"It's such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man... And you know how strongly the D.H.C. objects to anything intense or long drawn. "
Growing up i remember my parents telling me how my grandparents were married for 30 to 40 years, and this was the norm during this time period. This is true for some of you but not all. Growing up to this day I always wanted to find the one person that I could spend my entire life with, and this is high on my morale standards. Wasting time with someone who does not have the same expectations or values as I do seems pointless to me. However, in a society where half of all marriages end in divorce, I wonder... In what I thought was the norm, is it now becoming the rare?
The way things are going, it seems like the practice of having a different person every time or at least multiple people will become the normality of our country and marriage or devotion to one other person will become a thing of the past. It seems that the groups that practice polygamy are already a step ahead of those who practice single marriage, in the terms of becoming the world Huxley envisioned.
Do you find the abandonment of being loyal to one person for your entire life in Brave New World a step in evolution or devolution? Is polygamy part of our future to where it will be widely practiced and accepted by everyone?
I do think we are in the path of moral and mental devolution. People are more willing to iscard what they were taught if it means they can benefit from it. Every year presents more cases for selfish and lazy motives, and all I see for the future out of this is a world where values become completely relative. In these times I see many meme pictures that promote sleeping around, cheating, and vulgarities. I can't find a decent meme promoting morals without a curse word in it unless I search Christian pages. I am glad that polygamy isn't a trend, but I shake my head at the thought of how much easier it is to divorce someone with the excuse of, "I don't love him/her anymore." All I can expect in our future is a society where loyalty doesn't matter anymore.
ReplyDeleteIf you really think about it, it's more unnatural for us to dedicate ourselves to one person for the rest of our lives. In my opinion, Huxley is pointing out that humans' natural instinct is to be with or "try out" different people. I guess you could say it's our animal instinct. As horrifying as this may sound, this is our true nature. We have to discipline ourselves to be faithful and not stray. There is a pro in not being too emotionally attached to someone and that's never having to go through the pain of a heartbreak. You can imagine how no hurt feelings and disappointments could be desirable to some people.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do think you make a great point about values changing the older we get. Society determines what is right or wrong and as time passes, perhaps one day it will be acceptable to have more than one partner, but you don't have to give into what society wants. It's your life. You can stick to your values of having the one love of your life and that's perfectly fine as long as you’re happy.