Homework:: “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 blog.”
-Chapter 2, pg 28
Explore this simile and decide what it signifies; then find examples in BNW in which 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.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
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I was unsure whether or not to post this as a comment or not, but that makes the most sense to me. So, here it is:
The stone is cold rationality, not yet softened by feelings. The wax is the childhood conditioning meant to preserve it; it repels the emotional responsibilities of being an individual, of having affection, being happy, or, as John mentions during his conversation with Mustapha Mond, being unhappy. The wax, which could be expanded to include soma as well as hypnopaedia, ensures universal contentment, in which nobody can stray into extreme sadness or true happiness; it’s an anti-depressant, suppressing feelings at both ends of the (apparently?) linear emotional spectrum. Also, the waxing process is like raising a child to merely memorize and obey that set of social rules that they are usually taught by their parents (for example, to treat others as you would like to be treated) but without their learning the over-arching lesson of self-awareness. It’s conventional, but robotic.
However, even Lenina, who responded to her hypnopaedic conditioning well, fell in love with John. Although her love was somewhat shallow, it still surfaced despite her conditioning (particularly, her obsessive thoughts about him are defiant of “everyone belongs to everyone else”). Further, her love (or lust) was a source of pain, which forced her to experience the emotional maturity mentioned above.
The sealing wax is something that constrains the individual, and clouds their mind; the rock, then, is the individual, free and mobile unless sealed by the wax. The wax, like mist on a valley floor, conceals and hides the truths of the world around the individual, though unlike the mist it is not something that burns off with the noon-time sun. In Brave New World, it is ever present, beginning in the hatchery, from when the lower castes and upper castes are separated for Bokanovsky’s Process, to the hypnopædia the young ones experience, to the soma and mindless activities the adults take and engage in. Like the wax immobilizing the rock, these things immobilize the individual, leaving them with little room to move from their designated station and even less room to think.
John the Savage represents a rock that is unhindered, unsealed. No wax has yet collected on his surface, and he therefore has leave to think as he will, learning and growing and keeping his faith. Thus free, he often moves outside the expected range of actions, and does things considered harmful, such as chasing children away from his dead mother. Helmholtz, and to a lesser degree Bernard, represent a rock where the sealing wax was not so thickly layered or had eroded away just enough. They fit in with society but at the same time they express ideas and perform actions that do not fit, such as Helmholtz’s poem or Bernard’s insistence on not taking soma.
Other characters express ideas outside the norm, as well, such as the Director’s and Lenina’s feelings for Linda and John, respectively, or Mustapha Mond’s forbidden books and unorthodox science experiments. This shows that the wax is bound to chip away, even if a little, eventually, that the system is one that is not impenetrable.
The rock repersents a free mind, unhindred and unrestricted by other influences. The rock is solid and strong, free and mobile.
John (The Savage) is a perfect example of a rock. Because of his life on the reservation, his mind is very much like a sponge soaking up new things, not paying heed to restrictions or limitations.
His mind is free of sealant wax- the kind that incrusts, bounds and shackles.
Other members of the society are not as lucky as John. Their wax layer has formed, getting stronger over time, beginning in the first moments at the Hatchery.
The wax has adhered so hard- forcing them to lead robotic, empty lives without the sheer joy of expressing one's own thought.
However in Brave New World, Huxley has created some steadfast characters that stand out and push the confines of the "normal" society.
Characters such as John but also Helmholz and Bernard as well who through their actions and words dare to express themselves freely and openly.
Even Mustapha Mond who keeps a forbidden book collection is amongst those who have proven that the wax layer may not have been so strong, so thick.
Their unexpected actions such as John's revolt at the hospital and his love for Shakespeare, Helmholz's contreversial poem about being alone, Bernard's love of solititude and deep thought. All these examples prove that the wax layer can indeed over time rub off.
Human beings are all rocks to begin with - perfect, untouched, and identical. But, as the years go on, water and weathering carve each rock to be different, in the same way that the emotional struggles of life shape the personality of each human being. No two people in the real world are quite identical, and thus, each person becomes an individual, somehow different from the next person in line. Wax, however, is the artificial protectant that is applied by the Pavlovian conditioning, hypnopaedia, and drugs of the World State. This unnatural shield leaves each person identical, without the weathering caused by life’s emotional struggles and victories. Essentially, the wax shapes humans into childish machines whose sole purpose is self-gratification.
But yet, even with the strongest wax, weathering always has a way of reaching some individuals. Some, like John, were born without the wax, and has consequently distinguished himself from the rest of the New World State both to the reader and the other characters in the book. Others, like Helmholtz and Bernard, seem to have gotten too thin a layer of Wax, or have broken through it. Helmholtz, even with his perfect conditioning, started at the very top of all the other rocks, and has consequently taken the most emotional weathering, wearing down his New World State sealant to the extent in which he could think for himself. Bernard, on the other hand, seems to have gotten too thin a layer of conditioning, causing him to begin wondering about a life outside of his.
The rock is the natural human mind, which is inclined to challenge itself and be curious about the world and its surroundings. It wants to be able to decide its own destiny and goals.
The wax is the brainwashing incorporating itself into their minds. It doesn’t destroy innate human traits like water would erode a rock, but morphs them into something else. Meaningful relationships are turned into promiscuity; the want for a challenge is turned into the drive to work for the common good. Henry Foster it a prime example of a rock covered completely with wax. He never shows any inkling of being different than the societal norm, and fulfills all its requirements optimally.
When talking about the populace who has been sent to one of the islands, like Bernard and Helmholz are, the Controller says that the islands contain, “All the people who, for one reason or another, have got too self-consciously individual to fit into community-life. All the people who aren’t satisfied with orthodoxy, who’ve got independent ideas of their own. Every one, in a word, who’s any one.” Huxley is never clear about how many people are sent to these islands, but the Controller makes the breaking of the wax seem fairly common. Like previous people have said, Bernard, John, Helmholz, The Controller and Lenina all showed signs of independent thinking. The Director also exhibits signs that the hypnopaedia wasn’t completely effective. In chapter 6, part 2 he talks about going into the reservation and losing Linda, “’after all, it’s the sort of accident that might have happened to any one; and, of course, the social body persists although the component cells may change’ But this sleep-taught consolation did not seem to be very effective.” Although the citizens know the sayings by heart, it does not mean that they work.
The rock represents freedom that is pure in thought and body. The original rock is unaffected by any influence other than its own. As others have mentioned, John is a perfect example of the rock. He is from the reservation that lives without all of the “pleasures” of the World State Society. At the reservation, he is abandoned by all except for his mother Linda. This further explains why John is a good representative of the rock; he is left to think and be by himself multiple times. After Bernard takes him back to the World State, he is very much surprised by people’s actions, experiencing a totally different society. John could have easily let the wax of this new society build upon him, however, his rock was too pure.
The sealing-wax blinds, controls and hides the truth and ideas from people. Fanny is a great example of someone who is completely coated with wax. She tries to explain to Lenina that everyone belongs to everyone else and that Lenina should sleep with other people, not just Henry. Fanny is totally blinded by the wax that she cannot understand Lenina’s point of view. Fanny’s wax coat is completely hard and thick and has enclosed upon her rock ever since the hatchery. Her thoughts are not her own, only what she learned and experienced in her youth and during hypnopædia.
The Director is someone who almost breaches the outer layer of the wax. He cared for Linda, at one time, before they took a trip to the reservation. He elaborated on this affection when Bernard asked him for a pass to the reservation. Mustapha Mond also expresses his love for reading and books as well as reveals to the reader his secret science experiments. All of the character’s who almost broke through the wax were of a higher caste, being able to know and experience more than those of the lower castes. This shows that the more responsibility one is given in that society, the more likely chance there is for the formation of ones own thoughts and not conforming to society.
The rock is the embodiment of truth and freedom: freedom of thought, freedom of choice, freedom of person. As an untainted, uninfluenced rock, one heeds only their own thoughts and decisions. As such a rock, one is free to live a life of individualism, unaffected by the pressures and deceit of society, conformity and normality. These pressures, these cultural and societal influences that affect and hinder one’s freedom, take form in drops of wax. Picture a rock sitting nearby a lit candle. As the flame burns, as the life of the individual is lived, pressures build, forming a small pool of wax atop the cylindrical candle. It doesn’t take long before the pool begins to trickle over, releasing beads of hot, liquid wax, winding their way down the sides of the candle. Soon, the wax begins to pour, and with this event, the once pure, individual rock is pelted with scarlet drops, pressures and lies, that “adhere, incrust, and incorporate” themselves into the life of the individual. Now, all that is seen is a blob of wax, completely covering the once free rock, now disguised and captivated by the forced beliefs and thoughts of the society.
Despite this inevitable process, the underside of the rock is protected; the foundation of the individual’s beliefs is unreached by the now hard, thick wax. An example of such an individual as this is Mustapha Mond. He was able to form a sort of foundation and basis for his belief and knowledge. He knows things that many people in the rest of the society never have a chance to learn about. For instance, Mond knows about Shakespearian literature. He knows that it existed, and still exists in his secret stash. This is a piece of knowledge that was kept safe from the deception of society.
