Brave New World and Walden Two

[MamaBearTeacher]

I was thinking of reading these with my HS-age kids.  I was wondering which would you read first?  Why am I thinking they would somehow complement each other?  Also, do either of them have any romance or sexual content?

[forty-two]

I love Brave New World - lots of great things to discuss. There is sexual content, though - it's not terribly explicit, but is intentionally disturbing - it's plot-relevant, though (might be worth pre-reading). Turning sex into a meaningless-yet-'healthy' way of having fun is part and parcel of the dystopia - one with disturbingly relevant parallels to how our culture treats sex. I definitely plan on studying it with my kids when they are in high school.

 

Eta: I have not read Walden Two, but reading a description, I can see how they'd complement each other. They are both envisioning the same sort of world, but Walden Two portrays it as a utopia, while Brave New World portrays it as a dystopia.

Edited January 23, 2018 by forty-two

[Lori D.]

No familiarity with Walden Two, but Brave New World brought forth some great discussion with two (non-sensitive) later high school aged DSs. Because of the content, like 1984 or Lord of the Flies or All Quiet on the Western Front, doing it with older high school students, or at least with more emotionally mature young high school students, is likely to work best.

 

Many people on these boards have expressed how much they hate Brave New World, and if that is the case for you, please don't feel you *must* do it. However, like the previous poster outlined, we found that there was a lot of meat for discussion, and the "soma" (drug used constantly for leveling out emotions in the book) reminded us of several things in our current culture.

 

Also totally agree with previous poster about how the s*xual content is handled. Below, I quote myself from this past thread, which you may find helpful: "Brave New World: suitable for 13-year-old?" (Also check out this past thread for more thoughts on the book: "Huxley's Brave New World--help me understand")

 

 "One of the the themes is that this very controlled culture has reversed cultural norms about sexuality: monogamy, emotional relationships, and child-bearing/child-raising are seen as the extreme of perversity. While sex comes up frequently in the novel, it is handled well -- not at all alluring / arousing, or graphic / gratuitous -- and serves to support the even more fundamental themes of societal control, ethics of bio-engineering and loss of humanity, etc."

 

Here are some literature and study guides that might be of interest to help with background info and to "springboard" discussion:

- Monarch Notes (free)

- The Best Notes (free)

- Harper Collins Teacher's Guide (free)

- Novel Guide (free)

- Sparknotes (free)

- Cliff's Notes (free)

- E-Notes (for a fee)

- Bookrags (for a fee)

 

Also: Mrs. Rohrer's English 12 Reading Guide Questions -- pdf of comprehension and discussion questions.

 

BEST of luck as you plan your Literature! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited January 23, 2018 by Lori D.

[Sammish]

I took a class in college about dystopian fiction, and we read both of those books. I don't remember much of Walden 2, except they had a system for carrying their tea so it wouldn't spill. (The important things, you know  :laugh:) 

 

We also read Herland, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (*very* different from the movie), and We.   

 

As to your original question, I'd probably read the utopian (Walden 2) first, to see the ideal, and then Brave New World, to see how it can all go wrong.