Brave New World Analysis

1241 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary analysis essay

In Brave New World, the author Aldous Huxley predicts a future, like no other, where truth is trumped by happiness. The people in the World State are ignorant of the truth. They mistake the truth as happiness. This ignorance leads them to believe that a tablet called soma is used “to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient” (Huxley 213). Through drugs and conditioning, the government has kept the World State uninformed of the truth. Being controlled by the government, people in the World State do not know society is built upon lies. Throughout this novel, John, Bernard, and Helmholtz, go through this Dystopia lifestyle being a savage, a misfit and too intellectual for the society they are born or decanted into. Is this fictional novel too far away from the life style that could become in a society like today?
Like many other dystopian societies the World State is under disguise of being utopian. The governments control on one is so great that individuals of this society are conditioned and brainwashed into an emotionless feeling of happiness. This type of ruling is a complete dictatorship society, where everything is being manipulated according to the wishes of each Controller. The Controllers decide on the rules and laws to make sure everyone is happy. To the Controllers and their caste, the world one lives in is the ideal perfection where there is no room for acceptance of individuality. With individuality comes threat to those who rule. These threats are then sent away to a lonely island where they study their interest without harming the good of society.
One could look at the world we live in now as a dystopian society but it is being disguised in a utopian society. The government t...

... middle of paper ...

...eling of being truly happy would mean that one would have to face truth. For one to truly feel happiness one needs to come to the realization that if we continue to escape reality with short term coping mechanisms this world will degrade right in front of our eyes. Is not wanting to face the truth of reality really worth altering our society for the worst? One needs to consider that question when making the decision of letting the government control their life style or maintaining individuality within this society. We cannot continue on the path that we are on. Something needs to be done.

Works Cited

Biderman, A. D. (1962). The Image of "Brainwashing". Oxford Journals , 548-562.

Huxley, A. (1932). Brave New World. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Savage, D. S. (1947). Aldous Huxley and the Dissociation of Personality. The Johns Hopkins University Press , 537-568.

Show More
Related

  • The Social And Political Attitudes Of Brave New World

    1360 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brave New World is an unsettling, loveless and even sinister place. This is because Huxley endows his "ideal" society with features calculated to alienate his audience. Typically, reading Brave New World elicits the very same disturbing feelings in the reader which the society it depicts has notionally vanquished - not a sense of joyful anticipation. Huxley's novel presents a startling view of the future which on the surface appears almost comical. His intent, however, is not humor. Huxley's message is dark and depressing. His idea that in centuries to come, a one-world government will rise to power, stripping people's freedom, is not a new idea. What makes Huxley's interpretation different is the fact that his fictional society not only lives in a totalitarian government, but takes an embracive approach like mindless robots. For example, Soma, not nuclear bombs, is the weapon of choice for the World Controllers in Brave New World. The world leaders have realized that fear and intimidation have only limited power; these tactics simply build up resentment in the minds of the oppressed. Subconscious persuasion and mind-altering drugs, on the other hand, appear to have no side effects.

    Read More

  • The Dystopian Society Depicted in Brave New World, V for Vendetta, and Handmaid's Tale

    926 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is commonplace for individuals to envision a perfect world; a utopian reality in which the world is a paradise, with equality, happiness and ideal perfection. Unfortunately, we live in a dystopian society and our world today is far from perfection. John Savage, from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, V, from V for Vendetta by James McTeigue and Offred, from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Attwood, are all characters in a dystopian society. A dystopia is the vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and are characterized by oppression, corruption of government, and abridgement of human rights.

    Read More

  • Compare Dystopia And Modern Society

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rollo May, a psychologist, once said that, “in the utopian aim of removing all power and aggression from human behavior, we run the risk of removing self-assertion, self-affirmation, and even the power to be”. As a contemporary population, daily life has advanced from a comprehension; introducing utopian qualities would have domino effects on different human rights of a hindsight apparistic nation. Modern societies similar to a utopia has a larger entity that undermines the community within different aspects but nevertheless runs the risk of becoming a society with dystopian features by illusions of authoritarian rule.

    Read More

  • The Truman Show vs. the Giver

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    Life is a very valuable asset, but when lived on someone else’s terms its nothing but a compromise. The seemingly perfect image of Utopia which combines happiness and honesty with purity, very often leads in forming a dystopian environment. The shrewd discrepancy of Utopia is presented in both the novel ‘The Giver’ by Lois Lowry and the film ‘The Truman Show’ directed by Peter Weir. Both stories depict a perfect community, perfect people, perfect life, perfect world, and a perfect lie. These perfect worlds may appear to shield its inhabitants from evil and on the other hand appear to give individuals no rights of their own. By comparing and contrasting the novel ‘The Giver’ and the film ‘The Truman Show’, it can be derived that both the main characters become anti-utopian to expose the seedy underbelly of their Utopian environment which constructs a delusional image of reality, seizes the pleasures in their lives and portrays a loss of freedom.

