Marx and Annihilation

[Lycidas at worldnet.att.net]

It seems that the characters in GR are caught is a number of
complex and paradoxical double binds. For example, on the
one hand they can not abide the current situation-their
diversified experiences, their  "paranoid" existence-and so
they attempt to get out or beyond it, but on the other hand,
they recognize that what lies outside of this or beyond is
worse because getting out or pushing beyond implies total
chaos or total control. Chaos and control are not good
options because they lead to ANNIHILATION. Total chaos or
total control does not afford a place from them to live as
individuals. What can they do? They can stay inside the
"paranoid" realm. But how can they make sense of this
diversity, this  "paranoid" realm? Why they can impose some
sort of unity of course. Take all that diversity and put it
in a binary. That's what Pointsman's Pavlovian "ideas of the
opposite" are for---

"Helping to distinguish pleasure from pain, light from dark,
dominance from submission
." GR.48 

At this point in the novel we can add Life from Death and
Innocence from Guilt to Pointsman's concept. 


Marx, at The Solidarity Service

The First Solidarity Hymn:

"Ford, we are twelve; oh, make us one,
Like drops within the Social River;
Oh, make us now together run
As swiftly as thy shining Flivver." 

The Second Solidarity Hymn:

"Come, Greater Being, Social Friend,
ANNIHILATING Twelve-in-One!
We long to die, for when we end,
Our larger life has but begun." 
Brave New World, end of chapter V


The Controller to the Savage
"You can't make flivvers without steel-and you can't make
tragedies without social instability. The world is stable
now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they
never want what they can't get."

The savage to the Controller
Horrible! 

Annihilation!

BNW chapter XVI