John is an example of an individual who grew up under similar circumstances, but of lesser intensity. He was born on the savage reservation, where, just as the world is today, there are pressures and lies that can hinder, captivate and deceive. However, John, unlike Mond, was able to create a stronger foundation for himself. He lived in a world where he was given freedom: freedom of thought, freedom of choice, freedom of person. These extensive freedoms allowed him to form his own kind of covering on the surface of the rock; a covering that protects from the wax that falls ever so constantly on the surface.
In the civilization of Brave New World, this process of societal influences encasing individuals is much different than that of the formerly mentioned process. When a child is created in Brave New World, they are not just pelted with pressures and deceit, but they are, from their first moment of existence, thrown into a tub of hot wax. The wax immediately envelops the rock, covering every side, and so making the individual incapable of founding any sort of basis and belief. They are at once made a captive to the thoughts of the society and forbade any chance of forming their own opinions, choices, and beliefs. The truth and freedom that should be accessible is completely hidden in deceit and forced influences. Freedom allows for the prevailing of truth, but this captivity, this shell of hardened, blinding wax, covers the truth with falsehoods.
Maanas Tripathi
Apparently, very few of you have ever heard that brevity is the soul of wit. Your choice, though. Wit and length aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.
That said, time for my response.
The similie is juxtaposed with an ongoing dialogue discussing hypnopedic techniques. Thus, it seems that the similie is only providing another perspective on hypnopedia. The subliminal suggestions are the drops of "liquid-sealing wax". They stick to, accumulate on, and soon assimilate the mind. And just as the rock becomes a "scarlet blob", the person's mind becomes "these suggestions".
Later in the book, the reader sees an individual (Linda) who has experienced World-State conditioning but doesn't live in the World-State. The "wax layer" now has nothing reinforcing it, so Linda's real nature can almost be seen. She grows old and becomes ugly and revolting as the rest of us will. More importantly, she expresses shame (a very human emotion) when she describes taking peyotl (120). Of course, Linda is still quite shallow and makes several bigoted, almost hypnopedic comments about the savages who she lives with, calling them "lunatics" and "beastly savages" (121). But the point is that at times, the "rock can be perceived", likely due to Linda's unlikely circumstances.
Other than that, the only other instances come from the aforementioned Mond, Helmholtz (who is sick of the ease of living and desires something more), and Bernard (who's height is a metaphor for his status among Alpha Plus'). Nowhere is there evidence of ordinary people breaking out of the "wax".
I must disagree with the previous poster's comment concerning John, however, who has also been conditioned to a great deal. He claims that he claims that he wanted to have been flagellated "to please Pookong and Jesus" and "for the sake of the Pueblo" (117). John was not given "freedom" at all: he was put into an environment in which knowledge was monopolized (of course a medicine man knows how to summon rain, don't deny it), books didn't exist, and religion went unquestioned. It seems as totalitarian as the World-State: while it could only make people hate nature (21), the Pueblo could make people desire pain upon themselves.
With the intent of avoiding redundancy, there is nothing more that I can contribute to the discussion. Sorry for the removed post: I made a few errors.
Even the toughest granite can be destroyed, though it is the best of the best that can break even the tiniest crack through the destruction.
Rocks, naturally, are all different. Chances are low that one will find two identical pieces of granite. A natural rock has different shapes, colors, and flaws, due to the rock’s condition and ‘life’. Coating a rock with a synthetic substance can altogether change that, though. Sealing wax, representing a society like that of Brave New World’s, is a material containing happiness instead of satisfaction, soma instead of grief, and absorption instead of question. These key ingredients are melted together to make the ‘perfect’ wax society, creating a human being similar to that of a doll. The wax blocks expansion and growth of the mind; a rock covered in the substance is now stuck with what has been dropped upon it.
John, the savage, is a rock that has not been exposed to the binding and molding. Although wax has attempted to drip on him, he has rejected it greatly. John protests soma, and prefers unhappiness over convenience. Although he himself did not break through any cage, he has shown the people of the New World how it is outside; he has helped them perceive the rock. John shocks them with his love for his ugly, aged, dying mother, his fight against soma, and his desire for love, not lust. Despite this, there are few wax-coated rocks who can think slightly out of their shell, two of them being Helmholtz and Bernard. The two know that there is something more than the substance laid in front of them, they just do not know what it is, or how to attain it.
I think that in this case, the rock signifies anyone or anything that is a part of society, but doesn't quite fit in. Thus, it could really be Bernard, Helmholtz, or John, but the real rock in this case is John, for he by far outdoes the others in how far he fits outside of the mold. The liquid wax are the members of society, whether alpha or beta, that are so completely and disgustingly uniform that they start to make even the outsiders lose their individuality.
Lenina is a great example of this when she tries her hardest to seduce John or goes to visit him when he is living at the light house.
Although Lenina failed miserably at seducing John, it serves as a great example of how John (the rock) was able to break through the wax that was Lenina, suffocating him in promiscuity. He didn't give into her charm because of what romantic ideals he clinged to from the Shakespear he had read.
Another example of how "the rock" almost breaks through the mold is when John starts a riot and has Helmholtz help him convince the public to throw away their soma and feel actual emotions, like sadness.
In the very end of the book, even John, as strong as he was able to remain throughout his struggles in the Ford, gives in to the pressure of the wax and takes part in the orgy. Feeling disgusted with himself he thus is forced to commit suicide, because he became the one person or the thousands of people he never wished to be. He was just like anyone else. bye-bye rock, hello wax.
When each of us entered this world, we were all equal; pure, and completely innocent. As time pass, and as we grow, we are all influenced by our surroundings. The "rock" in this simile represents the babies that are made through the Bokanovsky process and the drops of water represent the influences to the babies. Although it seems like a rock can never be changed by something as soft as water, over time water can carve through the largest of mountains. Every second, minute, and year that pass represents the drops of water that carves each one of us into what we are today.
The layer of wax represents the hypnopaedic teachings given to babies right after they are produced. A layer of wax is great representation for hypnopaedia because it seals the rock and keeps it pure and unshaped by the drops of water (influences).
In Brave New World, John is the rock that has been carved over time. He was born in the savage reservation and did not go through the hypnopaedic teachings there for he is not isolated by a layer of wax. Not being covered by wax allows him grow and develop his own personality as well as thought.
Lenina is an example in BNW of a rock that nearly breaks through the wax. Unlike Fanny or Henry Foster, whose layer of wax is impenetrable, Lenina is different. She breaks several social norms such as dating just one person for long periods of time or finding Bernard, who is considered different from the other Alphas, attractive. Lenina (the rock) wants to break through the layer of wax, but cannot. Even though John is a savage and not like the Alphas in any way, Lenina still feels attracted to him. Unfortunately, she cannot express her emotions like John would want because she cannot break through the layer of wax and can only act on the hynopaedic teachings.
Examples of rocks that have thin layers of wax can be found in Bernard and Helmholtz. Perhaps the reason why they are friends is because of this common ground. Helmholtz is of high caste but feels as if there should be something more meaningful in life. Helmholtz's rock can be perceived in his behaviors. He constantly expresses his emotions to Bernard when they meet. Also another time when he was punished for expressing his thoughts in a poem he wrote. Bernard is a prime example of a rock with a thin layer of wax. Not taking soma perhaps help Bernard weaken the wax layer that seals his thoughts. He fits in society but at the same time feels different from the others because he is able to think for himself.
It is true that the layer of wax seals people from the influences of the world, keeping them pure. However, the wax also inhibits the ability of growth and development. Therefore, every rock in a sealed layer of wax remains baby-like and mentally weak. When the Director was confronted by John and Linda, he is overwhelmed with emotions and could not apprehend them. In life, diversity is essential because without diversity, we are nothing more than copies and clones.
The rock represents the mind. It can be either a child or an adult but probably child because those are the ones they are trying to manipulate. As an individual ages their body as well as mind age too. This can be accomplished by traditional ideas such as the water representing the effects of learning and weak parts of the mind breaking off and thus refining it.
However, in contrast, the society in BNW does not wish to toss out the weak aspects of the mind. They attempt to preserve these parts by filling in the empty spaces surrounding with their own elements of conditioned behavior. By doing so the entire outward appearance is altered and can barely be recognized as what it originally was. The World State makes each individual act exactly as they desire.
An example of when the contents of a character's true mind are revealed is Bernard and the effects of the World State society. Because he is physically inferior compared to the rest of his caste he feels insecure. And so his true state of mind is revealed through his isolation and dislike of the World State.
The rock signifies a person’s free mind, unrestricted and not influenced by other sources. It acts freely and strongly. The wax constricts the mind from freedom and free will and forces it to oblige. The Liquid sealing wax signifies the various forms of conditioning the state does like hypnopaedia. As more and more layers of sealing wax adhere to the rock, it becomes harder and harder to see it. Eventually the wax gets so thick that soon the brains’ thoughts are suggestions of the state.
Conditioning has forms a wax layer that gets stronger overtime and increasingly clouds the brains’ judgment. Increasingly the conditioning makes the person less and less like themselves.
However, when the wax layer is still thin, the rock can be seen.
