The New and Newer Essay (Revised)
Author's Notes in color
Existence in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World eerily echoes life cliché phrase in the United States today, redolent as it is of selfishness, misguided deification, a mad scramble for artificially induced happiness, and a futile search for escape from it all.
First, the World State demands that everyone should empty his pockets for the frivolous and unnecessary, and the McDonaldized and Walmarted United States concurs in this objective as it loyally supports its companies, even opening “Windows” for them to the rest of the world. Convinced as they are by clever advertisers that luxuries are in fact necessities, for the duped consumers, the buying never ends. The sole purpose of commercials is to make the viewers unhappy with their current situation, and to convince them that, in order to return to their happy state or even leap to the next orbital, they must purchase the product. No one should be able to do anything for himself; machines will do everything for him. People, of course, will not mind the less work as they are wholly occupied with the exhausting pursuit of indulgence. In the competitive arena of the market today, the compelling evidence of music artist Shakira swigging a bottle of Pepsi convinces us that we too should swallow the drink. That this makes no sense, that there exists no plausible connection between Shakira and Pepsi means no difference, because the point is to feel, not think—appreciation of her beauty for men, and jealousy of it for women. Whatever the evoked sensation, people will buy because they are stimulated. Hypnopædia eliminates the need for advertisement as the desired result of people endlessly buying for no reason has already been attained to brilliant perfection. The manufacturers of acetate mean for it not to last; utterly impractical, it bears an uncanny resemble in sheer purposeful uselessness to the creations of famous designers who drape their fabrics on Hollywood’s willing victims. The bike has become an obsolete mode of transportation for the growing child and has “scooted” over for a certain motorized mini-vehicle. Whenever one visits the Hewlett Packard or Dell computer site, an upgrade link lingers invitingly in the corner. More space, more memory, better graphics and sound—the limit yawns far away. While the World State frowns on improvement and focuses on the maintenance of the present condition, its relentless clamoring for the consuming of clothes and transport ends on the same note of “a thriving economy.” All this constant taking and grabbing has an unremarkable aim, mainly one’s personal happiness, or the temporary and counterfeit achievement of it.
Next, even as citizens of the World State use casual sex as an immediate satiation of their desires, people in the U.S. are increasingly fixated on sex—casual or based on ignorant idolatry. Images of celebrities and models in “sexy” poses are plastered on shiny plastic reminders of sex, as obvious a sign as a condom but more alluring. The World State ordains that relationships must be temporary and based only on physical lust; hence, human beings are treated as meat to be devoured and not sentient creatures to be cherished. Life is a great feast, and people of the World State gulp it down rapidly and shallowly so as not to savor the bites. Overdone, cliché Americans concentrate on the outward beauty, the quick excitement of sexual arousal rather than the slower-to-build, longer-to-endure appreciation of intellect and mutual companionship, and the intrinsic value of being human vanishes. People of the World State are mere objects, important while they are considered useful and even artificially altered so that they always contribute to the needs of Society, as decided by the State government for the duration of their shortened lives. Correspondingly, even as we shower monetary reverence on those people armed with never-meant-to-released “personal” home videos (Paris Hilton), talented public relations men, and even a modicum of sexual appeal, we essentially treat them as things to talk over and talk about. The pedestal on which we have placed them, by our own magic of false worship, shoots up into the sky like Jack’s beanstalk, far beyond our reach. The highly stratified World State needs no publicity for the virtues of the higher castes, and they with all of the intellectually limited Society, pant the question, “What was sex with the Savage like?” The “hotness” of today’s youths is not a matter of life and death—it is far more serious than that. The eagerly awaited, if dubiously created, lists of “The World’s Most Beautiful People” and polls on the sexiness of men and women, disregarding character, actions, and personal acquaintance, indicate U.S. society’s obsession with appearances and the importance of the exterior—the significance being namely sex.
