Brave New World Project:
Our task in this project was to recreate a scene from the book Brave New World in a graphic novel form. Most students were paired into teams of authors and artists, though several worked alone and handled both aspects of the task. The authors wrote a paper analyzing one of the main characters in the novel and used noun-phrase apposites and concessive theses to make their arguments. Artists focused on key choices of moment, frame, image, word,and flow in creating a graphic novel about the chosen scene. Our exhibition featured both an art show of our graphic novels, and a seminar discussion about Brave New World.
Bernard Marx Character Analysis:
Bernard Marx, a main character in the book Brave New World, is portrayed as an outsider who isn’t thought highly of by most people in Brave New World society. While Bernard is independent and is able to question society, I will argue that most people in society are unable to think to the extent that Bernard does, therefore this shows us that knowledge is needed in order to gain power, which is why those who are authority figures in Brave New World brainwash the people below them in order to hold on to their control. They have been conditioned to need power, because they have been told since they were born that they are better than everyone else. The people of lower castes have been taught that it is undesirable to be part of a higher caste because it’s too much work. If every person in society had the same amount of knowledge, society wouldn’t work the way it does, but it would be better for everyone to know what is going on, and understand everything from more than one perspective. To see something from more than one point of view is extremely important for people to know what is going on around them. That is the major flaw in Brave New World society.
The character of Bernard Marx symbolizes how people are treated when they don’t fit into society. He is an Alpha, which means he doesn’t have the extent of conditioning that the people of lower castes have. His conditioning allows him to be able to think for himself; this also means that he is able to see what is really going on in the society he lives in, and he doesn’t like what he sees. “Turning towards him, “‘What were you playing this afternoon?’ the girl on his left enquired. ‘Obstacle, or Electromagnetic?’ Bernard looked at her (Ford! it was Morgana Rothschild) and blushingly had to admit that he had been playing neither.” (Huxley 79). Bernard doesn’t like to do a lot of the activities most people like to do, like play golf or go to the movies. This immediately makes him into someone who is thought of as abnormal. Bernard is unable to see things from another view besides his, but he is able to see what goes on in society. Bernard wants to change society for himself, not for the whole population. This is part of the conditioning that he had as and Alpha, he is only able to think about himself and what will benefit him, not others. Bernard needs to learn that if he tries to get others to be part of the change he wants to see, he would be able to understand that it’s not just him who wants to see a change.
The powerful people in Brave New World do not have a lot of conditioning; they are the ones who make sure everyone below them is conditioned more than them. These people have all the power, and they feel like they need to hold on to that power. They are so scared of losing their power, that they make sure everybody is so brainwashed that they have no idea what is going on around them. The regular citizens do what they are supposed to do for their job as well as their social life, and never stray from that. One of the major parts of Alpha conditioning is to know that they are more powerful than anyone else in Brave New World; this conditioning causes them to not think about the well being of anyone except themselves. Even though everyone in Brave New World is happy with the caste they are part of, it’s not true happiness because they have been told that this will make them happy, even though there are other types of people they could be, and it would be more pleasant. “Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfully glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able…” (Huxley 27-28). This is conditioning that Betas go through when they are learning what caste they are part of, and how to act toward other castes according to who they are. It is not okay to brainwash people into being something the powerful need in order to be more comfortable.
Overall, Bernard wants to change society, but he doesn’t know how, and doesn’t care what happens to everyone else in Brave New World. As I said, I think that because Bernard has more mental capacity than most of the other people in Brave New World. He is one of the few people who is able to help society become better. If Bernard decided that he wanted to make sure everyone in society should be helped out of being brainwashed, he could have succeeded; because of his power of being an Alpha, he could have done a lot to help people of lower castes who have no power to do anything. If the Alphas in Brave New World didn’t care so much about power, and Bernard actually did something about wanting to change society, the Brave New World society could have ended up being a healthy, knowledgeable society.