Bernard’s wax layer was relatively thin and his judgment wasn’t as clouded, so he was able to question the perfect world he lived in. At times he saw through this perfect world and knew that there was more. Helmholtz Watson is similar to Bernard. He too felt like an individual in a world full of identical people. His brain and his unrestricted conscious thoughts were visible when he wrote his own poem about being anti-social. Lenina too had a moment of pure uncensored thoughts and feelings. She expressed to Fanny that she liked Bernard a lot, despite what conditioning and society had taught her and made her think. These examples show that the wax layer is strong and think, but sometimes the true mind of the individual can be perceived, even if it is for only a few moments.
Granite is a collection of mineral sediments that have gathered over time to form the resolute matter. A strong substance that is both united by time and elements. But like all forms of matter, even the staunch stone is subject to erosion. Although elements are the very foundation granite is built upon, the same elements that build the rock can crack it. Liquid drops of water, with each and every drop, begin to wear the rock away. How to solve such a predicament? Liquid drops of self sealing wax.
The ten World Controllers, established the World State by controlling both nature and nurture. With the Bokanovsky's Process, hypnopaedic methods, intervals of soma, and other forms of conditioning, World State citizens are arrested and immobilized in the wax; they’re unable to think and unable to live, and all of them are assimilated to their waxed layers. However, Huxley shows that even the World State is subject to human errors and anomalies.
Bernard and Helmholtz, both born and conditioned in the World State, are the very few that have resisted the assimilation. In Bernard's side, an inadequate amount of wax has been poured, leading to a dimple on the artifical surface; on the other hand, Helmholt received an ample amount, enabling him to stand out as an extra droplet of wax above the World State. These two men were able to escape the incrustation of wax and witness the whole of the World State and perceive the shape of human history that once existed.
Unlike Helmholtz and Bernard who chose to act as renegades, the Director faced the most scandolous predicament. He fathered a child. In the World State, such an act is beyond humiliation, but treachery and heresy to the fullest. Like every other waxed granite sediment of the rock, the Director lived a conventional life without any ambuigities. He chose the inoccous path all his life until a certain blunder with a Beta ended his career and exiled him. What makes him so unusual is that he never chose to impregnate Linda. His wax chipped on it’s own from chance and a series of accidents yielding a thinner patch of the artifical material.
From Bernard and Helmholtz to the Director, the World State Granite is not perfect nor will it ever achieve such a condition. Each individual story shows how each patch of the rock is subject to fallacy and that those few can view the World State for what it truly is.
A rock is the perfect metaphor for human nature: rough, rugged, and, of course, natural. The gooey sealing-wax molds these rocks into unnaturally identical, wax-sealed blobs -- garnished with a sprig of injustice and a pinch of complete submission. Though the wax does more than just produce scarlet-esque look-alikes, it erodes away the original foundations of the rock until the stone-cold granite surface has been obliterated. The end result is a metamorphosis rather than a fresh polish -- the original human characteristics are weathered away.
In A Brave New World, Aldous Huxley emphasizes that a dim, warring society was brought into a new light. The presiding government has a rather Hobbesian view of human nature. If anything, the belief that everyone suffered from “continued fear and danger of a violent death” united many to establish the leviathan-like power-structure. Certainly, the results of Huxley’s “brave new world” show that it was a successful campaign; it achieved a picture-perfect world of ever-happy drones.
The rock remains as a symbol of true human nature. The sealing-wax serves to clear up any unnecessary -- if not unwanted -- blemishes. Yet it leaves a trail of destruction in its wake. The people of the brainwashed society paid a hefty price to achieve their coveted Hobbsian world. And it shows. For example, birth has been replaced with the highly-technical process of decantation. Without the concept of loving parents, the very essence of life as a human has been destroyed. Instead -- armed with weapons of self-deterioration -- people have their soma-trips and mindlessly chant hypnopædic adages. These destructive tools serve as the basic ingredients for the scarlet sealing-wax. And the rock of human nature is forever veiled within it.
Each person in this society is deeply immersed in his or her habitat. The typical day for any functioning member of society has become a routine, with nothing to look forward to but Feelies, Obstacle Golf and promiscuous sex. Despite the rut, the whole schedule remains enjoyable day after day after day. Even the everyday conversation between members of the society shows a lack of human quality. Take, for example, the one between Henry Foster and the Assistant Predestinator: the two “chaps” talk about Lenina Crowne as though she was a “bit of meat” -- they casually objectify her as if it was a just thing to do. Further, their innate reflexes are honed so that they reach for a bottle of soma and occasionally replay the saying “Half a gramme is better than a damn.”
As dull as the generic citizens of the Ford-ian Empire may be, the world is not without its revolutionaries. Of all of Huxley’s characters, Bernard, Hemholtz and John convey human characteristics to some degree -- and in doing so, they are anomalies. They freckle the face of the otherwise unblemished society with their unorthodox ideas and views.
Bernard and Hemholtz have the most similar characteristics. The two are rocks with only a thin layer of sealing-wax; or, rather, the rock is nearly exposed to the free world. It can be evidenced in Bernard as he desires to be alone in the quiet darkness; an idea that leaves Lenina Crowne in shock and fear. Hemholtz on the other hand lives in a world that he doesn't fully understand. He believes that there is "something much more important. Yes, and much more intense, more violent. But what?" And that remains unanswered to him.
Another intriguing idea is that both the sealing wax and water seem to have destructive properties. The wax is destructive in the sense that it veils what lies beneath -- it smothers everything. Whereas the water is equally vicious in that it breaks and chisels the rock into meager little bits-and-pieces; in a sense, it tears human qualities apart as opposed to just masking them. And it’s John the Savage that bears the brunt of the tumultuous ebb and flow of a river of injustice.
John is unlike Bernard and Hemholtz in that he was never preconditioned. In a world of common-gravel and crimson-blobs, John represents a rock in its purest, most natural state -- unhindered and untouched. He stands out in either crowd. Yet it’s this difference that leads to his breakdown, and eventual suicide. His life was always a constant struggle to fit in to some group. However, society released the flood gates upon him and he was left to erode away into nothingness.
The simile is representative of the strategy used to make people think a certain way in this Brave New World society. The simile can be seen either on an individual scale, or it could represent the entire society. The rock represents a person's mind who has thoughts that we would deem normal or natural. The mind knows love, hate, and choice. The rock can represent our society as a whole, one with free thought. The water represents complete destruction of the rock, or the destroying of free thought. This however, is not the strategy used in Brave New World to condition them to a certain way of thinking, because complete destruction of free thought would likely cause a revolt. People don't like things to be taken away from them, so forcing free thought out of citizens in an agressive way would cause more chaos than efficiency. Instead, in Brave New World, thoughts aren't taken away, but merely covered up. This is the wax layer. By conditioning citizens of this society in their sleep from a young age, choice and thinking freely aren't really taken away, but covered up in such a way that people believe the way that they live is the best way. Citizens are satisfied with who they are and don't even know what emotions such as love and grief are. This wax layer is the key to efficiency and happiness of humans in the society of Brave New World.
Society as a whole really doesn't ever come very close to breaking through the wax layer, even with the arrival of John. However, there are a few individuals that do. Helmholtz Watson has thinned the wax layer even at the beginning of the novel when he said,"'Did you ever feel,' he asked, 'as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out'"(69)? He already knows that there is something under the wax layer encasing his mind, but he can't figure out what it is. The fact that Helmholtz is thinking about it shows that he is on the verge of breaking through the wax. By the end of the novel, since he is going to the island, his wax layer has almost been broken. Time on the island probably would have broken it completely.
Bernard also almost allows his rock to break through the wax layer. His difference in height aready separates him from other Alphas, so he begins to think differently as well. By visiting the reservation the wax layer almost breaks, because he is able to see this different world and take it with ease, while Lenina is disgusted with it. He also never takes soma,which helps to keep his mind open. However, in the end, when Bernard is taken by the police, he is very cowardly and the wax layer seems to form around the rock again.
Lenina also almost breaks through the wax layer. At the beginning of the novel she states, "...it's only about four months now since I've been having Henry"(40). Four months is a long time to be seeing only one person in Brave New World, so this highly unusual act could be seen as thinning the wax layer. However, this is about as far as Lenina goes in breaking out of society's trends. She is afraid of the reservation and takes soma for stress, so the rock can only be seen for a moment with her.
John is a character unique to this simile. He doesn't have a wax layer on his mind. John tries to break the trends of other people in society, but they are hard to break. This shows that the importance in conditioning of the mind lies in starting it as early as possible. When the mind is condtioned to think a certain way in Brave New World, it is nearly impossible to break.
In nature, granite is very unique and no two pieces are alike. Raw granite is very rough and has sharp edges that are imperfect, and all the unique designs are cloudy and hard to make out. This is easily comparable to us as human beings, where all of us are unique in our own right. Society today is like the water, slowly and steadily wearing at us and shaping us into a piece of granite which will shine and look magnificent, but only after the years of slow change. This piece of granite shines with a polished brilliance and reaches its fullest potential.
The society in Brave New World is like the wax. Layer upon layer, the wax will slowly cover the granite until the original uniqueness is covered up and you are left with a red blob that looks like every other red blob formed this way. Brave New World essentially eliminates all the originality in society, everyone acts the same, feels the same and differences are frowned upon. There are no differences in the civilization and when someone shows any part of their granite “showing” it sticks out like a sore thumb, like in Bernard’s case when he starts to feel more like an individual. Also, when trial may face their life, gnawing away at the bare rock, they have soma they can take to cover up revealing spot.