Revised - Finally, Americans draw and redraw the penciled line between normality and deviation, seeking to maintain the “normal state” of physical and mental health with drugs, as the people of the World State take soma for the same, albeit artificially muted, reason—to remain in their “ordinary” condition of “happiness.” Promising to “treat erectile dysfunctions,” Viagra unfailingly pops up that's a typical picture as comfort to the depressed man whose sexual performance troubles him and amuses others, restoring to him vitality and manliness, the prerequisites of a healthy male. World State hormone-chewing gum simulates or stimulates sexual sensations, ensuring that even when not being presently fulfilled, physical needs such as lust will always be quickly dampened by completion almost before initiation, meant to keep the male eternally “happy” by allowing him no time to be upset. Despite the hedonistic lives the World State citizens lead, tribulations continue to plague them, enough so they must leave the unpleasant world for soma holidays. Similarly, the American people, the deserving rulers of the earth in an ironically egalitarian society, with all of their wealth and privileges, destroy their lungs—not to mention breath—with smoking and their livers with alcohol to obtain reputations of reckless confidence and therefore dangerous sexiness, something many view as the ideal attribute. A Camel Refined does not a new Camel make, and still people adhere to their consuming natures. They reason that in smoking the new cigarette, they must bleed at the cutting edge of the times and so retain the “model” status that continually changes. Soma guarantees the mentally oblivious compliance of the World State people with the wishes of “Authority” as they drift as empty blissful bubbles through a moonless night sea of life, with no true motion of emotional tides nor the light of reason to urge the movement. Too melodramatic. Drugs alter moods, manipulate feelings, and perhaps eventually, corrode characters. Today’s Prozac adjusts the emotional balance of the mental American equilibrium in favor of happiness, to restore a more “normal” stability; marijuana eases pain and could relieve people of their senses on a regular basis as easily. In the stresses of today’s fast-paced life and the vainness of New World’s, reality attacks, and both peoples have only cotton shields held up to soak the blood—or they hide in a clay imitation of a degenerate heaven on a deteriorating earth. Enough with the useless imagery. Get on with the essay and be more clear about what I'm trying to say.
A Tower of Babel stands today and in New World as a symbol of defiance against God; the steps ascend to mediocre, imbecilic happiness. The ladders of faith are burnt to ash; the only prospect for most is to “get high,” be it from pleasure, consumerism, sex, or drugs, and float like a released balloon, up, up, up, to the very turrets of Babel but no further; heaven eludes us. In our wooing of the World, we find ourselves irrevocably wedded to it. The World State can be likened to a time-tarnished reflection of an age that Americans, in the Sonic Boom of self-absorbed irresponsibility, are fast approaching.
Original - Oh...wow....this is so awful. Finally, people of the U.S. today use drugs to relieve their stresses and troubles, and those of the World State take soma for the same, albeit muted reasons. From the innocuous Tylenol to the pain-relieving marijuana, drugs provide an outlet from reality and its aches. It may be surprising that, based on the hedonistic life the World State citizens lead, they might have problems, enough so they must leave the unpleasant world for soma holidays. It will be an earth-shattering shock that we, the fruit of a thriving democracy, the gleaming citadel on the hill, the deserving rulers of the earth in an ironically egalitarian society, could possibly manage to be unhappy enough to destroy our lungs—not to mention our breath—with smoking and our liver with alcohol. Drugs alter our moods, manipulate our feelings, and perhaps eventually, corrode our character. The people of the World State experience no physical pains; soma guarantees their mentally oblivious compliance with the wishes of Authority. In addition to using drugs for medicinal purposes, people of today also take them to escape a terrible world, often of their own making. What we and the World State’s people want are the profits bereft of penalties. When, in the frenzied, euphoric madness of sex, violence, and drugs, we break our lives into slivers and fragments. Often we run and let others be cut as they “pick up the pieces” in our stead. This avoidance of responsibility creates the need for the gateway to flight, and many times, yet more drugs become that door, ever-open and ever-widening, tempting people to enter a place without sacrifices or mortal agony. The stresses of today’s fast-paced life grind people’s faces into the granite floor of failure, and they would rather fly away on drugged carpets, their cotton shields held up defensively to soak up blood. Numbed with the mindless pleasures of soma, World State chooses to forgo joy and the worship of God so that it might not experience devastation or Hell on earth. Similarly, passion for worldly material so consumes us that, like ants, we cannot see much higher than the ground; we have lost sight of the loftier planes and the greater heavens. The Brave New World does not acknowledge death with respect, or life with veneration for the precious quality it is. In essence, humanity has been pummeled to unconsciousness by a void to make way for nothing. Teacher's Comments - Not so well supported with specifics as the other two; I (Winnie) completely agree and think the remark is too kind.
