A Brave New Worl by Alexander Huxley

                The book A Brave New World by Alexander Huxley, is a dystopian novel set in futuristic London. In this future, people are free to live their lives frivolously. From small children, they are sleep conditioned to have certain ideas and fragments of knowledge that teach them to turn away from things that discourage fun and happiness. These include things like books, mending clothes, anything that isn’t seen as ‘enjoyable’. People are instead taught to rely on the government. From very young ages children are trained to have different social class rankings which will follow them throughout life. “And Delta Children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I’m so glad I’m a Beta.” In this futuristic world, people are encouraged to live freely, and be happy all the time. In fact one of the biggest ways they are carried out is through taking Soma tablets, which let you escape to another world for a period of time. These tablets are encouraged to be taken whenever you feel an emotion other than happiness. And lastly, and perhaps one of the biggest problems is the fact that “everyone belongs to everyone else.”

            “Everyone belongs to everyone else,” the motto of our brave, new world, means that people are not tied down to any, one person. People are not supposed to have committed relationships to each other. In our current world, it is frowned upon to be having romantic relations with more than one person, however theirs is the exact opposite. In fact, they are frowned upon if they do not have more than one suitor at a time. One of the main characters, Lenina Crowne, a perfect example of a young woman under the influence of her dystopian society, decides to confide in her best friend Fanny Crowne (of no relation) that she has been ‘having’ Mr. Henry Foster for over four months without anybody else. Due to their conditioning, Lenina is scolded by Fanny, who encourages her to take up somebody else. “But seriously,” Fanny said, “I really do think you ought to be careful. It’s such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man.” “And after all,” Fanny’s tone was coaxing, “it’s not as though there were anything painful or disagreeable about having one or two men besides Henry. And seeing that you ought to be a little more promiscuous…”

            I think that it’s nice that people can live more freely, and without worry in this world. However, I believe that their ideas, and especially their motto, “everyone belongs to everyone else,” have a negative effect. Men and women end up being treated like meat. The idea of ‘having people’, just the word having sounds wrong, and goes against every idea that we believe in nowadays. Lenina Crowne?” said Henry Foster, echoing the Assistant Predestination’s question as he zipped up his trousers. “Oh, she’s a splendid girl. Wonderfully pneumatic. I’m surprised you haven’t had her.” “I can’t think how it is I haven’t’,” said the Assistant Predestinator. “I certainly will. At the first opportunity.” From his place on the opposite side of the changing room aisle, Bernard Marx overheard what they were saying and turned pale.” The men, Henry Foster and the Assistant Predestinater talk about women, specifically Lenina, in a degrading way, all because society has trained them to do so. They refer to sleeping with one another as ‘having’ each other, the way you would a piece of meat, or cheese. When you say things like ‘try her’ like they’re sampling something not sleeping with a person, it sets back evolution, and promotes sexism.

            Overall, I think the themes in this book are interesting, and I am interested to see how they affect the rest of the book. I think that because there are ‘no strings attached’ it deprives you of a closeness you get in a real relationship. In modern times, people strive to find a person to whom they can feel a close bond to, and I believe that because people living in this new word don’t even know that this idea of ‘love’ exists, they can never have a chance to feel it. I know that these people don’t miss it, they’ve never felt it, but I think that’s what makes humans, human. Their ability to have emotions and wants. When you take soma, or you are trained against feeling that closeness with someone else, it takes away part of being human.

The Debate Over YA Fiction

Once again, the freedom to read whatever you want has been challenged. This time, in the form of YA Fiction. YA Fiction (or young adult fiction) has more recently ventured into rather gruesome territory. These topics include, but are not limited to abuse, drugs, sex, and teen suicide. For some parents, teachers, and other well concerned citizens, these types of books should not be accessible to their young readers. Solutions such as banning books, and adding age limits have been suggested. However children deserve to choose the books they read because as human beings they have the right to make their own decisions. Young Adult readers should continue to choose books that are being challenged.

                We raise kids to believe in fairy tales, that there are always happy endings, and princes coming to the rescue. We raise kids to believe that at the end of the day, the glass slipper is going to fit. But the reality is there isn’t always a happy ending. There are poison apples in the world. Life is much more complicated; it’s got plot twists and turns, and bumps in the road. At some point, we have to wake up our kids, and slap them in the face with reality. The question is how do you show them the dangers without overexposing them? By handing them a novel, they can learn important life lessons in a controlled environment. In the article Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings? by Husna Haq, Patrick Ness says, quote, “If you’re not addressing it in your Fiction, they you’re abandoning them to face it themselves.” Now, you could definitely argue that some of these books are far too traumatizing. Books like Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler are far too graphic, and inappropriate for young teens. These books are traumatizing and by reading about this they might become more afraid then when they started out. And what’s more, some of these books don’t even depict a true version of real life. Except that part of educating your kids is talking to them discussing what they read, and listening to their opinions on whether or not they can handle it. And now that kids know problems such as self-abuse (cutting, etc.) exists they’re a bit more educated, even if your child can’t handle it, they know what’s out there. The first step is to stop sheltering, and to start educating. As Mary Elizabeth Williams says in the article Has Young Adult Fiction Become too Dark? “Darkness isn’t the enemy, but ignorance always is.”

                Then, there are the readers who’ve already been exposed to these topics, and deserve to continue to have access to these books. In fact, most readers know about real world issues at the Young Adult reading age. Books featuring darker subjects can help readers who have experienced drug use, rape, abuse, etc. cope. Books addressing pressing issues can show people that they are not alone, and that there are others out there who’ve dealt with the same problems. It can give them hope, and show that they can overcome their issues. However, for teenagers who’ve read these books that are meant to inspire, it could be too close to home. “I’d finished reading and immediately reached for my blade,” said Jess, a teenager and recovering cutter. After reading powerful books, with powerful messages, fragile people could get the wrong ideas and restart into depression states. (The Sick-lit Books Aimed At Children: It’s a Disturbing Phenomenon. Tales of Cancer, Self-Harm and Suicide by Tanith Carey) However, author Sherman Alexie, writer of The Abusolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian wrote, “I have yet to receive a letter from a child somehow debilitated by the domestic violence, drug abuse, racism, poverty, sexuality, and murder contained in my book. To the contrary, kids as young as ten have sent me autobiographical letters written in crayon, complete with drawing ispired by my book, that are just as dark, terrifying, and redemptive as anything I’ve ever read. It’s too late to protect children, the best we can do is give them verbal weapons and hope they can battle their monsters on their own.

                After we give children the knowledge and power to deal with these topics, it is left up to the teens reading YA books to be mature enough to hand dark topics. Teenagers know what they want to read. “They know what they can read and they know what they want to read, and if you don’t give it to them, they’ll find it somehow.” (Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings, Husna Haq, paragraph 11.) Kids know better than to be so heavily influenced by what they read. And to those who still think teenagers are not mature enough, think about this: by eighteen kids can vote, drive, and even go to war. If they can do things that adults do, why not pick out their own books? (Why the Best Books are Written in Blood, Sherman Alexie) As one teen said in the article Has Young Adult Fiction Become too Dark? “they’re called Young Adult. Adult.” Perhaps it isn’t that they aren’t mature, it’s that parents aren’t ready to accept their maturity and adulthood.

                Teenagers should not have their book selection be limited because someone else decides it’s subject matter is too dark. Children deserve to be educated about what goes on in the world around them, they also should use these books as inspiration to get better in their lives, should they need the motivation. And finally, yes teenagers are mature enough to pick out their own books. And if parents still feel uncomfortable letting their kids read about issues, than have a conversation about the books they’re reading.