While I realize the category of tonight's topic is a rather pretentious one, please be aware that it only implies a level of ostentation that I'm not willing to deliver.
I've been going back to some of the old classics... the ones that most would consider either agonizingly boring, or luridly fascinating. I admit to falling into the latter. I have gone back to read titles from Vonnegut, George Orwell, and Huxley. One thing that I've noticed about these authors is that they are all most known for writing novels where society is portrayed in some horrific manner or another. Honestly, this theme is regurgitated ad nauseum all throughout a good portion of books by these literary minds.
People react to this pattern in different ways. Some consider it brilliant, for various reasons. There are those who find it trite and cliched. The ignorant should, for the sake of this discussion, be taken into consideration, as well. As far as I'm concerned, none of these answers would be wrong.
What I'm here to talk about tonight is my take on three novels - one each by the aforementioned authors.
The first novel is entitled "Player Piano," written by Vonnegut. Of the three, it is probably the darkest take on society - even moreso when applied to conventional standards - and yet is the lightest in its presentation. Vonnegut was known for his dark sense of humor; one that constantly felt like a razor tongue-in-cheek along open sores.
In this novel, society is presented in a caste system comprising of two parts; the rich and the poor. The poor were the people whose main purposes in society before World War II were replaced by machines. The well to do were those that were the engineers and managers that kept society going as what they viewed was a well-oiled machine.
Through a series of events that, in the spirit of saving time in writing what is honestly going to be a rather extensive post, as well as the hope of you all finding a copy of this book and reading it yourselves, I will not get into, Paul finds himself faced with a choice that calls into question all of his fears, worries, and doubts. He is given the choice of fame and fortune, or being the figurehead of a kind of rebellion against the machine society.
The ending is darkly realistic, to the point of being cynical. However, it was brilliantly written and handled in such a way as it invokes feeling in the reader in some fashion or another. For me, it led me through yet another doorway of perception that I just can't stop thinking about.
You see, Paul was someone who was on the inside, and came to realize just how messed up everything really was. He saw how people were gaining off of the suffering of others, and how cut-throat his world really was. He wasn't okay with that. I have to admit that I'm not, either.
This particular theme is found earlier in literary history, in the title "Brave New World," written by Aldoux Huxley. The similarities are there mostly because this is the novel that "inspired" Vonnegut's tale. He was actually quoted as saying that he "cheerfully ripped off of Brave New World, just like Brave New World cheerfully ripped off of Yevgeny Zamyitan's We."
Anyways, all plagiarism aside, Brave New World has society cast in what has to be the scariest ways of the three books. Society was broken down into five main castes - Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons - with a sixth caste, who were referred to as "Savages," that were known about, but never really considered to really be people to begin with.
In this society, the people all take a drug known as Soma, which, incidentally enough, is an allusion to a mythical drink of the same name that was consumed by Indo-Aryans. This drug would cause hallucinations of varying intensity, and give the members of this dystopian society a "vacation." The society could be described as absolutely hedonistic, at best, and there are things wrong with it that would make any person of any real values flinch.
Sexual activity is something that is encouraged from early childhood. The idea that "everybody belongs to everybody else" is repeated so often, that one could easily - and understandably - draw the conclusion that it is some form of mantra. Reproduction has been rendered obsolete, and the emotion of love doesn't ever factor into their lives as anything more than a pornographic thought.
Another taboo is the idea of alone time. The whole idea of "conform, consume, obey" is pounded into their heads from such an early age that this is what they end up doing - always consuming and never being alone. If you're not out participating in the latest trends with everybody else, or screwing some "friend" for the day, you are ostracized from the society, and you are never looked at the same again. Conventional wisdom says that you are doing it to yourself, and therefore, nobody ever bothers to attempt to help.
The idea of being an individual is a radical one. Nobody dares to try, because nobody wants to be different. Well, most of them don't. Enter Brenard, one of the three main characters of the tale.
Brenard is an Alpha Plus, and a psychologist. He is shorter than average height for his cast - a deformity, in the eyes of this society - and therefore suffers from an inferiority complex. Like Paul Proteus from the previously discussed title, he is an insider looking out, and sees many things wrong with what is going on around him. He even once denounces the soma drug, instead proclaiming that he'd "rather be himself."
This certainly earns no points with the rest of society, but it does usher in the attraction from the second main character, Lenina. She has her own complexes, but unlike her counterpart, is socially accepted. The only gripe against her is that she "isn't promiscuous enough."
...
Anyhow, while out and about with each other one day, they end up in a reservation for the "savages." They find a woman named Linda, who was once a member of the caste society, but mistimed her birth control dosage and consequently became pregnant. She misses her little world of random sex and drugs, and so talks Brenard and Lenina into taking her and her son, John, back to the "brave new world."
John is instantly afforded a sort of celebrity status. Not only is he something new and different for the masses to consume, but he is what they know as a "savage," as well. As he finds himself going deeper into the rabbit hole that leads to this bastardized Wonderland, he becomes deeply troubled by what he sees. It's nothing like what his mother told him it was, and it causes him much grief.
Again, there are a lot of events to cover that I'm just not willing to go into. The philosophy behind the book is a look at a godless society and what it does to people, and makes us question our humanity. At least, that's what it's intended to do. The problem is, I feel that this is the direction that we, as a people, are heading.
Everywhere I look, I am constantly reminded of the differences between the people of today's society. I often see people of other classes mingling with each other sporadically. I am guilty of this. However, I've lately been questioning the motives behind it. What are we doing, when we do this? Are we looking to vicariously have some experience that we can later tell stories about? Or are we legitimately seeking companionship regardless of the social boundaries that will invariably separate us all eventually, despite our feelings of it happening?
This book is succeeding in a prophesy. It's doing so because it failed as a warning. Had someone, somewhere along the line taken the time to think about it, things might be different today. But, with the advent of capitalism, it all died.
One book that did succeed as a warning, however, was "1984," written by a one George Orwell.
Wells depicts society in a totalitarian state. The government rules all, knows all, sees all, and is never questioned. Those that are questioned are shot. Their executions are almost always public, and everybody cheers.
The story follows the life of Winston, an employee of the government who is in charge of altering history records to bolster the illusion of Big Brother being pansophical. His position allows him to become disillusioned to everything that's going on around him, and this leads to his rebellion. It also leads to torture and his eventual conversion, but you'd have to read about that, yourself.
The point is that we find yet another person on the inside of some seemingly magical society where all of our wants and needs are taken care of, but at the cost of the very things that continue to make us human.
I probably shouldn't be reading these things, as I am now at a point where I no longer crave to be a member of this society. I see it going in a direction that I don't like, and I have no other way than this to express that. I now crave nothing more than a constant state of disassociation.
Yet at the same time, I want to help.
I just don't know how.
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