Boogie Woogie Feng Shui

Death. Life’s way of telling you, you’ve been fired.

Hello readers. It has been an eventful few days in the UK, as you may of heard, or have even seen first hand. Old Jack Frost has hit out with a vengeance, bringing snow – lots of snow, and causing havoc. Alas, not for me unfortunately. Living in the city centre as I do, (about 10minutes walk away from the office) means you generally can’t get away with the whole “I’m snowed in, can’t make it into work today” routine.

But its does mean that when the city is in gridlock with traffic crawling at 0.1mph, people freezing in their cars and people queued up for buses that are late or broken down. I’m home in no time at all, cup of tea in hand one hand and an Xbox controller in the other. Score.

I did however brave the weather, to satisfy the desire for purchasing objects I don’t really need. A desire imbedded in my psyche by the many, many advertisements that have assaulted my senses over the years. I decided that despite the current financial climate I could justify spending £40.00 on an anime series. In my defence, that anime series is the fantastic Cowboy Bebop, one of the best anime ever produced, in my opinion. But I couldn’t find it anywhere, which might be just as well given my “justification”, was simply, a shrug of the shoulders followed by the comment “Eh. Its Cowboy Bebop.” Not exactly the best thought out case…I brought it online instead.

In others news – I finished reading Brave New World today, having excitedly lapped it up like a kitten with its head in a carton of cream. I loved it, so much so that I think I’m going to reread it over the next few weeks, between the other titles on my reading list.

As I mentioned in City of Delusion, Brave New World is a piece of futuristic Anti-Utopian fiction, in which humans are no longer born – but grown in state controlled hatcheries and conditioning centres; where they are genetically altered to suit the needs of society, and then conditioned into accepting the ideals and principles of modern society.

The society itself is split into five social castes, from Alpha (being the highest) to Betas, Deltas, Gammas and Epsilons. The book opens with a group of students on a tour of a hatchery and conditioning centre, learning the basics of the growing process. We learn of the Bokanovsky Process, a process that eggs destined to become Deltas, Gammas and Epsilons go under. It is method of producing from 8 to 96 embryos from one egg – resulting in 8 to 96 identical humans.

This is one of the core ideas around which the society Aldous Huxley has created in Brave New World has been built. The lower classes are simple minded, largely identical sub-humans that are tasked with the more menial jobs, and servicing the Alphas and Betas; who grow relatively normally – One Spermotoza to one egg equalling one human.

The narrative throws up two protagonists – The first is Bernard, an Alpha-plus who; through a mistake in his growth process, has the physique of a Gamma and thus has lead him developing personality complex, and made him an outcast amongst other Alphas (due to the mental conditioning that trains Alphas and Betas to look down upon the lower classes – Mental conditioning of the lower three castes train them to be happy that they are what they are, not thankful they are not an Alpha or Beta). Bernard’s actions throughout the narrative are driven by his desire to impress an Alpha female by the name of Lenina. These actions lead to the introduction of John, the second protagonist, who was born naturally outside the new society. It is John’s introduction to modern London, and his reactions to it that the second half of the narrative focuses on.

It was the character of John I was most attached to, his childhood is filled with isolation as he and his mother (a Beta from London) are not accepted in the community they have no choice but to remain in. He finds refuge in stories of Christ, and with tales of the Utopian modern society his mother speaks of. John undergoes the biggest emotional journey of all the characters, (mainly because the others have had their ability to emote quashed by years of control and conditioning).

Upon meeting Bernard, and subsequently being introduced to London. John is forced to face the reality of the society he envisioned, in meeting Lenina he is tortured by a love which somebody from the new society cannot understand or reciprocate (having been conditioned against strong feelings toward an individual). Even in making a friend of Helmholtz; a lecturer and writer (Bernard’s only friend), John is alienated when Helmholtz; despite showing signs of individualism and desire to write more than the prescribed propaganda, mocks John for reciting Shakespeare.

Johns journey through this new society eventually impacts on the lives of his two friends, and ultimately leaves him facing a harsh decision.

Brave New World really is an awesome book and, I feel, relevant to today’s society. It is now one of my favourites and I would strongly recommend it.