The prime mover is the thing that created everything and exists by necessity, therefore has to exist. It is perfect and cannot change, as the ability to change would mean that it is not perfect. This also means it is pure good as a lack of goodness means you can do better and doing better would require change. The prime mover cannot interact with the physical world and has no plan for us, going against the idea of God, the prime mover most people believe in. The prime mover is the unmoved mover, this is similar to the domino effect were someone (the prime mover) nocks over a domino causing the adjacent dominos to topple as well but the starter of the chain reaction is unmoved itself.
In this society, world controllers regulate the world and ensure the stability of society through the establishment of a caste system, where the higher the class, the more intelligent and hard-working an individual is. This type of society is produced through conditioning embryos, depending on which caste system the individual will belong to; meaning everyone within each caste system is genetically the same. There is no free will, and each individual is generally the same within each class system. This type of society forces people to conform to one identity, giving them no choice to be who they aspire to be. If you are genetically produced to be an Alpha, you will be intelligent and hard working, whereas an Epsilon will be basically mindless and lazy.
I agree with his argument that people are manipulated in ways that are infinitely more refined than the methods used in the post-totalitarian societies. In a democracy, human beings may enjoy many personal freedoms and securities that are unknown to us, but in the end they do them no good, for they too are ultimately victims of the same automatism, and are incapable of defending the same automatism, and are incapable of defending their concerns about their own identity or preventing their superficial concerns about the their own personal survival to become proud and responsible members of the polis, making a genuine contribution to the creation of its
Eleanor Roosevelt once said “Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life." This same grasp on life coincides with Kira Argounova’s belief that the USSR suppresses the lives of its citizens when she says the USSR “forbids life to those still living”(Rand p.189). By this, Kira explains that this sense of duty the USSR imposes on its citizens is just a manipulation device in which one loses personal identity and in turn the act of being alive. To Kira, living is not only about being physically alive, but more about living every day to its full potential.
He eventually finds his own morals and tells himself what is right and what is wrong. Part of this realization came from him helping Jim, which troubled his mind because of what society said about helping him. But he then based his decision to help on his own experiences and logic. That is kind of what Fahrenheit 451 puts forth. But instead of trying to gain knowledge it is being destroyed, all because society is trying to promote ignorance which causes sameness in all.
He uses society’s inability to scold specific actions to create a sense of ease about the crimes the characters commit which fuels further moral blindness. To contrast the viciousness of society, Dubus uses natures’ innocence to emphasize that there is still morality left in the world. Overall Dubus’s vision of a post-modern society is one that is chock-full of people who are unable to see beyond their own needs and will do anything possible, even it goes against their morals, to create a perfect society for
As a result, the key for the survival of individuality lies in how conformist the people are ready and willing to become. Freedom of imagination and speech is a double edged sword: if an individual freely chooses to believe everything he is told, be it out of conformism, lack of education or both, eventually he no longer possesses individual freedom. If this becomes common norm, it is easy for social organization to become exploited, corrupted and eventually regimented. Thus, an individual must be taught to question everything he sees or reads and never take anything for granted. Despite what captain Beatty says, it is certainly better to be free and melancholic than oppressed and
The “extra power” that Bernard is referring to is individuality. As much as the world controllers try to rob people of their individuality, this can’t be taken away easily. Another example comes from the caste system in Brave New World that the Alphas conditioned to identify with only one specific job. Each caste is identified with a specific color that they are assigned to wear. “Gammas are stupid.
I think the educational system should be prepared and ready to clean house. The educational level that these defiant individualist have is slim to none. If the immigrants that birthed gangs out centuries ago could not find a plan of action because of educational level then why is that the same problem years later when society focuses on the advancement
The world portrayed in “Harrison Bergeron” is similar to Communism; how everyone is forced have the same benefits and standards, no matter whoever had the better education, job, skill, or talent. According to Linda Labin in her examination of Vonnegut’s style and theme showed that Vonnegut wanted show a society that has fallen to lowest denominator, thus having to handicap the exceptional individuals; those would include the nonconformists and dreamers. The conformity shown in the story can be a reverse version of Nazi Germany, where Germany wanted to purge the “inferior” beings so that only the “superior” beings are left in society, US in 2081 wants to weaken the “superior” beings so that the “inferior” beings remain the main