The novel Brave New World is like no other in fantasy and satire. It predicts a future overpowered by technology where the people have no religion. Has Huxley written about a degrading way of life or has he discovered the key to a perfect world that should be called Utopia? This essay will show that upon close analysis the way of life in the novel is justifiable and all the precautions that are taken are needed to preserve their lifestyle. This essay will also show that however different and easily looked upon, as horrible as their lives seem to be, in actuality it is better than ours. The first argument that would contradict the fact that Brave New World is a Utopia is the government overpowering the world, causing the loss of freedom and liberty in the people. Before judging their lives the reader must ask himself one simple question: Is it really that bad? Obviously no it's not. In the novel, the people don't have to worry about having a job. One must remember that being born and raised in Utopia, one does not know what freedom is and therefore does not know what is missing. Freedom leads to happiness, and if one already possesses happiness, then there is no need for freedom, especially if your government is making sure that all your needs are satisfied. Religion plays an important role in people's lives. It represents our principles and values. Religion guides us, gives us something to believe in and a set of rules to live by. However, who is to say that one hundred years from now people will still believe and practice religion? Mustapha Mond when referring to the Holy Bible says that "they're old; they're about God hundreds of years ago. Not about God Now" (Huxley, p.237). Mustapha Mond is saying that with the evolution of time the need for religion has disappeared and has been replaced by the worship of another God who is Ford. They basically live a fulfilled life and then they die. Also thanks to their conditioning they do not fear death but accept it as a way of life. That alone is a task that our world still has not been able to accomplish. In our world we must go through the ritual of the funeral. After one has died, his family must go through an enormous task of planning, organizing and dealing with the death of their now gone loved one. In utopian civilization, the people are isolated from one another, divided into five different classes. The classes range from the Alphas, the Betas, the Gammas, the Deltas and finally, the Epsilons. The members of each class are ranked according to their mental capacity and physical appearance. During the D.H.C.'s lecture to his students he tells them how by depriving certain embryos of oxygen will affect their stature. "The lower the cast, the shorter the oxygen." (Huxley, p.13) It seems unfair that even before you are born, your future is already written out for you. However upon further study, one will realize that this sort of precaution is necessary. In our world, one has to face racism and stereotypes because people feel threatened by what is different. This conditioning is how the utopian society eliminated the problem. First of all, each class is conditioned to love their ranking and to realize that everyone is important and is indispensable to the society. The i! mportant thing here is that the lower classes are not jealous of the superior classes but even believe that their work is too tiring for them. The mental inferiority is very important for the survival of the utopian society. If the lower classes got too smart they would want to move up in life and that would ruin the stability of the society. Another precaution taken to prevent chaos to the society is the restraint of history, culture and art to the utopian civilization. According to our views, these things are unquestionably important and we would go as far as saying that we could not live without them. But for these people, they are insignificant. Education to us leads to knowledge and for us knowledge is power and power runs the world. However for them there is no need for education because they do not need power. Power will not get them any farther in life then what is already written out for them. The only kind of books in Brave New World accessible to the public are reference books. Books with opinions and emotions are non-existing. This discretion is needed because those types of books could challenge the hypnopaedic propaganda served to the people. The hypnopaedia was given for a reason, it is the tool used to stabilize the society. If stability is threatened so will be the utopian world. Of course some will say that they will miss their families and relationships and most of all, love. But the people in Utopia once again have never experienced any of these. They were brought up in conditioning centers and feel that parents and family are primitive. The mere sound of the word annoys them. "Mother, he repeated loudly rubbing in the science ; and, leaning back in his chair, these, he said gravely are unpleasant facts; I know it. But then most historical facts are unpleasant" (Huxley, p.23). In our world, parents pass on to their children their own values and principles. What they may become as a result of their upbringing could be doctors, lawyers, accountants, robbers, rapists