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The critical appreciation of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
An essay about the book george orwell in 1984
The critical appreciation of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
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Comparing Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World
In Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Huxley’s Brave New World, the authoritative figures strive for freedom, peace, and stability for all, to develop a utopian society. The Utopian society strives for a perfect state of well-being for all persons in the community, and over-emphasizes this factor, where no person is exposed to the reality of the world. As each novel progresses we see that neither society possesses family values nor attempts to practice them. Neither are passionate nor creative in factors such as love, language, history and literature. Our society today, in general, is unsure about the future: The nightmare of total organization has emerged from the safe, remote future and is now awaiting us, just around the next corner. It follows inexorably from having so many people. This quotes represents Watts’ fear for the future; George Orwell and Aldous Huxley both explore the future state of civilization in their novels. They both warn us of the dangers of a totalitarian society. Both books express a utopian ideal, examine characters that are forced into this state and are compelled to dealing with this society and all the rules involved.
The impracticality of the utopian ideal is explored in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Huxley’s Brave New World. Both authors suggest that a lack of familial bonds, the repression of human individuality, and the repression of artistic and creative endeavors in order to attain a stable environment renders the achievement of a perfect state unrealistic. The lack of familial bonds, in both novels, contributes to the development of a dystopian society. This lack of familial bonds is evident through genetic engineering, the use of names, and a commonly used drug, soma.
One of the first mentionings of family in Brave New World is when the main character, Bernard, asks the Controller, the ultimate leader, about the past and why their society does not believe in families. His response suggests that authoritative figures do not believe that there is need for a mother in society and therefore, the Controller responds, “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.” The disregard for mothers as a valuable figure in life contributes to the lack of familial bonds.
In Huxley’s Brave New World, human life is conceived in a bottle; the embryo no longer grows in the mother’s womb, and therefore no bond is formed between the mother and the baby.
To conclude, Postman's analysis that Huxley's vision of the future has become more of a reality than that of Orwell's. Although the present day is not exactly how Huxley had envisioned it, our society will soon reflect the one created in Brave New World if it continues to progress as it had in the past few decades. Orwell's prediction does not hold much relevance in today's society. Our government is not constantly watching over us, they have more important difficulties to overcome. Government is not concerned with the actions of individuals; they base their decisions on the opinions of the masses. Huxley's travesty holds far more relevance than the prestigious social theory of Orwell.
Firchow, Peter. The End of Utopia: A Study of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1984.
This dream of forming and maintaining a utopian society was immortalized in two novels dealing with the same basic ideas, 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Both of these novels deal with the lives of main characters that inadvertently become subversives in a totalitarian government. These two books differ greatly however with the manner in which the government controls the population and the strictness of the measures taken to maintain this stability. This essay with compare and contrast the message and tone of each novel as well as consider whether the utopia is a positive or negative one.
In the books 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, both authors depict a dystopian society with some disturbing similarities. Orwell and Huxley each emphasize the use of power to control the masses. This power is always situated with a small group of individuals that uses it to control every aspect of the people’s lives. Using such a technique brings to mind a severe dictatorship of rigid control that destroys individuality. Each society makes use of a caste system. Each caste has certain responsibilities and regulations it must follow. Any sign of nonconformity is immediately punished and the societies are set up so the people will never question the morality or humaneness of their situation. Such concepts have been abolished from common thought so the people in power remain in power. Religion has been abolished and philosophical thought destroyed. The days are constantly filled with meaningless tasks and a desire to be alone is considered a dangerous social leaning. In both books the main characters rebel against the established soci...
Over the past fifteen years H5N1 influenza (also known as Avian Flu or Bird Flu) has become a common topic of speculation and debate worldwide, causing quite a bit of confusion about its possible impacts on our society. At this point in time it is generally recognized by the international medical community that Avian Flu is bound to become a pandemic, most likely within the next ten years. Research on Avian Flu and its effects have led many scholars to make grave predictions of major global turmoil while a small portion of medical scientists remain skeptical, believing we will have enough time to thoroughly prepare for the outbreak. The one thing that nearly all health professionals seem to agree upon is that the avian flu will surely have a large impact on the development of humankind. To truly understand the threat of this disease and what we must do to prepare for it, we need to look at the issue from multiple angles and consider what the spread of a disease so lethal and so prone to mutation would mean for our daily lives, health professionals, laws and government procedures, and of course the continuation of the human race.
George Santayana once said, “Ideal society is a drama enacted exclusively in the imagination.” In life, there is no such thing as a “complete utopia”, although that is what many people try to achieve. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is an attempt at a utopian society. In this brave new world, mothers and fathers and family are non-existent. Besides being non-existent, when words of that sort are mentioned, ears are covered and faces of disgust are made. In a report to the Controller, Bernard wrote,”…This is partly due, no doubt to the fact that he heard them talked about by the woman Linda, his m-----“(106). Words of the sort cannot even be written. Art, history, and the ability to have emotions are shunned. This utopia is shown as a perfect world in which everyone is happy. If this was true, the people would not need to take soma, an equivalent along the lines of a cross between one of today’s “designer drugs” and Prozac.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is set in a society that seems more like a fantasy than a possible reality like we know today. In his novel, people are no longer born, but instead manufactured on an assembly line and therefore created into a caste system from which no citizen can escape. There is no emotion other than happiness. Not because all others are banned, but because there a scientifically not made within these humans. Because every citizen believes they are in paradise, they do not see the biggest fl...
