Similarities Between Invisible Man And Brave New World

In Brave New World, as in Invisible Man, the many characters are face with their preset roles within the societies in which they take residence in. In their respective works, Aldous Huxley and Ralph Ellison explore the idea of predestination versus free-will within a society and by employing the rejects of each society, Huxley and Ellison expose the idea that the only means of escaping one’s destiny is to embrace isolation. In the novel, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison begins the novel by apprising the audience on his protagonist’s, Invisible Man’s, graduation night. Under Ellison’s guidance, Invisible Man recounts his graduation night, a night filled with racism, hatred, and psychological conditioning. Throughout the vivid account, Invisible

The predestination seen in society is exhibited when Invisible Man must give a speech and at the end of the speech, Invisible Man was awarded a scholarship to a traditional african american college, thus ensuring the path in which the white men chose for Invisible Man will be the path he takes. In comparison with Invisible Man, members of Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World, dystopia, experience conditioning when they are in the hatchery. Huxley depicts a detailed procedure in which the babies of The World State are placed upon meal strips and electrocuted when presented objects that do not pertain to the pre-selected place in society in which they will hold. Huxley makes clear the ideals of

In, Invisible Man, Ellison’s protagonist gets kicked out of the school after the situation with Mr. Norton. During Invisible Man’s encounter with Mr. Norton, Invisible Man rejected his place in society and he paid a punishment for his actions. Likewise, in Brave New World, there is the threat of being sent to Iceland and ultimately Huxley’s characters end up there. By punishing characters for their actions, Huxley and Ellison achieve in proving the idea that while interacting with humans, there will always be stereotypes and expected roles. Huxley expounds on this idea inside the reservation. While at face value, the reservation may appear to be a “free-will” heaven, Huxley instills a judgmental side into the members of that community and through their judgement, Huxley exposes that one cannot simply chose to believe in free-will, however it was simply their destiny to believe in it. Ellison and Huxley establish the impossibility to escape the predestined position each member of humanity holds while interacting within society. This idea is vital to their argument for the remedy of isolation and how it saves humanity from their predestined