Erin Walsh
Professor John Lakey
Introduction to Psychology, Section 121H
17 September 2004
Too Much Science?
In
the 1930s, Europe began to fall under the shadow of socialism with the rise of
the Nazi party in
In Walden Two, the tone is very positive. The
head of the community, a man named T.E. Frazier, explains every aspect of the
thriving communal settlement to a group of curious enquirers. The party
includes an old colleague of Frazier’s, a psychology professor named Burris, a
philosophy professor named Augustine Castle, and two veteran soldiers from
World War Two named Steve Jamnik and Rogers, along with their girlfriends Mary
Grove and Barbara Macklin, respectively. Frazier walks them through all the
workings of the Walden Two community, from the agricultural processes, sheep
herding techniques, and work schedules to the moral code, education system, and
personal relationships. He says that one of the problems with the
Education
seems to be completely opposite of the standard in American schools, even
today. Frazier explains that the children begin their “ethical training”
(Skinner, 98) at the age of three or four. This training teaches the children
to have high levels of self-control and high tolerances to annoyances,
jealousy, envy, and anger; emotions that are found all too often in our society
today. The children are tested in many different ways to develop a keen sense
of obedience; one of the tests involves young children who are given lollipops
but are not allowed to eat them until they are instructed to do so. Frazier
explains, “Then the lollipops are concealed…Then a strong distraction is
arranged – say, an interesting game. Later the children are reminded of the
candy…. A day or so later, the children
all run with the lollipops to their lockers [and put them out of site]”
(Skinner, 98). While most Americans would react as Mr. Castle does, with
revulsion to the very idea of doing such a thing to a toddler, Frazier claims
that the exercise does not hurt the children in any way, the lesson is well
learned, and self-control is taught.
A
slightly more sadistic system of education is used in Brave New World; the children, no more than eight months old, are
brought into a room filled with roses and books and then let loose. The
children naturally head towards the brightly colored objects and when they
reach the area containing the books and flowers, alarms sound and the children
receive an electric shock. When offered the books and flowers again the
children are loath to go near and start to cry in fear, proving the training
against the flowers and books successful (Huxley, 15).
The
reasons for such different training methods are because the worlds the two
groups of children are so dramatically different. The children in Walden Two
will grow up to be allowed to do whatever they like with their lives as long as
the professions stay within the bounds of the Code (the document of moral and
ethical laws that constitute the government of Walden Two). The children in Huxley’s
future are doomed to stay in the same caste as that to which they were first
programmed with no chance of promotion or equality with the other castes.
Children are not born but are created and then mutated to fit the caste they
have been assigned to. The engineers at each “hatchery” control the amounts of
oxygen, blood, and even alcohol each fetus is given. Later, when the children
are older, they are made to listen to facts and figures about varying topics;
from the length of the
Frazier’s
classless and exactly equal society is also more welcoming and less judgmental
than the one found in Brave New World.
The main character of Huxley’s novel, Bernard Marx, holds deep resentment
against others in his caste because of his birth defects, making him eager to
prove his value to anyone who glances his way. This thirst for fame and
acceptance cause trouble later in the novel when Bernard decides to bring back
John, a “savage” from a reservation. This kind of hero-worship is not permitted
in Walden Two; in fact, the people of the community are not even allowed to
thank someone for doing them a favor.
“…I was conscious of the fact that no one thanked her or expressed
gratitude in any other way. This…was in accordance with the Walden Two code”
(Skinner, 75). Because the people are not made to follow any one person or
ruling group, they are more independent, though they seem to act alike because
of the code. If someone has a problem with the community, however, they are
free to leave at any time.
Another
difference between Walden Two and Brave New World is the culture. The
people in Walden Two are encouraged to read from the extensive library, to
listen to classical works of theatre and music and to appreciate art, but are deterred
from studying history. The people in Brave
New World are also encouraged to forget the history, irrelevant to modern
times. They, however, are not taught about religion, art, or music…the only
kind of real culture they are allowed are three-dimensional cinemas called the
“feelies.” The people of this brave new world seem to simply live in the here
and now, without thought to either the future or the past, giving them very
little ambition and a very relaxed outlook on life and death.
In
the World War Two era, when the fear of socialism was prevalent, the people of
the world took one of two views: socialism could work if given time and the
appropriate scientific effort or socialism was a foul, evil creature that rots
the basic foundations of human individuality and imagination with too much
science. B.F. Skinner portrays his socialist state in Walden Two as a benevolent provider for people of all ages and
races, with equality of the sexes and gentle behavioral engineering that
encourages art and science. Huxley’s Brave
New World, on the other hand, shows how drastically wrong genetic and
behavioral sciences could go if allowed to do so. Both novels show how communal
living solves numerous social problems, though Walden Two has a much more
peaceful setting instead of the mock one created by Huxley. The question both
books bring up is how far the human race should allow science to go before we
become carbon copies of each other or even completely inhuman. But then, how
far is too far?
Works Cited
Skinner, B.F. Walden
Two.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World.