The rock in this simile basically represents a person or a mind of the person which is bombarded and surrounded with thoughts, ideas and social norms societies today and perhaps tomorrow will "incrust" people with. This is represented by the wax. Once that rock is introduced to the wax, it begins to conform and make itself comfortable around it not allowing the rock to see itself for who or what it really is.
In Brave New World when the rock almost succeeds in breaking through the wax occurred when the "savages", John and Linda returned from the Reservation into London with Bernard. At this point in the book, both the DHC and the "savages" are able to perceive the true reality outside their contained and stable world. They are able to see each others' weaknesses and strengths all of which they could not cope with. Linda went into a soma coma, the DHC completely disappeared and John hangs himself in the end.
The rock in this simile basically represents a person or a mind of the person which is bombarded and surrounded with thoughts, ideas and social norms societies today and perhaps tomorrow will "incrust" people with. This is represented by the wax. Once that rock is introduced to the wax, it begins to conform and make itself comfortable around it not allowing the rock to see itself for who or what it really is.
In Brave New World when the rock almost succeeds in breaking through the wax occurred when the "savages", John and Linda returned from the Reservation into London with Bernard. At this point in the book, both the DHC and the "savages" are able to perceive the true reality outside their contained and stable world. They are able to see each others' weaknesses and strengths all of which they could not cope with. Linda went into a soma coma, the DHC completely disappeared and John hangs himself in the end.
In this similie, it shows the different parts of the society in Brave New World in a different light. The rock without any sort of wax or indents is the individual and what the individual believes personally. The liquid is the little subtle ideas that people hold in their hearts that seem to go against what the society is teaching every other rock. The granite is the final specimin in the society. The one that embodies everything the society believes in and is the role model that everyone should follow. The wax is the final aspect in the society that changes the individual thoughts of one person to the society as a whole. One society, where there is only one form of thought, one idea and only one acceptable lifestyle.
As a reader follows the different characters in Brave New World there were several extremes of characters within this unified society. In the case where the rock, or a single person manages to break through the wax, or the propaganda in the society, it's probably portrayed the best in Bernard's life story. Bernard constantly faces the blood alcohol story in his life simply because he is so different. He doesn't appreciate the way that men, like Henry Foster talk about women nor does he treat soma the same way that many others do in the society. Bernard also feels left out during the religious meeting, because he knows that the excitement many members showed was faked and that he himself faked it. He also hates the idea of going to see sports, as is seen when he complains to Lenina, and Bernard also wants the most taboo thing, to be alone. Bernard nearly breaks through the wax in that his ideas are so different from society that he goes to Helmholtz to consol himself. He has the urge to break out of society's norms and simply to be himself.
There are more occasions as to the wax layer being so thin that the rock can be percieved in more characters. The first is probably in Bernard. Bernard has his own sort of thinking, as seen in the previous paragraph that he wants to break out of society. However, because his personality has been so worn down by the wax, he has no way of actually breaking out.
Helmholtz also nearly breaks through the wax near the middle of the book. When Helmholtz is teaching a class about propaganda, he writes a poem about being alone and is reported. Here, his true wish is actually made known. However he can't do anything about it because following through with such an idea would be disastrous, so he never really does break through until the end.
Mustapha Mond shows probably the most "rock" out of everyone in the book in the final chapters. While deciding a sentence for Bernard, Helmholtz, and John he reveals to them his own past. His past fascination with science and the decision that he had to face that shaped him as a person. Here, many people discover that Mond himself was discontent with the lack of science within the society and chose to pursue that field of knowledge. Instead of following through and sticking with his dreams however, Mond chose to back out and follow society's norms when faced with authority. It is with Mond that we see the most rock, but it is also with Mond that we see the re-creation of the thickest amount of wax on one person. Mond shows us the best about the final idea within this simlie. This wax is something that many of the rocks can't avoid. It is something that is always going to be present and it is something that will either make a person, or break them.
this passage is suggesting a fundamental difference between the effects of water and liquid-sealing wax on the piece of rock. Lets consider the rock as a society. Water can be considered the things that makes us human. The "soul" if you will. The soul contributes to individuality and expression as the giant rock breaks apart into its millions of parts that each make up the whole. But to have individuality and expression the rock has to take on damage and it is hard to make progress when the rock is scattered. Consider how much easier it is to carry a rock somewhere if it is fully intact than if it is broken into several pieces. Similarly, how much easier is it for a society to make progress when one isn't concerned with his or her own affairs but 100% committed to the good of the entire society. The world state wants to prevent these millions of individual tangents and amalgamates them for the sake of progress.
This is what the liquid-sealing-wax essentially does. It leaves the rock in tact as one large easily movable unit by preventing the penetration of water. Likewise, the world state is "content" and "unified" by eliminating human tendencies such as intimacy. At first it seems the rock can be seen under the layer of wax. But as the world state commits more and more to the exclusion of emotion and sentiment, the wax layer builds up. And before long, you can't even tell it is a rock anymore. Society becomes so safeguarded by the world state that any likeness of a humanity is gone.
In Brave New World we see hope of breaking through the wax layer. Not only from inside the layer, but also from the outside. but they never come to fruition. Hemoltz can be considered as someone from the "inside". He has lived in the
World State and is subject to its way of life. As a writer, he has an undisclosed urge for a deeper sentiment or cause to write about. "I feel I could do something more important. Yes, and more intenst, more violent. But What?" (70). In other words, he is feeling anatural human affinity for art and everything it incorporates. But from inside the wax layer, the old rock is so covered and distorted that he can't see mankind as it used to be and therefore can never see past the wax layer. Even when he is revealed to actual human art, he can't even understand it.(he laughs at the ideas presented by Shakespeare).
John and Bernard are examples of people on the outside looking in. People who are somehow apart from the society covered by the wax-layer. John, by living on a reservation; and Bernard by an anomaly. Consider John as a piece of rock that fell off before the wax layer was applied. John tries to break through the wax or at least tries to make sense of the world underneath it. But as someone completely who's emotional and sentimental being is completely exposed, he cannot function in the distorted society and commits suicide. Bernard is someone who is still attached to the rock, but by sheer chance is not completely covered by the wax layer. Bernard persistently tries to break out of the society's mold. Perhaps he is a unusually long piece sticking out of the rock that is difficult to cover. Ultimately, because of his persistence he is cut out from the society or broken off from the rock to ensure the continued obliviousness of the rest of the society to their own humanity.
In this simile the rock represents the natural world, and the individual. The wax signifies the conditioning of society which constrains, conforms, and disillusions the rock. Rocks are basic parts of nature, however they come in all shapes, sizes, colors, textures, and compositions. Rocks are difficult to change, but are given their marks and distinguishable characteristics from their different experiences and journeys. Wax on the other hand is moldable and conforming.
In the New World, the society is based on the consistency that is conveniently created by conformity. This conformity is achieved by the conditioning administered at the hatchery and conditioning centers, beginning when humans are mere embryos. By conditioning the humans all in the same manor, society takes away the possibility of an individual. They are suffocated by the wax and ideals of society, before they are ever able to have their own experiences and develop ideas and ideals of their own. This obvious lack of diversity goes strongly against nature.
The wax holds people back from ever developing, or reaching for something beyond themselves. In the New World, each person is created as one caste and cannot ever change. It constrains them from having varied feelings, deep emotions, intimacy, adventure, or inspiration. There are no challenges in life or goals to strive for. The rock heavily coated with wax is held firmly in one place, unable to move.
Layers and layers of scarlet wax disillusion the rock, making it difficult to see reality, or what lies beyond. The people in the society see the world through rose colored glasses, masking any hurt or disappointment with another dose of soma. They cannot see what else is out there, nor do they have any great desire too, with some exceptions.
Both Hemholtz and Bernard have thinner layers of wax, and are able to perceive that there has got to be something else out there, something more to life, but neither of them can put their finger on it. Hemholtz longs to write something meaningful, but has no idea as to what that is.
John is perhaps the best example of a rock, because he is the most raw of all the characters. On the reservation he is given plenty of time to be alone and reflect. He develops his ideas and ideals based his influences of Shakespeare, Linda, the other members of the tribe, and his own personal experiences with each of them. He has been exposed to two very different worlds, on the reservation and in the new world, but does not fit in entirely with either one of them. He is the real individual.
This simile is trying to do a "what if" at the expense of human rights and thought, peace could be achieved and compares a rock as an independent free mind, such as John, Bernard, and Helmholtz, someone free from foreign sways and influences. And they all are someone we'd see in reality.
Like sealing wax, the drops of liquid are the World State's norms, rules, taboos and fall down upon the granite covering it's thoughts and free will, quickly adhering and encrusted onto it.
In Brave New World, an example of which the rock breaks through the rock is when John is at the Hospital and Linda died, he is outraged the at first she couldn't recognize her own son, and that she is dying because of soma, and how nonchalant the people are of death. Then he started a riot urging the people not to take their soma as he exclaims that it will cause their demise.
