L.A is known for its artists, its industry, and its sports teams. Go downtown and you will be surrounded by aspiring artists and rich culture. You cannot drive a single block without seeing some kind of artwork on the side of a building. Women in America have rights; we can act as we like, say what we want and do as we please. Women can mother our own children or adopt. Children are a big part of our society and are for the most part treated with the love and kindness that they deserve.
However, in "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley women see no need to become attached to children. There seems to be a severe lack of "maternal instinct" among the female population. In fact, women have no care for children at all, instead barely mustering a disdain for them. In the London Society mothering is seen as a strange and taboo thing that only savages take part in. On top of this, readers never see women do much work throughout the entire novel. Women have jobs as nurses or caretakers, men lavish the more "pneumatic" ones with gifts and share women as though they are the shiny new toys in the play box. The society in A Brave New World is arguably male dominated.
Do you think it is better to not be attached to our children? What is your opinion of the female roles in the novel?
Although I am not a mother yet, I feel being a mother has to be one of the greatest feelings and experience any female can have. Not being attached to children seems to have no perks at all. Being attached to someone, rather it’s your child or spouse, can teach you many life lessons and also give you some of the happiest moments of life. It is very unfortunate that the women of this novel cannot experience any type of attachment without it being frowned upon. It is even more unfortunate that these women are forced to adhere to the sexist roles of their society. At least they are programmed to be satisfied with their roles in society rather than being depressed as a result of being treated as a toy.
ReplyDeleteI think that we find this book's rituals and traditions wrong because of our customs. If we were raised the exact same way that the brave new world was raised then we would have no problem at all with the way things worked. But since we lean more towards the savage's lives we feel that it's right to be mothers and the need to have children and feel the experience. In my opinion it would be nice to have children and know what it would be like to have a piece of you grow up. But then again it depends on the person's mentality.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I would agree with you in saying that the women in this soceity seem to find the thought of mothering as discusting and savage, but I slightly disagree with your statement that the women lack maternal instincts. Although the women are scandalized by the mention of words such as mother, they do still have a physical and emotional need to be a mother which is proven by their use of pregnancy substitutes starting when they reach the age of twenty-one or even younger for more developed and advanced females. This detail that is not greatly explored in the book shows evidence of a slight maternal instict despite the fact that soceity tries so desparately to supress those feelings.
ReplyDeleteYes they do seem to have a slight “maternal instinct” as Kirsten said with the pregnancy substitutes, but becoming a mother is not promoted or supported in their brave new world. The role of the female in this novel is one of promiscuity and to keep everyone else happy and free from solitude and loneliness. My opinion of this role is of disagreement since I am raised in a society where women can do so much more. It is strange to think of a society where there are no mothers and no such thing as family. However, the members of the state in the novel were not exposed firsthand to the discouraged words of family and parents so they do not have the knowledge of the good that a family can bring to a person’s life. Therefore, there is no desire for females to have a larger role other than doing their job and keeping everyone else from being lonely. It is better for women to be attached to their children because they must give them the love and support that teaches the children to learn to love themselves and accept them for who they are. This would lead to the continuing function of family and desire for attachment to children.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you Elizabeth that society is male dominated in the state because it seems only men have superior positions in the state like the Director, Mustapha Mond the Controller, the Warden, and the Arch-Community-Songster.
In this futuristic society, the "maternal instinct" was most likely eliminated through the conditioning process. With no mothers, what's the point of an instinct? The closest this society gets to motherhood is injecting the embryos with different chemicals. Pregnancy substitutes were put in place to avoid it at all costs. If a mother wants a child, you simply do what you have to do to get one. A woman in Ford's society would simply have to stop chewing the sex-hormone chewing gum, stop taking the pregnancy substitute and whatever other birth control they have.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the scandal and because of the lack of instinct, the women in Ford's society do not want children. There is no love. I agree with Elizabeth and Kirsten on the fact that Ford's society is patriarchal, but the men only hold those superior positions because of the lack of desire implanted in all people to move forward and thrive beyond what they are designed to do.