and murderers. In the utopian society everyone is raised and conditioned the same way abolishing the bad apples in our society. Monogamy is discouraged by the utopian society and considered improper " Four months of Henry Foster, without having another man --- why, he'd be furious! if he knew..." (Huxley, p.40). This restrains peoples from getting too emotionally involved and putting their loved one's needs before the society's. In the utopian society, everyone belongs to everyone else. One might easily point out that these precautions are too extreme. But one thing that can not be ignored is that in Brave New World there is no war, no diseases and no old age. For people in our world that would be "utopia". In the utopian society, "you're so conditioned that you can't help doing what you ought to do" (Huxley, p.244). Thanks to their conditioning, nobody even considers fighting. And if ever anyone gets angry or depressed, there is always soma. In our world soma would be seen as a drug and should not be used. Nevertheless as one of their hypnopaedic quotes says, "they used to drink enormous quantities of alcohol"(Huxley, p.53). That statement proves that once again values are what changes one's views towards situations. Our alcohol is their soma except for the fact that soma has no side-effects. There are only three characters in the Brave New World that do no like their lifestyle. Bernard Marx is an alpha-plus and therefore should be living the "good life". But even though his mental status is that of an Alpha-plus, his physical appearance is similar to that of an Epsilon. " They say somebody made a mistake when he was still in the bottle---thought he was a Gamma and put alcohol into his blood-surrogate" ( Huxley, p.46 ) He quickly becomes an outcast and does not get along with the opposite sex. Bernard criticizes the utopian civilization until he discovers John the Savage in the savage reservation and introduces him to society. Bernard then becomes somewhat of a celebrity and quite popular among the ladies. At that point, Bernard is always bragging about how many girls he has slept with and stops his complaining about the utopian life. All this proves that if someone hadn't made that mistake, Bernard would not have become an outcast, women would have liked! him and he would have liked this world. Bernard Marx is an exception of bad conditioning, his life should have been different from the start. Helmholtz Watson also does not like the utopian civilization. The problem with him is they let they him get too smart. That led him to want a better life, a dream he felt was unobtainable in Utopia. Once again, if his conditioning had been done right and his intelligence had been controlled, he would not have had a problem with his world. Finally, the third character unhappy in Utopia is John or better known as the savage. As a matter of fact, he should not even be considered as an unhappy civilian because he was not raised in the utopian civilization but in the savage reservation. He does not like it because he was not conditioned to be happy with who he is. In the savage reservation, he learned about God, religion and freedom, all things which are not taught in Utopia. His values are different from a utopian's. For instance, he beats himself with a rope to get a good harvest, which proves that a person can not judge others through his or her own values but through theirs. In conclusion one can clearly see that human beings can adapt to anything. The question is: do we want to adapt to a society like Utopia? This is a world that one can not help but be happy, a world that replaced not destroyed religion, a world that even eliminated racism and stereotypes. It is a world where you only possess knowledge you need, where everyone has the same values and principals. Finally here is a world with no war, no disease and no old age. This question seems difficult to answer at first. Let's rephrase this question. Forget adapting, is this a world you would want to be born in? That changes everything because you can no longer judge by your own values, principles and standards. You now have to picture how much you would like it if you were born there and followed the same treatment as the others. It was best said by Mustapha Mond at one point. "The key to happiness is enjoying who you are and what you do". ( Huxley )
Bernard Marx was alienated in the Brave New World because of his general appearance. As an Alpha Plus, Bernard was unusually short and ugly. Suggested by Fanny, Bernard's condition resulted from an error when he was still in a bottle, the workers "thought he was a Gamma and put alcohol into his blood surrogate." Bernard did not fit in the structured order of the Brave New World and was therefore shunned by others. The error resulted in Bernard developing outside the barriers of his caste level. His ugliness and short stature led Bernard to become a perpetual outsider, alienated by society. As an outsider, Bernard was cynical of the order and structure of the Brave New World. He eschewed Electric Golf, and other social amusements in favor of loneliness and solidarity activities, such as, thinking. Bernard attempted to find a way "to be happy in some other way," in his own way, not the established way.
