"Wheels must turn steadily, but can not turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as sturdy as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment."
This passage from chapter three of Brave New World is describing the value system in that warped society. It is referencing the mechanical and somewhat robotic system of life that they live by, making sure to note the men that are used to make sure this mechanical way of life runs smoothly.Their society is basically a system of robots, in human form. The people are literaly created, as if to be science experiments, and raised to be used and manipulated in their specific role in society, wherever they are placed. Once they are too old to function or unneeded, they are merely disposed of. This form of life is not really living. They are not to experience true love or marriage, or really any other form of feeling. I can only really relate it to a human robot, because they have figured out a way to produce in massive numbers, whenever they please. There really is no point in living for them, because they really are not living, yet they have no sense of this, because this is all they know.
“Or the Caste System. Constantly proposed, constantly rejected. There was something called democracy. As though men were more than physico-chemically equal.”
This quote references the past, prior to the days of Ford’s presidency, and it proves that what they know as life is completely normal to them, rather than actually being people and being able to live your life freely with thoughts and feelings. It refers to democracy as something in the distant past that was more of like an idea or myth, as if it didn’t really happen. This is because they have no idea; the idea of democracy was long gone, as well as the idea of being able to express yourself as person or human being, not just a physical entity that was created to serve a specific purpose.
Hi, so I'm doing this blog because, unfortunately, I didn't participate in the Socratic Circle, which is kind of lame. First off, I really like the bright orange color, cool! I like the picture where it says About Me:. Haha, it looks like a scene from a movie or something, hahaha, cool. Anyways, on to the real thing, now that I read your blog, I see what you are saying about society. I never really thought about this kind of idea about the quote, interesting. I agree with you, in addition that like robots, the humans are conditioned to fulfill their position as whatever they were meant to do. I like the human robot analogy, it really clears up how the society runs. One thing that I really liked was that you used a quote that was not from the book; this shows that you understand what is going on within the book clearly. It also shows that you worked REALLY HARD on this blog, and you were VERY INTERESTED in writing this blog. Good enthusiasm! Glad to have read your blog, it helps me understand the book better, and it also gave me an idea about using quotes from other areas and not just from the text.
ReplyDeleteKayla, I cannot write anymore. I am so tired of writing and reading. I should have participated like you and Megan. Now I regretted it. Dang it! Well, anyways, I like how you analyze the quote: "Wheels must turn steadily, but can not turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as sturdy as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment." I like how you referred the humans in the novel as robots but in human form. I agree with you because even though they are made up of flesh and blood, they were basically made like robots. They were brainwash to think in such a way and giving a function in society. They were conditioned and “raise” up in a weird way. When they have no use to the society, they are vaporize and recycle. They can be easily created but at the same time easily eliminate. Good job comparing.
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