I have been trying to figure out who I am as an individual through my morals, beliefs, and education. Right now in my life I change my personality regularly when I’m around different individuals. I don’t understand why I change my personality and why I see all others also changing personalities. Finding self is such a major part of life and while I was reading Brave New World I thought mainly about self, and individuality. I remember my religion 10 classes when I was learning about Kohlberg and his six stages of moral development. While I was reading I realized that the stages the characters were making their decisions at were completely different from the stage my culture wants decisions made. Not only did Kohlberg help me distinguish the characters self but also Sigmund Freud and his three theoretical constructs, id, ego and super-ego.
The characters of Brave New World I found mainly all were making decisions at a level one. Though specifically I found that Lenina Crowne and John the savage were functioning at completely different levels. Lenina functioned at a very Pre-Conventional level because all her decisions were based on the what’s in it for me attitude. I completely understand that in this book the characters are conditioned to act more self centered but I find self-centeredness a horrible quality. When I make my decisions I really try to think about how my choices will affect those around me whereas Lenina never did. There was one part in the book that really made me think of Lenina
as acting at a level one of Kohlberg’s moral stages. Lenina was beginning to have feeling for John and she decided to go to his room to sleep with him. John did not believe in sleeping with a woman unless you are married but Lenina doesn’t care. Lenina’s decisions are based entirely on her and if others deny her of what she wants, there is confusion involved. John on the other hand I found was definitely not functioning at a level one but more at a level three, Post-Conventional. I had respect for John because he was very focused on human rights. The novel had one scene where John was talking about how humans had the right to be unhappy, have diseases, grow old, and have beliefs. This really spoke to me because I have never really considered being unhappy as a right. I now realize that it is a right and the citizens in Brave New World should be allowed to choose whatever feelings they inquire. It was scenes like the human rights that showed me that John’s decisions were based on others more so then on him.
I really find Kohlberg’s moral stages fascinating to consider when I am reading a book. In Brave New World I also found Sigmund Freud and his three theoretical constructs very helpful for understanding the characters self. Sigmund Freud had three theories, his first theory being id which I found the characters in this book to relate mainly too. Id is when every decision you make is based on the basic drives of food, sex, and aggressive impulses. Children are id because all their decisions are based on what they want at that exact moment and cry when they don’t get what they want. Lenina is just like a child and has a “just do it” attitude constantly. Conscience is not involved in id so that fact made me consider the possibility of the characters not having a strong conscience or possibly not understanding what a conscience was. I live in a culture that is Sigmund Freud’s theory two, ego. This theory is a balance between primary drives and reality. I cannot imagine basing all my decisions on food, sex, and aggression because that is not how my culture is for adults. Brave New World has a culture that encourages id behavior. Lenina, Fanny, Henry and numerous others act purely on their basic drives. The one main exception I found again was John the savage. John did not make all his decisions based on basic drive. John said no to sleeping with Lenina because of his beliefs and his conscience telling him it was wrong.
By the end of the novel I found that John had a personality more so like mine then of the others characters in the book. I remember one time I had a friend that was asking me for advice. She felt her boyfriend was pressuring her to sleep with him and her natural basic drive was telling her to just do it. Though she could have just slept with him she decided not to because of her beliefs and conscience. I really respected her decision because a decision, like sleeping around distinguishes individuality. Ego, Sigmund Freud’s second theory is where I would consider my friends decision to be. Through Kohlberg’s six stages of moral development and Sigmund Freud’s three theories I have discovered numerous qualities about the characters in Brave New World. I find it extremely fascinating how different human beings personalities can be. Personalities are such a major part of humans and I enjoyed reading Brave New World and finding such huge differences between characters and even myself.
