Freedom Never Known vs. Freedom Never Earned: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

1720 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Human freedom

What is freedom? According to The American Heritage Dictionary, freedom is referred to as “the power to determine action without restraint.” In modern day society, freedom is not thought about; it is taken advantage of and abused. Now, switching one’s perspective to that of a futuristic time period, what if one never experienced freedom, never tasted the sweet pleasure to decide what one wants to do for one’s self? In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, freedom is not known of; in fact, the civilians of the World State are strongly discouraged to be independent in any aspect of their life. “Community, Identity, Stability” is the civilians way of life (Huxley 3). In this fictional, new world realm, citizens rely on the government and each other in a way where “every one belongs to every one [SIC] else” (Huxley 48). This world has never experienced freedom. It lacks depth, imagination, and the individual freedom to think on one’s own. The World State controls its citizens through drugs, sexual relations, and separation of independently thinking individuals; this is where the lack of individual freedom is shown. Loss of freedom is dangerous to humanity. It results in the loss of individual rights, which leads to the destruction of today’s society. One’s rights would only be allowed as far as the leader would subject them to. Freedom needs to be preserved, or one risks living in a Brave New World.
The basis of the World State is the citizens’ reliance on one another to maintain daily life. Community. Community in this Brave New World is “that [of] free love and infidelity” (Huxley xiii). The government allows the citizens of the World State to be sexually free, meaning they have many different partners all the time. This allowance of...

... middle of paper ...

...rld State to decide how one should act, talk, or go about one’s life. With this power to determine one’s own fate, also comes the responsibility in determining it. If one wants to continue in the life of free choice and individual rights, one must be wise in the decisions he or she makes. Making decisions based off one’s own standards is one’s right in today’s society, but these choices have affects and consequences. Freedom of individual rights must be maintained, but one must also understand the risk one takes when exercising these rights, or one risks living in a Brave New World.

Works Cited
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial, 2004.
Huxley, Aldous. “Chemical Persuasion.” Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World Revisited. New York: Harper Perennial, 2004. 296-303.
Schmerl, Rudolf B. “The Two Future Worlds of Aldous Huxley.” PMLA (2010): 328-334.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell

    540 Words  | 2 Pages

    Different societies have risen and fallen in the common search for the “perfect” civilization. In the books 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, both authors portray a dystopian society with some troubling similarities. Orwell and Huxley each stress the use of power to control the masses. This influence is always situated with a small group of individuals that uses it to control every aspect of the people’s lives. Using such a method brings to mind a severe totalitarianism of rigid control that terminates individuality. Each society makes use of a caste system. Each caste has certain tasks and rules it must follow. Any sign of individuality is immediately disciplined and the societies are set up so the people will never question the morals or humaneness of their situation. Such concepts have been stopped from common thought so the people in power remain in power. Religion has been eliminated and logical thought have been destroyed. The days are continuously filled with worthless everyday jobs and a wish to be alone is considered a dangerous. In both books the...

    Read More

  • Individuality And Conformity In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the author depicts a collective society in which everyone has the same values and beliefs. From a young age, the people in the World State’s civilization are conditioned to believe in their motto of “Community, Identity, Stability.” Through hypnopaedia, the citizens of the World State learn their morals, values, and beliefs, which stay with them as they age. However, like any society, there are outsiders who alienate themselves from the rest of the population because they have different values and beliefs. Unfortunately, being an outsider in the World State is not ideal, and therefore there are consequences as a result. One such outsider is John. Brought from the Savage Reservation, John is lead to conform to the beliefs of the World State, thus losing his individuality, which ultimately leads him to commit suicide. Through John and the World State populace as an example, Huxley uses his novel to emphasize his disapproval of conformity over individuality.

    Read More

  • control in brave new world

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley illustrates ways in which government and advanced science control society. Through actual visualization of this Utopian society, the reader is able to see how this state affects Huxley’s characters. Throughout the book, the author deals with many different aspects of control. Whether it is of his subjects’ feelings and emotions or of the society’s restraint of population growth, Huxley depicts government’s and science’s role in the brave new world of tomorrow.

