How valuable is the protection of individuality? In a society dominated by falsified, scientifically manufactured happiness, individuality proves a rarity. Aldous Huxley’s speculative novel, Brave New World, demonstrates the consequences of this type of impassive society. Bernard, Helmholtz, and John are all unique from their peers, and they think individually as a result. Because of their individuality, the group is ultimately banned from civilization and sent to a remote location. Being segregated because of appearance or mental capacity and not subject to society’s influences stimulates individuality; however, the knowledge and truth correlating with individuality comes at a price, in this case, happiness. Bernard’s isolation, resulting from a physical deformity, allows him to fully explore his individuality. Bernard’s height constantly attracts scorn and ridicule from both Alpha’s and lower caste members, and they treat him as a foreigner because he appears different to them. Constantly battered by derision from all castes, Bernard “feel[s] an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behave[s] like one…”(65). Isolation from society provides Bernard time in solitude, affording him the means to question society’s motives for mocking him. Bernard’s lack of faith in society drives him further apart from its inhabitants, creating a cycle that advances Bernard’s isolation from his peers and, in turn, promoting his individuality. Furthermore, the people surrounding Bernard have always taken interest in his physical shortcomings. They gossip about his deformity, suggesting alcohol in his system and a mix-up in the embryonic stage as possible reasons for it. Society isolates Bernard because of his physical stature, “…and [his]... ... middle of paper ... ...ferent from their peers has isolated Bernard, Helmholtz, and John, it has also deepened their individuality. This scenario, at a lesser level, often plays out in modern day. People possess a natural desire to fit in and often are willing to forego individuality in order to do so. Though one may gain a facade of happiness as a result of fitting in, being truthful to oneself and expressing one’s free will allows for honest expression of individuality, a concept much greater than such a facade. A society without unique individuals is a society without humanity, and, as demonstrated through these characters’ experience, does not function. Ultimately, people must realize that individuality, knowledge, and raw emotion is more important to society than superficial happiness. Works Cited Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. 1st ed. New York, NY: HaperCollins, 2006.
Brave New World, a novel written by Aldous Huxley, can be compared and contrasted with an episode of The Twilight Zone, a fantasy, science-fiction television series, called “Number 12 Looks Just Like You.” Brave New World is a highly regarded and renowned work of literature as The Twilight Zone is considered one of the greatest television series of all time. Brave New World and The Twilight Zone’s episode “Number 12 Looks Just Like You” can be compared and contrasted on the basis of science, youth, and the government.
In many ways, today's society reflects the society Aldous Huxley wrote about in his novel Brave New World. Huxley predicted excessive drug usage to make the citizens happy, people deciding to buy new products instead of fixing old ones, sex not being treated as a sacred thing like it has been in the past, and many other very accurate predictions for our future. During the time that Huxley was writing this novel, the world was already starting to head in the direction that brought us here. This was a social commentary for his time and it’s still sadly relevant for our time now. We should have taken the warnings from the novel and changed paths before it was too late. Not that we are actually currently living in their society, but we are heading there. We can still avoid making this our reality.
Science and Technology have a strong influence on the daily lives of the citizens in the world state. The first influence is through the use of drugs and in particular, soma. Soma is a drug that is used in the world state by everyone to create false happiness. When john, Bernard and Helmholtz meet Mustafa mond the leader of the world state, Mond explains the beneficial effects of simply consuming one drug on a daily basis. “Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your mortality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears-that’s what soma is.” (Helmholtz, 162) In the world state, there is only praise for the drug known as soma, as there are no side effects the members of society fear of. Science and technology has reached a point where it allows a simple tablet to relieve its citizens of any sort of problem that they may encounter. Furthermore Soma is produced in large quantities for consumption in order to suppress understanding of what is around the members of society. Secondly, along with the Soma consumption, the citizens are also influenced by science in everyday life by not being able to gain knowledge. methods of gaining knowledge include: reading books or anything that promotes an idea. Using technology, the world state prohibits any type of reading. When small children are being conditioned to keep away from books, the procedure is presented, “Crumpling the illuminated pages of the books, the director waited until all were happily busy. Then, ‘Watch carefully,’ he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal... There was a violent explosion... The children screamed; their faces were distorted with terror.” (16) even at a young age...
A Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, is a book that to me is more of a warning then entertainment. In the book, Huxley writes about a future civilization and all how everything in life is simplified. Babies are created in factories and are designed however scientists want them to be. Relationships are completely irrelevant and frowned upon in this world. People are distracted from true beauty and left to submit their selves into a false world. Since this book was written in 1931, Huxley obviously had no knowledge of new age technology. But, many of the warnings he wrote about have, in fact, come true. Cloning is now a very relevant topic in the scientific community, which could actually lead to artificial birth like Huxley wrote about. Video games now have one of the most profitable industries and are now as immersive as ever. And according to multiple studies, sexual promiscuity is at an all time high in teenagers.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World introduces us to a futuristic technological world where monogamy is shunned, science is used in order to maintain stability, and society is divided by 5 castes consisting of alphas(highest), betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilons(lowest). In the Brave New World, the author demonstrates how society mandates people’s beliefs using many characters throughout the novel.
