These chapters involve Bernard Marx quite a lot. He is really quite different from the other characters we meet in this society. Give at least two examples from these chapters showing he is different and explain a bit what you think Huxley is saying about this Brave New World through his character.
If you chose not to do the above, would you please ask a question or two you have over today's reading, or/AND try to answer questions your classmates pose over these chapters. Remember, you can certainly post more than one time!
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1. Bernard Marx is seperated from the rest of society, because of his physical body and mental thoughts. Mentaly he feels seperated from the the twelve by his lack of connection to the "One". He lied after the meeting when Fifi Bradlaugh asked if he thought is was wonderful. He said yes but inside himself he knew that he wasnt expirencing the same thing they were.
ReplyDelete2. Why does this society revole around the pill Soma, is it a method the government uses to continusly keep the higher ranked society members brainwashed?.... or is it just a drug to keep the people happy and healthy?
1. Bernard is different for one, because he is short. He dosen't relate to any of the members of his caste. He dosen't seem to feel superior to other castes, for example, when he asked the Delta-Minus twins to push his plane out he didn't fell comfortalbe. They also didn't respond as quickly or as politely as they would have to any other alpha. He dosen't feel comfortalbe with Lenina and he thinks differently than everybody else. Through Bernard I think Huxley is saying that things aren't always going to be perfect and no matter how much humans mess with genetics, there are always going to be outcasts and people who don't fit in with society. Every person can still be different and develope their own personality. The government can never control everybodies thoughts.
ReplyDelete1. Bernard is different from the rest of this Brave New World because he seems to question things. When he and the twelve people were gathered to perform their ritual, he didn't believe in what was happening. He didn't see the great spirit coming and instead only pretended to see it to follow the norm. Another way that Bernard is different is that he doesn't seem to share the same lust as all the other members of this society. An example of this is when he and Lenina were going to be alone at his house and Bernard wanted to talk instead of... Also, Bernard doesn't want to spend his time playing electro magnetic golf or obstacle golf, instead he wishes to spend his time walking and THINKING. I think the the point that Huxley is making here is that Bernard thinks that something is up. He is not buying into the whole brainwashing system of conditioning. This says that this Brave New World is a conspiracy thrown together by the directors, or maybe someone higher up than they are. For what purpose this rouse is put on, I don't know but I imagine it has something to do with wanting power and control over other people.
ReplyDelete-Peter Diliberti
Marx is different in many ways. He is shorter than anyone else in his class. He is also a little mentally slow. I wonder why Huxley put such a degrading character in as Marx, when he is in an upper class, but so short and dumb. Is it suggesting that in this perfect utopian society, they have mistakes and genetic or "assembly line" defects? It seems to go against the style/theme of the book.
ReplyDeleteBernard Marx is different from other people in his caste and his society. His physical structure is not as big as the other Alphas. He is jealous of his friend Helmholtz because he is big and lean and gets a lot of girls. he is also different because he isnt into their so called religious beliefs because at the mtg with the 12 people they are all into the prayer while Bernard is just faking it.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering that when they had that prayer services thing was that huxleys way of mocking how bad this society is?
Bernard is different from the rest of the society in a few ways. Right at the beginning of chapter four the reader is able to see that he is uncomfortable with the way that the society works. When Lenina approaches him about going on a trip he is immediately embarrassed that they would talk about matters like this in public. Lenina and everyone else around finds this sort of relationship as normal but for Bernard it is a little too out there. At another time, when Lenina and Bernard are on their date, he presented Lenina with the idea of not being part of the society that they are in. Lenina finds his idea completely ridiculous and against everything that she knows so far.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed irony within Bernard's character. I find it ironic that as the one who invented the whole concept of "brainwashing" everyone into staying in their caste and being promiscuous and only liking certain things that he wouldn't approve of the idea now. In these chapters it become apparent that he dissaproves of how the society is run. This is like the idea of "you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube." I think that Bernard now realizes what he has done by creating this type of technology and what type of society he has created and changed his mind about how he feels about it. I think that this relates greatly to the article we read before reading Brave New World in that with all the technology, a line needs to be drawn. In this New World that is shown in the book there is no line at all about what is morally right or wrong and all you know is what the government tells you. And I think that Bernard Marx is starting to notice the fact that there is no line and that is disconcerting for him.