Throughout the intense bombing of the Blitz you could argue that the idea of Britain being invaded and conquered brought out the ‘grit’ and resolve in the British people that helped to destroy social boundaries, bring people together in a united front and inevitably win World War II. Or you could also argue that, the fear, panic and unrest created by the Blitz managed only to divide a country already separated by class, gender and social barriers, therefore increasing existing tensions and creating new problems; that the government could only control by forcing censorship and propaganda to manipulate the frightened and overwhelmed people of Britain. One thing is clear, that most evidence (including the Sources given) shows proof of an understandably terrified Britain during times of devastation and destruction.
The members of utopias often represent the most ideal human beings who work together to create the ideal homogeneous society (Tuzzeo 1). Although these perfect societies seem possible, they are generally labeled as imaginary due to their impracticality within the real world and the great amount of effort that is needed to create them. The Greek translation of the word “utopia” means “no place,” further suggesting the fantasy of utopias, to the point that they are nonexistent (Tuzzeo 2). Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World depicts a utopia composed of ten World States, each with its own ruler. The utopian World State within Brave New World is defined by the motto, “Community, Identity, Stability” (Huxley 3). The rulers of the World State proclaim the importance of these three aspects but place an emphasis specifically on “stability.” The main objective of the World State rulers is to maintain social stability within their societies to allow for a proper functioning utopia. One of the ten World State rulers, Mustapha Mond, states, “Stability. No civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability” (Huxley 42). Mustapha Mond emphasizes the importance of stability, suggesting that his civilization, or utopia, would fail to exist without it, but more importantly, he narrows the existence of his
The Impact of Bombing During World War II “Of course, the air raids caused much suffering and hardship. In the
...nly contemplate living as an alpha or beta because we cannot contemplate living without being able to formulate ideas or basically think. No one considers living as one of the lower castes and only working throughout life until death. Thus, it seems that Huxley intended to portray an acceptable society on the surface with undesirable traits hidden deeper. In conclusion, both of these novels portray an attractive life in a utopian society, if one can conform to the rules. When people cannot conform to the societies in which they dwell (as the main characters of both novels cannot) they are branded as subversives and punished as traitors. Life in 1984 would be almost too unbearable to live. Life in Brave New World is only acceptable if one is willing to live a life of the caste one is in, that is to produce (as a lower caste) or consume (as a higher caste).
The destruction of British cities during the German Luftwaffe attacks was the source of a major British national experience during World War II. Bombing was used in World War II against nonhuman military targets, against enemy troops, and against civilian populations (Dukievel and Spielvogel 758). The internet has proven to be a powerful resource in the retrieval of many websites and personal anecdotes of the Blitz. The internet has provided access to many historical resources to students of different educational and economic backgrounds. One is able to uncover many facts of the universe using the internet. Although many accounts of the London Blitz are uncovered during one’s search, many of these anecdotes are clouded by the writer’s personal eyewitness bias. Many university websites, news websites, government websites, and educational resource websites provide information to counter the false eyewitness accounts. These nonbiased resources provide proper insight into the events that occurred during the German Luftwaffe aerial bombings. The following four historical websites attempt to provide a correct view of the German Luftwaffe and the London Blitz.
Society has one single fatal flaw, and it is it’s obsession with perfection. Every single person on this earth desires to be something that they are not. It is a mental, physical and psychological disillusion that people can obtain perfection, but the truth is that perfection is unattainable. Often as a society moves toward perfection, more imperfection is created and progression is stopped. Brave New World’s author, Aldous Huxley, helps display to readers how obtaining “perfection” truly disillusions humanity and creates a dystopia. Huxley argues the discord between knowledge and stability, and the power of conformity in order to illustrate the absurdity of humanity’s desire to reach perfection.
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a dystopian novel and was published in 1929. The novel contains everything from sex, drugs, alcohol and even a fine unfair distinction between social classes. It is easy to see how a novel like this would be challenged on countless occasions. This can lead us to see how it truly deserves some literary merit. Aldous challenged us on all fronts with this book. It’s as if he had a known what would happen in the future and tried to publish us readers a sort of warning. There is a portrayal of a society that is obsessed with happiness, similarly to the way we in our modern day western society are obsessed with freedom. Brave New World tries to achieve its motto of “community, identity and stability” by portraying a futuristic society with similar views on morality to that of today’s perspective of 'the natural order' of society in certain parts of the world.
