Brave New World Post III

3) In chapter 17, Mustapha Mond and John Savage discuss civilization. John says two startling things: “What you need is something with tears for a change. Nothing costs enough here” and “But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” Read this interchange carefully and then put Mond and Savage’s arguments into your own words.

Mond's argument: There is no need for anything besides the overindulged safety and happiness that people now enjoy. Nobility, heroism, God, stuff like that, has no place because there is no bad thing to be heroic against, no honour to uphold for nobility, no need for a God who punishes and rewards because everyone is rewarded, everyone is the same, everyone knows what to do and how to do it and there is no conflict. Since there is no conflict, everyone is happy. And how can something that makes everyone happy be wrong? Therefore, it must be right and everything else formerly considered to be right is just old-fashioned and obsolete and no longer applies to 'today's' reality.

The Savage's argument: There is a world of quotes, arguments, books and people out there who can support the Savage's argument, but I think that the Savage's argument can be basically summed up in the words of the saying: 'you cannot know happiness until you have known sadness' (or something like that, anyway). Basically, the Savage is saying that nobody is truly happy because they don't appreciate their happiness, they don't have to earn it, they don't understand it and they are missing out on the whole human experience by never being anything but happy. Everything bad has a purpose, even if its only purpose is to make the good seem that much better. How much more would these people enjoy their soma than if they lived today, in an anti-drug culture? How much more would they enjoy their promiscuity than if they lived in a Puritan society? They would love their technology more if they were forced to live in the Middle Ages. They would appreciate much more if they understood and stuff, but they don't. The Savage is saying, sure they're happy, but their happiness is pointless and not as good as it might be.