the last one is from claire hagedorn
ReplyDeleteBernard Marx is different because he seems to have more emotions than other people do, and he creates a feeling [similar to love and having a crush on someone] when he talks to lenina. He stammers when he talks to her in front of the other men in the elevator, and he gets really angry when Foster recommends her to sleep with yet another man. I think MArx is goinig to end up causing something big in the book simply because he is so different and everyone in his society seems to know his name for the simple fact that he lets his emotions show, he's short, and he's a little different than everyone else. [He is the complete opposite of Brutus' stoicism in Julius Caesar.] I think Huxley wanted to show that those of us who hold a higher sense of respect for others and self discipline will get more out of life.
ReplyDeleteMary Kate Leister
On page 60, Huxley talks about Benito Hoover pulling out a piece of "sex-hormone chewing-gum." So is Huxley saying that they made gum in this period of A.F. 632 that makes a male or female more promiscuous? Is it trying to show that this New World is so forced upon relationships that they make these regular day items (gum) to increase the citizens of this world to having more relationships?
ReplyDelete-Ryan Battani
Bernard Marx is different because he has less confidence than any other Alpha-Plus. He doesn't look down upon other people, he sees them at the same level. Marx is different because he sees the things that people in his society don't care about, like the ocean and waves. I think that Marx was put in this book to show that there can be no ideal society where everyone is happy. Someone is always going to speak out against corruption or try to make others see the good that they are missing.
ReplyDelete-Vince Driscoll
Bernard Marx is considered an outcast of his society. As Lenina put it, he is "odd." She points to his regret of having relations on the first date and his inclination to thinking. It was even said that Marx disagreed with the society. Rather, I believe that Marx's nature is at odds with his society. In other words, I believe that Marx does not disagree simply to disagree. He would not be "faking it" as he did during the Solidarity Meeting if he disagreed purely out of rebellion. The societal normative goes against his innate beliefs. It was even said that Marx was slow, because alcohol was injected into his blood surrogate. While this may have caused his short stature, it did not yield a dumb individual. If anything, the individuals in the book who think Marx is dumb because of his external abnormalities are the people who really lack intelligence and contemplation. Huxley, in my opinion, used Marx to illustrate everyone else's obliviousness. He is, essentially, making fun of their blind conformity to the "utopian" ideal. This is especially evident when when Lenina's failure to understand his desire "to be an adult all the time" is juxtaposed against her spouting of government nonsense, "Never put off till to-morrow the fun you can have today."
ReplyDeletePatrick Kinley
Marx is definately different than everybody else. One of the ways he is different is the way that he thinks. Lenina said something about how he thinks and how it made him odd. I think that this makes him so different because as we discussed in class, the government was planning events for the people so that they could prevent too much thinking. I think that the way Marx thinks could end up being problematic. Another way he is different is how he is shorter than everyone else. This seems weird to me because it seemed like they made all of the people of each class the same but if he is shorter than all the other alphas something mustve gone wrong. Maybe since he is shorter than everyone else and since he has the power to think he was accidentally born. Maybe the genetic place made a mistake and passed over the tube that he was in before he was born and he really shouldn't have been born at all.
ReplyDeleteI think that Huxley is trying to show that even with all of the genetic stuff they can do, they can make mistakes or overlook things. I think that the main thing that he is trying to prove is that no matter how much they try to control everything, they are not God. They can not control everything and build humans the way that God can.
-Emily Calos
Bernard Marx is a very unique character in the book Brave New World. An important example of this is his different opinion of women and sexual relations than the rest of the characters in the book. Lenina tries to talk to him about it completely casually and in front of a lot of people like its not a big deal or anything, yet Bernard becomes a little embarrassed by this, and asks her if they should speak of something so personal in private. I feel that Aldous Huxley is making Bernard feel this way to show us how truly shallow, and without any kind of morals their society is... How Bernard is one of the only characters we've seen that still has a sense of dignity.
ReplyDeleteBernard also feels pity, which is unlike the other characters. He notices his differences, and is actually embarrassed by them. He pities himself for what he's had to go through in their society of castes and judgement. None of the other characters, particularly Helmholtz Watson understand this feeling of pity and embarrassment. But the fact that Bernard feels this way makes him seem maybe a little more real, and human to us than any of the characters have been up to this point.
