The Islands of Brave New World
As a class, we have finished reading Brave New World. However, I would like to look back at the Islands of the world. The author, Aldous Huxley, did not write anything regarding how Bernard or Helmholtz lived their lives at the island after they were exiled. Instead, he mainly focused on John.
Previously in chapter 15-16, we learned quite a bit about the islands. The Islands of the world were seemingly disconnected from the rest of society and served as a prison-like area for people who did not conform to the social norms of the "civilized" world. For example, Iceland and the Falkland Islands were mentioned in the book as punishment islands.
We can see that the typical person of Brave New World is absolutely terrified of being sent to an island, in the early chapters when the director threatens to send Bernard to Iceland, he expresses his concerns to Lenina and is terrified of being sent there. Later on, when the world controller Mustafa Mond talks about his past, he says how he was forced to choose either the island or to potentially become a world controller, in which he chose the latter. However, Mustafa also said that living in the islands was a privilege, as they had the most interesting people in the world inhabiting them. All of the people who rejected the robotic-like civilization and pursued their own interests would be there.
This is really interesting to me because the islands might be very similar to our current society. Mustafa told Helmholtz that he would be able to practice his craft there freely without persecution, so the islands are going to be a lot less socialistic than the rest of society, and might even be a democratic republic like what most of the current western world is.
While I think these islands are similar to our current world in virtues and liberties, I have to take into account the story of the Cyprus experiment. Which is remarkably similar to the US industrial age. The experiment showed that this island full of individuals could not operate together as a society, labor strikes occurred, and eventually, a civil war broke out. This contradicts my previous ideas since it shows that when this island of "freedom" was created, it collapsed. This all goes to make me wonder what the actual islands of the book look like. How does society function on the islands? How many people are on the islands? How do the people on the island sustain themselves?
I would assume that the people on the island are still supplied by the mainland, however, they would be cut off in all shapes and forms from the rest of civilization to prevent them from spreading their ideas. So a secluded little half-democratic, half socialistic society perhaps.
- Kevin Li
- Kevin Li
This is a really interesting point. Personally I would love to be sent Iceland. The islands and the reservations are both other societies that the New World Order lets these places survive. I wonder if there are other societies that we don't know about outside of the New World Order. I think thats how they make sure their society is pure. They remove the free thinking individuals or don't even let in certain individuals.
ReplyDelete- Anna O.
Yes, I agree that such an experiment like the Cyprus test would not be viable due to the sheer number of inequalities that would emerge, so the islands are probably more of a socialist democracy supplemented by the New World Order and given the freedom to explore their interests. As stated, inhabitants of the islands are generally outcasts who were not able to conform to the ideals of the New World Order, which means that they would not fit well in a similar society. The advent of the islands are so that these individuals can live to their own vices with minimal interference from the Order. Such a society sounds similar to ours and I wonder how it would work under the authority of the New World Order. Do they have their own economy? Government? Culture? Or are they not bothered to create one, each resident caring for themselves?
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ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you took the time to really consider the islands of BNW, as I think that they are actually quite telling of the society as a whole. An entire other book might be dedicated to discovering these islands and their people deeper. In a sequel, would they be the key to a revolution? To your point about how these island societies might resemble those of our own today, perhaps Huxley strategically crafted them in that way. By doing so, Huxley may have been attempting to keep the reader grounded in the story by incorporating elements of life that we may relate to. Additionally, maybe he wanted to make a point: the World State organization is superior to the islands, which is how we may identify our day's world. It that light, it is somewhat troubling.
DeleteAnyhow, great thoughtful comments!
I thought the islands were a super interesting part of Brave New World. When Mustapha Mond explained them, I thought they actually seemed really cool and like a good fit for Bernard and Hemholtz. My line of thinking was somewhere along the lines of - let the society function as it's supposed to (it sucks, but at least there's no war, poverty, or unhappiness), and anyone who doesn't agree can do their own thing somewhere else. It's like when we all play dodgeball in P.E. but some people decide to play ultimate ball instead and everything is fine. But, then I thought about how Mustapha Mond is basically a dictator of a highly unethical society, and of course he would make the islands sounds better than they actually are. That's not to say that the islands aren't great - they might be as decent as he makes them sound - but I do think it's important to realize he isn't necessarily a reliable source of information.
ReplyDeleteThe one main thing that I wish the author had added to BNW was a possible glimpse into life on the island. I kept wondering whether the islands would be similar to our modern day society. Then again it is hard to imagine what the islands are like given how little information is given about them and the information that is given comes from people like Mustafa Mond who may be making them out to be better than they actually are. Then again, it's still a perspective that I felt needed to be added to the story of BNW.
ReplyDeleteI was also very interested in the islands in BNW. I really wanted to figure out what was so awful about being sent to iceland, other than that was where the other exiles were. Did the World State just allow them to live how they want there, or was it more controlled and horrible? It would have been interesting to be able to compare life on iceland to our own society and see how similar the two were, given how different ours is from that of the World State.
ReplyDeleteThis is something that I was really interested in and that I wished Huxley would have expanded on more. The whole backstory of how this society was set up, and why do places like the islands exist aren't mentioned very much, which leaves the story of the society as a whole very open ended.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading BNW, I also thought that being exiled to the islands didn't seem so bad since the islands were described as having fewer restrictions, and people were allowed to engage in the arts and sciences. For this reason, I imagined the islands to be similar to our modern society, so I wondered why the characters were so scared of being sent to the islands. After I pondered over this question, I realized that the islands are unfamiliar to the characters and unfamiliarity is frightening. For example, the people in the society are largely dependent on soma to feel happy. I imagine that soma is not widely administered on the islands, which would force them to deal with the negative feelings that they never learned how to manage because of their regular usage of soma. Being forced to confront multi-dimensional emotions might be one of the reasons why they fear being exiled to the islands.
ReplyDeleteI was pleasantly surprised by the existence of the islands in BNW. I was previously under the impression that to not conform was equivalent to a death sentence because it seemed that everyone was seeking to hide whatever individuality they had left. Just like you I wonder what life would be like on that island, would everyone be pursing their intellectual interests? are there betas and epsilons ready to help the alpha's with their experiments? is there a tendency to equality rather than a rigid caste system? Overall, I just hope that Mustapha was not lying and that the safe haven exists and that exile isn't a euphemism for death sentence.
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