Brave New World Analysis

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Humankind is an unstable race. People are never satisfied and never will be satisfied with anything in our world. A demanding race seems to need to be cradled by a vigorous and insincere government. This type of government is portrayed in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. In this particular novel, the government uses science and other means, such as pleasure and technology to dictate their society. Technology is a rapidly growing area, particularly in the field of science. “Advances in Biotechnology at the cellular and genetic level inevitably open opportunities for application to humans”(Morgan, Shanahan, Welsh 127). Huxley describes several ways in which technology in science is used to engineer people in their attempts to maintain a utopian society, ultimately creating a dystopian world. His book is used as a warning to humanity and what the world could one day become. According to Morgan, Shanahan and Welsh, “the singular but careless pursuit of technology threatens our very humanity” (Morgan, Shanahan, Welsh 128). They warn that if scientific research and technology is not limited, it could one day pose a threat to the way we live our lives today.
Manufacturing offspring is just one of the many ways used to keep people content in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Natural fertilization is no longer the norm in the World State. In fact, people who are born naturally are called savages and are sent to a reservation. Savages are not content with their way of living and for the most part do not like their government. These reservations are meant to isolate the savages from the other social classes. Artificial insemination is now the only means for reproduction. According to Pope Pius XII “This would convert the domestic hearth, sa...

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...lsh 134). In the world today, the study of artificial insemination is used in a much more mild way than discussed in the book. It is used to get someone pregnant as an alternative to sexual intercourse. One may not have the capabilities to do everything the government does in Brave New World, but that does not necessarily mean one does not possess the potential. One does not want to belong to a government like the World State; one does not want to be a part of a government that gets its control through the means of science.

Works Cited

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York City: Harper and Brothers, 1932.
Philip Morgan, Suzanne Shanahan, Whitney Welsh. "Brave New Worlds: Philosophy, Politics, and Science in Human Biotechnology." Population Council (2005): 127-144.
Ramsey, Paul. "Manufacturing Our Offspring: Weighing the Risks." The Hastings Center (1978): 7-9.

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