There is just sooooo much to talk about in Brave New World, that I don’t even know where to start- but I will try anyway. There are three major themes that I would love to explore about this novel: the definition of humanity versus the definition of a machine, the concept of happiness (whether it is its own emotion or just the lack of unhappiness), and the comparison between 1984 and Brave New World’s attempt to control the population by omitting certain emotions (one omits happiness and one omits unhappiness- is either better than the other). Taking a hint from the ‘Coming up with your topic’ section, I realize that these might be too broad for a single paper unless I am extremely careful about the structure of the essay. Dang, I just thought of another topic- the idea of science as a religion. Well, this will be difficult. I want to use the postmodernism text as a resource for any of my scientific discussions, I especially want to add the idea of, “the role of the state will weaken,” due to the scientific search for knowledge, (23). I also want to use the criticisms of David Pearce who wrote an article about engineering paradise and the moral implications of it. I now realize that to get this into a single thesis sentence may be impossible, but the article on the website said that it could be a few different sentences that all tie together.
Perhaps something like this:
Where is the line between humanity and machines? When the human emotions get watered down and the apathy consumes an entire society, new dogmas can arise to worship efficiency and perfection- two things that do not define humanity.
Or maybe not, I will have to mull over this for a while.
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Wow girl! You have some amazing ideas-I love the one about 1984 and Brave New World. I would have never have thought about the books like that; both do omit certain necessary emotions in the human personality. Brave New World-anger, unhappiness, fear, and the like; 1984-love, friendship, happiness. But you know, they do one thing in common-they take away individuality! So sad, no? I think you have the potential to combine your ideas together by doing a comparison of both novels and manipulation of the international society. I love what you're thinking about, so... Go Dee Go!!! I believe you'll nail down you're idea! Love!
ReplyDeleteI think what you've got so far is an excellent starting point. I know you really liked that whole question of human vs machine, and I think you'd totally attack that in an essay (in a good way, of course). Multiple sentence theses are in--they're the new "If-then" statement. I also really like the discussion surrounding "happiness" (operational definition required); I feel like there's a whole lot to argue there, if you care about it enough. Postmodernism would fit really well into your topics, and outside articles are always a super-good idea. I'd love to read this essay, once you get it written. Great start--keep on going!
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