The novel, Brave New World, takes place in the future, 632 A. F. (After Ford), where biological engineering reaches new heights. Babies are no longer born viviparously, they are now decanted in bottles passed through a 2136 metre assembly line. Pre-natal conditioning of embryos is an effective way of limiting human behaviour. Chemical additives can be used to control the population not only in Huxley's future society, but also in the real world today. This method of control can easily be exercised within a government-controlled society to limit population growth and to control the flaws in future citizens. In today's world, there are chemical drugs, which can help a pregnant mother conceive more easily or undergo an abortion. In the new world, since there is no need...
Influenza is an acute respiratory illness caused by infection of influenza A and B viruses. The disease can affect both the upper and lower respiratory tract and is often followed by systemic signs and symptoms, such as: sudden onset of fever, chills, non-productive cough, myalgias (muscle pain), headache, nasal congestion, sore throat, and fatigue. (Cox et al.1998). Influenza viruses evolve continuously, challenging mammalian and avian hosts with new variants and causing complex epidemic patterns with regard to age, place, and time. Human influenza viruses cause disease through a variety of direct and indirect pathological effects. The direct effects include destruction of infected cells, damage to respiratory epithelium, and immunological responses that cause general malaise and pneumonia. Indirect effects of infection include secondary bacterial infections due to the tissue damage and other disease such as cardiovascular disease, renal disease, diabetes or chronic pulmonary disease (Schoenbaum S.1996). In the USA, clinical illness affects 5–20% of the population and asymptomatically infects a larger number (Noble G.1982). Infants, who are exposed to influenza epidemics as a novel antigenic challenge after maternal antibodies decline, may have attack rates as high as 30–50% in their first year of life, depending on the frequency of contacts with older siblings (Glezen et al.1997). For reasons, influenza viruses cause epidemics in the northern and southern hemisphere during their respective winters. In the tropics, the timing of activity is less defined, with sometimes year-round circulation or bi-seasonal peaks during the year (Viboud et al.2006).
In most countries in our world, society has experienced technological advances to the point of being able to accomplish what Huxley envisioned. In contrast to Huxley’s vision, the moral standards of most nations allow all humans to enjoy basic human rights that embrace family, personal relationships, and individualism. Today’s society is able to comprehend how with the technological advances Huxley’s world could be a reality, but with the privilege of a democratic society, civilization would not allow the medical intervention for reproduction, the conditioning for happiness and consumerism. Work Cited "Brave New World by Aldous Huxley : Barron's Notes" Brave New World by Aldous Huxley: Barron's Notes. N.p., n.d. Web.
Avian Influenza has been documented in over 100 different types of birds. However, it is important to distinguish between the LPAI (low pathogenic avian influenza) and HPAI (high pathogenic avian influenza) variants of bird flu. LPAI can have side effects as negligible as rumpled feathers or a decreases in egg production. Sometimes it isn’t even detected by livestock keepers. While LPAI doesn’t seem very bad, the potential for real harm happens when LPAI Bird Flu virus mutates into the highly lethal HPAI type. The virus can mutate very quickly since it is a single-stranded RNA virus, characterized by often and extreme mutations. Birds infected with the high pathogenic avian influenza suffer a 90%-100% mortality rate in less than two days! The birds die from rapid degradation of many internal organs. Int...
Slemons, Richard. D. (1973). Type A Influenza Viruses Isolated from Wild Free-Flying Ducks in California. Avian Diseases, 18 (1), PP 321-342.
Thomas More’s Utopia and Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World , are novels about societies that differ from our own. Though the two authors have chosen different approaches to create an alternate society, both books have similarities which represent the visions of men who were moved to great indignation by the societies in which they lived. Both novels have transcended contemporary problems in society , they both have a structured, work based civilization and both have separated themselves from the ways of past society. It is important when reading these novels to focus on the differences as well as the similarities. The two novels differ in their views of love, religion, and the way to eliminate social classes. These differences seem to suggest that if we do not come closer to More’s goal in Utopia, we will end up in a society much like that of Huxley’s Brave New World.
In a problem-based learning classroom there are some key characteristics that distinguish it from the typical classroom. First students begin their learning by solving an authentic and complex problem. In doing so the learning becomes self-directed, as students are given the ability to choose something they find of interest and importance. Then throughout the process students are given opportunities to self-reflect upon their learning process, thus not only focusing on what they are learning but how they
Avian Influenza is also known as the bird flu. The deadly form was first discovered in Italy in 1878. It is a Type A virus that occurs among wild aquatic birds and can infest domestic poultry and other birds and animal species. Although the virus does not normally infect human beings, there have been rare cases where humans have been infected with the virus. The disease is spread by contact with an infected bird’s feces, or secretion from its nose, mouth, or eyes. (Commission)