The Role of Technology in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

629 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary analysis of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Technology is a huge factor in the development of societies and cultures. In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, factors like the tough control over reproduction through technological and medical intervention, and the use of soma by all of the people in the society of the “New World” influence the development of their society. The influence of technology, displays the central theme of the book that technology can shape any society. Technological advancements are the basis of society in the “New World”.

One major technological aspect that controlled society is the conservation of reproduction. As a way to maintain the society's motto of "Community, Identity and Stability,” (7) the number of inhabitants is managed through the artificiality of the brave new world's use of technology. The reproductive process in the utopia is known as Bokanovsky’s Process. Bokanovsky’s Process is explained is explained as “One egg, one embryo, one adult—normality. But a bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, will divide. From eight to ninety-six buds, and every bud will grow into a perfectly formed embryo, and every embryo into a full-sized adult. Making ninety-six human beings grow where only one grew before. Progress” (6). This form of reproduction, totally changes the whole society. During the process, they developninety-six identical twinswho all belong to a certain rank within the caste of the Utopia. The Utopia is divided up into five different living groups including Alphas who are the top and Epsilons who are on the bottom of the social structure. Just like the caste system in India, you are born into your rank. Bokanovsky’s process centrals the life around it; It develops the society of the “New World”.People are taught to b...

... middle of paper ...

...Lenina constantly complains whenever she is in a bad situation and doesn’t have soma. She says “I wish I had my soma (116)” which shows her strong devotion to the drug. Considering people cannot function with this drug handy, it proves that the drug has really become influential in the “New World” society.

Society is mostly based on the technological advancements built within a community. In the “New World”, Soma and the controlling of reproduction are just few of the many examples in the book. These technologies show that technology can shape a society. The theme being that technology can shape and control any society. Societies won’t function without advanced technology and if those technologies are present than they become a huge portion of the society.

Works Cited

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Lenina and Linda: Character Foils

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both Lenina and Linda use soma to escape from the realities of the world. Soma is a symbol for instant pleasure, and to avoid unpleasant situations. Lenina’s use of soma suggests that she is trying to suppress feelings of embarrassment, depression, and later her infatuation with John. Resembling words that of a drug addict, Lenina says “I wish I had my soma”, so that she could escape from her melancholic problems (Huxley 104). Similarly, after accusing the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, and having him publicly deny her, the emotional toll on Linda was so great, that she felt the need to consume soma to escape. Dr. Shaw “let her have what she wanted”; she “took as much as twe...

    Read More

  • Brave New World by Aldoux Huxley

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    Living in this society allows people of all ages to take part in the same activities at the same level (depending on their cast). This allows citizens to never have any responsibilities as they grow older and live worrisome lives forever until their death. Science and technology is the focal point in everyday life of the citizens in the world state and with it the society flourishes in creating what the world controller wants. Similar to the daily lives of citizens of the world state, technology acts as a major influence even before they are born. Science and technology plays a big part before citizens are born in how they produce viable offspring that are prepared to be of help to the society.

    Read More

  • control in brave new world

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    One aspect of control that is touched upon from the beginning of the novel until the end is the control of the population birth and growth. As a way to maintain the society’s motto of “Community, Identity and Stability,” the number of inhabitants is managed through the artificiality of the brave new world’s use of technology. In the first chapter of the novel, the reader is introduced to the process of creating humans in this Utopia. The advancement of science made it possible for the building of an artificial arrangement with the reproductive glands and equipment needed for fertilizing and hatching the resulting eggs. The fact that machines do what is done by human reproductive systems shows how science has dominated over man in this world.

    Read More

  • Technology In Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people believe that being very technologically advanced is the best thing for society, but not many people know that technology can also be the worst thing for society. In the novel A Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, technology is shown as a harmful thing. Having too much technology is potentially harmful as shown through the use Soma, the reproduction process in the world state, and the World State's method of determining social class. The first way technology in society can be harmful is through the citizens use of Soma.

    Read More

  • Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Political and Social Ideas

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    The characters in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World represent certain political and social ideas. Huxley used what he saw in the world in which he lived to form his book. From what he saw, he imagined that life was heading in a direction of a utopian government control. Huxley did not imagine this as a good thing. He uses the characters of Brave New World to express his view of utopia being impossible and detrimental. One such character he uses to represent the idealogy behind this is Bernard Marx.

    Read More

  • Questioning the Brave New World

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book opens on the factory floor of the reproduction plant. What do they make here? Humans. Here in this muti-level factories people are made, not just the bodies but the minds too. In this “Brave New World” Aldous Huxley created babies are decanted not born. The cast system is no longer a frame of mind it is the devilment, mass cloning and use of chemicals to mutate or under develop embryos was used to create classes of people that could be called less human. As you travel up in this factory you see the training that children are put through so they will never question their place in society. Infants made for the lower classes are electrocuted when they move towards books or flowers because “You couldn’t have the lower cast wasting the communities time over books,” (Find and finish quote) Then moving up there are hallways full of dormitories and there peacefully sleeping are children of every age and cast and in the back ground is the soft murmur of a voice repeating every lesson of society. Never be unhappy simply use soma “A gram in better than a dam.” Cast discrimination “I’m so glad I not a gama.” Economic use “More stiches, less riches.”(55) And social behaviors like promiscuity and birth control. The ‘controllers’ of this world made the people that made up the world.

