Early on in June, I made a post about how The Giver (by Lois Lowry) and Brave New World were very much alike.
Well, I was looking up Lois Lowry's biography on SparkNotes, and it actually compares the two as well!
"The society Lowry depicts in The Giver is a Utopian society—a perfect world as envisioned by its creators. It has eliminated fear, pain, hunger, illness, conflict, and hatred—all things that most of us would like to eliminate in our own society. But in order to maintain the peace and order of their society, the citizens of the community in The Giver have to submit to strict rules governing their behavior, their relationships, and even their language. Individual freedom and human passions add a chaotic element to society, and in The Giver even the memory of freedom and passion, along with the pain and conflict that human choice and emotion often cause, must be suppressed. In effect, the inhabitants of the society, though they are happy and peaceful, also lack the basic freedoms and pleasures that our own society values."
(cited off of the biography)
And upon reading this, I thought about this passage for a moment.
It brings up a good point. In these two books, there are strict laws in order to maintain stability and peace within the community. But because of these laws, there is no freedom.
So, I ask you: Would you give up your freedom, if it meant having a stable and tranquil society? You'll be safe!...but won't be allowed to do everything you please...
In my opinion, I would rather have freedom. Though, freedom is risky. We can do whatever we want, but since we're only humans and imperfect, our choices may not lead us to the happy ending we so desperately want.
But, what's life without taking a bit of a risk? And if the world was completely safe, there would be no risk to take.
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2 comments:
I completely agree with your opinion that freedom is waaaay better than safety in a society. If it was safe all of the time, then people wouldn't have fun. With freedom you can do whatever you want and not care about safety whatsoever. But if a person has to worry about safety all of the time, then that person wouldn't be able to do anything fun because what we do now for fun sometimes has risks. Like when people play games outside for fun. There are a lot of things that could be dangerous for them. Like someone could fall and hurt themselves or break their arms and legs playing. If safety was in control then people wouldn't even have a chance to play outside. That's why even though it is risky to have even the slightest amount of fun people still do it because it doesn't matter to them if it is too risky. Another example would be people who mountain climb. That kind of sport would be dangerous in all ways possible. If the society was concerned about safety, then there would be no people who would mountain climb. Overall, people wouldn't like a society based on safety even though it would be stable because it would just be too boring.
-Sofia Kaiser
I would currently choose freedom over safety, but only because society has conformed me in a way that would make me want that option. Since I have been exposed to a life of freedom, I cannot imagine going through life without it.
On the other hand, if I were born into a society like in Brave New World where freedom wasn't an option, I would probably be content with life. Most people would read this and be shocked that I said this, but in reality most of us (I say most of us for a reason) would be alright.
If we are born in a society in which there's no such thing as freedom, then we won't desire it. We cannot want something that we've never heard of or something that doesn't even exist.
Now I say most of us because there would be a select few people that wouldn't be "alright" with society. Even when freedom doesn't exist, some people would envision it and desire it until they had it. They wouldn't know exactly why they wanted it or what exactly it is that they wanted because freedom doesn't exist, but they would know that they wanted it. These are the type of people like Bernard in Brave New World.
Unfourtunately, if there are not enough believers in this seemingly unattainable aspiration, then the believers will quickly be extinguished. If there are enough believers, then we get an idea that spreads and grows throughout society. This is somewhat how democracy was formed.
I hope I'm conveying my message in a clear way.
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