World State vs. Savage Reservation: Brave New World

The World State eliminates the aspects of modern life that makes the human experience so real. First, it eliminates the miracle of childbirth, and replaces it with cloning via lab production. "A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, AND STABILITY," (page 1). The name of the facility reveals the robotic nature that life has become in this new society. People are no longer born; they are hatched like birds, or clones in the Prequel Trilogy of Star Wars. In addition, children in the World State are no longer provided a real education. They are conditioned to a certain role: conditioned to know how to perform that role and conditioned to love that position and nothing else. The leaders of the World State believe that, with the removal of families by replacing them with the hatchery system, and creating workers who are drones, life will be easier due to consistent happiness with no feelings of jealousy or free thinking.

The range of human emotion is a critical factor to the foundation of the World State. Families are abolished, as well as the experiences of abject misery or pure elation. The people of the World State are conditioned and forced into staying in one small sector of the emotional spectrum. "Our ancestors were so stupid and short-sighted that when the first reformers came along and offered to deliver them from these horrible emotions, they wouldn't have anything to do with them," (page 45).  The controller criticizes people of past generations for allowing feelings of sadness or anger, and he believes that everyone should always be in the same small window of happiness. A person's emotions can not swing too far to either extreme, because then it wouldn't be stable. Consequently, the World State will always be stable because there is virtually no variation in emotion: with no family attachment, abject misery, or elation, everyone is always in the same frame of mind.

The Savage Reservation, however, is the polar opposite of the World State. There is no defined political system, natural birth is existent, and the whole range of emotion is available to everyone. People are allowed to think and feel freely; they are not manipulated by a government to be content with a certain role or position, or even to be forced to do something. "Nobody's supposed to belong to more than one person," (page 121). The savage talking to Lenina is explaining one of the differences between the Savage Reservation and the World State. In the world state, there is frequent group sexual intercourse, because everyone is believed to belong to each other. In the Savage Reservation, however, the people follow ancient rules. The idea of monogamy is followed, and when someone breaks that belief, he or she is punished.

Based on my reading of the two different societies, I would rather live in the Savage Reservation. Yes, it may be more physically brutal, but I would be able to live knowing that I am free mentally and physically. The World State appears to be entertaining, but it is a shallow world with no substance to living. The members of that place are servants to the Controllers, and they will become nothing more than that. The Savage Reservation allows the possibility of elation and true love as well, as opposed to the polygamy that consistently occurs in the World State.   

Review: "The Great One" The Story of The Greatest Hockey Player Ever

The Sports Illustrated novel immediately dives into the whole plot of the book with the title, "The Great One." Wayne Gretzky, a hockey player in the National Hockey League from 1978 to 1999, has always been recognized as the best player to ever live, thus the name, "The Great One." The book, through its many authors who had covered Gretzky throughout his career, recaps the different stages of his time playing in the NHL. It spans from his rookie season in Edmonton, to him being traded from Edmonton to Los Angeles in 1988, then through the end of his career in New York with the Rangers. 

Prior to reading this book, I had already known a lot of information regarding the career of Wayne Gretzky. When I began digging into the novel, I was hoping for an in-depth view into his life: how he prepared for games, what he thought of all the pressure and attention of the NHL, and his overall perspectives and experiences. Thus far, I have been bored to death with repeated statistics that represent Gretzky's greatness. I can go online and be blown away by his goal totals during the prime of his career, so I want to see his career from his vantage point. 

Hockey fans should search for different works, such as Bobby Orr's memoir, if they want more about Gretzky's life than just his statistics through his 20 seasons in the National Hockey League. 

War by Chris Hedges

After reading Chris Hedges's thoughts on the Iraq War, I am shaken. For years, I have felt blinded by the media. Only on rare occasions have I ever been given an insight to the horrors and the traumatic experiences suffered by the soldiers in any war. The reasons for the war are awful as well. I understand his point of views, which state that the War on Terror in the Middle East is hypocritical in a sense. "This myth, the lie, about war, about ourselves, is imploding our democracy. We shun introspection and self-criticism. We ignore truth, to embrace the strange, disquieting certitude and hubris offered by the radical Christian Right." The attitude of some radical Christians is not any better than the atittude of radical Muslims, but Christians do not look at themselves. Now, I am not suggesting that either religion is violent, but rather that each has its own good and bad people. And yet, in the United States, too many people are blaming the entire Islamic population for the actions of a few sociopaths. No one, however, blames the entire Christian population for the KKK. The actions of a few can not define the intentions of a whole group.