    Read More

  • The Role of Government and Technology in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    Merriam Webster’s definition of satire is a type of literary work used to ridicule human vices and follies. This type of work is presented in Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World, when criticizing the power and control of the World State through the use of advanced technology towards the members of the World State. Throughout the novel the World State is portrayed as a totalitarian government controlling every aspect of its citizens lives. This controlling is made possible through all the advanced technology available within the World State. Set hundreds of years after Henry Ford, the renowned auto maker, the government’s technology is highly advanced, a folly Huxley is trying to expose in order to prevent a technological takeover in the life of people in the real world. Conditioning is one technological method used by the government in order to establish individuals to participate in a variety of tasks. Also entertainment is another factor used by theWorld State to keep power. Censorship is also illustrated in the novel presenting the governments ability to control, what is released in the World State.

    Read More

  • Brave New World - A Letter to Mr. Huxley

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the past few weeks my class and I have been reading your book, “ Brave New World”. While reading your book I have discovered a few captivating issues. These issues include the destruction of the family, the use of drugs, and polygamy (obligatory sex). These issues are interesting because of their implications in life today, and the frequent times they are shown in the book. The ways they are used to control people and make their life easier, and the fact that our world seems to be falling into the same state.

    Read More

  • Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley deftly creates a society that is indeed quite stable. Although they are being mentally manipulated, the members of this world are content with their lives, and the presence of serious conflict is minimal, if not nonexistent. For the most part, the members of this society have complete respect and trust in their superiors, and those who don’t are dealt with in a peaceful manner as to keep both society and the heretic happy. Maintained by cultural values, mental conditioning, and segregation, the idea of social stability as demonstrated in Brave New World is, in my opinion, both insightful and intriguing.

    Read More

  • A Reflection on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    1607 Words  | 4 Pages

    Literature is both shaped by our culture and shapes it. Because of this it is an effective representation of the culture of a time. One can tell how people were affected by the events of the times by how it comes through in their writing. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a prime example of this. The work was targeted at people in a post WWI world. This is a time between WWI and WWII where the world is still shocked by how rapidly the science of war had advanced. People also continue to be appalled with the mass death of a World War caused by such technology and therefore yearn for a more stable world. Because of this yearning, they attempt to create a more stable environment for themselves. Most people had lost faith in the institutions they came to know because those institutions caused the War. Therefore the League of Nations was founded in 1919 only 13 years before “Brave New World” was published in 1932.

    Read More

  • Satire in Brave New World

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    Another use of technology in the novel is cloning. The leaders strive to make everyone as similar as possible and cloning is one way of doing this. They achieve this feat by splitting an egg as many times as possible. This group of identical twins is called a Bokanovsky Group. The highest number of people in one of these groups was 96, with 72 being a “good average.” This process is used to mass produce workers; because of this, it is only used on the lower classes. It also takes away a person’s individuality, which is a big goal in the brave new world.

    Read More

  • Periods Of Modernism In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 20th Century and late 19th Century were periods of great turbulence. Aldous Huxley’s writing of Brave New World, a fictional story about a dystopian society managed by drugs, conditioning, and suppression, was greatly influenced by these turmoils and movements. Occurrences such as World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the second Scientific Revolution, the Great Depression, Modernism, the Industrial Revolution, Henry Ford, and many others had a significant impact upon Huxley’s thoughts, expressed through Brave New World.

    Read More

  • The Role of Technology in Huxley's Brave New World

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    Technology, which has brought mankind from the Stone Age to the 21st century, can also ruin the life of peoples. In the novel Brave New World, the author Aldous Huxley shows us what technology can do if we exercise it too much. From the novel we can see that humans can lose humanity if we rely on technology too much. In the novel, the author sets the world in the future where everything is being controlled by technology. This world seems to be a very perfectly working utopian society that does not have any disease, war, problems, crisis but it is also a sad society with no feelings, emotions or human characteristics. This is a very scary society because everything is being controlled even before someone is born, in test tube, where they determine of which class they are going to fall under, how they are going to look like and beyond. Therefore, the society of Brave New World is being controlled by society form the very start by using technology which affects how the people behave in this inhumane, unrealistic, society.

    Read More

  • Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

    395 Words  | 1 Pages

    There were quite a few changes made from Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World to turn it into a “made for TV” movie. The first major change most people noticed was Bernard Marx’s attitude. In the book he was very shy and timid toward the opposite sex, he was also very cynical about their utopian lifestyle. In the movie Bernard was a regular Casanova. He had no shyness towards anyone. A second major deviation the movie made form the book was when Bernard exposed the existing director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, Bernard himself was moved up to this position. In the book the author doesn’t even mention who takes over the position. The biggest change between the two was Lenina, Bernard’s girlfriend becomes pregnant and has the baby. The screenwriters must have made this up because the author doesn’t even mention it. The differences between the book and the movie both helped it and hurt it.

    Read More

  • The Use of Technology to Control Society in Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, portrays a future society where people are no longer individuals but are controlled by the World State. The World State dominates the people by creating citizens that are content with who they are. Brave New World describes how the science of biology and psychology are manipulated so that the government can develop technologies to change the way humans think and act. The World State designs humans from conception for this society. Once the humans are within the society the state ensures all people remain happy. They program these humans to have needs and desires that will sustain a lucrative economy while not thinking of themselves as an individual. Huxley describes the Worlds State’s intent to control their society through medical intervention, happiness, and consumerism which has similarities to modern society.

    Read More

More about The Role of Technology in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

Open Document