Huxley’s Human’s Shortcomings of Analysis

Huxley’s Human’s Shortcomings of Analysis

Aldous Huxley’s "Hyperion to a Satyr" makes outlandish use of overclarification and unnecessary dramatics to draw ahilarious portrait of the human struggle against its intrinsic nature.His comparison of the techniques, successful and failed, used by human beings to physically dispose of and psychologically deal with the problemof humanwaste, exposes a universality of human thought, emotion, and solution.Thevarious ideologies queried and explained serve to instill within thereadera unifying perspective of mankind, rather than a dividing one. Thisis anincredibly significant point, considering the difficulties encounteredbythe general individual who desires to know the past beyond simple eventsandoutcomes. By contrastingthis property of human analysis against Huxley’sdescriptions of theclasses and their relations, a greater sense of theperspectivenecessary todiscern and fathom our world is gained.

The essay consists of an opening retelling of the events concerning a walk on the beach with Thomas Mann, which hethen transitions into discussions on dirt, philosophical perspective, breath,fecal matter, animalistic nature, urbanism, chemical methods, symbolization,slavery and class distinction, political systems, and religion. In general,theseare all related to specific time periods or societies, and the troublesencountered and solutions embarked upon by those who were limited by perspective.Huxley repeatedly reminds the reader of his/her own limitations of perspectivethat must be as well inherently present by the inclusion of unrelated examples of futuristic prediction, or in some cases, futuristic ‘damnation’. Thistemporal mode of analysis is the relevant context the essay must ultimately be viewed in.

By describing the various elementsof subject matter far beyond what would be the necessity of reader understanding, Huxley turns an otherwise historical pursuit to an intellectual one. Theissue of human excrement, filth, symbolization, solution, etc. is doubtlessoften dealt with in sociological and cultural studies, but Huxley’s technique of using this problem as a vehicle into the ancient and modern mind isunique. This is why the paper must be viewed in terms of a greater picturethan the individual events described. The methodology to be used takesgreatest use of Huxley’s demonstrations of contrast, and is therefore focusedonthe shifts and variances of perspective. This is often broght aboutin situations where he alternately raises the most miniscule of detailsto the highest pedestal and dismisses the giants of philosophy in commonlists. The purpose of this is to even the bias of time, or essentiallyto provide the reader with a firm grasp of the notion that all great thoughtis still limited by environment.