Consider this simile and decide what it signifies. Consider times in the novel when the rock nearly breaks through the wax, or where the wax layer is so thin that the rock can be perceived, even if only for a moment.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Sep 4 discussion prompt
"Not so much like drops of water, though water, it is true, can wear holes in the hardest granite; rather, drops of liquid sealing-wax, drops that adhere, incrust, incorporate themselves with what they fall on, till finally the rock is all one scarlet blob." (chapter 2, page 28)
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Literally in Brave New World, I think it signifies that the repeated phrases the children hear in hypnopaedia don't drive them crazy as it would any other person who hears the same message 1000 times, but further confirms their prejudices. The mention of water and the way the hypnopaedia works almost seems to hint at Chinese water torture. I think the simile means that everything they're conditioned to believe further hides what they are.
If the memorized words and indoctrinated beliefs are similar to wax encrusting a rock, then Bernard seems to be the character who is most breaking through the wax. His awkwardness in social situations and avoidance of casual sex/drugs shows that the wax hasn't completely enveloped him.
Linda is an interesting character to consider with the 'wax' idea. She was once completely covered, but after living in the reservation for some time her 'rock' starts to show. On pg. 127, it clearly shows that she has no concept of maternal love. After '[John] tried to smile at her...she put her arms round him and kissed him again and again.' I think that shows compassion that was originally kept under wax.
I think it signifies the purpose of conditioning that this fictional society was based on. The rock with a wax crust also seems to be illustrating the people living in this society. The wax crust is like the behaviors and thoughts that each individual was trained to have. While their true selves are hidden under this seal. The controllers of this society use conditioning to polish their citizens, creating what they believe as happy individuals.
There are actually several characters in this book that have come close or have broken the crust. Bernard and Helmholtz are the first two characters in the beginning of this book that almost broke through their crust. They were able to feel the loneliness that they were kept away from. I think in the end Helmholtz have successfully freed himself. Mean while Bernard was too caught up with all the attention he was receiving. In a way Lenina's rock was also close to breaking through the wax when she starts to have strong feelings for John.
Like Natalie and Xin, I think that the drops of liquid sealing-wax are the Pavlovian conditioning and the hypnopaedia phrases that the children are exposed to during early stages in their life in BNW. These methods are incredibly efficient ways for the World Controllers to shape a society and create stability. When it says "till finally the rock is all one scarlet blob," I think it's referring to the fact that the children become so programmed to think one way that life becomes superficial.
I think the character who most resembles the rock breaking through the wax layer is Helmholtz Watson. He feels superior in is alpha class and feels that his writing it being heavily restricted. Upon meeting John, Helmholtz realizes that the only thing he can do is speak out and oppose the ways society functions. Unlike Bernard, Helmholtz is heroic and I think he successfully breaks through the wax. Bernard however, is the character who almost breaks through the wax. He shows dissent in the beginning, however, nearing the end when he has the opportunity to break through, he falters and becomes cowardly in front of the World Controller, Mustapha Mond.
The wax is an interesting concept because it envelops so many things. The phrases that kids hear are definitely an example of something that represents the wax. I agree with Alex in particular about it being all Pavlovian conditioning and that Helmholtz is the closest to breaking through.
One other interesting point about the wax concept is that wax is only a cover somehow I get the feeling that not everybody has rock to show beneath the wax. That may have been what the first quote (about the most disturbing aspect of BNW) was looking at. If you strip the wax off of everyone will there be anything left? And if there is will they want to put the wax back on?. Wax is not only a cover of their true selves but it also protects them. It protects them from seeing real people, everyone else is covered in the same or another pleasing type of wax and thus they get the social stability that Mustapha Mond so badly craves.
I think that the water signifies repeated phrases that people are brainwashed with that would normally "wear holes in hardest granite". So in other words, what would normally break even the most forbearing person does not have such an effect on the children.
I agree with Natalie, I think that the simile means that the drops of wax that "adhere, encrust, incorporate themselves with what they fall on" cover the individuality of those who have been conditioned to believe things through hypnopaedia. Then it becomes a part of them. I also agree that Bernard and Helmhotlz were the first to attempt to break through this "wax" layer. This attempt is evident because they were both considered or felt strange and different from everyone around them. They also acted upon these feelings. Helmholtz wrote poetry and Bernard took Lenina on a date and tried to simply sit in silence and these acts were considered either strange or offensive.
I think that Lenina was one character whose wax layer was thin in certain moments. Towards the beginning of the book, she talks to Fanny and mentions that there are times when she doesn't find promiscuity very appealing. Because they have been conditioned to believe that "everyone belongs to everyone," it is surprising to hear this coming from anyone living in their world.
