Sunday, August 29, 2010
BNW ... final thoughts
As we wrap up our class discussion of this novel, a few ideas have been floating around which are indeed signs of the shifts in society since Huxley's day. When he wrote about Soma, the wonder drug which controlled the masses, he likely did not foresee all the interpretations such a force would render. In class discussions, we have wondered if this soma, not altogether unlike a prescription muscle relaxer on the market today, would be more recreational in use, like marijuana or Ecstasy or cocaine or if anti-depressants would have that spot. Some students even ventured to assert that Ritalin or Adderall is more likely akin to Huxley's drug of choice. Even alcohol and binge drinking seem to fit his purpose of the soma holiday. Regardless of the way we view this attachment to drug use, whether prescription or recreational, Huxley foreshadows the attachment society would have to this escape hatch of sorts. Papers that my students are working on now, selecting something from Huxley's fictional world and juxtaposing it with our day promise to be an interesting bit of reading. They are exploring cloning and birth control and virtual reality and even retirement home living. A few are looking closely at the propaganda Hitler used some 8-10 years after this novel was published. It is frightenly similar. Well, I am looking forward to their analysis. We head off in two directions after that, one class will be discussing Pride and Prejudice and the other will be delving into the Greek tragedies. I will see what connections await.
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Hi, Mrs. Wiley. My name is Sam Rickman, I am 14, and my mom, Lesley Busi Rickman, was one of your students at St. Vincent's Academy. I think she graduated in 1986. But anyway, I have been reading Brave New World, and I think it's great that you are teaching this book to high schoolers! I hope to keep reading about the books your class is studying, so far find it similar, but at a higher level, obviously, than what my english class is studying now here in Jackson, TN. Some of the novels we have finished with are The Outsiders, The Giver, and Mississippi Trial, 1955. We are about to move on to The Pigman and to Kill a Mockingbird. I recently attended a summer studies program at Davidson College in North Carolina, and the subject was science fiction. This has provided a great background for such books as 1984, Animal Farm, and, obviously, Brave New World, and I hope to keep finding even more science fiction classics. The point that you made in this post about the soma drug that is used in the novel was interesting, and I definitely think that you are definitely correct in the statement that Huxley's work seems almost prophetic. I'll be checking back regularly to see what works of literature your class is studying! again, thank you for teaching such great literature as this to your class!
ReplyDeleteSam
Dear Sam,
ReplyDeleteI cannot thank you enough for your kind comments. I remember your mom so well, and I also taught your aunt, Angela. I am glad you are reading the blog and enjoy dystopian novels. My son who is about to graduate from college says those are his favorite books.He has enjoyed all of Huxley; there is even a strange book called Brave New World Revisited which Huxley wrote much later about all the real problems the world faced at the time. Your reading list sounds fantastic. I hope you continue to read the blog and check in with me. And please tell your mom I said Hello!!Mrs. Wiley