Do We Live in a Brave New World?

Certain ideas prevail cmpletely in American society's ways of educating and in how people live atogether in Sir Ken Robinson's video and Huxley's Brave New World. These ideas can be helpful in some people's eyes, but mainly detrimental in my own opinion. The need for conformity in both selections ends up overpowering any creativity or variety that sometimes provides enrichment.
In the video, Sir Ken Robinson proposes that as technology improves and there are more distractions for children who are supposed to focus in a classroom setting. Instead of utilizing these "distractors" to channel learning potential in a different direction, more children are being medicated for ADHD. Robinson points out that as you move across the country towards the east coast, more children are "distracted." Similarly, in Brave New World, the people are told and encouraged to take soma, a drug that takes them to a simple, happy place.  "...gramme is always better than a damn . . . A gramme in time saves nine . . . One cubic centimetre cures ten gloomy sentiments . . . " the members of society repeat to themselves. By essentially "dumbing them down," the government can control society in the direction they wish. Instead of alloing the human minds to progress with the cuttingedge medical and technological advances that the society in this book utilize, people's thoughts are shut down before they can grow into something tangible. Additionally, in the video, the author notes that children are still educated based on age, not ability or learning style, like a factory. He proposes that students be given the best possible success rate by placing them in an environment most nurturing to their needs. Some students who work best in the  mornings, may have all their difficult classes in the late afernoon, for instance. In Brave new World, a close resemblance to this would be how the created humans are classified by their genetic makeup, and eventual appearance. Hiwever, this system does not always work out that well for social "oddballs" like Bernard. Bernard looks and acts differently than the other Alpha Pluses, and therefore struggles to succeed.
In these selections, according to the people in charge of education or society as a whole things are running smoothly, but in reality, nothing is really intellectually running at all.

Brave? New World

Brave New World focuses intensely on the idea that men can be used similarly to machines, ceasing to stop working, being endlessly productive. “And if they [people] cannot tend the wheels…The corpses of a thousand men and women would be hard to bury or burn” (Huxley 43). This exemplifies the attitude of Mustapha Mond, a powerful character in the novel, who believes that men must be put to use, or will be a nuisance, not something to be cherished just for living. In order to fulfill this twisted goal, the members of society in the novel are encouraged to act frequently upon sexual desire, yet are asked to quash all lasting feelings towards others, including their partners. The quick relationships are encouraged, a they are not as meaningful to people if they occur all the time. In fact, family, is nonexistent, as humans are instead manufactured. “…every one belongs to everyone else,” Fanny says to Lenina, after Lenina remarked that she wasn’t feeling as promiscuous as usual (Huxley 43). Society’s ideals are ingrained in the citizens from an early age, even while they sleep. “”We always throw away old clothes. Ending is better than mending…” a voice croons to sleeping children (Huxley 49). By repeating the desired morals to the children on a daily basis, the children naturally are inclined to act upon these ideals. Additionally, drugs, “soma,” are utilized to create false sense of happiness. This further creates a sense of stability. If no one is ever in a bad state of mind, why would they object to any of the practices around them, particularly if everyone else finds them satisfactory? The ways that society behaves in this novel is indeed “new,” yet I think that it would take more “bravery” to fight these accepted practices, than to swallow them.

One Author, One Play, Many Opinions

In discussions of The Tempest, one controversial issue has been how to interpret Shakespeare's text "correctly." On the one hand, the author of "Cultural Studies: Postcolonialism, African-American Criticism, and Queer Theory" (I''l call him Author X), argues that post-colonialism is a valid belief and suggests that The Tempest might be included in what is considered postcolonial work. On the other hand, George Will contends that interprtations of any text cannot be considered the ultimate truth. Others, called New Critics, even maintain that potsolonialism in literature is not a valid interpretation, as it takes into account historical events of the authors' time periods. However, my own view is that Shakespeare wrote his play to please audiences, not necessarily to reflect his own beliefs, although some political undertones due to his environment may have seeped into his work .


In discussions of The Tempest, the traditional view is that Caliban is a conquered slave to Prospero, the colonial "dictator." This paints Shakespeare to be a political commentor, not just a businessman in the business of pleasing audiences. However, there may be other ways to think about this text. By stepping back from the novel as a whole, even, one can critique how to even approach reading the actual text, as opposed to merely analyzing the characters themselves.  For one thing, Will explains that, “By ‘deconstructing,’ or politically decoding, or otherwise attacking the meaning of literary works, critics strip literature of its authority. Criticism displaces literature. Critics displace authors of bestowing meaning.” With this view in mind, any absolute interpretation of Shakespeare's play might detract from the author'soriginal work of art . Author  X also contends that, "Postcolonial critics also guard against ascribing their own cultural ideas into postcolonial works, realizing that any attempt to understand comletely a subaltern group will be impossible and can lead to another form of repression." Meanwhile, New Critics might argue that Postcolonialism itself is a form of bias when reading; it does not let the author's theme stand alone. Will, then, might be inclined to agree. Therefore, taking these positions into account, we can see that many critics feel strongly about how The Tempest should be read. Whether they are concerned mainly about the author's perspective and how it relates to history and thus is interpreted, or how the reader should not consider any interpretations "right," they all feel that they offer valid suggestions to academia. These ideas helped me come to the conclusion that with an open mind, I think that Shakespeare was not particularly moved by events around him to create a politcal statement, nor do I think  that I offer the ultimate answer in this discussion. I think that, quite simply, Shakespeare jsut wanted to earn money, and wrote plays to please the audiences that could pay his rent. I might also be inclined to agree with Author X, however, and think that Shakespeare may have subconsciously written about a post colonial sruggle due to events around him. Just as Shakespeare seems to blend a variety of culture and possibly "answers" into his text, critics provide their own similiar literary blends for readers to carefully indulge in, tasting new ideas carefully.