"'And that,' put in the Director senteniously, 'that is the secret of happiness and virtue--liking what you've got to do. All condition aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny.'" (Page 16, Brave New World)
Although the first chapter was a bit confusing, I picked up on a common theme that may be prevalent throughout the entire novel. Repeatedly, the idea of social destiny is mentioned. For example, the "Social Predestination Room" is apart of the students tour of the Hatchery. The motto of the Hatchery is "Community, Identity, and Stability. This ties into social destiny by referring that in stabilizing a society (by already determining who these humans will become) the community will be more successful in all areas. In this way, a "perfect" society can be created. It will be interesting to see if this predestined group of people will in fact create a perfect society. I thought it was also interesting that the first chapter was so dedicated to emphasizing scientific discoveries. I found it easy to recognize that these discoveries were pretty paramount and the people who work for the Hatchery were not afraid to show off their accomplishments. The director and his companion, Mr. Foster, continually said things and presented things that showed off their personalities. For example in an exchange between Mr. Foster and the director, the author states "Mr. Foster was only too happy to give them a few figures." Also, when a student asks the director a valid question (or at least he thought it was a valid question) the director sharply replies "'Can't you see? Can't you see?' He raised a hand; his expression was solemn." It is apparent through their dialogue with the students and each other, that these two men take their work very seriously and they know what they are talking about. However, I wonder if the proud nature of these important figures will get in the way of further accomplishments or other revelations throughout the course of the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment