Monday, 19 September 2011
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Brave New [Crazy] Relationships
I just finished reading "Brave New World" and, let me tell you, the relationships in this book are whack. The novel is about a utopian society and it was written about 80 years ago. Long story short: the people who live in the setting of this novel are conditioned as embryos to feel as if everyone should belong to everyone else. There's no such thing as monogamy-- in fact, it's completely preposterous. Women don't get pregnant (due to heavy distribution of birth control) and people don't have parents. In fact, the words "mother" and "father" are practically profanity.Because everyone belongs to everyone else, anybody can have sex with anybody else and it's actually frowned upon if you are only sleeping with one person. People are expected to be having many different people simultaneously-- as if it's the dream single life (not to mention that their religious rituals consist of orgies). Most people who live in the new world don't even know what a marriage is-- in fact, not a single one of them is married.
There is no such thing as being an insatiable whore: women who have great bodies and are especially successful at sleeping around are considered "pneumatic." Men and women recommend people they've slept with to their friends, saying things along the lines of, "Oh, you haven't had him yet? I suggest you do!" To say the very least: relationships in this book are nothing short of bizarre.
It seems highly utopian as nearly everyone is happy, yet for me it seems sad and empty. A world without love, monogamous relationships, lifelong marriages, and the ability to choose your relationship path seems void of an awful lot.
How would you feel if you were to live in a society like this one?
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About the Author
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- From: TheDailyDane
- About Me: I'm Dane and I'm 20. Follow me on Twitter @danefeldman. I am a huge supporter of long-term relationships. What's the fun in knowing something will end in a week? Stick around for some long-term bloggin'.
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Comments (58)
Not sure how I feel about it, but I'm definitely going to read the book now. It sounds interesting.
Thanks for telling me what that book was about. Now I can cross it off the long, LONG list of books I should have read at some point while I was still alive.
Since sex is partly intended for the sake of procreation, it seems odd that it would be an item on the menu of human experiences in a society like that.
Are you saying that this sci fi novel is your judge for whether or not polyamory would work for anyone in the real world?
Perhaps you should read some pro-polyamory literature for that instead.
I read the book. I think that is the point of the book... to show that a life like that (sterile and clean, far from nature) would make us sad. It did squeak me out a bit. I wouldn't want to live a life like that. It would be nice if there was no "insatiable whore" judgment going on for women in today's society though.
@FoliageDecay@xanga - This book isn't close to polyamory. Sex in this book is more like shaking hands when you meet someone, not polyamory.
The book is not about a utopian society, but a dystopian society, the extreme extrapolation of Henry Ford's assembly-line America.
Sounds like my college. XD But in all seriousness, I'd love that. That's how me and my boyfriend live, and I feel like life'd be a lot less stressful if everyone did.
With widespread birth control and a more advanced medical system, able to tackle STD's?
Yeah, bring on the 'dystopia'.
I wouldn't like it at all.
This sounds like a fantastic system. Notice, if you read the book, that 99.9% of the population is ludicrously happy... that's a vastly higher proportion than we manage to achieve with your vaunted monogamy.
I would be happy in that society, if I liked more than one guy I would be able to have him plus someone else. I think people should be able to have everything they want.
Well if you think about it, no heartbreak, no jealousy, no family issues, that sounds nice sometimes...
If I was born into such a society of course it would be normal and okay.
Just being dropped into that world and knowing that I would never again have a meaningful sexual relationship with a single person who cared as much about me as I care about them would be mentally devastating.
I have to say....I LOVE THAT BOOK!
What you have to keep in mind about this society though is that there's a strict level of control. They're brainwashed from birth and separated into different classes due to the amount of alcohol they inject into the embryo to stifle their growth. In a way it's a hedonistic society where any negative aspects of life are kept out of the eye of the public, especially aging and death. The best example of that is that their form of therapy is an orgy. If that doesn't work there is always Soma.
Their behavior is a product of their society. If children watched Sesame Street and Disney movies in the novel, I'm sure the society and peoples' outlooks on life would've changed substantially. And I will also note that there were clearly characters who fought against this societal norm, who wanted to have just one partner. What happened to them though? They were banished.
As the saying goes, "There can be no great love without great jealousy" and thus it's beneficial for this society to keep them as is. If they were more capitalistic, like the U.S., they'd encourage monogamy as love is more profitable.
To actually answer the question, if I lived in that society...I wouldn't be aware of the notion of love or monogamy. But speaking from my personal beliefs in reality, I'd hate it. I want a partner, hopefully marriage, and either way I'm not sharing them.
Anyways I'm rambling and beating a dead horse. On a side note, I'd suggest to anyone who enjoyed the novel to also see the movie "Equilibrium".
that'd be kind of cool. it's funny that u writ this article because i was just thinking, what if the world was filled with nothing but orgies and nothing but sex? the world would over populate was my answer! well, crazy entry, i think monogamy is nice
I just love that you used the word "whack". That is my absolute favorite word that I use at least fifty times a day.
Hmmm, I'm not really sure that "Brave New World" is a utopian novel ...
well, the point of the book is to say that a society like that would be sad.. SOO..
@AuCinema@xanga - I think he's confused. This is a DYSTOPIAN novel, opposite of utopian. I think it came after "1984", or the other way around, because each author saw the downfall of the American society two different ways. The fact that there is no monogamous love is what is really terrible, and at first you're supposed to see the excitement, then realize how empty it is. The people who want to love aren't allowed to, and it's SUPPOSED to be sad. Interesting post, definitely, but it kinda seems like the reader thinks that all readers are supposed to think that lives in this book are enjoyable... they're supposed to discourage people from being like that :P "imho".... O_O
TheDailyDane -
@TiredSoVeryTired@xanga - I KNOW! What was up with that wording? "Whore"? O_0 I don't think there has to be that label just because our society values monogamy..
@TheMushyPear@xanga - They aren't happy in the book, they are somasized!
@TiredSoVeryTired@xanga - So they get to take a recreational drug with absolutely no side effects. And, except for the very few exceptions (the main characters, obviously) nobody in the society seems to have any problems whatsoever. The soma doesn't create happiness, it just bridges any gaps that might appear.
@loveable_lush@xanga - Yeah, I was a little offended by that judgment.
@TheMushyPear@xanga - I haven't read the book in a super long time. But I seem to recall everyone used soma a lot. I wouldn't call that bridging happiness, I would say it was the source of their happiness in this novel.
Hah, I just read that book for summer reading homework this year. It's pretty much the only reason why I clicked on this post. It was interesting. :P''
But really, if anyone really thinks that the people in that society are happy...pffffft. That's some happiness.