In this simile, the granite, or rocks, represents the individuals that are born into the world. Every rock is different and unique as they’re made, and the rock’s shape is naturally changed over time by drops of water, which are the different life experiences that everyone will face as they live. However, in the World State, instead of letting personal experiences shape who each person is, sealing-wax is applied, keeping these experiences from reaching the person. The sealing wax here represents the genetic engineering and conditioning and everyone is put through in the new world. These practices made every rock, every person, to become a scarlet blob, where they’re not so different from one another.
Examples in Brave New World where the wax layer is thin that the rock can be perceived are Bernard and Helmholtz. These two characters, although they were conditioned just like anyone else in the World State, they had come to realize that there was something more to life, though they did not know what it was. Bernard, for example, is isolated because of his appearance which made him think differently about life and what it is. For Helmholtz, even though he was a perfectly made Alpha, he seek to write about loneliness and wish to experience passionate emotions which he knows must exist but doesn’t know how to get them. Furthermore, his friendship with John proved that he was indeed fascinated by the old ways, yet conditioning got the better of him when John read of Romeo and Juliet.
Over a long period of time, water can wear away solid granite. In the same way, experiences over a lifespan can ‘re-shape’ a personality - teaching new morals, habits, and desires so that they eventually become true nature. But according to Brave New World philosophy, perfection, or rather the desired personality, must be achieved before the person ever enters the Brave New World. To accomplish this, each conceived personality must be ‘re-shaped’ while a fetus and during factory-childhood.
It is impossible to affect a fetus with life experiences, so the Brave New World found a new way of re-shaping them. Instead of wearing away the rock with water, they cover it, dripping sticky wax in precise, dictated patterns to mold the desired shape. Every ounce of blood surrogate, every hypnopaedic maxim coats each unique personality until all are uniform blobs. The true personality still exists, but so shrouded and encrusted that it barely shows through the mold.
And yet, in the beginning of the book, Lenina’s ‘rock’ personality shows through the cultural ‘wax’ casing. Though she can’t explain why, a gut feeling repels her from the socially-expected promiscuity. She confesses to her friend (Fanny) that she has been seeing the same man exclusively for four months (a sin provided against in thousands of hypnopaedic repetitions).
Bernard’s physical differences from other Alphas wears away some of his wax mold, allowing him to feel the existence of his natural personality. The wax is still there, but so thin that Bernard knows something deeper lies underneath. He questioned the Brave New World. But to regain control of Bernard and Lenina, all the Brave New World had to do was drip a little more hypothetical wax on the thin spots.
People are represented by the rock, and the water and wax are what dictate who they are. It is like nature vs. nurture with the water being the nature approach and the wax being nurture. The water is representative of life experiences, and it wears at the rock to make it unique, like life experiences make people who they are. The wax is the conditioning used in Brave New World. Instead of water, the wax makes people who they are, or rather who they are supposed to be.
Bernard is someone whose wax layer is thinner than others. Bernard refuses to take soma like everyone else, seeing the saying “A gram is better than a damn” to be nothing more than a meaningless conditioned motto. Even someone who seems to have a thick and thorough layer of wax like Lenina can break through sometimes. Her infatuation for John is an example of when she pushes through her anti-love conditioning, even if just for a moment.
A rock is merely or widely of utmost certainty. It is what it is. So the possibility of becoming ingrained as something other, that explores a truer reaction, can be found mockingly. Does the rock every rationally change? Incorporation is a medaling of one space into another. Therefore, the rock will never authentically be changed, suggesting room for change but never a complete amendment.
As Watson began to deepen his friendship with John, the bridge separating their worlds began to soften and slowly their areas crumbled together. A glance into Watson’s mind during this monumental relationship is only sufficient when his loneliness poem appears. But following this cry is an all too typical laugh about the ludicrous surrounding Shakespeare. It is as if the rock is trying so hard to open up but the system will always keep it down.
Original experiences shape each individual into a whole person. But there are also times when those same experiences take a piece of a person away from where they had previously felt so content. John’s rock, which symbolizes his life, is almost too rough because of where he grew up. Maybe because he wasn’t given the opportunity to see a time of perfection. Instead, that period in his life was full of danger, scarcity, suspense and maybe too much emotion. John allowed the “water” to fill his mind and eventually be overcome with feelings of wholeness. Not as if he stopped searching for a more righteous explanation, but that he almost gave up the search.
The rock represents people, as in Simon and Garfunkel's "I am a rock; I am an iiiiiiiiiisland." Water represents the things in society that break you down, where as wax represents that which keeps you from growth (sealing your fate, as it were). If the rock is sealed in wax, the water has less of an impact, and is less likely to wear away at the sediment. In Brave New World, the "wax" of society is the conditioning the characters receive. Lenina, as it has been stated, is the best example of the rock almost breaking the mold. Lenina is a conventional gal, who is a pneumatically prime example of the Brave New World conditioning. Yet, even from the beginning of the novel, she can't explain why she feels content sleeping with only one person. More importantly, Lenina shows a childlike love for John, which she cannot accurately express, which defies all hypnopaedic teachings she's ever received.
And Maanas, I wasn't aware you were our resident Lord Polonius. Perhaps it would best suit you not to critique others interpretations of humor.
For lack of a better word, the rock is our humanity. It is the core of what makes us different from machines or animals. It is our needs and desires. According to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, human beings have needs ranging from basic necessities for survival (food, shelter, ect.) to complex desires for self-actualization. Of course, being a hierarchy, one can't desire something unless all the needs below it are met. What the "wax" (the hypnopaedia, the soma, the mindless games,) does is stop the upwards fulfillment of the pyramid. In this world, after meeting some basic needs for belongingness, people do not strive for more. Love, esteem and self-actualization are something it's inhabitants never have, but it is also something they never lack.
But the wax is not strong enough to suppress humanity. We see it in Helmholtz, who feels like something is missing in his life even though he has everything in by this society's standards. He cannot put his finger on it, he can say "'I feel I could do something much more important'", this is clearly hinting towards some desire for self-actualization. But the most ironic example of desire for self-transcendence in the book is Mustapha Mond's. His choice to give up science for world order is odd because in keeping everyone else subdued psychologically, he is serving an idea beyond himself, for the simple "good" of others. He is a strange rock that has climbed to the top of Maslow's pyramid, living up to his own unique potential.
The rock represents what we consider our basic rights. They are what the people give up in Brave New World for the sake of stability: the right to intimacy, individuality and personal values. John is a good example of what the rock is. He, having grown up in a reservation, is the person untouched by the advances of the civilized world. John sees the world similar to how the reader sees it, as a dystopia overrun by technology. The wax is the seal that keeps the people from the civilized world stable and under control. It is the mindless distractions provided by the government, discouragement of real relationships and the strict control of the numbers and types of citizens. This absolute control of the ideas and the brainwashing manages to wipe out any resistance one might have against this “utopia”. However there are times the resistance strengthens and the wax nearly breaks. There are mistakes made that lead to nonconformists like Bernard and Helmholtz. Their feelings of isolation threatens the stability they are working towards. John is a threat just for the believes and values he holds. This is shown in the scene in which he starts a riot in order to return the Utopians to sanity.
I believe that this passage is comparing the water and the wax, and the effects they both have on the rock. The rock is like the whole community in Brave New World. They are one, united force, moving together to create progress and efficiency. The administrators of this controlled society are trying to make each person like water: they blend in with all of society, they are bland and predictable, they are not unique in any way. Some select few, however, such as Bernard and Helmholtz, are different by nature. Something in the wiring of their brain was abnormally built, and this causes them to be more analytical of society and to search for something more to life. The water droplets are harmless to the carefully built society. They just blend together and run off, unnoticed. If you are trying to maintain a perfect, flawless "rock", however, is vital that the wax stays away. The wax will stick, and make an impression on every other person that comes across it. Too much wax can completely alter the perspective of the rock. That is exactly what people (like Mustapha Mond and the DHC) are afraid of most.
In the beginning of every human being’s life, we are each pure and uncorrupted by the elements of this world. Starting off, we each find ourselves unshaped by social norms and completely uninfluenced by how the world can change our perception of reality. In that respect, the rock represents not only the escents of a human being but also the original, unaffected human mind; it is as malleable as clay and easily and quickly swayed by not only the world, but also by simply existing.
From birth, year after year, the citizens of the Brave New World received “drops of wax” from the Department of Hierarchies and Conditioning that slowly but efficiently coated their originally uninfluenced minds with a veil, so to speak, of said wax that they began to see the world through. Their minds (the rocks) had been masked by their society (the wax) in such a way that the rock ceased to existed because it was so concealed with the countless layers of wax and they were only what they had been conditioned to be. In the end, they lost the interest to absorb in knowledge on their own and were forced to see the world with the eyes they were given, not the eyes that they were born with.
Bernard is an example of peaking through the wax yet never quite breaking through. In Brave New World, “breaking through” completely would be disconnecting with that society, not taking soma and thinking entirely for ones own self. The reason why Bernard did not break through, though he was on the verge of doing so, was because once he brought the Savage back home with him he fell victim to the popularity that his discovery gave him and he suddenly found himself surrounded by his original oppressors and sadly, conforming to their way of life, in the end, by choice.