-Eily Brett
In these chapters, Bernard is portrayed as a very dynamic character, but to me, some of his traits seem to conflict with each other. His physique isn't better than the average Gamma, and he feels distressed about whether or not members of the lower castes will treat him with respect. Bernard shows bitter envy for the other Alphas like Henry Foster and Benito Hoover, yet he also shows contempt for them because of their conformity with the rest of society. Especially on his first date with Lenina, Bernard makes it clear that he would rather be alone with her and talk in private than the social norm of making a move in public. However, there are multiple times when he walks with a sense of contrived arrogance or boasts about his accomplishments (true or not) in order to gain respect from others. Although not specifically stated, I think that Huxley is trying to show that since Bernard is met with disapproval every time he diverges from what is socially acceptable, he subconsciously attempts to earn the respect of his peers by acting more like his fellow Alphas.
ReplyDeleteOne point that I noticed Huxley was trying to make was that there is a fundamental difference between love and infatuation. In the Brave New World, people are encouraged to pursue their shallow sexual desires. For example, Lenina states that she likes Bernard for his hands and the way he moves his shoulders, but when it comes to his personality, she wishes that he weren't so odd. Real love is based around getting to know someone and genuinely liking them for who they are, not necessarily their outward appearance. I noticed that when the Director told Bernard about his trip to the reservation, he accidentally revealed his inner emotions about the girl he was dating at the time. When the Director lost the girl, he felt terrible, and he even said that he still dreams about her sometimes. This shows that Bernard's desire to build up an actual relationship with Lenina based on love rather than infatuation is not entirely unique. Even the Director had feelings for the girl and still has not moved on entirely as one would expect with the typical shallow relationships that are customary to this society. Basically, what Huxley is trying to say is that although people can be conditioned and taught to believe nearly anything the government wants them to, nothing can suppress the innate human desire to love and be loved.
-Elliott Lawrence
Bernard Marx is different because he is unique to his caste. He is smaller than Alphas should be, especially Alpha pluses. But the thing that really makes him different is his resistance to the social norm. It is clear that he is still affected by his conditioning. It's not that he doesn't feel what the others do, as you can see with Lenina and when he finally takes soma, it's that he fights his urges that everyone else embraces.
ReplyDeleteAlso isn't it a bit ironic that the model T which they pretty much worship were all black. Yet they make the epsilons where black. Wouldn't you think that black would be an honored color, something that the alphas should where.
-Zach Duff
Bernard Marx is different from everyone else in the community because his "birth defect" causes him to question what he's supposed to do in life and if his life has another purpose other than to do whatever the community wants him to. He is also different because he isn't confident in his superiority. If he was more confident in his superiority he would have no problem accepting whatever the community told him because he would be happy and feel like everyone else in the community, so he would follow everyone else in the community. I think Huxley is trying to show us that being different can cause us to question ourselves and what's going on around us.
ReplyDeleteBernard Marx is much different than the rest of the world. He seems to look at the world differently and feels their is something more important out there than the meaning of his world today. One of the reasons I believe Marx is different is because of his job which he has the insides on the sleep teachings for every person in each caste. Bernard is also much shorter than his other Alpha counterparts which makes him feel like an outsider to the Alphas. With him becoming an outsider, this gives him more time to think over his life and why he is where he is today. Most other people of the world are concerned about what to buy next or who they should have next. Huxley is trying to explain to the reader what a person who has alone time on his hands could be like through Bernard. If people had time by themselves then there would be a great amount of time to think over their lives. If they did this they would all be second guessing what to do in life like Bernard does. With more Bernards in the New World, the world would be changed and the controllers would need to give them answers about their creation as humans.
ReplyDeleteBobby LeWarne
Bernard Marx is kind of an exception to the rule. He's too short to be an Alpha, but he doesn't realize that everyone below him still looks up to him as an authority figure. I thought it was interesting that even though the drugs and conditioning, they can't rid him of his feeling of self-consciousness. I think that Huxley is trying to explain that even though they can control everything, they cannot get rid of basic human jealousy and self-consciousness. This is also shown in Lenina with her guilt of cheating on Henry with her boss, and the pressure to do so by Fanny.
ReplyDeleteI also had a couple of questions:
Is "soma" like their drug?
and
on page 82, they speak of a "greater being". Are they talking about Ford, or do they have a god of some sort?