Throughout history, it is common for people to think about what can be done to make our society ideal. In the novel Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the character, The Controller, believes that keeping the civilians of the Brave New World ignorant and emotionally sedated will bring social stability. The Controller indicates the extreme sacrifices that need to be made in order to keep a society stable and happy. Through a vary of literary devices like allusion, symbolism, and Irony, Huxley highlights that not only are these ineffective ways to create a utopia, but the idea of utopia is impossible to obtain.
Firchow, Peter Edgerly. "The End of Utopia: A Study of Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World”." The End of Utopia: A Study of Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World,'. Bucknell University Press, 1984. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. James P. Draper and Jennifer Allison Brostrom. Vol. 79. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 May. 2011.
Utopia is thus not a program for our society. It is not a blueprint but a touchstone against which we try various ideas about both our times and the book to see what then comes of it all. It helps us see what we are without telling us in detail what we are destined to be. Utopia becomes part of a chain, crossing and uncrossing with past and present in the unending debate about human nature and the best possible society possible to the kind of beings we are. Utopia becomes in every age a rather sober carnival to make us smile and grimace and lift ourselves out of the prosaic and the real, to give ourselves a second life where we can imagine the liberty to make everything all over again, to create society anew as the wise Utopus himself did long before in Utopia. His wisdom is not ours. But it summons us to have our own wisdom and to use it as best we can to judge what is wrong in our society in the hope that our judgment will make us do some things right, even if we cannot make all things new this side of paradise.
When envisioning a Utopia, only the beneficial features are seen, and as a result, characterize it as a desirable place. Depending on the structure and control methods, many adverse effects to the ideal future also exist. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World serves as a satire to expose the consequences of denying human values. Dehumanization creates a society where people are unable to connect with each other emotionally, are kept from feeling unhappy, and are constantly avoiding feelings. Instead they use other pleasurable methods to compensate for the loss of emotions. In the centralized World State, restricted knowledge and perspective prevent people from threatening stability. John the Savage, a rebel Utopian not conditioned like the others, possesses increased intelligence and the insight to identify problems with the “perfect world.” Due to a strictly controlled and manipulated environment, rejecting humanism leads to a society deprived of human qualities and individualism.
From the moment of birth, to the moment of death, humans are flooded with emotions both good and bad. Individuals are continuously seeking fulfillment, some failing to find it while others succeed. Many seek adoration; love, accomplishment and greatness. In literature, authors take the readers on journeys that allow imagination, granting the possibility for the reader to grasp inner desires and decide what is truly important in life. Literature allows readers to dive into a different world where happiness and fulfillment is plentiful and eternal, also described as a utopia, while other pieces of literature direct the reader into a world of dissatisfaction which is a dystopia. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is in 26th century England. With the help of advanced technology and drugs, happiness fills the lives of the people living at that time period. But, the people are missing out on one of the most important feelings of life. That is sorrow or unhappiness. The society in Brave New World is very different from modern-day society; many aspects of life are removed such as family, monogamy, and religion. The citizens of Brave New World live in false happiness with all the necessities of life provided for them but have the lack of an inferred deeper satisfaction. In Brave New World happiness is the lack of unhappiness because the inhabitants can never truly know what happiness is without experiencing true unhappiness. The lifestyle in Brave New World is built on the notion that happiness is the only thing necessary in one’s life. This novel suggest that the reader should seek things besides happiness because the citizens in the World State live bleak and monotonous lives which show the faults in this so-called ‘perfect’ society. In thi...
“And while they were at supper, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke and gave it to His disciples and said, "Take you and eat, this is my Body." And taking the chalice He gave thanks and gave it to them saying, "Drink you all of this. For this is my Blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for many unto remission of
A utopia does not necessarily need to be absolutely perfect to be accepted by all the people. For example, in Brave New World, John says, “But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want