Status - Complete, Free Comments
Existence in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World eerily echoes life cliché phrase in the United States today, redolent as it is of selfishness, misguided deification, a mad scramble for artificially induced happiness, and a futile search for escape from it all.
First, the World State demands that everyone should empty his pockets for the frivolous and unnecessary, and the McDonaldized and Walmarted United States concurs in this objective as it loyally supports its companies, even opening “Windows” for them to the rest of the world. Convinced as they are by clever advertisers that luxuries are in fact necessities, for the duped consumers, the buying never ends. The sole purpose of commercials is to make the viewers unhappy with their current situation, and to convince them that, in order to return to their happy state or even leap to the next orbital, they must purchase the product. No one should be able to do anything for himself; machines will do everything for him. People, of course, will not mind the less work as they are wholly occupied with the exhausting pursuit of indulgence. In the competitive arena of the market today, the compelling evidence of music artist Shakira swigging a bottle of Pepsi convinces us that we too should swallow the drink. That this makes no sense, that there exists no plausible connection between Shakira and Pepsi means no difference, because the point is to feel, not think—appreciation of her beauty for men, and jealousy of it for women. Whatever the evoked sensation, people will buy because they are stimulated. Hypnopædia eliminates the need for advertisement as the desired result of people endlessly buying for no reason has already been attained to brilliant perfection. The manufacturers of acetate mean for it not to last; utterly impractical, it bears an uncanny resemble in sheer purposeful uselessness to the creations of famous designers who drape their fabrics on Hollywood’s willing victims. The bike has become an obsolete mode of transportation for the growing child and has “scooted” over for a certain motorized mini-vehicle. Whenever one visits the Hewlett Packard or Dell computer site, an upgrade link lingers invitingly in the corner. More space, more memory, better graphics and sound—the limit yawns far away. While the World State frowns on improvement and focuses on the maintenance of the present condition, its relentless clamoring for the consuming of clothes and transport ends on the same note of “a thriving economy.” All this constant taking and grabbing has an unremarkable aim, mainly one’s personal happiness, or the temporary and counterfeit achievement of it.
Next, even as citizens of the World State use casual sex as an immediate satiation of their desires, people in the U.S. are increasingly fixated on sex—casual or based on ignorant idolatry. Images of celebrities and models in “sexy” poses are plastered on shiny plastic reminders of sex, as obvious a sign as a condom but more alluring. The World State ordains that relationships must be temporary and based only on physical lust; hence, human beings are treated as meat to be devoured and not sentient creatures to be cherished. Life is a great feast, and people of the World State gulp it down rapidly and shallowly so as not to savor the bites. Overdone, cliché Americans concentrate on the outward beauty, the quick excitement of sexual arousal rather than the slower-to-build, longer-to-endure appreciation of intellect and mutual companionship, and the intrinsic value of being human vanishes. People of the World State are mere objects, important while they are considered useful and even artificially altered so that they always contribute to the needs of Society, as decided by the State government for the duration of their shortened lives. Correspondingly, even as we shower monetary reverence on those people armed with never-meant-to-released “personal” home videos (Paris Hilton), talented public relations men, and even a modicum of sexual appeal, we essentially treat them as things to talk over and talk about. The pedestal on which we have placed them, by our own magic of false worship, shoots up into the sky like Jack’s beanstalk, far beyond our reach. The highly stratified World State needs no publicity for the virtues of the higher castes, and they with all of the intellectually limited Society, pant the question, “What was sex with the Savage like?” The “hotness” of today’s youths is not a matter of life and death—it is far more serious than that. The eagerly awaited, if dubiously created, lists of “The World’s Most Beautiful People” and polls on the sexiness of men and women, disregarding character, actions, and personal acquaintance, indicate U.S. society’s obsession with appearances and the importance of the exterior—the significance being namely sex.
