Final Brave New World Post

Are there really other like-minded individuals to Bernard and Helmholtz in exile, or was Mond just lying to make them more willing to leave?

How long could a society heavily dependent on stimulants even last? Would it gradually slip in effectiveness? (thinking of China's opium period)

How come, in both 1984 and Brave New World, the initial dissenters in the book are fairly important people who are pretty close to the government? Isn't that the opposite of what one would expect?

First Brave New World Post

The One State has not created equality. However, everyone is basically brainwashed into being satisfied with their role in life, which reduces conflict. The government has done away with anything that they claim causes unhappiness and angst, such as relationships and religion. Religion has been replaced with loyalty and happiness-inducing drugs, and relationships have been replaced with casual, non-committed hook-ups. People don't really need rights, because they're forced into happiness, with drugs and hypnopaedia. I believe that this society is a dystopia because, while it seems to work, people have no choice in almost anything in their lives, which are carefully controlled to ensure maximum happiness. A real utopia would give people the right to choose their path in life, and have the freedom of free thought. Instead, hypnopaedia influences people's minds in their sleep, telling them that people in lower classes are stupid and inferior, and people in higher classes have to do far more work. Technicians predetermine one's career field and social status at "birth." Citizens of the One State are repressed their whole lives, but are carefully made to not feel repressed. While cleverly disguised as an ideal society, the One State is clearly a dystopia.

Opener- "Communist Utopia"

What about this painting indicates communism?

There are eyeballs everywhere in the picture, so the people are always being watched. And when people are being watched, they can be more easily controlled, as in communism.

What is the artist's view of communism?

The artist views communism as negative and bad. Everything in the painting is cloudy and grey, and there's a lot of dead trees. These set a sad, oppressed mood that the artist is trying to portray communism as. He's saying that communism is uniform and dull and dark, like the background of this painting.

Explain the title.

The artist isn't saying that it is a utopia because it is a communism; he's saying that it is a utopia to a communist. A communist would view this world as a perfect one, at least in the artist's opinion. This is because, in the thinking of communism, a society where everyone can be controlled is the perfect society.