Sacrifice In Brave New World

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According to Charles Dubois, a Belgian naturalist, “The important thing is: to be able at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” This quote means to have the ability to sacrifice what you have for what we could become in the future. Some kind of sacrifice must be made to reach a desired amount of not only happiness, but of other things as well like good health, education, love etc. In the novel, “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, not all sacrifices made bring positivity. When sacrificing something for the better, the outcome may be even worse. Mustapha Mond, one of the ten world controllers, claims that in the civilized society, happiness is the greatest good. The civilized society has sacrificed high art in order …show more content…

When Mustapha Mond, one of the ten world controllers, states that “you’ve got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art, we sacrificed the high art.” (Huxley, 196). Mond explains that in this society, happiness is the greatest good. This is also called Irony when he explains that “happiness is the greatest good” yet meanwhile in the society it’s not the first priority. The reward for the sacrifice is not immediate. One can’t have something for nothing; they must be paid for. For example, in chapter 16, Mond states that “universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily turning […] then it was happiness rather than truth and beauty that mattered.” (Huxley, 200). This means that people are sacrificing happiness for truth and beauty which are other factors that are more in value than happiness in their thoughts, until they realize that when the nine years’ war happened – a major war of the late 17th century fought between King Louis XIV of France and the Grand Alliance, they realize that they were being controlled. Mond agrees with Helmholtz Watson “paying” the outcome of his fate as well because he happened to be too interested in beauty which he thought that was more precious than happiness. However, Mond himself was too interested in truth and “paid” the outcome of his fate as well. He said, “That’s how I paid. By choosing to save happiness. Other people’s – not mine. It’s lucky) (Huxley, 202). This relates to the thesis when Mond mentioned that he chose to serve other people’s happiness instead of his own. This shows that he has sacrificed his own happiness for other people in return for not being exiled away as a method of punishment. Therefore, some of his sacrifices he has made has not always lead to positive situations as well as, some sacrifices made are bad in the loss of their

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