Harish, I think that there would be something underneath if you were to remove the wax from anyone, but the person must first choose to strip off the protective layer. This is risky and challenging, which is why it is rare to see uniqueness shining through many individuals in Brave New World.
I think that because the children are exposed to the conditioning at such an early age, the "drops of liquid sealing wax, drops that adhere, and incrust," relate to the lasting impression it has on their undeveloped minds. Like a set of rules that we are taught as children, the conditioning prevents their own, which helps keep Brave New World's society stable. They are so familiar with this conditioned philosophy that anything new or foreign is shunned and prevents them from breaking through the wax layer. Therefore, they are unable to become individuals.
I agree with all of you with the characters that have broken or come close to have breaking the wax. Mond is a character who in my opinion, has broken the wax. Even though he has created Brave New World's society, he has gone against his principals. His hypocritical ways like owning art, books, etc. shows that his collection of "knowledge" provides him with the "strong" mind of a rock, while he limits the rest of society with this knowledge to create a wax "curtain" of blindness so they obey.
The quote illustrates the completeness of the conditioning they do on the people. They are so brainwashed that there is literally no separation between the people's own personalities, desires, and actions (the rock) and the rules that control these things (the wax). This is the basis for the stability they create, because all people are conditioned in one way and therefore live the same way. Except for those who break through the wax.
To me, everyone can be compared with John, for John is the only character who really doesn't have wax. He is pure rock. Bernard is close to breaking his wax when he is agreeing with John's view of civilization, but his desire isn't really to abandon his conditioning and just be himself, his desire is to be accepted in civilization. So because his intentions are not completely pure and he has a weakness for popularity, he does not reveal himself free of the wax. Hemholtz is possibly closer to breaking his wax, he really just wanted to be able to think for himself, and I think in the end he accomplished that. I like what Natalie said about Linda, being separated from the civilization she had lived in and having a child really peeled off the wax for her. She began choosing what of her conditioning she would follow and what she wouldn't; she continued to sleep around but had a child whom she loved and cared for. This being a perfect example of the separation between herself and her conditioning.
I believe, too, that the use of this simile relates to the repeated phrases and beliefs shoved into children's minds during repeated sessions of hypnopaedia. The rock, I feel, symbolizes the mind--inner consciousness--that the child has been "decanted with" and the wax to be a result of these constant sesions of brainwashing, a repellent placed over a person to resist certain temptations or longing desires to exhibit any form of individualism. The wax is like a seal, a seal that guards against these unwanted influences feard by the government in BNW. Eventually, through countless droplets of "wax" adhering to the individual, their mind has been protected from and conditioned to fit governmental standards and the ways of society.
Not all people in BNW have been completely encrusted in this wax casing however. We see glimpses of Bernard's rock throughout the book. He really is the first person we see who feels alienated by this society. He longs for something more, sensing himself as an individual, more than just another indiscernible "scarlet blob" within the community. Like Alex said, I really believe that we see Helmholtz's rock poking through this conditioning wax more than anyone else. He really is the only one in the book who is striving to convey his thoughts (even if at some points he is confused) through his own artistic/creative expression. John of course reads Shakespeare, but he is in no means creating anything--except for curiosity in people native to the NEW WORLD. Helmoholtz strayed from the criteria of his predestined job as a revelled emotional engineer to write a thoughtful poem dealing with the forbidden aspects of solitude, seclusion. I think more than anything else, the society tries to repress this artistic expression because art leads to unique and different ideas, ones that often time question the surrounding world. And contemplative, unique, non-conforming ideas lead to individuality, the very thing feared by the Controllers in BNW.
The rock in Brave New World is more appropriately rocks. The millions of sets of twins are the rocks. The wax in this is quite simply all the "knowledge" that the people of this society are fed in their conditioning process.
When born, well decanted, the people are naturally the rock. They have no knowledge built into themselves and are free to the influence of the world. Mustapha Mond along with the other world controllers take a grasp of this malleability and shape the society with their various forms of wax.
For the most part, the wax is well distributed over the rocks. The rock remains hidden for the entire period of this person's so-called life. However, every so often there is a slip up. This is when you get people like Bernard; or more appropriately, people like Helmholtz.
Though they have the wax covering themselves, they do have the few thin spots. They know what they were brainwashed into thinking, but the rock within the wax pokes out every so often as to manifest itself. In this society, it is an oddity, but it is the natural man poking his head out of the womb in a metaphorical sort of way.
