Brave New World

1272 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Brave new world introduction

The Loss of Individuality The peak of a writer’s career should exhibit their most profound works of literature. In the case of Aldous Huxley, Brave New World is by far his most renowned novel. Aldous Huxley is a European-born writer who, in the midst of his career, moved to the United States and settled in California. While in California, he began to have visions aided by his usage of hallucinatory drugs. His visions were of a utopian society surviving here on earth. In his literature, Huxley wanted to make this utopian society as much a reality as possible. "In framing an ideal we may assume what we wish, but should avoid impossibilities." This quote, written by Aristotle, perfectly describes Huxley’s attitude towards the creation of his imaginary utopia. His only problem was establishing a value system that would not seem too unattainable. Huxley has two novels that have the theme of utopia, Brave New World and Island. Brave New World , which was written before Island , has ideas that are quite far-fetched, but in Huxley’s eyes, still close to reality. Huxley’s first portrait of utopia involves having a controlled society of people all being alike. The year is A.F. 632 (After Ford; Ford is the equivalent to God in Brave New World ) and with the available technology, citizens are mass produced. Island is a product of the rethinking of Huxley’s utopia. The ideas are a lot more real because the people are just ordinary human beings. Both of these novels have an underlying theme in common. The stability of Huxley’s utopian societies are centered around the loss of individualism. Individuals are considered a threat in Huxley’s utopian novels. In the novel Island, the utopian society is on a small island, named Pala. The leader of the utopian society, Murugan, is an individual apart from the community. His plans are to modernize and charge the way the people of Pala live. The reason he has thoughts that are different from the rest of the community is that he was raised outside of Pala. He grew up in Switzerland and the neighboring island Rendag, both of which have been modernized and corrupted by the outside world. Therefore, Murugan’s mind has been corrupted by his staying in those two places. "Pala is thus threatened by the outside world," explains critic Frank Magill, because Murugan is introducing the modern way of life to this small island and it is damaging the stability of the community.

Show More
Related

  • Brave New World

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, while fictitiously showing the future possible advances of science and technology, is actually warning people of what science could become. In the Foreword of Brave New World, Huxley states: “The theme of Brave New World is not the advancement of science as such; it is the advancement of science as it affects human individuals” (xi). He is not suggesting that this is how science should advance, but that science will advance the way that people allow it to. The novel is not supposed to depict a “utopian” society by any means, but it is supposed to disturb the reader and warn him not to fall into this social decay. Huxley uses satire to exploit both communism and American capitalism created by Ford.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 And 1984 - The Fear Of Utopia

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    Several conflicting frames of mind have played defining roles in shaping humanity throughout the twentieth century. Philosophical optimism of a bright future held by humanity in general was taken advantage of by the promise of a better life through sacrifice of individuality to the state. In the books Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 clear opposition to these subtle entrapments was voiced in similarly convincing ways. They first all established, to varying degrees of balance, the atmosphere and seductiveness of the “utopia” and the fear of the consequences of acting in the non-prescribed way through character development. A single character is alienated because of their inability to conform – often in protest to the forced conditions of happiness and well being. Their struggle is to hide this fact from the state’s relentless supervision of (supposedly) everything. This leads them to eventually come into conflict with some hand of the state which serves as the authors voice presenting the reader with the ‘absurdity’ of the principles on which the society is based. The similar fear of the state’s abuse of power and technology at the expense of human individuality present within these novels speaks to the relevance of these novels within their historical context and their usefulness for awakening people to the horrendous consequences of their ignorance.

    Read More

  • Comparing Fahrenheit 451 And A Brave New World

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    Very few people could fit in a whole different society without a challenge. Dystopias or anti-utopias, which use a whole different type of society in their themes, are characterized by a range of features such as harsh rules of moral and irritating patterns of behaviour. A theme of a dystopia, which is usually frightening, could be anything from a social stratification to the extreme technological advances. Dystopias voice criticism about the current trends, social norms or politics, and they often includes an oppressive societal control. Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 and Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel A Brave New World are the

    Read More

  • Isolation in Brave New World

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...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.

    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

  • The Death of John Savage in Brave New World

    2206 Words  | 5 Pages

    A “utopia is that which is in contradiction with reality,” said the famous French novelist Albert Camus in his collection of essays, Between Hell and Reason. History shows us that seemingly exemplary ideals in practice have led to the collapse of societies. Just examine the two most prominent attempts at a utopia: Hitler’s attempt to socialize all of Europe and create the “perfect” Aryan race coupled with Karl Marx’s beliefs to instate communism into society. The final result was the destruction of their perspective visionary worlds. There was one major facet that prevented these two from creating their paradigms: utopias take away individual freedom and identity and therefore society cannot exist. Aldous Huxley’s science fiction novel Brave New World examines the large disconnect between the future and present day societies, showing how several aspects of this dystopian world lead to the downfall of the individual identity, most prominently exemplified by the death of John Savage.

