead of its time in both societal psychology and advances in technology, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World inhibits the social ideals of religion and pain through conditioning. "Christianity without tears- that's what soma is" (Huxley). As John ponders why the World State has banned religious text Mond attempts to convince him that religion is but a form of coping with death and other tragedies and in the World State there is no need for that. Without conditioning John has a mind free to feel tragedy and pain but he can also have freedom, something that the conditioned society lacks.
I find it intriguing that Mond believes religion only to serve those lesser fortunate without conditioning. He also makes it abundantly clear his position in which he believes conditioning has replaced coping measures such as religion. John then continues to argue with Mond and explains to him that by brainwashing these people and making them feel as though they are happy when in reality they don't know what happy is, he is in fact degraded their existence. Mustapha Mond then proceeds to blow off John's comment and exclaims to him that they live in different worlds with different values and ideas. Obviously Mond feels as though his world is of superiority to John's because in his world the people who inhabit it don't have to feel pain they can just live in a drugged and hazed existence pretending to be what seems happy. I believe that in The World State Mond and his followers confuse numb with happy, they figure if they can't feel pain they must be happy when in reality that is a grave misconception.