The strength and viscosity of this wax is very apparent in the character of Linda. She was decanted and exposed to the propaganda and it stuck with her. Though lost from society for an immense amount of time the rhymes and lyrics of the propaganda are stuck within her. She remembers what colors she must like and when Lenina is wearing them it is like second nature to compliment on it.
In thinking about it, her alcoholism really does make sense and appears to me to be the fault of the society in the book. She was raised with soma as an escape from life. When she became lost on the reservation, she took hold of the nearest thing -- alcohol.
Luckily in this society there are the few who have had their wax worn down. It creates an environment with a hint of humanity within it. The scary thing today is if you think about it enough, there are some forms of wax in our own lives today.
Like many of them have said, the drops of liquid sealing-wax represents the Pavlovian technique and hypnopædia. And I agree with almost everyone about the characters that have seemed to be breaking through the wax. The Pavlovian technique is the pinnacle of the way men and women are programmed to live in such society. Without such conditioning that is being ingrained in their brain, they wouldn’t be able to function on what’s considered “normal” in the Brave New World society. Mustapha Monde is a product of one who is not sealed up in wax. He understands perfectly well the process and the effects hypnopædia and the Pavlovian technique has on the creation of the society, therefore he must not be bound by that wax. With the kind of freedom, Monde has definitely gained a sinister yet a superior power over the people, and almost all of the people do not have the capacity of intellectual discernment to realize the tragedy that’s taking place because they have been conditioned their whole lives to not be able to think that critically.
But for some characters, like most of you guys have said, have shown instances where they have broken through that wax. Bernard, right from the beginning, was very different, physically and intellectually, among other beings in his society. The one that stuck out to me the most was Helmholtz. He was conditioned just as everyone was, he was not physically different from all the other alpha-plus males, but yet he knew that there was something more to himself and the society that was intriguing and was out of the ordinary. It was clear that he was one of the very few characters in the book that definitely broke through that wax.
Like all who mentioned it, this simile symbolizes hypnopaedia and its power on the society of Brave New World. The quote compares water and wax, two different substances with opposite effects on granite. The granite in this simile symbolizes the individuals in Brave New World. Wax, like Natalie, Xin, and others mentioned, is the hypnoaedia.
The wax aids in making the rock into one fragment similarly as hypnoaedia makes everyone’s views the same. The blob signifies the same view, morals, and lack of individuality in the society of Brave New World. All the monotones and ugliness symbolized by the blob is the ugliness and lack of individuality in the society. Liquid sealing-wax is also man made, which can symbolize the synthetic society of Brave New World.
When I thought about the water in the simile, I thought it symbolized the normality of society and individuality. Water, like the many normal human qualities/behaviors missing in Brave New World, symbolizes the forces that cause individuals to develop their own views and become individuals.
Water is simple, compared to the liquid-sealing wax, which is more "complex" and "defined." The hypnopaedia that the children receive is at first like water; it breaks ground and the children are exposed to these discriminatory lessons at such a young age. But then as each lesson becomes more advanced, the liquid sealing drops of wax begin to fill the "holes" the water has created. I know I literally took the quote apart, but it makes sense. Their brains are just filled with these lessons and the wax begins to harden, over time, and these lessons become ingrained into their minds. The wax eventually begins thick and defined and it defines and identifies who the children are in this society. Because it's harden, these children are unable to change who they were predestined to be.
And, there are many different opinions of which characters have broken the wax, but personally, I think that Mond has broken it. I was just rereading the last three chapters and I think it's in chapter 16 where Mond is talking to the Savage and he talks about how he had a choice. He had a choice and he had to pay. "That's how I paid. By choosing to serve happiness. Other people's - not mine." (pg. 229) And because he had the choice in the first place, it means that he had broken the wax that had previously controlled him and defined him. He had become one of the people who had a different opinion of this society and instead of being sent off to an island, he chose to let everything go - his curiosity and truth- in order to break free from the wax.
I think this "scarlet blob" is supposed to represent the society and how everybody is the same. Outsiders are unwanted. Society strives for a fixed normalcy.
I think of Mustapha Mond as the "water torturer," as Natalie said, creating this "scarlet blob." He is completely different than anybody else in the novel and knows more than anybody else, but conceals and hides his real self to society.
I agree with Harish about there, perhaps, not being much there if you were to remove the wax, because most people are completely conditioned to do everything they do. However, I believe it IS possible that there is some "rock" in every person. Lenina, for example, seemed immovable when Bernard tried to open up to her. Then when she met John, passion built up inside her and she started to feel things that "normal" people don't feel - things that are looked down upon. But I agree with pretty much everyone about characters who break through this wax.
