Socratic Seminar Reflection

After reading Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, our English class participated in a group conversation called a "Socratic Seminar." This seminar involved choosing two out of nine questions from a question list, picking through the book for details and quotes to help outline the point the participators are attempting to make, and then sitting in a group of tables in the middle of a ring of smaller tables with the other unfortunate souls who chose the same question. This situation not only makes the participants uncomfortable, with everyone sitting there with their eyes staring at you, but also can make the participants feel like they are in a gladiator arena, the only difference being that there were no lions or tigers trying to eat anybody. With that being said, the Socratic seminars are an unjust, cruel, and unusual way to analyze a novel. Now an argument, a strong and lengthy debate with opinions, would be the proper way to analyze a novel.

While the situation of the discussions was not the most enjoyable situation, the discussions did bring several interesting ideas to the table (no pun intended). One of the ideas that seems to be the most affecting is the similarities that have been noticed between our society today and the society of Brave New World. An example of this was discussed in question five about the consequences for individuals. In Brave New World, all of the so-called "individuals" were taken out of society and placed on islands, away from society, to keep them from corrupting the "normal" citizens of society. A similar thing happens to the individuals of today's society, not with real islands though, but with figurative islands, by alienating the different thinkers of society, and forcing them to form their own smaller communities with the other like-minded outcasts of society. An interesting view of this situation involved how a society without individuality would eventually become boring and monotonous, and how the individuals of society are always going to appear in society no matter what precautions are made, because there will always be people who think differently and look for new ways to think about a task. In a way, individuals are like the antidote to the Brave New World society; as long as there are plenty of individual thinkers, the conformity and creepy community aspect of the Brave New World society will have a much harder time coming to pass. Another interesting idea that was brought up was the topic immersed in question nine. The entire discussion about the effect of Shakespeare's words on John the Savage really showed a whole new level of the Savage that escaped from my understanding. The fact that the words made others and himself more realistic made more sense than it even should have made. Many occurrences in life are either not able to be expressed in words, but can be expressed in emotions, and vice-versa. But John finally found one of the few mediums in the world that could do both for him. This whole turn of events disproved the saying of "actions speak louder than words," meaning that if the words are not there to describe what a person is doing, they will not be able to do what they wanted to do in the first place. My mind was sufficiently blown by this revelation and has caused me to look at written words in a whole new light, and to finally understand the power of language and its lasting impact on the world as a whole. Without intelligent literature that tingles the emotions, society can not grow and develop properly, and our society will end up like the society of Brave New World, unable to deal with emotions and only able to express thoughts as childish phrases.

Understanding all of the many ideas being shot around the room like bullets during the Socratic Seminar is only half of the battle; the other, and sometimes more difficult aspect, is trying to participate in the conversation in a productive manner. Oftentimes, it is hard to know where to jump into the conversation, for fear of stepping on others feet, and how to present the ideas that need to be brought up. The conversation reminded me of an extremely polite race, with everyone wanting to take control, but afraid to take too much because we get counted off for hogging the conversation. All obstacles considered, I thought that my contributions to the conversation were fairly well done and inspiring. Also, I discovered that debate would be better suited to the situation than discussions, mainly because it is easier for most people to say what they wanted to without worrying about interrupting the current speaker. I am better at interrupting than I am at listening and waiting patiently for my turn. This aspect was the source of many a kindergarten time-out back in the day. One thing I did enjoy was discussing a book and getting several different views on the book, very similar to a giant brain-melding party of sorts. But if I had any input on the whole situation, my vote would go towards abolishing the whole Socratic Seminar concept.

The Socratic Seminar seems very daunting and horrible on the surface, but, once the deeper levels are explored, they prove what was originally thought. However, once the conversations have sunk into the consciousness and are looked upon with the right attitude, many previous overlooked details are brought to light. I'm not saying I enjoyed the Seminar, but it does have its benefits by adding to the understanding of the book.