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Brave new world by aldous huxley essay
Aldus Huxley's Brave New World
Brave new world by aldous huxley essay
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When dystopias are mentioned, books like Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World come to mind, but no one ever thinks of modern, popular religions. The goal of these books are to warn the modern society of what could go wrong if it keeps behaving like it is by exaggerating the flaws of the modern society. Scientology is a fairly new religion that has gained many followers over the past decade because of its illusion of a utopia, but it is also exactly what Huxley and Orwell are warning about in their books. Like A Brave New World, The church of scientology started off with good intentions, but over time all the rules and beliefs have turned out to be corrupt and unfair. Utopias like in A Brave New World and Scientology often become dystopias because …show more content…
An important characteristic of a utopia is the use of propaganda to control the citizens. Throughout A Brave New World, the citizens are given tablets of soma from before they have the freedom to deny it, forcing them to rely on the drug. The government uses soma as propaganda by altering the mind and forcing everyone to believe they are happy. Even after they have the power to speak up, they believe the director when he says, “swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle” (Huxley __). Now that everyone is hooked on the drug and the government constantly tells them how great it is, no one wants to speak up, letting the government control them with this drug. Along with the whole community taking soma, citizens are also expected to conform to expectations and not individuals. In The World State, it is very often to see groups of identical twins and think it is completely normal. Although these twins are identical, some will grow up to be Alphas, while others will be Epsilons. In these different classes, each individual is expected to conform, by wearing the same color as their class and having the same job. Alphas are considered the highest, but “Alphas are so conditioned that they do not have to be infantile in their emotional behavior. But that is all the more reason for their making a special effort to conform. It is their duty to be infantile, even against their inclination " (Huxley 98). This situation shows how even Alphas, the highest class are forced to conform to unattainable perfection. Alphas are programmed to be mature, but at the same time it is their job to act childish, and they are punished if they do not meet the expectations of their class. The
In all aspects a utopian society is a society that is place to achieve perfection, and that is the society that both the “Uglies”, by Scott Westfield and “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut, was striving for. In both of these stories, the government had control over the people’s choices, freedoms, and their natural abilities. Yet both government strive for a perfect society, the methods they use to achieve this goal were different from each other.
In Utopia, the state imposes a culture of normalization to formulate a national identity that both defines and binds its citizens. The fifty-four towns of the country are virtually identical with the “same language, laws, customs, and institutions” (More 70). Even the appearances of individuals resemble each other with no distinctions in dress. This imposition of conformity serves to form a singular national identity that is artificial yet prevalent. As a result, the normalization is internalized by the people, becoming a cult of self-surveillance where the uniformity of physical appearances is superceded only by the uniformity of identity. The state succeeds in establishing a panopt...
A utopia is a community which possesses highly desirable or perfect qualities. The beginning of the book Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, is supposed to be represented as a utopia, but the reader soon discovers that it is actually a dystopia; which is merely the opposite of a utopia. The main character of the book, Equality 7-2521, explains to the reader that there are many laws and regulations that the people of City must obey such as: not to write or have their own thoughts, citizens can’t have individual names, and the citizens of the city also have to refer to themselves as “we.” Equality 7-2521 soon realizes that a society that lacks individualism does nothing to make the community prosper; meaning there must be a stop to the collectivism within the city.
The first way Aldous Huxley shows the art of happiness is through the World State’s motto, “community, identity, and stability”. Being oneself is the best person one can be. Bernard says “I’d rather be myself. Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly” (Huxley 89). Bernard gets mocked for being short but he does not want be anybody else, he wants to be himself. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if we were all the same? Lenina says “everybody belongs to everyone else” (Huxley 26). This is a powerful quote by Lenina and describes the World State society accurately how the D.H.C
During World War II propaganda was ubiquitous. It consisted of a wide range of carriers including leaflets, radio, television, and most importantly posters. Posters were used based on their appeal: they were colorful, creative, concise, and mentally stimulating. Posters often portrayed the artist's views on the war. They demonstrated the artist concern for the war, their hopes for the war, and reflected the way enemies were envisioned. Posters also show a nations political status: they reflect a nations allies and enemies, how the nation saw itself, and its greatest hopes and fears of the war.
War and Propaganda: A Look at How the Two Have Been Inseparable Through Time. There have been many wars that the United States has been a part of. Some fought on American soil, others fought abroad. But through it all, there has always been a need for the public’s support. And what better way to get that support than by putting information out there for the public?