The character of Bernard Marx symbolizes how people are treated when they don’t fit into society. He is an Alpha, which means he doesn’t have the extent of conditioning that the people of lower castes have. His conditioning allows him to be able to think for himself; this also means that he is able to see what is really going on in the society he lives in, and he doesn’t like what he sees. “Turning towards him, “‘What were you playing this afternoon?’ the girl on his left enquired. ‘Obstacle, or Electromagnetic?’ Bernard looked at her (Ford! it was Morgana Rothschild) and blushingly had to admit that he had been playing neither.” (Huxley 79). Bernard doesn’t like to do a lot of the activities most people like to do, like play golf or go to the movies. This immediately makes him into someone who is thought of as abnormal. Bernard is unable to see things from another view besides his, but he is able to see what goes on in society. Bernard wants to change society for himself, not for the whole population. This is part of the conditioning that he had as and Alpha, he is only able to think about himself and what will benefit him, not others. Bernard needs to learn that if he tries to get others to be part of the change he wants to see, he would be able to understand that it’s not just him who wants to see a change.
The powerful people in Brave New World do not have a lot of conditioning; they are the ones who make sure everyone below them is conditioned more than them. These people have all the power, and they feel like they need to hold on to that power. They are so scared of losing their power, that they make sure everybody is so brainwashed that they have no idea what is going on around them. The regular citizens do what they are supposed to do for their job as well as their social life, and never stray from that. One of the major parts of Alpha conditioning is to know that they are more powerful than anyone else in Brave New World; this conditioning causes them to not think about the well being of anyone except themselves. Even though everyone in Brave New World is happy with the caste they are part of, it’s not true happiness because they have been told that this will make them happy, even though there are other types of people they could be, and it would be more pleasant. “Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfully glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able…” (Huxley 27-28). This is conditioning that Betas go through when they are learning what caste they are part of, and how to act toward other castes according to who they are. It is not okay to brainwash people into being something the powerful need in order to be more comfortable.
Overall, Bernard wants to change society, but he doesn’t know how, and doesn’t care what happens to everyone else in Brave New World. As I said, I think that because Bernard has more mental capacity than most of the other people in Brave New World. He is one of the few people who is able to help society become better. If Bernard decided that he wanted to make sure everyone in society should be helped out of being brainwashed, he could have succeeded; because of his power of being an Alpha, he could have done a lot to help people of lower castes who have no power to do anything. If the Alphas in Brave New World didn’t care so much about power, and Bernard actually did something about wanting to change society, the Brave New World society could have ended up being a healthy, knowledgeable society.
Self Assessment:
The strongest element of my paper is my concessive thesis because it is the part of my paper that I worked on the most. I made sure that the wording I chose said exactly what I meant to say. It is clear enough that people know what I’m talking about, but I am still able to explain it further throughout the paper. I shows what my main point is better than most papers I have written. This sentence tells how people in BNW think and why that kind of society is not good for the people part of it.
If the Alphas in Brave New World didn’t care so much about power, and Bernard actually did something about wanting to change society, the Brave New World society could have ended up being a healthy, knowledgeable society.
This is the most beautifully worded sentence I wrote because it wraps up the paper very well. It also shows that if enough people believe in something, they will succeed in making a change. It wraps up the paper well because it says everything that I was explaining in one sentence. I shows that Bernard and other Alphas could have changed Brave New World society because they are the ones with the power, therefore, they were very capable of making life better for so many people, but they didn’t. This sentence shows everything that is wrong with BNW, Bernard, and most of the Alphas.
- Introduction- I should get a B to an A because it is well written, I made sure that I looked at all the feedback I got, and did everything that was suggested to me to make it better.
- First body paragraph- I should get a B to an A because it is well written, and I made sure that I fixed my paper according to the feedback that I got.
- Second body paragraph- I should get a B to an A for the same reasons as the the other paragraphs.
- Conclusion- The same as the rest of the paper.
- I think I should receive an A- because it is well written, and I made sure that I really paid attention to what was suggested to me, and fixed what needed to be fixed. I was interested in what I was writing about, which helped me write a good paper. The feedback that I got was very helpful, and I wouldn’t have had as good a paper if it wasn’t for the feedback I got.