While reading the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, I was perplexed because of the complex vocabulary being used. After searching up a few words and their definitions, as well as rereading a few paragraphs, the novel started to appear as more interesting to me, since it was more straightforward. Despite my difficulty in comprehending the novel, I am actually enjoying reading the book.
When I first started reading the novel, I immediately noticed a few similarities between this book and the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. One being that both novels are based on a futuristic, dystopian society. Another being that the goals of this society are for everyone to be happy, but in reality, most aren't. The book is very weird at times, and sometimes I am left flabbergasted, and shocked as to what I read, but in a good way.
A trend I noticed in both Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World books is that in both novels, it mentions how banning books is a necessary step needed to be taken in order for everyone to be happy. This is because reading novels provokes people to think, and potentially leads people to question the rules in place. An example of this is that during Nazi Germany, Hitler banned certain books such as All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque because they weren't considered "ideal" for Germany since those types of books made Germany appear as weak. Books such as those would lead some people to question whether or not Germany really was the best. In order to avoid that from happening, Germany banned them.
-Jasmine Sohal
I can definitely relate to your initial struggle reading Huxley's novel, and I admit that I also had to look up quite a few words.
ReplyDeleteI like your analysis here on why certain books are banned and what makes them dangerous. Not only did you explain these things well, but I really appreciated your explanation of what might have happened if certain books had been available at the time of Hitler's rule.
- Annika Haibel
I also noticed that both books want to get rid of books, but I think it is interesting that you connected it back to Nazi Germany. It makes both books seems more plausible when one realizes the steps these societies had to take have already occurred in our world.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed some striking similarities between Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World as well. Both are dystopian societies that seem perfect, but in reality, people are suffering and society is controlled like puppets.
ReplyDeleteCommunism uses devices like propaganda, the military, and censorship to make sure a country's people are controlled. It's shown in both Fahrenheit 451 and in Brave New World that the people are oppressed and the amount of information flowing through television or on paper is limited. Even though it's never flat out said that the type of government in both novels is communist, we can infer based on the similarities that they are under communism or some type of government similar to it.
Some questions have risen after reading your blog post. What if our society were to be controlled, how do you think people would react? Would they at first protest but then gradually accept the change? Or do you think because of how the world is today, with many new advancements, freedom of thought, and such, society will be able to stop it? Do you think the government's actions in both these novels can be justified as being for the better of the people's happiness?