Out Of Control In Yann Martel's Brave New World
Out of Control There are many different types of control throughout various types of media. With control, there are three different types: environmental, societal, and personal. Of these, most works will contain at least two of these control types; for example, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World contains all three. The environment that characters, such as John or Lenina, grow up in greatly affects their morals and values, due to the world government that exerts controls on these by exploiting the people’s lack of self control. Similarly, in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Pi’s turbulent, oceanic environment determines his will to live, and eventually leads to him losing self control and personal values. Environmental and societal control also
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One of the most prominent examples of this is through the dystopian world government of Brave New World. The entire society is based upon a cast system of the mentally capable alphas to the mentally challenged epsilons. This system is held together by hypnopaedia, or the repetition of phrases in the sleep; the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning says that hypnopaedia’s ultimate goal is to repeat phrases “Till at last the child’s mind is these suggestions, and the sum of these suggestions is the child’s mind. And not only the child’s mind. The adult’s mind too” (Huxley 19). The society is trying to eliminate all independent thought, any aberration from the norm. This shows the ultimate control that the government of Brave New World has on it citizens; however John does not have hypnopaedia “built in”. John grows up on the savage reservation as an outcast and the narrator notes, “To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow… He had discovered Time and Death and God” (Huxley 92). This knowledge of the world through experience rather than hypnopaedia makes him more conservative and artistic, As canadian literary critic Margaret Atwood aptly says, “John is the only character in the book who has a real body, but he knows it through pain, not through pleasure” (Atwood 1). John experiences what the modern world tries to hide: ugliness. Sometimes, in order to see a society as it is, one must use a different cultural lens. Another example of a restricting society is the 1920’s Chinese society. In Master Chen’s palace the lighting of lanterns is a heavily fought over status symbol between the mistresses. Songlian has such a vehement need for her lanterns to be lit that she fakes her pregnancy, however Dr. Gao examines Songlian and determines that the pregnancy is fake. The master is infuriated, and orders Songlian's lanterns covered with thick black
One of the most prominent examples of this is through the dystopian world government of Brave New World. The entire society is based upon a cast system of the mentally capable alphas to the mentally challenged epsilons. This system is held together by hypnopaedia, or the repetition of phrases in the sleep; the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning says that hypnopaedia’s ultimate goal is to repeat phrases “Till at last the child’s mind is these suggestions, and the sum of these suggestions is the child’s mind. And not only the child’s mind. The adult’s mind too” (Huxley 19). The society is trying to eliminate all independent thought, any aberration from the norm. This shows the ultimate control that the government of Brave New World has on it citizens; however John does not have hypnopaedia “built in”. John grows up on the savage reservation as an outcast and the narrator notes, “To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow… He had discovered Time and Death and God” (Huxley 92). This knowledge of the world through experience rather than hypnopaedia makes him more conservative and artistic, As canadian literary critic Margaret Atwood aptly says, “John is the only character in the book who has a real body, but he knows it through pain, not through pleasure” (Atwood 1). John experiences what the modern world tries to hide: ugliness. Sometimes, in order to see a society as it is, one must use a different cultural lens. Another example of a restricting society is the 1920’s Chinese society. In Master Chen’s palace the lighting of lanterns is a heavily fought over status symbol between the mistresses. Songlian has such a vehement need for her lanterns to be lit that she fakes her pregnancy, however Dr. Gao examines Songlian and determines that the pregnancy is fake. The master is infuriated, and orders Songlian's lanterns covered with thick black