Finished the book. The ending was way more disturbing than I was really expecting. I mean, I kind of expected John to go back to the reservation- maybe lead a revolt? Hanging himself was not on my radar.I did find it very interesting that, when John was touring the school, one of the lessons he saw was about his own people.
""But why do they laugh?" asked the Savage in a pained bewilderment.
"Why?" The Provost turned towards him a still broadly grinning face. "Why? But because it's so extraordinarily funny.""
These people have so few concepts of difference that another culture must obviously be so stupid as to be laughable. Because of their conditioning, they cannot even explain why they feel a certain way. If pressed, they most likely could not say what about this scene is amusing; they laugh simply because it is, for some reason, funny.
This was a pretty good read. It's an interesting commentary on the state of the human race, and, ironically, becoming more relevant through the years as genetic engineering improves. As we discussed in bio the other day, our generation's children may be genetically altered in utero, somewhat like what takes place in this book; although in class we were talking about it as a means of correcting genetic defects, not conditioning certain people to be smarter or more resistant to chemicals. I definitely found the book thought-provoking- as, of course, it was intended to be. Not the most amazing piece of literature ever written, but the story is meant to be second to the message behind it, and in that sense, the author achieved his purpose.
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