The sealing wax represents a conforming society that molds together and the granite represents the nonconformists. The places where the wax is thin or the rock breaks through represents people who do not fit in to society and convince others to question their place, breaking the mold.
John, Helmholtz, Bernard, and Lenina are all part of the granite. John is the extreme nonconformist. He holds completely different values from the rest of society. Helmholtz has a different intellect than the rest of society, while Bernard and Lenina have different opinions of relationships. Although Helmholtz, Bernard, and Lenina are all different from society, they also fit in to it to an extent. Bernard and Lenina follow the typical intelligence and thought processes that have been conditioned into them while Helmholtz has typical relationships.
Fanny Crowne, Lenina’s friend, is an example of the sealing wax. She does not fit into the granite in any way. She thinks it is important to live one’s life according to the rules society has laid out for her and never questions them.
The granite does wear through the wax in places, but never breaches it. John and Helmholtz try to show the Deltas what freedom is by throwing out the soma rations. Instead of responding to them and questioning their position in society, the Deltas follow the mold by breaking into an angry mob and demanding soma to relieve their problems. Although Leninas affection is unorthodoxly focused on one man: John; he cannot get her to follow his values of marriage and self-sacrifice. The nonconformists get others to think about their position, but never convince anyone to break away.
The scarlet liquid sealing-wax is one's protection against suffering within the Brave New World. Mandatory conditioning, such as hypnopaedia lessons and the flower/book process mentioned in Chapter 2, trains Brave New World civilians to avoid anything that could cause an emotional upset. Soma is a secondary measure to keep people happy—to keep people protected against emotions. The complete encasement in sealing-wax is the success of the BNW society's stability.
The water, in comparison, is a corroding force. Rather than sealing the rock, it breaks the rock down. The water represents emotional force, like love, loss, passion or hate. As the society of BNW is stripped of emotions, and people are conditioned to avoid emotions, there is double-protection again emotions, and thus instability.
The layer of wax is thin in Lenina; she shows multiple times a preference for monogamy that is condemned, first through Henry Foster, and then through John the Savage. Her conditioning (the sealing-wax) must not have gone well, as she shows still a trait that is completely gone in the rest of that society. Her love of John is painful (the water), and begins to wear her down. However the wax layer is still there, as she shows much dependence, in contrast with Bernard's or Helholtz' uniqueness.
My thoughts on this topic are quite simple. The rock for me resembles the humans' true character and personality, untouched or unchanged by say conditioning or hypnopedia. The wax is the repeated messages and the endless hours of brain washing they receive before their 'birth'.
In BNW, the character Lenina is a perfect example of the rock that we could almost see. Lenina, as we know, was conditioned just like the rest of the people in BNW but towards the end of the novel, her debates with John, the savage, I believe, started to change her way of thinking. Even though it was a painful lesson for her.
In this simile, the rock in its natural state, completely free of wax, represents the human mind as it should be—a product of its environment, shaped by outside factors only to the extent that the elements—wind and rain in nature, one’s own life in the context of the mind—can alter the surface of the rock. The nature of the rock itself, though, cannot be changed by natural means. The wax, then, is the artificial means, such as hyponopaedia, by which the state alters the nature of the rock—the individual’s mind—and obscures an individual’s true nature by covering it with a thick layer of goo that makes it impossible for the rock to reveal its true nature.
However, throughout Brave New World, there are certain instances when it seems that the state has failed to completely cover an individual’s sense of self. The most obvious example is, of course, John, who, being born and raised in Malpais, was never subjected to hypnopaedic teaching, and thus is an example of a wholly untainted rock still in its natural state. Bernard Marx is an interesting example of a mostly wax-free rock—his knowledge of hynopaedic teaching helps him identify and avoid most of the pitfalls of its teachings, as happens frequently during his conversations with Lenina, when he retorts to her hynopaedic axioms with information about when and where babies receive that particular piece of indoctrination—that still occasionally gets lost beneath the surface of the wax, as in the later middle parts of the book, when, drunk with glory after becoming the Savage’s guardian, he falls into the same sex-soma-repeat cycle as all the other inhabitants of the brave new world. Helmholtz Watson, on the other hand, is an example of a rock that is thinly glazed with wax at the very beginning—as when he tells Bernard at the beginning of the book about his feeling that something is just missing from his life—and then breaks through its wax in phases, with phase one being Watson’s poem about loneliness—important because it helps him understand the mob as a control mechanism in his society—and phase two being his jumping to John’s aid in the Hospital for the Dying in the later parts of the book. Finally, Lenina is an example of a rock that is coated so thickly in wax that she can’t possibly break through. Occasionally, she peers through the wax and wonders if all is as it seems—as when she feels a “pain” in her heart after John leaves her—but these moments are few, far in between, and uniformly fruitless in regards to Lenina achieving any sort of awakening.
I think that the passage is analogous to the mind, and how in Brave New World it is covered, subverted with thoughs in such a way that it is shaped and formed and sealed in a protective layer against what is unwanted.
When Bernard and Lenina are in the helicopter and he tells her how he feels like an individual and she got upset the vulnerabilities are revealed, the cracks in the wax which shelter her mind are shown.
Unfortunately as I am late to the blogging party, all of the good ideas seem to have been taken! Still, I will do my best to discuss and try to elaborate upon the concepts already presented and possibly provide a new perspective on the conversation.
As is almost universally agreed upon, the sentence in question is a metaphor for the method of hypnopedia. Though it can indeed be justly expanded to represent freedom, its first application is as a metaphor for sleep teaching, considering the context of the quote. The statement states that hypnopedia, contrary to what one might think, does not gradually wear away at the brain and its ability to process thoughts in a rational manner; rather, the hypnopedia obscures, indeed envelops, the original mind, instead showing only what the designers desire to see. It retains the original cognitive and decision-making ability of the mind/rock, just limiting it to the confines of the social norms as dictated fifty times a day three times a week for four years, or whatever the case may be. When one takes the quote within the context of the page, a deeper meaning is derivable. The Director describes the process as one which continues “till at last the child’s mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child’s mind” (28 – 29). So the ultimate goal of “a scarlet blob” is one in which the wax is completely opaque. In this way, there is a surprising similarity between the effects of dripping wax and dripping water – in the end the rock is not visible. However, it is important that the populace still retain the ability to make decisions, as opposed to a water-to-granite technique (lobotomy anyone?) which would reduce the World State citizens to zombies (let discussion commence on whether or not they already are). Why is this capacity important? Just go back to the theme and driving purpose of the entire society: production. Though Brave New World does not specifically state as such, the country must to some extent rely on a free-market economy (albeit with huge amounts of government intervention), or else there would be no reason for consumption and no drive towards efficiency, and a capitalist system relies on consumers making choices. So the wax-on technique is necessary to realize the potential of the consumers.
So to what else does the metaphor apply? It is not far of a stretch to relate the rock not only to cold mental capacity but personality as well. The degree to which one’s personality is manifest has an inverse relationship to the thickness of the wax. On Lenina, the wax is relatively thick – though she has some irregularities in relating to her attraction to Bernard and John, it’s nothing that passes for true personality, especially compared to John.
Mond is another matter, however. He clearly has plenty of personality, and yet he adheres to the doctrines of the state, seemingly a contradiction. The World State needs people like him, who are at once solid rock and solid wax, allow the country to function.
The rock is the individuality that is innate in everyone at conception. The rock shows its crevices, its nooks, and its shapes as portrayed by John. The difference between John and the rest of the civilized people in London is his affection, his LOVE,emotion, and morales. These are outcomes of this being brought up at the reservation where, as a rock, he was allowed to weather and be shaped. He has had the freedom to undergo the natural weathering and erosion caused by stress, emotions, and a conscious; the water that erodes the rock. People in London have been waxed on, through hypnopaedia and other precise methods of conditioning; they treat their stress with soma holidays and emotionally infants. The water cannot erode on them because of the wax; the conditioning does not let the stresses and emotions shape the people in London.
In BNW, Lenina is the rock that is almost visible. After the conditioning and despite the peer pressure (that told her to not respect John's privacy and values) she made the individual decision and effort to somewhat uphold John's separate perspectives. By showing her emotions she broke out of the shell that the wax had created around her.
Examples like Bernard and Helmholtz also show that change is a function of time. As they grow older, people like Bernard and Helmholtz partially break off some of their inhibiting wax layer and reveal distinct identities.
This passage represents really the whole of what Brave New World is. The granite represents us, as is, in a natural state, uninhibited by psycho-conditioning and sub-concious suggestions. The sealing wax, is the way people are being made into. It covers and blinds the granite disguising it as something else, altering our thoughts, creating the "perfect" society. And via this form of subtle ursuptation of our very own thoughts and free-will, we fall into the mold of Brave New World. The wax is layered so heavily and builds so thick that a rare few ever see the granite beneath, and even then, they are soon dealt with.
A great exaple of this connection between what people should be, and what they are, is the portion of the book where Bernard sat in his plane with Lenina and pondered the ocean. He felt like something should be different, and questioned life, but was unable to determine just what else life could be. His wax caoting was simply unbreakable, as thin as it had become.