In Aldous Huxley's novel, "Brave New World" he introduces a character named, Bernard Marx an alpha part of the upper higher class who does not quite fit in. Bernard is cursed by the surrounding rumors of something going wrong during his conditioning that he becomes bitter and isolates himself from those around him in the World State. Huxley's character experiences both alienation and enrichment to being exiled from a society that heavily relies on technology and forms of entertainment with little to no morals.
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.
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.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World portrays a society in which science has clearly taken over. This was an idea of what the future could hold for humankind. Is it true that Huxley’s prediction may be correct? Although there are many examples of Huxley’s theories in our society, there is reason to believe that his predictions will not hold true for the future of society.
While positioning his novel far into an imagined future, Huxley draws upon his own 1930s context as a point of contrast. This is evident through the World Controller Mond’s dialogue, “you must make a choice”. The high modality and irony in Mustapha Mond’s dialogue to John that the citizens all have the choice to engage with the World State Huxley’s sustained use of irony accentuates how manipulation and masked conditioning powers political motivations. One can argue that citizens of the World state believe that individuals have a choice in their routine, yet from the archetype of the outsider, we as audiences are able to understand that it is just a mere illusion. The emphasis on the word ‘you’ provides the citizens to obtain with a false sense of power. It is also a motif that repeats throughout the novel. Yet, it can be said that the world controllers corrupt the minds of citizens through the extensive conditioning so that they do not realise they are being used as products or ‘slaves’ of the fictional World State, thus presenting how political ideologies have the ability to suppress individuals. The hypnopadeic slogan “everyone works for everyone else” emphasises the loss in individuality and humanity in the World State. Furthermore, the religious connotation of, “Christianity without tears-that’s what
“If one’s different, one’s bound to be lonely” (Huxley 137). In the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley the world has changed and is now divided into ten World States. People are hatching from test tubes and mature at an accelerated rate to cut out the wasteful years of a child’s life. Everyone is assigned to castes before they are brought into the World State, with each one becoming more and more intelligent as you move up. The lowest, Epsilons, are basically mindless bodies for menial labor and the highest, Alphas, controlling the society. Next we meet two men who are different from everyone else, Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson. These two men eventually meet John the Savage, a man of viperous birth, and they introduce him to the World
Conformity and personal desire can take many different meanings. Huxley’s dystopia develops conformity as happiness, and personal desire as meaning. Happiness, in this society, is defined as constant contentment: stability, instant gratification, promiscuity and trivialization. Meaning, in the society, takes many different forms: art, beauty, truth, disease, sin, and anguish. Through the juxtaposition of the characters, Huxley develops the idea that conformity and personal desire cannot be independently maintained. Rather, a balance has to occur between the two. Huxley develops that many individuals strive for a balance between conformity and personal desire, and that the conflict arises when polarization takes place.
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.
...re different and attempts to either ridicule, exemplify, or ignore them. In the Brave New World, society aims to preserve the homologous nature of living. With strict rules, crowd mentality and community actives the Brave New World attempts to get rid of the individual. Hypnopedia messages such as "When the individual feels, the community reels," and "Everybody belongs to everyone else," the Brave New World attempts to diminish the value of individuality and seeks instead to promote the idea of society first. Bernard, Helmholtz, and John are the few individuals of the Brave New World. They differ from the rest of society, because they recognize their uniqueness and realize that they are apart from society. It is because of their self-realization of their individuality that they are condemned to be ostracized from society and to live outside the Brave New World.
Think about a world where you first experience sex when you’re a little kid. A world where books and flowers might not be respected but you're conditioned to be happy. Conditioned to have sex with anyone you want, whenever you feel like it. It's true that you don't have to worry about violence and when you start feeling stressed, all you have to take is soma (a drug that creates pleasure and happiness.) then feel better. In the story, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, that’s how their world worked and I do not believe that our world will ever come to a point like it. I agree that there is a sufficient amount of people that want to be happy but I feel like somethings aren’t realistic in the book that’s going to happen in our future. Also, I believe that many people want to have world peace but that requires no violence and something that I wish would happen but can’t see happen. Everyone isn’t the same and we all want different things leading to violence because everyone has their own way to deal with rage or even boredom. In the new world, since there’s no live birth and everyone belongs to each other, there is no God. There is Ford which is God in a sense but they don’t know who He is. I don’t think that God will be forgotten in the future.