Page 11 - Brave New World

THE ENGLISH SCHOOL MA GA ZINE 2021

to think beyond the confines of their IGCSE or
GCE syllabi, as indeed many do. Their future
presents a ‘brave new world’ of analysing
increasingly complex problems and seeking
increasingly innovative solutions: privacy and
confidentiality in our increasingly data driven
world; scientific and technological development
but at what social or environmental cost? a
myriad of human rights discrimination issues;
world poverty and conflict. Every day we are
presented with a heady array of what used to
be impossible now becoming possible, from
robotic warfare to re-growing one’s own
teeth, from ‘intelligent shopping’ to landing on
Mars, to gene therapy. All this is happening at
a previously inconceivable speed with the
As with many famous phrases now excitement of technological discovery and
embedded in the English language, the the tantalising possibility of solutions to
concept of a ‘brave new world’ comes from pressing world problems. Yet despite all this
Shakespeare. Fittingly perhaps, in what is positivity, technology alone just doesn’t hack
generally acknowledged as his 1611 it [pun intended.] At a personal level, many of
valedictory play, The Tempest, Miranda, a us still search for a deeper sense of fulfilment
young woman (of impeccable character) and lack a sense of innate personal happiness.
speaks these words of hope and enthusiasm That ‘brave new world’ seems to filter down to
in the last scene. Previously exiled on a lonely requiring courage, in the challenges of daily
island with only her father, Caliban ‘a savage routine and relationships, simply to survive.
and deformed slave’, and sundry spirits for As we know, amassing a string of external
company, she voices her amazement at exam qualifications is only a very small part of
suddenly seeing a human king and host of becoming a healthy, successful professional
courtiers. It is a moment of great revelation and future world citizen. There is emotional
for her: intelligence and all the soft skills which make
O wonder! a person a kind and thoughtful human being,
How many goodly creatures whether in communication with their ‘goodly’
are there here! or not so ‘goodly’ fellows. And there is
How beauteous mankind is! leadership, to which many of our students
O brave new world rightfully aspire. True leadership comes from
That has such people in it a wider understanding of the world outside
‘The Tempest’ Act V: I lines 182-184 one’s own comfort zone and the resolution to
speak out when one believes there is injustice.
Subsequent writers have upended Miranda’s So this brings me back to the strange light
rather broad-brush belief in the inherent streaming through the school one afternoon
goodness of humanity and used the phrase two years ago. Was it a supernatural
ironically, writers such as Jonathan Swift phenomenon? Well, maybe – why not keep
(Gulliver’s Travels) and H.G. Wells (A Modern an open mind? Was it just a trick of light? Well
Utopia). Aldous Huxley who titled his work of maybe- there is a scientific explanation for most
dystopian science fiction Brave New World, things. And what else? Well maybe it was natural
had his book banned in Ireland on publication energy filling the school, reminding each of
in 1932. Due to its purported ‘offensive us as a member of this privileged community
language’, ‘sexually explicit scenes’ and that we each have a ‘brave new world’ to face,
‘insensitivity’, as late as 2011 it was still and entrusting us with the responsibility to
‘among the top 10 books Americans most lead in its development ethically, courageously
wanted banned’ . Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ and compassionately. And make our family, our
1
leads us through a genetically engineered friends and most importantly ourselves,
future society where technology rules. proud of having tried. reflections
Humans are created through artificial means,
moulded into a social hierarchy based on
intelligence and labour function, and kept
‘happy’ through a drug called Soma. Needless
to say, the protagonist who rebels against
this empty regime, has a tragic and clearly
‘unhappy’ end. Many other writers have 09
taken this notion of state overturning basic
human freedoms, in supposed pursuit of a
utopian society further, not least the great
Canadian writer of dystopian fiction
Margaret Atwood. She aptly comments:
Surely it’s time to look again at Brave New
World and to examine its arguments for and
against the totally planned society it describes,
in which ‘’everybody is happy now.’’ What sort
of happiness is on offer and what is the price 1. ‘Brave new World among top 10 books Americans
we might pay to achieve it? 2 most want banned’ Alison Flood in The Guardian,
12th April 2011
It is these questions which our current 2. ‘Everybody is happy now’ Margaret Atwood
students need to consider when taking time in The Guardian, 17th November 2007
Leda Thanassa 6B