Another example of the rock, free of all the wax covering, is of course, John. He was not forced to face the terrors of the Brave New World society, and problems of free will that arise as a result of being birthed there. His thoughts remain as, what we would consider, a normal persons should, and is shocked to see so many wax-cloaked individuals doing things that he finds to be offensive or alltogether wrong. And for this, he is ironicly dubbed the "Savage".
This book is littered with examples of this rock breaking through the wax, or atleast being able to see past it, but these have been well-documented and thought upon by my fellow students, and do not seem to me to hold much prophetic power any longer. So this post will end in stating that the sealing wax is simply that, wax. At best a flimsy material, and can truly only hold the rock as long as the rock allows itself to be held.
Trying to not be repetitive- I saw the rock as being human society- or a person you've set the reset button on. As they grow up with adversities and different events the rain drops start to shape humans differently and erodes a person slowly. Because each rain storm is different from every other, there could be a light shower, a sprinkle or a down pour. So there is really no sure-fire way of telling at the end of its life span, how the rocks gonna turn out.
The "drops of liquid sealing-wax" are the drops that are slowly working its way into humans and are meant to shape everyone the same, and to protect them from the adversities of the water. However, with DROPS of wax not just one big stroke, there are still spots that are going to go untouched. Even though eventually it will become "one scarlet blob" there will still be spots that are more transparent than others. Sort of an Achilles heal, which would be Bernard and Hemholtz. They are the different pieces of the rock that didn't quite get all of the sealant as the rest of society did. They have somehow managed to shed it of them selves. And since they have less "sealent" then when touched by the water, they are going to be much more affected by it and thus the outcasts of the rock/society.
In this passage, the granite metaphorically represents all individuals, living in both World State and the Savage World. The drops of water presented onto the granite is conditioning and shaping of human beings through life experiences or the ‘wear and tear’ experiences. On the other hand, the sealing-wax signifies the conditioning of human beings through the genetic engineering and psychological alterations of the human mind in laboratories.
It is apparent that rocks and humans come in all shapes and sizes, forms and textures, quality and colors, virtually, they are just like human beings, only inanimate. Water assists to shape and mold the granite. Likewise, human experiences assist to shape growth and development (character and personality). Essentially with time, the rock will erode away to bits and pieces and humans will eventually die.
But in novel, Brave New World, prominent life experiences and the shaping of a character is not what the World State strives for. Instead, the World State nurtures on the ideas of perfection in uniform by applying a coat of sealing-wax on all individuals. This sealing-wax is applied at the start of birth, prohibiting any defects from the idea of perfection in uniform from the start.
The best example of an individual almost breaking the encrusted mold of sealed-wax would be Bernard Marx. From the start, Aldous Huxley has given the idea that Bernard is different from all the other characters. His seal had a crack from the start. Bernard has all these mixed emotions (a lessened sexual drive, jealousy, lovesick, etc) that a conditioned primed person would never feel.
A rock is really the perfect metaphor for the human mind. In our natural state we share many qualities with the common rock. Both are flawed, rough-cut, but above all else, pure. However, it only takes some outside force to shatter the cozy facade that is an uncorrupted mind. This simile describes just that. The liquid sealing wax doesn't simply erode a rocks foundations, it forces it to conform into a substance that is entirely unlike itself, while repelling all outside interference – be it reason or emotion. Theoretically, one could say that water is to a rock as society is to a human. Both take a pristine object and contaminate, pervert, and wither it until it is no longer recognizable.
In A Brave New World there are several instances where mans' spirit is put to the test. One such example occurs towards the end of the novel, when Bernard, Helmholtz, and the savage are in Mustapha Monds office. When the subject of deportation comes up, Marx quickly turns his back on his friends, begging Mond not to exile him. Here we see the rock that once was Bernard Marx completely crack under the stress of society. Oddly, Helmholtz – who has been in the same society as Marx – shows remarkable resilience. Taking a staunch stand for his beliefs and poems, which almost corrupted the very system that was designed to corrupt him.
However, the best example of a rock is the Savage, John. In his natural state the wax had yet to smother him, leaving him open to free thought and reason. Yet as soon as he was subject to the torment that is society he began to fracture. Although he held out longer than any other character in the book, he could not feign the inevitable. As soon as his self – made facade began to crumble down all around him, he completely snapped. Just like no man is an island, no rock is truly uncrackable. Left to wither in denial over his mothers death and the fact that there was no hope for a future in a world completely alien to him, the man that once seemed unbreakable left the world as just that – broken.
The rock simply represents an individual’s life. Rocks, like people, all look different. They all have different groves and markings that make them unique. Water, similar to the trials that people face in life, break down the rock (ultimately making new groves and markings).
The sealing-wax represents the tactics in Brave New World’s society such as hypnopaedia and soma that cover up each person’s humanity and individuality. The more wax that is added, the farther away the rock is from reality. When the rock is eventually “all one scarlet blob”, it looks exactly the same as all the other rocks. Not one is unique.
This is much like the society in Brave New World. They use hypnopaedia to basically brain wash the citizens, keeping them farther and farther away from reality, also keeping them farther away from individuality. The society focuses on the whole, not on specific people.
John is an example of a rock untouched by wax. He experienced life outside of the new world society. He was able to live a semi-normal life, feeling emotions that people inside the society had never felt. Bernard and Helmholtz are both examples of wax chipping away from the rock. They don’t feel like they fit the requirements of their caste. They feel alone and different from everyone else, although their rock is never completely broken through the wax because they never actually feel those emotions that other outsiders do.
The rock in this simile is representative of true human nature in its natural form, before any artificial conditioning is imposed upon it. It is covered up by the wax, which is representative of the “hypnopaedia,” or sleep conditioning that the children are exposed to. This conditioning covers over and “encrusts” the true feelings of the people. Just like wax is moldable and malleable, so are the beliefs, desires, and inclinations of the people.
Additionally, the wax eventually forms a “blob,” which is shapeless and boring. The people in Brave New World are in a similar form. Everyone, within their respective class, is more or less the same. Their conditioning has led them all to have the same interests and patterns of behavior. There are exceptions, but these anomalies and few and, for the most part, far between.
However, sometimes the conditioning fails, and the true human nature, the “rock,” can be seen or felt. One example of this is when Lenina is describing to Fanny how she has been going out only with Henry Foster for the past four months, since she “hadn't been feeling very keen on promiscuity lately” (36). It is a far cry from love, but it is a place where a desire for something more in a relationship, an element of the “rock” in a person, can be seen. Similar feeling can be seen in Bernard as well. One example of this can be seen when he and Lenina stop in their helicopter above the English Channel. In that meeting and the one the following day, Bernard also expresses a desire for something more and even goes on to ask “what would it be like if I could, if I were free-not enslaved by my own conditioning” (76). He wishes to be free of the wax that is encasing his mind, an act that in itself shows the thinness of the covering.
Huxley’s contrast between water and wax is very effective. The granite is the core of the unexposed human mind, free and bare but also equal and replicated throughout society - it is yet susceptible to the knowledge that free thought processes and experience imparts. Just as the impact of water on granite chips the original stone, life experiences often provoke thought by chipping past beliefs. The chipped stone forms a unique personality, a thinking mind. As the elementary intellect explores the world, faces challenges and struggles to find happiness its original character is modified – transformed into an individual. The society of a Brave New World cultivates waxing the human mind, dulling and disguising it to the realities of life. Wax envelopes the mind, isolating and preventing the slightest tainting or development - development of human ideas. Idea’s about truth, reality and life in general.
The Brave New World survives on the wax concealing and repressing any discontenting ideas, narrowing any freedom of choice or feeling. The wax comes in the form of hypnopaedia practices, soma and promiscuity (as a sexual outlet) etc. - all in favor of holding a stable, uniform and imprisoned intellect.
The wax coat is stretched as Bernard and Hemboltz feel incomplete in their lives and push the social boundaries. Bernard hovers over a sea hoping to feel something true, real or purposeful and Hemboltz challenges the trivial aspect of his existence, eventually defying conventional thought through a poem on loneliness. For those brief moments the “granite” of their character nearly broke through the social mold.
John, the Savage, is comparatively unconstrained, and represents the bare stone and its journey in becoming eroded by water. John reads Shakespeare and searches for his morals, place and purpose. He stands by his principles through his love (or lust) for Lenina. John has never been “waxed” by society and he insists on revolting against wrongful practices. When the soma tablets are handed out John clings to his beliefs and attempts to lead an uprising. The rigidity of Johns’ granite is strong enough as to resist the wax drops of the Brave New World.
I think that this simile's rock is its own individual, its own life, representing a human individual. I think that the sealing-wax is the society of which exists in BNW. It coats the rock into "one scarlet blog", blinding it from seeing a world from their own point of view. Instead, the wax shows the rock only one type of society of which all of the other rocks live. And the wax is continuously added so that there is no chance for the rock to see any other sort of society of which they could live in.
Yet for some rocks, the wax has missed some spots, creating the nonconformists, such as John and Bernard from BNW. With some of their minds open and free from the wax, they begin to go through emotions that are not supposed to exist; only allowing happiness, no stress, anxiety, sadness, etc. By having some places with no wax to cover their minds, their own identities are shown and as the time progresses, the amount of wax on those rocks start to break apart and fall off.