    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 utopian government control. Huxley did not imagine this as a good thing. He uses the characters of Brave New World to express his view that utopia is impossible and detrimental.

    Read More

  • Brave New World Society Dystopia

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever thought what a world without children would be? Well, from comparing both “Brave New World” and “Children of Men,” it is found that a world without children is a dystopia. In other words, it is a complete disaster and everything in the world is not how it is today. By comparing the Brave New World society and the society in the film “Children of Men,” we can establish that in both dystopias there are no children, which impacts the relationship between man and woman. War, drugs, castes are common in both dystopias, as people tend to cope drugs to get away from the reality of war caused by people of different “castes.”

    Read More

  • Brave New World

    1790 Words  | 4 Pages

    The novel Brave New World shows that in order for a utopian society to achieve a state of stability, a loss of individuality, and the undoing of Mother Nature must occur. Successfully engineering these conditions produces a world where people are finally living "happily ever after," but at a great cost.

    Read More

  • Brave New World

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alduos Huxley, in his science fiction novel Brave New World written in 1932, presents a horrifying view of a possible future in which comfort and happiness replace hard work and incentive as society's priorities. Mustapha Mond and John the Savage are the symbolic characters in the book with clashing views. Taking place in a London of the future, the people of Utopia mindlessly enjoy having no individuality. In Brave New World, Huxley's distortion of religion, human relationships and psychological training are very effective and contrast sharply with the literary realism found in the Savage Reservation. Huxley uses Brave New World to send out a message to the general public warning our society not to be so bent on the happiness and comfort that comes with scientific advancements.

    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

    2236 Words  | 5 Pages

    1.) The Savage Reservation is similar to the Utopia world in several ways. They both have drugs that are designed to calm people down. Soma, used in the Utopia and mescal used in the Reservation. They both also have a separation within their own society. The Utopia has social castes and the reservation has separation between the men and women, the men having more power. The two worlds also both have ceremonies. The Utopia has the orgy porgy ceremony in which everyone gathers around and has an orgy, hence the name. The Savage Reservation has traditional dancing ceremonies like the many traditional Indian tribes have today. The two cultures have many similar ideas, just expressed a little differently.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Utopia And Brave New World

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Utopia is an imaginary place where human ideals are established; an idea of a place that is free from all of the human complications such as pain and suffering. Utopia writing has been around for thousands of years and can be found in almost all different cultures. Opposite of a Utopia, is a Dystopia, a fictional world where everything is unpleasant or dismal. Although the social pressures in which these utopias and dystopias were created from different pressures, all of these stories share the common theme of escapism and “what ifs?” The purpose of this paper will be to compare and contrast the novel Utopia, written by Thomas more with the dystopian novel Brave New world, written by Adlouls Huxley. I will also share my opinions about these

    Read More

  • A Brave New World: A Short Story

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ever since I was created, I have been mining here at Sector C-88 for coal. Sector C-88 is a monumental quarry with up to ten-thousand workers in a 10-kilometer by 15-kilometer area. Surrounding the massive quarry is an extensive network of processing and extracting factories and centers. Beyond that is, well, I don’t know. It’s just called the Beyond here, and it’s said to have something called “society”, but there’s probably nothing interesting like coal or anything. I looked up at the polluted beige sky and observed the curious shapes from the factory smokes. What could be above the smog? Infinite emptiness? I wondered. Suddenly, a familiar voice broke my course of thoughts.

    Read More

  • Thomas More’s Utopia and Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World

    2373 Words  | 5 Pages

    Thomas More’s Utopia and Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World , are novels about societies that differ from our own. Though the two authors have chosen different approaches to create an alternate society, both books have similarities which represent the visions of men who were moved to great indignation by the societies in which they lived. Both novels have transcended contemporary problems in society , they both have a structured, work based civilization and both have separated themselves from the ways of past society. It is important when reading these novels to focus on the differences as well as the similarities. The two novels differ in their views of love, religion, and the way to eliminate social classes. These differences seem to suggest that if we do not come closer to More’s goal in Utopia, we will end up in a society much like that of Huxley’s Brave New World.

    Read More

More about Brave New World

Open Document