Brave New World and Utopia are connected through controlling society. They discourage individualism and encourage the sense of community. There is no "self" in any of their actions because they have been conditioned to work towards the good of the whole society.
This fact that they have no control over their own selves bothers me over everything else I have read so far. They have to share themselves with everyone and are often heard quoting their mantra that, "Everyone belongs to everyone else." To me this is rediculous. Your body should be your own and you should have control over what is done with it. I also think the fact that you can't have one love is crazy because there is always one person who you connect with better than everyone else. I think that Lenina should be able to spend as much time as she wants to with Henry and shouldn't have to have any other people.
The good part that I have found in this society is that everyone believes they are happy and seem to be content. In conditioning everyone is taught that their place in life is the best and they wouldn't want to be a part of any other cast. This helps them to feel a purpose in life. This also helps insure that there is someone to fill every job and no one has to be forced to do their set job. Another good thing is that no one physically gets old. This is good because you can work until the day you die and never feel the pain of getting old. The bad part about this is that no one will ever know when you would die and wouldn't expect it when it happens.
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I also agree with your ideas on loving one and only one person. Lenina should not have to "go with" hundreds of guys just to prove she belongs in her society. I also think its cool how no one ever gets old or has that pain of aging. I do not really like their social classes though. I do not think it is right to just be born into a class that you cannot move up in or change out of somehow. Yeah it makes sense in a way, but it just is not very fair.
That one line that was repeated over and over again "Everyone belongs to everyone else" bothered me also. It seemed absurd and I can not walk in their shoe and find how it could ever be a true saying. I think it is important to have a strong sense of "self" and cannot imagine living in a society where that is not accepted. People should be able to find the person they connect with and stay with them.
Your post looked a lot like mine. I also disagreed with the fact that there is no individualism. I went in a different way however, talking about how nobody can have a relationship and no women can get pregnant no matter how much they get jiggy with it. I also agreed that the fact that everyone is happy is the best idea that BNW has to offer. I did not like the idea that the government forces you to be happy by taking soma, but that everyone is taught to be content where they are so nobody is unhappy about what they do because they don' t know what anything else is like. I thought that was clever.
Hmmm.... i think your right that the most prominate connection between these two societies is the restriction on individuality, i dont really think there is anything else that has made it slef that obvious as of yet. I'm not 100% with you on the idea of loving only one person, i think that this societies beliefs of realtionships and companionships is very interesting. I understand that it doesnt quite match the morals of our society today but in the term of the brave new world socitey were i control morals... well lets just say it'd be interesting.
They are pressured into being sex maniacs. It is not right to sleep with countless people everyweek. That means there is not emotion invovled and that someone is controlling you. It will begin to make people feel lonely. People need that one ohter person to share everything with. They do not have that in a Brave New World.
I do not agree with everyone is content. In today's society we would not have everything we do if people were content on what they were doing. People strive to change and makes things better.
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