**Describe the major conflict. What side are you on?**Pages read: 72-112
The major conflict in Brave New World is definitely the society itself. Is it right or is it wrong? Utopia or dystopia? I'll go more into the society more once I learn more about it, so here's just a small run down of it:
Everyone is trained, in a way, to develop in a certain way. Certain children will be trained to love certain things and associate them with happiness so eventually they'll love the job they are assigned to. Because of the training, no one hates their job and everyone is happy. The downside, however, is that no one really has a choice of wether or not they want that job. But, they're happy. So it doesn't really matter, right?
It's so hard for me to say whether or not I support that. No one gets to pick their job, but no one hates their job. But no one gets to pick their job. But they're happy with their job. You could go on with that forever. They may be happy with their job, but is it OK to not let them pick? Is it OK to train them to love it? Morally, I suppose not. I mean, a very big thing people support is the idea of freedom. The idea that you can do what you want, say what you want, think what you want. The society allows you to think and say what you wish, but it does sort of take away the "do what you want" factor of freedom. And that's where it gets really tangled again. They don't have the real freedom to do what they want, but the job they've been trained for makes them happy. That's the job they want to do. To them, it's freedom to be able to do that job they love.
It helps to think, "Well, if they weren't trained for it, then they wouldn't necessarily all want the job they've been assigned to, right?" YES. It is VERY helpful to think about that when it comes to this book's conflict. It also helps to think, "Well, they're trained to love it, right? So, is it real happiness?" That is also very helpful to think! And after you stop and think of these questions alongside the society's happiness and training, it's still very hard to come to a conclusion of whether or not the society is good. It all just comes back to the whole point of they are happy, whether they like it or not -- and apparently they all like it.
I think people would take different sides on this conflict. Some people may think the society is bad because it sort of takes away freedom. Others would say it's good because everyone has a form of happiness, the economy is stable, and no one is poor. Happiness; freedom; stableness. Opinions on this society are going to based off of what the person thinks is most important in a society. Do you want everyone to be happy at the cost of freedom? Do you want a stable society? A society filled with freedom? You'd get so many different opinions on their society. I, frankly, am in the middle. With this society comes many ups and downs. Happiness, but missing freedom. Stable economy, but controlled population. (Controlled population is very controversial. It creates a steady economy but the pop. is being controlled.) I can't pick a complete side. I'm in the middle, sometimes leaning towards bad and sometimes leaning towards good.
This book makes you think so much and it makes the book a hundred times better than it already is.
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