Our Society Is Changing And So Are We! Surprisingly the dystopian novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley describes our society right now. Some might say that our society doesn’t do anything similar in the novel. That’s not completely true. As our society is changing rapidly so is our culture, things that would have never been normal decades ago are accepted now. Huxley makes references in his book that would be abnormal or out of place in the 19th century, however in the 21st century these topics are not uncommon. In Brave New World there are many references to genetic engineering, drugs, social acceptance, death, and technology. All of these topics are covered in today’s society, they are part of our daily life. In the novel Huxley writes …show more content…
Some people are infertile and can’t have children others have an implantation, or others get sperm donors. In a way these are a few modern examples of genetic engineering. If a woman would like to have a sperm donor she is more likely to pick the person that has the best facial features, body structure, and doesn’t have a family history of diseases.
Everyone wants to fit in with society and its culture. Whether it be the new “in” clothes, or the hottest music. People want to seem cool or do things everyone else loves doing. In Brave New World everyone is conforming to their peers and their government. There is a quote from the government saying “The more stitches less riches”. Which indicates that if you wear something that is worn or has a few tears in the fabric the citizen would be identified as not wealthy. When Linda returns from the savage land everyone is appalled at how old and aged she looks.
People in the Brave New World book, never really age or have to endure old age and death. People in this society always care about the way they look and want to look as youthful as they can be. Just like in today’s society everyone wants to look youthful and young. Doctors have created procedures and medicine to take to make people look younger. There is also special makeup that can help conceal the aging effects like wrinkles, bags under their eyes, or blemishes. But this is normal in Brave New World and today’s
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One of those standards was the government wanted everyone to be happy all time. With pop culture now a days everyone seems happy, although if someone is not happy sometimes their escape from reality is through the use of drugs. Brave New World refers to this except the drug is called “Soma” which gives the consumer vivid hallucinations and a feeling of happiness, by using this drug they are brought back to happy times in their life or made up situations. Two of the main characters, Lenina and Bernard, go on a trip to see the savages. When Lenina sees the savages and their land she feels out of place, scared, and sad. When she gets back from visiting the savages she immediately takes Soma. This is also an example of the society’s pressure on the civilians because everyone takes this drug. Since everyone takes Soma it is accepted socially and not seen as a
Since this book was published in 1932, Huxley based his ideas of the free sexualization of women and the heavy use of drugs from the conusmerism and rising economic growth in America during the 1920’s. When Huxley wrote about the negative treatment of women in the “brave new world”, he was most likely referring to flappers, who were often characterized by their slitted skirts, short bobs, and their “debutante slouch”, made their appearance (Sauro). The “modern” behavior of the flappers, like their tendencies to smoke and drink with the men and obvious makeup, were considered improper at the time (Benson). In Brave New World, Lenina “[thought] of herself as meat” (Huxley 53), and women were often referred to as “pneumatic” and were judged by their looks (Huxley 60). The rising economic growth was a huge deal in the 1920’s because it led to excessive spending; people illegally drank because it was exciting, and “bootleggers (makers and suppliers of alcohol) became modern-day heroes” (Benson). With the extra money to spend and time to spare, people partied more frequently; these parties at the illegal bars were laden with drinking (Benson). In Huxley’s novel, the soma represents the heavy use of alcohol and drugs. People wasted their feeling away with alcohol just like how the citizens in the novel took soma to numb their feelings and
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.
To conclude, Postman's analysis that Huxley's vision of the future has become more of a reality than that of Orwell's. Although the present day is not exactly how Huxley had envisioned it, our society will soon reflect the one created in Brave New World if it continues to progress as it had in the past few decades. Orwell's prediction does not hold much relevance in today's society. Our government is not constantly watching over us, they have more important difficulties to overcome. Government is not concerned with the actions of individuals; they base their decisions on the opinions of the masses. Huxley's travesty holds far more relevance than the prestigious social theory of Orwell.
The novel Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley has been reviewed over time by many different people. Neil Postman is a man who has read Huxley’s novel and came to conclusions himself about the comparison between the novel, and the modern day problems we have in today’s society. Postman has made many relevant assertions as to how our modern society is similar to what Huxley had written about in his novel. The three main points I agree on with Postman is that people will begin to love their oppression; people would have no reason to fear books; and that the truth will be drowned by irrelevance.
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.
“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 …"
Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1932, with no real way to tell the future and how society would be today. The novel is based around a dystopia, a society that is the opposite of an utopia which is a “perfect” society according to the definition. Today’s society is far from perfect by definition. Huxley’s dystopia was supposed to mimic an almost impossible future, but with how things have changed in the past 90 years that future might not be so far away.
These two societies also have many different customs, ways, and styles of living. The Brave New World is clean, sanitary, and organized. Where as in the reservation there’s garbage every where, its dusty, and full of dogs and flies, the complete opposite. In the Utopia people aren’t born anymore, they are grown. Another difference between the two worlds is in the Reservation people are still born the “old fashion way.'; In the Brave New World everyone is young and pretty their whole lives thanks to chemicals and conditioning. It’s the complete opposite in the savage reservation. As seen by the old man, it’s shown that people in the Reservation age normally, loose their teeth, and get wrinkles. The reservation represents more of an old, more class time period whereas the Utopia is perhaps not to distant future gone wrong. In both societies, both of them still are imperfect but in completely different ways.
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.
In the dystopian novel, Brave New World, Huxley uses symbols to create meaning and to get his agenda across. The use of sex and reproduction, and Shakespearian writing and religious texts, as symbols in the novel help to push Huxley’s agenda that total government control is devastating, and the inner human drive to be an individual can never be suppressed. Also, the fact that the novel was written in 1931 shows that Huxley was attacking the newly forming Socialist nations.
In today’s society a person is shaped by family, friends, and past events, but in Aldous Huxley’s classic novel, Brave New World, there is no such thing as family, history and “true” friends. The government controls every aspect of an individual from their creation in the hatcheries to their conditioning for their thoughts and careers. In this brave new world the ideas of stability and community reign supreme, and the concept of individualism is foreign and suppressed, “Everyone belongs to everyone else, after all,” (47). Huxley perverses contemporary morals and concepts in Brave New World, thus distorting the ideas of materialistic pleasures, savagery versus society, and human relationships. These distortions contribute to the effectiveness of Brave New World, consequently creating a novel that leaves the reader questioning how and why.
Even though the novel, Brave New World was written quite some time ago, Huxley still makes points that are relevant today. By using satire, he warns us on issues such as science, technology and religion. We should slow down our uses of science and technology, especially when using them for abusive purposes. We also need to be careful about letting the government get too involved in aspects of our everyday lives. If we start letting simple freedoms go, we could lose some major ones.
...worse than before. For instance, old men and women inject their faces to resemble those in their youth, but they worsen their mental and physical state by executing such actions. To conclude, one should embrace her appearance because aging is inevitable.
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 most countries in our world, society has experienced technological advances to the point of being able to accomplish what Huxley envisioned. In contrast to Huxley’s vision, the moral standards of most nations allow all humans to enjoy basic human rights that embrace family, personal relationships, and individualism. Today’s society is able to comprehend how with the technological advances Huxley’s world could be a reality, but with the privilege of a democratic society, civilization would not allow the medical intervention for reproduction, the conditioning for happiness and consumerism. Work Cited "Brave New World by Aldous Huxley : Barron's Notes" Brave New World by Aldous Huxley: Barron's Notes. N.p., n.d. Web.