    Read More

  • Real Life In Brave New World

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the novel Brave New World the author Aldous Huxley shows the readers a dystopian society where Ford is worshiped as a God, people only live sixty years, where there is a drug exists without the unwanted side effects, and movies where you can feel what is happening. This is what the author thinks the future of the world would be. However, despite the author's attempt to predict the future the novel and the real world contrast because the concepts in the novel like love and marriage and life and death drastically contrast with how they are dealt with today.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Happiness In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel, the World State values happiness instead of truth. Soma blinds Brave New Worlders from seeing anything that is negative or distasteful. Drugs and alcohol help people escape reality and many people use because the truth is too painful for them to endure. Drugs transport people into a different world, their own world where they are on top because all of their problems have disappeared for the moment. But, without sorrow there is no real happiness. If someone is happy all the time, they wouldn’t even realize that they are experiencing joy, because that is all they are used to. They have never experienced any other type of emotion. Anger, fear and misery make people appreciate happiness because it is desired. In Brave New World, there is no such thing as desire as Mustapha Mond, the controller, explains, “People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can 't get...And if anything should go wrong, there 's soma” (Huxley 220). The government doesn’t understand that desire creates an appreciation for happiness, and when it is finally attained, it is a very strong emotion. When anything is handed to someone, as joy is in Brave New World, the value is drastically decreased. But, when there is anticipation or work is put in, the value will be justifiable. If Americans continue to rely on products for happiness, there will be no

    Read More

  • A Brave New World Analysis

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    Human beings have a tendency to avoid problems and suffering in their lives, searching for the “perfect world” in which every individual may constantly feel happy. However, is this “perfection” ascertainable by any individual or mankind as a whole? In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley offers his ideas and interpretations of a utopian society in which each person has the ability to always be happy. In Huxley’s vision, pain and suffering are completely avoidable through the use of a drug called soma. Soma functions as an opiate, allowing its consumers to escape all of life’s hardships almost instantaneously by entering into “another world.” People of the World State heavily depend on soma to live their daily lives each day without

    Read More

  • 1984 and Brave New World

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1984, George Orwell explores the many facets of a negative utopia. Orwell seems to focus on the measures that the government takes to maintain a public of plebeians who have no personality or identity and believe that they are not unique individuals, but instead are part of a greater senseless mob of people who constantly work for a hostile and oppressive government which is involved in incessant wars. These people are taught to love. They then learn to fear their government because they believe all of the propaganda that is constantly instilled into their minds. They willing follow their government without contest for the duration of their meaningless lives. The government controls all forms of the media (thus denying the people the basic right of free speech) and use it to personify the government (known as “big brother”) .The government therefore seems omnipotent, or all knowing and always correct. Forecasts are changed from one week to the next always proving the government was correct. As was mentioned before, many of the rights that present day Westerners take for gran...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Happiness In A Brave New World

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Brave New World is a thrilling combination of both malicious and brilliant morals and symbols. This “Brave New World” is a dystopian society set in 2540 A.D. or 632 A.F. (After Ford). It is a novel about how happiness cannot be artificially grown or taught, it is one’s own and is different for everyone. Bernard and Helmholtz are the only people in their dystopian society to really think for their selves. The most significant characters in the book are Bernard Marx, John the Savage, Lenina Crowne, Mustafa Mond, and Helmholtz Watson. The setting of this novel is primarily in London, England, but changes to New Mexico as well. Huxley’s Brave New World incorporates characteristics of his childhood, critical

    Read More

  • A Brave New World

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this world where people can acquire anything they need or want, we have to wonder, “Is the government controlling us?” Both the governments in A Brave New World and in the United States of America offer birth control pills and have abortion clinics that are available for everyone, thus making birth control pills and abortion operations very easy to acquire. Although both governments offer birth control pills and abortion clinics, A Brave New World’s government requires everyone to take the pills and immediately get an abortion when pregnant. This in turn shows us that A Brave New World’s government is controlling the population and the development of children. China is one of the few countries that currently have control of the development of children. In controlling the development of its children, China is also controlling the population levels. In any country, controlling the amount of children a single family can have can dramatically decrease the population levels. Just by having birth control pills and abortion clinics there for anybody to take advantage of shows that the involvement of either government is already too high.

    Read More

  • Brave new world essay

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World illustrates a colorful, fantastic universe of sex and emotion, programming and fascism that has a powerful draw in a happy handicap. This reality pause button is called “Soma”. “Take a holiday from reality whenever you like, and come back without so much as a headache or a mythology.” ( Huxley 54 ).

    Read More

  • A Brave New World Research Paper

    186 Words  | 1 Pages

    The world we live in is strange. We have war and tragedy and many other horrendous things. We hear about global warming and climate change yet when faced with the possibility without these in some sort of utopia we see it as a sort of dystopia. A strange thing it sounds but it's true, think about the books where nothing bad happens yet to keep it in order you sacrifice many characteristics of society. This is what a world without tragedy, war, or any conflicts of any type would be like and why it would awful. See usually conflict is caused by differences in beliefs, ideas and other things similar to that, So In order to keep it like this everyone would over time lose all diversity which would be terrible and all the things that make us who

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Thomas More's Utopi A Modern Day Dystopia

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    While Utopia shines a light on what a society could achieve, Dystopia shines a light on how they can fail. Both a Utopia and Dystopia can begin with the same goals in mind, although in the end can have very different results. When describing a dystopian society, our minds often conjure up the words “dictatorship” or “totalitarianism”. Both these words are commonly associated with forms of government and lack of the common man’s control. Constant supervision, regulated activities, and lack of individualism and emotion are all common signs of a

    Read More

  • Brave New World Chapter 7 Analysis

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    This passage is part of chapter 7 of the Book Brave New World. Being a key chapter in the protagonists lives, Bernard and Lenina go on a trip, a holiday and discover a place called the reserve. The society they encounter is very different from theirs. The World State's society values community, identity and stability. However the place where they ended up going hasn't evolved into the society of the World State.

    Read More

  • What Does It Mean To Be Perfect

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nothing is ever perfect, but in this corrupt and uncertain world, it can be comforting to imagine an alternate reality in which life is flawless. A utopia is an imagined community or society in which all threats are eliminated. Humanity is greedy and everybody's visions differ. “In every revolution, there are winners and losers. Every dystopia is a utopia for somebody else.

    Read More

More about Brave New World Analysis

Open Document