Friday, July 8, 2011

Brave New World: Situational Irony

"'What's the matter?' asked the Director.  The nurse shrugged her shoulders.  'Nothing much,' she answered.  'It's just that this little boy seems rather reluctant to join in the ordinary erotic play.'"  pg. 31-32

If I were to describe this novel in one word so far, it would be strange.  Many things in this novel are very different from our modern world.  One thing in particular that I find so strange is that young children are expected to join in erotic play and if they don't the nurses think something is wrong with the child.  This provides a bit of situational irony for the reader.  Today in our society it is considered wrong and immoral for young children to be sexual active.  However, in Brave New World, things are the exact opposite.  The Ford society is completely different from what is expected.  The use of situational irony helps establish the differences between this utopian society and our modern society.  It is also quite effective because there are many things about this novel that stray from the norm and the irony makes it more interesting because it is not what the reader expects.

2 comments:

  1. any idea why they think this behavior of children is acceptable?

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    Replies
    1. Because when they create the kids in the test tubes they are able to speed up their sexual maturity therefore meaning that they are sexually active by that age.

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