Shelby's Post #1

Essential Question Incorporated: What is the nature of change and what is human reaction toward it?

“‘An intensive propaganda against viviparous reproduction … accompanied by a campaign against the Past; by the closing of museums, the blowing up of historical monuments (luckily most of them had already been destroyed during the Nine Years’ War); by the suppression of all books published before A.F. 150.’” (51)

Huxley portrays the nature of change as a series of steps. These steps seem to go in the order of: the introduction of the idea, the battle against the idea, the acceptance of the idea, then the battle against what that idea has replaced (as a way to make that new idea permanent), and finally the period of the new idea ruling (when the idea is no longer seen as ‘new’ or a ‘change’… its accepted as a way of life or fact).

This is how Huxley describes the change from the past world (of mothers and fathers) to the new (of reproductive laboratories and such). With the quote above Huxley is depicting the fourth step of change, which in this case is the battle against the previous way of life (the past world).

At this point in Mond’s reflection on how the past world transformed into the new, he is describing how the population tried to rid of everything from before (museums, books, traditions) in a war-like manner, as Mond describes the civilians actions as “a campaign against the Past” (Huxley 51). The use of the word “campaign” indicates a feeling of battle, as if the population was fighting “against” the old and convincing others to go with the new. These intense feelings during the transition of the world show how strongly some can be affected by it – some even consumed by it.

This period of change can relate to Things Fall Apart, for when the Igbo converted to Christianity they left their past behind (their traditional beliefs and way of life). This is the same as how the people in Brave New World converted their previous way of life into the new, and tried to “campaign” others to follow, just as the Christians did.

Thus change is depicted by Huxley as something that consumes oneself, to the point where he or she tries to convince others to follow.