SEMINAR PRE-WRITE
1. I think that the overall message in BNW is that sometimes, though we see people
as different from us, they might be right in their own way. This is shown
through the savage and Bernard because they think the way the the reader does
while their society thinks otherwise.
2. BNW made me think a lot about happiness through the drug soma. At first, I
thought that there was no point in taking it because it was false happiness, but
then, I realized that sometimes, if there aren’t any consequences, false
happiness is
real happiness and that there is almost no difference.
3. I think that John means that in that society, nothing can take a big emotional
toll on people because they always have soma to lean on, therefore, there is no
fear or excitement or range of feelings.
4. I think that 80% of our society is focused on comfort. I think this, because as
humans, we found a society based on the people in it to be comfortable because
it inspires and drives everyone to always be better. I think that the remaining
20% of our society is based on beauty and truth because sometimes we become more
focused on being perfect than the reason that we decided to stride for
perfection in the first place. I believe that we have created our own confusing
truth by having so many things to focus on making humans not even know what
truth means.
MAX JAYE
SEMINAR REFLECTION
It made me think a lot when Jimmy said that giving to other people sometimes makes
him happier than giving to himself. This made me realize that I am the same way
in that, I would rather give some random person $5,000 walking down the street
than receive the money. This, makes me rethink the definition of happiness
because if that is true happiness, than the person giving the money would feel
better, and that would change everything. I not only questioned the word
happiness, but what it means to me.
I think I let people talk a lot more than I did last time in this seminar. My main
problem, was dominating the conversation and not letting other people talk just
to prove a point. I think that I got better at this because I have a lot more
self control now. I adopted this self control by listening to what other people
have to say more rather than just waiting until they are done talking and it is
my turn.
The biggest key idea that I took away from the book is that sometimes fake happiness
and real happiness are the same thing as long as whoever the happiness belongs
to can’t tell. This made me think about how some people might not live a life
that others consider virtuous but as long as they are happy, it really makes no
difference. For example, I do not imagine most homeless people being happy
because they do not have the same access as me but if they are happy, than they
are happy, it is that simple. I discovered that I am nobody to decide how happy
other people are.
MAX JAYE