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Imagine a world where everything is controlled by the government. Imagine a world where science, literature, religion, and even family, do not exist. Imagine a world where citizens are conditioned to accept this. This is exactly how the world is portrayed in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The focus of the World State is on society as a whole rather than on individuals. Some characters from the novel have a harder time accepting the conditioning. Through these characters, we learn the true cost of a government-dominated society. In Brave New World, Huxley conveys that a totalitarian government will provide happiness and peace by abolishing individuality and free thinking. In a Brave New World, the government creates a society that provides prosperity and unity even after revoking individuality. The characters are
Because of their conditioning, not many people have problems with conforming to the societal ideals. The few that do are told by Mond the real meaning of being sent to the island.
Whereas, if he had the smallest sense, he’d understand that his punishment is really a reward. He’s being sent to an island. That’s to say, he’s being sent to a place where he’ll meet the most interesting set of men and women to be found anywhere in the world. All the people who, for one reason or another, have got to self-consciously individual to fit into community-life (Huxley 227).
Mond is explaining to John, Bernard, and Helmholtz how being sent to an island is not a bad thing if you are not happy in the society he worked to create. Living on an island entails being alone, being able to have and express your own thoughts, and be truly happy. This is exactly what John, Helmholtz, and Bernard wanted. These characters were not able to find happiness within World State boundaries, or even the Savage Reservation for
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.
Earlier this year, I became the government. Everyday, for the next few days, I woke up before the sun rose and filled my hotel room with light. In business professional attire, I would walk down the halls of the California State Capitol and into the Assembly Chambers. I experienced firsthand how the administration of our society works. There came a day, a cloudy day with rain falling momentarily, in which a protest was gathered in the streets. A man spoke, asking for the government to remove its mask. I failed to understand. What did this man want? Deep in my gut, I knew a life of terror, a life a darkness, and a life of despair could only be the outcome of the absence of government. This ideal is explained by the classic novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, which explores the universal theme that civilization is significant, regarding its role in securing that man does not return to his primitive nature of savagery.
When the boys are on the island there is no one to look after them and they have to do everything themselves. They make their own decisions and rules. As the boys’ little society begins to crack, so do their rules. They boys do cruel things that they normally wouldn’t do:
...there was some sort of authority that who they had become was horrendous. They cried for the deaths of their friends, as well as the darkness inside their hearts. They cry after realization of what had happened to them while they inhabited the island. They had allowed savagery to win.
When the boys initially abandoned on the island, they quickly realize that there are no rules here. They are far
He is trapped inside a world where they do not have any hardships, they have no real meaning in life. John observes that the citizens lives are not expensive enough stating that “nothing costs enough here,” (Huxley 239). When John says this he is stating that the people's life have no value. They do not live for anything. Not for love, not for nobility, not for sorrow, nothing.
together into a society. That natural state that they exist in upon arrival on the island is
A community that has immaturity in itself leads to chaos. The immaturity on the island starts on the very first day with the boys taking of all their clothes off. Following after the clothes, Jack tries to tell Ralph what he is going to do which is hunt for pigs. Instead of the fire job Ralph gave Jack. Since, Jack is unhappy with all of Ralph’s rules, Jack creates another immature community to be chief. In the end, when Jack to tries to kill Ralph the plan backfires, and gets all of the boys rescued. Therefore,
...that he would never be good enough. Bernard lacked the confidence to try Mustapha Mond’s approach to fitting in but could use Helmholtz’s approach of standing out. Bernard ended up leaving to Iceland, an island, where people who don’t fit in are sent. John, no matter how hard he tried, would never fit in to either society. His Shakespearian mindset, upbringing in a savage reservation, and his mother and father set him apart from the civilized world. His fairer complexion and his more civilized thoughts set him apart from the Indians in the reservation. John couldn’t handle the social pressure and, in the end, killed himself. The way all three men handled the situation was different but they were all brilliant people that suffered from social pressures and loneliness.
Albert Einstein, a theoretical physicist, once said, “I Fear the Day That Technology Will Surpass Our Human Interaction”. In the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Huxley writes about a futuristic society in which people are conditioned to believe, act, and live in a certain way. Aldous Huxley proposes to the reader the fundamental idea that technological advances can easily be used by any form of government to control the thoughts, actions, feelings, and lives of its people.
... in his attempt to run away from himself, he was unable to truly escape Christopher McCandless. And although he was not truly successful in running away from his identity, McCandless appeared to succeed in running away from society and running away from the predictability of what life would bring. Departing from the heavy burdens he found in his society, his life, and the world was the only way McCandless seemed to truly be happy and he did just that. He let go of his worrying and concern and focused on bettering himself by connecting with nature. Eventually, McCandless realized that happiness is only real when it is shared (189) but without running away from society and the people who cared about him, he would not have stumbled upon that realization.
They continue this desire for control while turning down each other's decisions and ideas. The back and forth conflicts of opinion are what makes life chaos on the island. These conflicts are illustrated in two fashions; the dialog between the boys, and the authors narration. Assuming that the boys are philistines, their language is therefore not very articulate. They are trying to appear important and popular with the group. The boys have a feeling of wanting to belong, which is the basis of all philistines' actions. The author's narration makes up for this. The narrator has a more realistic view of what is happening on the island, and says to the reader what the boy's language fails to do.
David Grayson once said that "Commandment Number One of any truly civilized society is this: Let people be different". Difference, or individuality, however, may not be possible under a dictatorial government. Aldous Huxley's satirical novel Brave New World shows that a government-controlled society often places restraints upon its citizens, which results in a loss of social and mental freedom. These methods of limiting human behavior are carried out by the conditioning of the citizens, the categorical division of society, and the censorship of art and religion.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, portrays a future society where people are no longer individuals but are controlled by the World State. The World State dominates the people by creating citizens that are content with who they are. Brave New World describes how the science of biology and psychology are manipulated so that the government can develop technologies to change the way humans think and act. The World State designs humans from conception for this society. Once the humans are within the society the state ensures all people remain happy. They program these humans to have needs and desires that will sustain a lucrative economy while not thinking of themselves as an individual. Huxley describes the Worlds State’s intent to control their society through medical intervention, happiness, and consumerism which has similarities to modern society.
There are many different reasons that people want to live, but there is also reasons that people want to give up. It is normal when people fight for the right to survive and thrive in life because it is a normal characteristic of life. We are all human so it's normal when things are turned into a competition. On the island there are many different problems between people and nature. Along with the island that causes issues, the people fight and don't trust each other.