The mind begins as a rock. It has its rough edges, varying textures, and most importantly an individual shape and composition. However a rock, just like the mind, can be molded from the outside, and given a new identity. The wax infests a rock like the training and conditioning work their way into the minds of new born babies of Huxley's Brave New World. Each drop of wax is one more electric shock or siren, shaping the child's brain to fear what the government fears, and to love what the government loves. The conditioning and drugs "incorporate themselves with what they fall on, till finally the rock is all one scarlet blog". Eventually as the children grow older their mind's conform themselves more and more to the government's mold.
Like most processes, however, there are flaws. Certain minds do not fall prey to the government's conditioning the same way as the rest of societies'. Helmholtz's attempts to teach forbidden literature to his students represents the wax layer wearing thin, and the rock peaking through. The same is true of Bernard, and his unwillingness to conform to society. However in the end, neither breaks through the layer of wax, as Helmholtz is incapable of believing the Juliet's love for Romeo, and Bernard becomes that which he criticized in society.
Ok, so the previous post by 'god_of_reader's_journal' was really me. I forgot to change it, and I guess that is the default name. Although I must admit, It would make a good name.
The comparison between the drops of water and the drops of sealing wax is one of the rare times in the book where the author chooses to relate the characters to the reader. The reader (or better yet, the students of Mr. Hardin’s AP literature class) is the drops of water, often shaping and changing their society, or our “rock”, through our ideas, actions, and thoughts. However, the characters in Brave New World are drops of wax; drops that “adhere, incrust, and incorporate” onto the rock in which they are falling, instead of shifting and shaping it. The reason for this is the way in which the characters are raised.
In the quest for stability, the need for hypnopadia, or sleep teaching becomes a necessity. Children listen to repeated sentences throughout their childhood “till at last, the child’s mind is these suggestions and the sum of the suggestion is the child’s mind. And not only the child’s mind, but the adults mind too-”. This system seems to be working flawlessly until Lenina recalls a night in which she awoke from her sleep and discovered the voice whispering to her. And just like that, a glimpse of the real rock underneath the coats and coats of wax is visible. A rock that is not as smooth.
Doesn't a rock preserve itself better in its raw form than with a wax covering? After all, a rock can withstand many forces while still retaining its essential shape, perhaps it will form even a more smooth and appealing surface after withstanding numerous poundings, but wax gives way to any strong impetus. For this reason, I disagree with Alaina's sentiment of the wax serving as "childhood conditioning meant to preserve it [the rock]." Instead, the wax symbolizes all things (whether it be technology, soma, or other forms of distraction), which subdue the mind and prohibit it from reflection. The rock becomes covered, so that it cannot be inspected to notice it’s true form or the elements that compose it. In the same way, the individual is obfuscated from everything of the “self” by a thick covering of technological manipulation. In the context of the simile, the wax primarily serves as hypnopaedic rhymes, and the rock is the pure unadulterated mind of a child, not yet exposed to the erosive forces of the world.
Expanding this idea even more so brings us to the water. I view the water as an essential part of the simile. It is discussed by Mustapha Mond in order to be contrasted to and better understand the meaning of the wax. Thus, if we explore the meaning of the water, we better understand the power that the wax has over the rock (or, the influence of technology on the individual). Water is said to be powerful enough to “wear holes through the hardest granite.” In other words, it can destroy the individual. So if we take the wax and the water to be two types of societies, and the way they affect the rock to be two different impacts societies have on individuals, we come to a surprising conclusion. The water is a Totalitarian government and the wax is the society depicted in BNW. The former relies on oppression of thought to dictate the lives of citizens, and forcefully eliminates all possibility of self-introspection. Therein, water’s method of destroying the form of a rock is to wear a hole through it. Wax, on the other hand, employs a much more subtle approach. It gradually, through many repeated applications, grows its bond on rock, making the rock less and less visible as it does so. Also, not only does the rock become invisible and covered by the scarlet cloak (the repeating rhymes of hypnopaedia); it indeed loses all of its original shape. Thus, if there are multiple rocks, they each begin to look the same when they are covered in wax. Much is the same when the simile is applied to the government in BNW. Each individual is originally intended to be different from the rest. Yet, the Bokanovsky process allows this “natural” process to be undone. No longer must individuals be anything but entirely identical. No longer are they individuals at all. They are simply “they.” In this we find that the phrase “Everyone is part of everyone else” can be compared to “the rock is one scarlet blob” quite obviously.
Two pivotal examples of a character either breaking out of the wax mold he has been encrusted in or being seen through a very thin layer of wax are the occasions of Helmholtz and Bernard. Bernard, you might say, has such a thin layer of wax, that the true shape of his rock can be perceived if held under close inspection. The fact that Bernard was reputed to have had alcohol put in his blood-surrogate makes him less able to receive hypnopaedic rhymes with such fervor and unquestioned acceptance as most citizens do (60). This follows the simile in presuming that the layers of wax represent childhood conditioning meant to inhibit free thought. It is this rare capability reflective thought that Bernard possesses, and he demonstrates this when speaking to Lenina cynically of the robotic senselessness of hypnopaedic training: “ ‘Never put off till to-marrow the fun you can have today,’ she said gravely. ‘Two hundred repetitions, twice a week from fourteen to sixteen and a half,’ was all his comment.(94)”
The transformation of Helmholtz exemplifies him as breaking through his “wax.” Helmholtz holds years of experience as a respected poem creator for the World-State, but his intellectual capability supercedes his ability to be content with the simplicity of childhood conditioning. Rather, he is able to question such methods and offers new avenues of higher thinking when he endorses the concept of solitude in one of his poems shown to his students. This act is merely “nearly” breaking through the wax, however, as Helmholtz eventually chooses to be sent to an island in the hopes of pursuing only his own development of individual thought (229). A full transformation would include attempting to notify other citizens about the liberating experience of truly thinking for oneself. But no one tries this noble feat except for John, and as a result is led to suicide.
The rock is the natural, realistic human behavior of John. John is the rock, he has not been introduced to Bernard's strange soma induced society. When the simile suggests wax instead of water it obviously implies build up. Unlike water which runs off. Water would be an example of an event that has "shaped" your life. The Wax is something that has taken over your life. The wax is the "brave new world".
"Wax" begins dripping on John slowly, it begins to cover his true feelings but John wont allow himself to be completely covered. The rock breaks through when John makes a scene when his mother,Linda, passes away. That was him revealing the rock(deep emotional side) to the wax(fake shallow side) society. Some people use the phrase man of wax to describe a male who is perfect. In this case it could have some what of the same meaning. Although you can have your own perception of what a perfect society is i believe that Huxley tried to portray a perfect society. Brave new world was a society of wax ,dripping onto every inhabitant.
At the innermost core of every person is a rock. The rock of one person may be similar to the rock of another person, but no two rocks are ever the same; thus, these inner rocks are exactly like the rocks tangible in nature: unique in type, color, shape, size, hardness, etc., or a combination of such factors. An inner rock represents natural individuality which, like a literal rock, may be molded and changed under certain events.
The two events mentioned in this simile are weathering by water and layering by liquid sealing wax. Drops of water typically run off of surfaces, but if there are enough for a great impact, drops of water can change the physical shape and size of a surface, which in this case is a rock. A rock altered by water, however, is still unique from all other rocks, for this type of weathering does not and cannot shape all rocks into one exact shape. Water, therefore, represents the life experiences of a person which make such an impact on said person that his/her individuality is changed.
On the other hand, a rock that is layered with liquid sealing wax is in a completely different situation. A rock can only be completely layered with liquid sealing wax in the hands of a person, who has the ability to layer the rock in such a manner that it looks like every other wax-layered rock. In the context of this novel, the liquid sealing wax is the conditioning which the World State forces upon its citizens to guarantee conformity. The rocks of the World State are conditioned, or layered with liquid sealing wax, until each one shares the same desired beliefs and “morals”; thus, the layering of liquid sealing wax on a rock is merely the covering of a person’s individuality.
In Brave New World, John the Savage is the only main character that possesses a rock untainted by liquid sealing wax, due to his life at the Savage Reservation, away from the World State; however, when he arrives at the World State, he mainly associates with the characters that possess rocks which are special in the sense that they are not completely hidden away by their layer of liquid sealing wax. Three of these characters are Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, and Mustapha Mond, who each demonstrate ideas unique from the average World State citizen and therefore a thin layering of liquid sealing wax of which the rock break through or at least be seen through. Both Bernard and Helmholtz are critics of the World State, and eventually act against it in the novel—Bernard by expressing his unconventional tastes and Helmholtz first by writing a poem about solitude, a concept that is spat upon in the World State. Out of the two, Helmholtz has a thinner layer of wax and is more in touch with his individuality, so he is more than happy to be exiled, while Bernard takes a little convincing. Mustapha Mond, however, has an even thicker layering of wax than Bernard, evident in the fact that he gives up his individual passions for science and truth for the service to the World State. Lenina also promises a thinner layering of liquid sealing wax in comparison to the other citizens by choosing to behave differently (she chooses not to be as promiscuous as the other women and is attracted to Bernard unlike the other women); however, throughout the novel she proves that her layer of liquid sealing wax is only thin enough for very rare and brief appearances of her inner rock, due to her very conventional beliefs and morals.
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