A “utopia is that which is in contradiction with reality,” said the famous French novelist Albert Camus in his collection of essays, Between Hell and Reason. History shows us that seemingly exemplary ideals in practice have led to the collapse of societies. Just examine the two most prominent attempts at a utopia: Hitler’s attempt to socialize all of Europe and create the “perfect” Aryan race coupled with Karl Marx’s beliefs to instate communism into society. The final result was the destruction of their perspective visionary worlds. There was one major facet that prevented these two from creating their paradigms: utopias take away individual freedom and identity and therefore society cannot exist. Aldous Huxley’s science fiction novel Brave New World examines the large disconnect between the future and present day societies, showing how several aspects of this dystopian world lead to the downfall of the individual identity, most prominently exemplified by the death of John Savage.
Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, showcases a world alternate from ours, a dystopian setting. Where human morals are drastically altered, families, love, history, and art are removed by the government. They used multiple methods to control the people, but no method in the world state is more highly used and more effective than propaganda. The world state heavily implemented the use of propaganda to control, to set morals, and to condition the minds of every citizen in their world. However such uses of propaganda have already been used in our world and even at this very moment. The way the media sways us how to think or how we should feel about a given situation. Often covering the truth and hiding the facts. One of the goals in propaganda is to set the mindset of the people to align with the goal of a current power, such as a
The history of Scientology shows its persistence to keep their members with the promise of spiritual enlightenment. Scientology was founded in the mid-twentieth century by renowned science-fiction author L Ron Hubbard. (Sweeney) The basic foundation of the church stems from the ideas of his best-selling book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. (Anderson) Dianetics was published on May 9, 1950, and the date would become recognized among Scientologists as a religious holiday. Hubbard claimed that the discovery of the science of dianetics is “a milestone for Man comparable to his discovery of fire and superior to his inventions of the wheel and the arch” (Reitman 58). The book’s ideas encourage humanity to rid the individual of any of their mental weaknesses (18). It went on to make its way up the bestseller list by the summer o...
In the book, Propaganda, author Edward L Bernays, who is nephew of Sigmund Freud, transcends the public relation industry. This short, 13-part instructional manual delves deep into the intricacies and usage of propaganda. Bernays claims that the public is in a constant state of manipulation. He argues that in order for a society to be highly functioning and stable, public opinion must be manipulated and swayed. While I find his claims disturbing, it was refreshing to read something so blunt. Bernays’ use of psychological techniques to work the mechanics of public opinion truly classifies him as the “father of public relations.”
The World State also uses controlled groupings of people to brainwash them further into thoughtless people with no sense of individualism. Lastly, the World State uses drugs to create artificial happiness for people, leaving no room for intense emotion which causes people to revolt against the World State. Within the novel Brave New World, it is seen that the World State eliminates individuality through social restrictions, government controlled groupings and the abuse of drugs to maintain control of the population. Social restriction robs individuals of their creative personalities by preventing freedom of thought, behavior, and expression; but is vital to the World State for maintaining complete control over the society. Social restriction’s purpose is to enforce obedience, conformity and compliance out of people.
The book Fahrenheit 451 and the movie Hunger Games both display a dystopian fiction setting. A dystopian setting is when it is a futuristic, made up universe, and the illusion of a perfect society is maintained through corporate, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. In dystopias the characters make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system. At the beginning of each of these the main characters follow through with what their government wants them to do however toward the end of each they start to do what they want or what they believe is better than what the government recommends..
When a person sees a new advertisement or commercial for their favorite shoe company, they immediately want to go and check out their latest designs. Similarly, propaganda uses different sources of media to encourage people to buy a certain item that will benefit their country or an organization. Propaganda was used in World War II to encourage citizens to buy certain tools or participate in certain events to help the soldiers fighting. Both video and radio advertisements were used by the Allied and Axis powers to encourage citizens to aid the war effort, resulting in a rise of nationalism and resentment towards opposing sides.
The future of the world is a place of thriving commerce and stability. Safety and happiness are at an all-time high, and no one suffers from depression or any other mental disorders. There are no more wars, as peace and harmony spread to almost every corner of the world. There is no sickness, and people are predestined to be happy and content in their social class. But if anything wrong accidentally occurs, there is a simple solution to the problem, which is soma. The use of soma totally shapes and controls the utopian society described in Huxley's novel Brave New World as well as symbolize Huxley's society as a whole. This pleasure drug is the answer to all of life's little mishaps and also serves as an escape as well as entertainment. The people of this futuristic society use it in every aspect of their lives and depend on it for very many reasons. Although this drug appears to be an escape on the surface, soma is truly a control device used by the government to keep everyone enslaved in set positions.
Thesis: Propaganda was a tool that leaders used to get people involved in wars of the past.