Reading Response-Brave New World

Reading Response 1: Brave New World

Recent news reports have been uncovering the story of Kim Jong II’s death while highlighting the behavior seen at his funeral. The information about that funeral that is revealed in a CNN video relates to the political ideas and conditioning methods seen in Huxley’s Brave New World. The United States is skeptical of the North Korea citizens’ sincerity in their mourning for their recently deceased leader because it is reported that the citizens are required to mourn and cry for their leader and will be punished if they cannot obey. While a similar situation is displayed in Brave New World, the behaviors of the citizens in Huxley’s dystopia have different motives for submitting to the rules.

In chapter fifteen, a scene occurs where soma is distributed and required to be taken, but the Savage refuses his and decides to express his opinion on how the citizens are enslaved and need to be free to make their own choices which eventually breaks out into a fight. The citizens take Soma because they have been conditioned to believe that it keeps them happy and helps maintain stability within the civilization, which is something that is always strived for. Similarly, the North Koreans are required to mourn and cry for the death of their leader because they have been conditioned to believe that he is an incredible leader who is worthy of honor. It has been recently reported that people who skipped out on mourning or whose crying did not appear genuine were sent to labor camps as a way to punish and condition them to believe that mourning was necessary. According to CNN, the citizens of North Korea banded together in unity to mourn their leader to “project an ideal image of stability.”

Furthermore, the way in which people from other countries respond to what is happening in North Korea is very similar to the way that the Savage treats the citizens of the “brave new world”. The Savage says, “don’t you want to be free and men? Don’t...