BNW Response #2

Sex, games, and sayings like “ending is better than mending” are used to limit the search for truth, a threat the State’s control. They maintain stability and show everyone is equal by everyone having sex with one another in their respective social class. Additionally, the government encourages no commitment sex to eliminate humans from attaching to each other – thus, building on the idea that everyone is equal to the State, happy and won’t revolt.

This applies to games too; no one wants to be the odd man out, like Bernard for example, and so they stick together as a community. Moreover, games are also used to condition children against questioning. They become accustomed to playing and believe it’s nothing more than fun. It consumes their time and allows the government to have more control.

And lastly, saying like “ending is better than mending” are used to avoid reality. The State is able to maintain control and stability with hypnopaedic sayings by changing what people want; they are used to suppress people and lead them to believe what they are being told. The fact that the saying, “ending is better than mending” translates into it being easier to end something than to fix it, allows the government to control and enforce things like the drug soma. It takes away their ability to challenge anything because they never know better.