I agree with Natalie. I think that the simile explains the repetition of certain phrases and ideas, called hypnopadeia. The wax "drops and adheres" into the child's mind. The wax falls onto the rock. The rock represents the child's mind after the hypnopadeia. The purpose of the wax is to hold everything together. Whatever information was brainwashed into the child's mind is held together by the wax.
The person who gets closest to breaking through the wax layer is Helmholtz. He has several scenes where this may be proven. His writings and lectures are usually on the verge of being banned. Although Helmholtz is on the verge of breaking the wax layer, I believe he always tries to leave it the way it is, instead of successfully breaking through.
I agree with most of you on the general simile Huxley is using. Each person starts out as a blank rock, and by the time they reach maturity they become covered in wax. Obviously, some characters have more "layers" than others. Lenina is curious about Bernard and then John, showing that she has chipped away at some of her wax, while Fanny's remains untouched. Bernard and Helmholtz are even closer to their rocks than Bernard.
Elizabeth, I would even take what you said one step further to say that not only has Mond broken through his wax, but he now is the man holding the candle dripping the wax on the fresh wax. He also makes sure that no one else breaks through their wax by sending revolutionaries of any kind away to the mysterious island.
I think this simile also applies to modern day. Just like our first quote said: "The unexamined life is not worth living" -Socrates. Many people go through life pretending to be someone they are not, and never truly knowing themselves. These people have many layers of wax. Other people who are constantly examining their own lives and live freely as themselves are true rocks.
I also agree with the people who have said that the wax symbolizes the repeated phrases of the hypnopaedia. The act of the wax dripping and covering the rock is also not an instant one. Just like how the hypnopaedia phrases are repeated thousands of times, the society of BNW was slowly "covered by the hypnopaedic wax.
I also agree that the water could represent the world controllers. Although they seem similar to the wax at first glance, they are truly different. The world controllers are allowed more freedom like water where the wax is viscous and can only move so far before becoming just another part of the "scarlet blob".
Mustafa Mond is an interesting character. He seems to have broken though the wax himself. Mond talks about how he had to make a choice of either going to the island or becoming a world controller. This implys that he too was once covered by the wax of society. However, by becoming a controller, his rock broke through the wax.
I think the liquid sealing-wax refers to the smothered individuality of citizens in BNW. The rock refers to a person's core being, which is extremely difficult (although possible, such as by water over millions of years) to alter. It is much easier to just control which parts of it show and which parts of it are covered up. Wax is "protection" for people from the evils of life but it is also protection for society from the evils of people. I agree with everyone who said that the wax comes in the form of hypnopaedic phrases. When the individuals in BNW are saturated with propaganda at a young age, they loose their souls and become nothing more than flesh with a brainwashed control center, their independence and consciousness dissolving in the incarcerating wax, no longer human beings. They are government drones! The layer of wax is far too thick for the average person in Brave New World to even realize that they are covered in it and that there is such a thing as life without it. Wax doesn't necessarily wear down the "granite" or rock of an individual, but it prevents it from running wild and endangering social stability like a stampeding elephant, by entirely encapsulating it in an atmospheric layer. This is why, at times, we can see the individual shining through the wax suit, apparent in Bernard's disgust with the way Henry talks about Lenina like a piece of meat, or in Helmholtz's writing about solitude. As John sees the brave new world about him without a layer of wax over his eyes and mind, he goes crazy as the world he sees is extremely rough around the edges without the blurring filter. Mond is the only other person who is not a "scarlet blob", and can openly entertain an intelligent (yet disturbing) conversation with "The Savage". Mond and John are also the only two characters who truly appreciate beauty and art such as Shakespeare. The entire exchange at the end of the book reminds me of the scene in The Matrix where Morphious offers Neo the red pill or the blue pill. Depending on which Neo chooses, he can go on living his blind existence of ignorance and perceived happiness, or learn the truth. Which would you choose?
I think that the rock signifies the inner core, the basic principles of life that everyone knows from the start. Anyone's core, or the rock, is going to take some serious time to be morphed into what the Controllers would want a person to think or feel if they attack the rock directly. They can’t take a metaphorical drill (long term torture, long term abuse, ect..) to the rock because, like in the case of the water, the rock can fall apart and put holes in places where it isn’t wanted. (In which case they would probably make a person painfully mentally unstable) But, there is this metaphorical wax that can cover and hide the rock and make it uniform with everyone else. There is also this feeling that if there is a sudden change in how the world works, the wax can be melted down and morphed at a moment’s notice. It makes the inner core of a person stable and changeable for the world to change in the event that it needs to be.