    Read More

  • Utopian Society in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    “There is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon, returning whence they find themselves on the other side of the crevice, safe on the solid ground of daily labour and distraction, scampering from feely to feely, from girl to pneumatic girl, from Electromagnetic Golf course to …"

    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

  • Dystopian Society In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Utopian society is a society in which everything is perfect, everyone is happy with who they are and their lifestyles. The society in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is set up by the world controllers to be a utopian society. However, the society itself is the opposite of a utopian society: dystopian society. Even though everything seems to be perfect for everyone, the hidden truth reveals a different reality, lifestyle. The society of Brave new world is a dystopian society as exhibited by the shortage of freedom, reality and identity.

    Read More

  • Aldous Huxley's Dystopian Vision

    2398 Words  | 5 Pages

    What is a utopia? Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary defines _utopia_ as "an imaginary and indefinitely remote place; a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, gov-ernment, and social conditions; *an impractical scheme for social improvement."* In _Brave New World_ Aldous Huxley creates a _dystopia_ (which Webster defines as "an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives") by predicting a pos-sible _utopia_ after many generations. Aldous Huxley analyzes how the utopia degenerated from its original intent into a terrible dystopia. In this essay I will discuss some aspects of this dystopia and relate to Aldous Huxley's dystopian vision.

    Read More

  • Marxist Criticism And Gender Studies In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1931 Aldous Huxley published Brave New World, giving a look into a dystopian society of the future. The book is written in a modernist literary view, and is a dramatized version of the issues surrounding the world during the early 20th century. Throughout the book, literary theories and schools of criticism such as Marxist Criticism and Gender Studies can be seen in Huxley’s representation of the main characters of the story and their interactions; he shows the disparity of society when they loose their ability to feel or have emotion, and uses the inter-workings of the World State to show class differences and the consumerist society that has formed due to the importance put on economic prosperity.

    Read More

  • Totalitarian Government In Brave New World By Aldous Huxley

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    The people in a society are often a product of the presiding government’s policy. In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, many of the citizens are artificially made and act like robots. However, in a reservation next to the new world, there exists a boy named John who was born and raised like a human. John is excited to go the new world because he believes that life will be better there. When John enters the new world, he sees many abnormalities that go against his beliefs, and the citizens call him a savage because he is not one of them. By juxtaposing John, the so-called savage, against the “refined” society, Huxley demonstrates the extreme extent of humankind 's atypical actions under the subjugation of a totalitarian government.

    Read More

  • Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    One major issue that helps maintain social stability in Brave New World is sex. It is thought of as normal for people to be completely open with their sexual nature. It is typical for children to run around naked during recess playing games that are sexual and sometimes homosexual in nature. Every adult is encouraged to sleep with as many different partners as possible. This outlook on sexual nature is quite different from actual accepted views. Today, sex is most widely accepted as a private, romantic event that should take place between monogamous couples. Because sex is a natural need of the human body, people of Huxley’s society feel pleased by being open with their sexuality. Indulging in their sexual pleasures eases their minds and keeps them from questioning the level of freedom they have.

    Read More

  • The World State In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    Brave New World is a novel that revolves around a utopian society called the World State. The society is meant to be seen as a perfect world where everyone 's needs can be satisfied and the goal is to maintain an overall happy nation where people are content with their current position in their society However, this can be seen as ironic for various reasons including that this society is far from what many consider to be a perfect one. The World State contrasts to our current society in many ways, yet, it also compares to it in separate aspects. In addition, many World State ideas are mirrored by the terrorist group known as ISIS.

    Read More

  • Satire in Brave New World

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    If we start letting simple freedoms go, we could lose some major ones. Works Cited Huxley, Aldous. A. & Co. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006.

    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

  • 1984: Why Freedom is Important

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    The term `freedom' is often associated with the notion of living free of restraint and having an unfettered liberty to engage in rational actions with a sense that that our actions will not be controlled or interfered with. Given the above definition of freedom and the principles of positive and negative freedom, this essay shall seek to demonstrate that while they do not experience freedom fully, the proles are more free than Winston in Nineteen Eighty-Four. This essay shall also discuss the reasons why we consider freedom to be important with a particular focus on our assumptions of human nature and its components.

    Read More

More about Freedom Never Known vs. Freedom Never Earned: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

Open Document