Relationships

__** //Relationships// **__ Josh, Maureen, Julie, and Alyssa

//** __What message does the novel impart about Relationships__? **//

Huxley uses the lack of strong relationships between characters to show the importance and need for us all to have meaningful connections in our lives. The "perfect" society in //Brave New World// is far from excellence, and this is in large part due to the absence of relationships. The most important bonds of a person's life are those between friends, families, and lovers. They offer safety in times of hardship, laughs in times of sadness, and they help to make us feel powerful emotions. In //Brave New World//, the characters were unable to feel this passion, with the exception of John, the Savage, who experienced a relationship with his mother, Linda.

//** __You will need at least 4 passages for support, focusing on the rhetoric and word choice as a method of persuasion__ **//** __.__ // __If language equals power, how do the words in your passage influence both characters and readers? What is Huxley's purpose?__ //**

"In brief," the Director summed up, "the parents where the **father** and the **mother**." ... "**Mother**," he repeated loudly rubbing in the science; and, leaning back in his chair, "These, are **unpleasant facts**; I know it. But then **most historical facts are unpleasant**."
 * 1. Page 23 **

__Explanation__: Through repetition, the sentence emphasizes the words 'mother' and 'unpleasant', linking them to a common meaning. Mothers are a big part of a child's life, being one of the most important relationships in a person's life. The Director expresses that this kind of dependent and intimate bond is too permanent and so revolting. Since the students look up to the Director as an intelligent man they accept his explanations without question; they have been conditioned to find the subject of parents to be taboo. Readers are shocked when seeing this passage because in our society parents are sources of guidance and have a significant influence over our development as people. Huxley's purpose is to show how important relationships are by presenting a world without parents, in which the people do not learn what love and affection are; all in all they lack social skills we learn from our parents.

"But after all," Lenina was protesting, "it's only about four months now since I've been having Henry." "//**Only**// **four months!** I like that. And what's more," Fanny went on, pointing an accusing finger, "there's been nobody else except Henry all that time. Has there?" ... "Oh, she jolly well doesn't see why there should have been," Fanny repeated as though to an invisible listener behind Lenina's left shoulder. Then, with a sudden change of tone, "But seriously," she said, "I really do think you ought to be careful. I**t's such horribly bad from to go on and on like this with one man**. At forty, or thirty-five, it wouldn't be so bad. But at //your// age Lenina! No, it really won't do. And you know how strongly the D.H.C. objects to anything intense or long-drawn. Four months of Henry Foster, without having another man -- why, **he'd be furious if he knew** ..."
 * 2. Page 40 **

__Explanation__: In //Brave New World// the modern society believes that relationships are unhealthy. Fanny points out to her friend Lenina that she has only been having Henry for too long, yet too long is only four months. She also mentions the D.H.C. which the civilized people look up to as an all knowing man, their guide for a healthy and happy life. It is suspicious for any person to spend too much time "having" another person and only that person; it is seen as inappropriate much like promiscuity is seen as inappropriate in our modern society. Huxley uses this fact to make the reader appalled at such emotionless relationships and the lack of an intimate tie between two people who are sleeping together. Huxley brings to light the fact that America is becoming steadily more and more sexually open. Both the media and statistics are proving that people no longer see marriage as a permenant state but rather as a temporary legal tie that can be broken whenever one person wants to leave the relationship. Some people are still looking for that one special person to spend their life with, but others believe, like in //Brave New World,// such relatonships hinder a person's chance of living a happy and fulfilling life.

"He came in at once, paused for a moment just inside the door, looked round, the soft on his moccasin-ed feet strode quickly across the room, fell on his knees in front of the Director, and said in a clear voice: "My father!" The word (for "father" was not so much obscene as — with its connotation of something at one remove from the loathsomeness in moral obliquity of child-bearing -- **merely gross**, a scatological rather than a pornographic impropriety); the **c****omically smutty word** relieved what had become a quiet intolerable tension. Laughter broke out, enormous, almost hysterical, peal after peal, as though it would never stop. **My father -- and it was the Director! My** //**father**//**! Oh Ford, oh Ford!** That was really too good. The **whooping and the roaring** renewed themselves, faces seemed on the point of **disintegration, tears were streaming**. Six more test-tubes of spermatozoa were upset. My //father//! Pale, wide-eyed, the Director glared about him in an **agony** of **bewildered humiliation**."
 * 3. Pages 153 - 154 **

__Explanation__: Huxley clearly presents a negative connotation associated with the world //father//, or any type of parental unit for that matter, with the use of imagery through vividly describing the humiliation of the Director, along with the mocking tone emerging through the laughter of the bystanders. He utilizes words such as gross, comical, agony, and bewildered humiliation to express the idea that this parent-child relationship is not accepted in the society. It is made clear that John the Savage understands this connection through the image of his entrance and exclamation of the word //father//. However, at the same time, it is clearly understood that the Director is overwhelmed with humiliation and denial. Through this passage, Huxley is attempting to demonstrate the need for a parent-child relationship in life, because without this connection, children are unable to understand the meaning and reasoning behind relationships. The first signs of affection a child experiences are those from a parent. Huxley uses this idea to persuade readers of the importance of relationships and special connections with others, as well as the effects they have in one's personality, behavior, and overall life.

"Helmholtz and the Savage took to one another at once. So cordially indeed that Bernard felt a sharp pang of **jealousy**. In all these weeks he had never come to so close an intimacy with the Savage as Helmholtz immediately achieved. Watching them, listening to their talk, he found himself someti​mes r**esentfully wishing that he had never brought them together**. He was **ashamed** of his jealousy and alternately made efforts of will and **took** //**soma**// **to keep himself from feeling it**. But the efforts were not very successful; and between the //soma//-holidays there were, of necessity, intervals. The **odious** sentiment kept on returning."
 * 4. Page 185 **

__Explanation__: Huxley uses the following negative words during his description of the relationship between Bernard and Helmholtz, conveying a pessimistic mood for their future as friends: jealousy, resentfully, ashamed, and odious. From the start of the story, these two characters remain the only people in possession of a true and voluntary friendship, so when Bernard's only real relationship starts to deteriorate it demonstrates that no relationship in Huxley’s world is substantial or strong. Bernard is unable to maintain a good and true relationship, which contributes to his discontentment. This passage is used to show the fragility of relationships in Huxley’s world, and also displays that the failure to have such friendships is detrimental to the characters. Huxley’s purpose is to impress upon the reader that relationships are very important and should be treasured.

//** __Has a Brave New World come to pass? What about Huxley's predictions rings true for each of your topics?__ **// //A// //Brave New World// has not come to pass in our society. Relationships are still very prominent and important to people; from child-parent relationships, to spousal relationships, and friendships. Huxley's world has not come, because people continue to have children, date, get married, create families and friendships. But some would argue that Huxley's predictions have come true in some cases. Divorce rates have, in recent years, skyrocketed. Nearly 50% of all marriages end in divorce. This beckons the question, "is marriage more trouble then it's worth?" or "would people be better off without the hassle of marriage?". If marriage is slowly becoming an institution that's doing more harm then good, then will it eventually crumble and end all together? If this is what occurs then we will live in a society that echos many of the standards of Huxley's dis-Utopian future. Also, without marriage between two people it becomes difficult to raise children and create a family dynamic that is effective and stable. Huxley's predictions may not be true now, but if America continues on the path of destroying the institution of marriage then we may one day face circumstances similar to those of //A Brave New World.//