Revised - Finally, Americans draw and redraw the penciled line between normality and deviation, seeking to maintain the “normal state” of physical and mental health with drugs, as the people of the World State take soma for the same, albeit artificially muted, reason—to remain in their “ordinary” condition of “happiness.” Promising to “treat erectile dysfunctions,” Viagra unfailingly pops up that's a typical picture as comfort to the depressed man whose sexual performance troubles him and amuses others, restoring to him vitality and manliness, the prerequisites of a healthy male. World State hormone-chewing gum simulates or stimulates sexual sensations, ensuring that even when not being presently fulfilled, physical needs such as lust will always be quickly dampened by completion almost before initiation, meant to keep the male eternally “happy” by allowing him no time to be upset. Despite the hedonistic lives the World State citizens lead, tribulations continue to plague them, enough so they must leave the unpleasant world for soma holidays. Similarly, the American people, the deserving rulers of the earth in an ironically egalitarian society, with all of their wealth and privileges, destroy their lungs—not to mention breath—with smoking and their livers with alcohol to obtain reputations of reckless confidence and therefore dangerous sexiness, something many view as the ideal attribute. A Camel Refined does not a new Camel make, and still people adhere to their consuming natures. They reason that in smoking the new cigarette, they must bleed at the cutting edge of the times and so retain the “model” status that continually changes. Soma guarantees the mentally oblivious compliance of the World State people with the wishes of “Authority” as they drift as empty blissful bubbles through a moonless night sea of life, with no true motion of emotional tides nor the light of reason to urge the movement. Too melodramatic. Drugs alter moods, manipulate feelings, and perhaps eventually, corrode characters. Today’s Prozac adjusts the emotional balance of the mental American equilibrium in favor of happiness, to restore a more “normal” stability; marijuana eases pain and could relieve people of their senses on a regular basis as easily. In the stresses of today’s fast-paced life and the vainness of New World’s, reality attacks, and both peoples have only cotton shields held up to soak the blood—or they hide in a clay imitation of a degenerate heaven on a deteriorating earth. Enough with the useless imagery. Get on with the essay and be more clear about what I'm trying to say.
A Tower of Babel stands today and in New World as a symbol of defiance against God; the steps ascend to mediocre, imbecilic happiness. The ladders of faith are burnt to ash; the only prospect for most is to “get high,” be it from pleasure, consumerism, sex, or drugs, and float like a released balloon, up, up, up, to the very turrets of Babel but no further; heaven eludes us. In our wooing of the World, we find ourselves irrevocably wedded to it. The World State can be likened to a time-tarnished reflection of an age that Americans, in the Sonic Boom of self-absorbed irresponsibility, are fast approaching.
Original - Oh...wow....this is so awful. Finally, people of the U.S. today use drugs to relieve their stresses and troubles, and those of the World State take soma for the same, albeit muted reasons. From the innocuous Tylenol to the pain-relieving marijuana, drugs provide an outlet from reality and its aches. It may be surprising that, based on the hedonistic life the World State citizens lead, they might have problems, enough so they must leave the unpleasant world for soma holidays. It will be an earth-shattering shock that we, the fruit of a thriving democracy, the gleaming citadel on the hill, the deserving rulers of the earth in an ironically egalitarian society, could possibly manage to be unhappy enough to destroy our lungs—not to mention our breath—with smoking and our liver with alcohol. Drugs alter our moods, manipulate our feelings, and perhaps eventually, corrode our character. The people of the World State experience no physical pains; soma guarantees their mentally oblivious compliance with the wishes of Authority. In addition to using drugs for medicinal purposes, people of today also take them to escape a terrible world, often of their own making. What we and the World State’s people want are the profits bereft of penalties. When, in the frenzied, euphoric madness of sex, violence, and drugs, we break our lives into slivers and fragments. Often we run and let others be cut as they “pick up the pieces” in our stead. This avoidance of responsibility creates the need for the gateway to flight, and many times, yet more drugs become that door, ever-open and ever-widening, tempting people to enter a place without sacrifices or mortal agony. The stresses of today’s fast-paced life grind people’s faces into the granite floor of failure, and they would rather fly away on drugged carpets, their cotton shields held up defensively to soak up blood. Numbed with the mindless pleasures of soma, World State chooses to forgo joy and the worship of God so that it might not experience devastation or Hell on earth. Similarly, passion for worldly material so consumes us that, like ants, we cannot see much higher than the ground; we have lost sight of the loftier planes and the greater heavens. The Brave New World does not acknowledge death with respect, or life with veneration for the precious quality it is. In essence, humanity has been pummeled to unconsciousness by a void to make way for nothing. Teacher's Comments - Not so well supported with specifics as the other two; I (Winnie) completely agree and think the remark is too kind.
Status - Complete, Free Comments
