Yesterday, I was reading an article about how a news report stating the ages of the Chinese gymnasts as being younger than the Olympic requirement suddenly disappeared from the internet. The article went on to say that the Chinese government stated that the report had made a mistake in the ages of the gymnasts, but it refused to say if it had anything to do with the sudden disappearance of the article. This reminded me of another report that said the Chinese government was going to retain the right to censor anything put onto the Internet, even during the Olympic Games. And that had me asking how involved the government in Brave New World actually is.
In Brave New World, the most apparent form of controlling the population is soma, the brainwashing drug. It keeps the people happy and keeps them from really questioning anything that goes on in their world. However, the government is not that closely involved with the distribution or consumption of soma. They are involved with making sure maverick individuals do not influence the rest of society. The DHC tells Bernard that he has been watching him closely after several distressing reports about his behavior. Later on in the book, Hemholtz Watson is sent to an island because he wrote his own poetry and showed it to his class. World Controller, Mustapha Mond, admits that many other individuals have been sent to islands because they do not agree with society. The government has created methods that make its citizens fear anything that may change their lives or let them think, like books and the past. as a result, it does not have to keep that close an eye on its citizens to make sure they are not doing anything forbidden. Yet, it does pay close enough attention to be able to catch rule breakers immediately after they break the rules. So is the government of Brave New World really as distant as it seems? Or is it simply informed by individuals trying to keep the peace?
-Sejal Shah
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In A Brave New World I think the authority figures are simply informed by indidviduals of whats going on.Since these people have been brainwashed to the point where they have a pill to tell them when to be happy, and for how long their not use to change.So if they did notice someone was starting to have their own ideas and, trying to present them to others someone would definitely be informed of this.
In a way there is no need for a strict government, because their all around.They've conditioned these people into mindless puppets they do what they were programed to.If its not in their lesson they don't do it.
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