The wax, I think, symbolizes the conditioning that people undergo when they are infants. The conditioning morphs, sticks, and disguises itself into what the infants know from the start; that people are different, but there groups you that are the same. However, the conditioning shapes, like hot wax, what the infants know in the world’s favor, that there are people higher than them and people lower than them, casual sex and drugs are what you want, and that there no other power than Ford.
Mond would seem like he has the thinnest layer of wax on him, where he keeps the wax on him to remain in power and can see straight threw the wax to see the knowledge outside of himself. His collection of books and understanding shows that he has the ability to break the wax at his will, but chooses not to.
I agree with everyone else that the wax represents hypnopaedia and that the rock symbolizes individuality of the people. Hypnopaedia makes all people have the same thoughts and beliefs. Similarly, the wax smoothes out all of the rocks until they are in one common shape, a “scarlet blob”.
I don’t believe that there is a single character that was able to completely get rid of their wax. Mustapha Mond was able to break out of wax and his conditioning, but at the same time I believe he hasn’t completely broken out. Mond thinks that the society that has been created is correct and that the population does not need to have individuality or personality. In believing that the process of hypnopaedia is a positive part of society, Mond is similar to all other citizens. Hemholtz may also disagree with certain parts of the New World like restriction of art, but caste conditioning is probably still engrained in his mind. By being an Alpha plus plus, Hemholtz still probably doesn’t associate with those in castes below him. In this way, I believe that the wax surrounding the individuals in the New World is almost impossible to shed.
As the simile is determined to make clear, it is wax being used and not water. The hypnopaedia is not meant to wear down the children's natural impulses a la water. Instead, the hypnopaedia is meant to teach the children something. Wax is used in the simile because it is the sheer repetition of the phrases that forms a large layer of wax, so to speak, that keeps all the the teachings in the children's brains.
In fewer words, I understood the quote just like everyone else.
As for the breaking of wax, it is obvious that it is never quite completely done. For all the differences that Mustapha Mond and Helmholtz show, not once do they ever question the assumed caste system and not once is either one shown socializing with people of a lower caste. And this class system, more than anything else, is ruthlessly pounded into the little children's brains.
Reading over what some of you guys wrote, I think you all made really good points about the ideas that Huxley is trying to get at with this simile, but I want to discuss the specific words and how it is reflective of the authors motives just so that I don't repeat things I agree with.
First of all, Huxley chose to use liquid sealing-wax knowing that wax is a material used in sculptures that allows unique forms to be taken without the limitations faced when using other mediums. So inherently, wax is something that is used to define, but it is also weak and can lose its lust, which undermines the simile because the society in BNW is very difficult to resist. On the other hand, wax is also something that needs to be continously reapplied so it matches with the theme of the novel since intellectual suppression is routinely used.
What disturbs me about this simile however is that Huxley uses rocks to signify human existence and the embodiment of intellectualism. If humans are rocks and have no beauty in mind then why should they be invested in and not covered in wax as objects so that their sensual wants can be fulfilled? The fact that he uses rocks shows that he does not have faith in human intellectualism. Moreover, it is a poor connection because naive intellectualism is better modeled by a sponge or similar object that is absorbant. The wax could just have easily been dripped over a sponge, hardening the sponge so that it could never again retain its absorbance, a better simile in my opinon.
This being said, so what if the wax cracks or the rock is perceived for a moment. It simply uncovers further the absence of potential in human beings which Huxley inadvertently explores. If there was gold hidden beneath the wax or better yet a coin with features that could be lost, then I think Huxley would be able to make a more profound impact with this simile.
What really interests me in this simile is the water. Huxley in a way ignores it as he develops the wax imagery etc. but it is truly what transforms the rock.
The water 'can wear hole in the hardest granite.' Well, with this 'rock' being the human intelligence, consciousness, soul, the brain etc. the water must be something much more powerful and meaningful then a cover of wax (which covers the rock but does not alter its shape). Also, I suppose wax is used to keep water out from things i.e. waterproofing. Water, or Truth, must be something that drastically alters the physique of the human mind, Man's thought process. While wax, or untruth, is a seal against Beauty, Love, Hate, Intellectuality, and History.
Brave New World constantly resounds the warning: to not allow a drop of wax to cover our magnificent rocks. Even so insignificant as one drop can repel droplets of truth from revolutionizing the way we think.
Wax, as an end result would leave every individual rock looking the same. Blobs of wax versus grand canyons carved by free-flowing torrents uncontrollable in their majesty. Truth vs. Wax.
'You pays your moneys and you takes your choice.'
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