Happiness is what every human seeks; its human nature. Happiness, however one defines it as, can come at a price. Societies all around the world view happiness differently, but in a futuristic novel, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, happiness is supposedly an inevitable feeling gained at the cost of freedom. This novel explores a “World State” in which the majority of the society feels no strong emotion, complies with their assigned caste, and behave almost identically to the next person (Huxley, 220). John Savage, who is brought from an uncivilized world to civilization, realizes that this World State does not fit his emotional needs and becomes exiled to a lighthouse area in London with bare living conditions (240-244). After a short period, John commits suicide, a sign of his still inevitable unhappiness (259). Since escaping from this society where his own happiness was impossible was not the answer, the question still remains, how is one to be happy in a society that does not support one’s views and ideas of happiness?
The World State in Brave New World is actually quite similar to the world we live in today. In Huxley’s novel, the people are conditioned from before birth to act a certain way (13). If we reflect on our society, we are also conditioned through school and authority to behave as we ought to behave: politely, respectfully, and obediently. In Brave New World, the controller states, “They’re [people that are raised in this society] conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave” (220). This shows that people raised in Brave New World are also taught, or conditioned, from a young age how to act. By this, we can say that there is a correlation between today’s world and the World State...
... middle of paper ...
... the next level, forbidding all interactions and healthy expression of emotions.
In these explanations between today’s society and the futuristic society of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, one can see a direct correlation between happiness and thought. To be happy, and truly happy without an extrinsic help, one must partake in individual reflection and thought. Let the thoughts engulf the body, and explore the mind and the self. Share the thoughts to make room for more. By this, society cannot shape us or those in Brave New World. Society can restrict one’s physical body and actions, but society can never restrict thought. Society can never restrict the happiness that one can gain from their own self-fulfillment, and that has become the human key to happiness.
Works Cited
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York City: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1932.
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.
Happiness: an idea so abstract and intangible that it requires one usually a lifetime to discover. Many quantify happiness to their monetary wealth, their materialistic empire, or time spent in relationships. However, others qualify happiness as a humble campaign to escape the squalor and dilapidation of oppressive societies, to educate oneself on the anatomy of the human soul, and to locate oneself in a world where being happy dissolves from a number to spiritual existence. Correspondingly, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Krakauer’s Into the Wild illuminate the struggles of contentment through protagonists which venture against norms in their dystopian or dissatisfying societies to find the virtuous refuge of happiness. Manifestly, societal
Christian Nestell Bovee, a famous epigrammatic New York writer, once said, “No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.” This quote ties in wonderfully with the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and the concept of control. In the novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley captured the true essences of a perfect dystopia. With people living seamless happy lives, and not knowing they are being controlled. How does one control entire nation? The World State does this by hatching, conditioning, and a synthetic drug called soma.
How does one achieve happiness? Money? Love? Being oneself? Brave New World consists of only 3 different ways to achieve happiness. Each character of the brave new world will have his or her different opinion of the right way to achieve happiness. In his novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley explains many people achieve happiness through the World State’s motto – “community, identity, stability”, soma, and conditioning.
There have been philosophers that have been philosophizing for thousands of years. Discovering new ideas and different ways to think about things. Thinking in new, creative ways is an inevitable future that humanity will face unless stagnancy in the development of technology and morality occurs. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World displays this possibility incredibly and makes stagnancy look unappealing. With stagnancy and lack of new and imaginative thoughts, however, complete happiness seems like a less menacing task than before. Nobody questions why certain luxuries are not available. The whole world can be content. Why would this not be favorable for humanity? Happiness is hindered greatly by the ability to think.
In The Twilight Zone’s “Number 12 Looks Just Like You” and Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World” it is apparent that happiness comes from stability and the ability to get what one wants with little effort, however, the price for this happiness is a loss of individuality and strong emotions, making ignorance truly bliss.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World portrays a society in which science has clearly taken over. This was an idea of what the future could hold for humankind. Is it true that Huxley’s prediction may be correct? Although there are many examples of Huxley’s theories in our society, there is reason to believe that his predictions will not hold true for the future of society.
Imagine living in a society where there is no sense of independence, individual thought or freedom. A society where the government uses disturbing methods that dehumanize people in order to force conformity upon them. Taking away any sense of emotion, It would be very undesirable to live in a society with such oppression. Such society is portrayed in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. The World State uses social restrictions to create permanent artificial personalities for people within the society. The World State also uses controlled groupings of people to brainwash them further to be thoughtless people with no sense of individualism. Lastly, the World State uses drugs to create artificial happiness for people, leaving no room for intense emotion which causes people to revolt against the World State. Within the novel Brave New World, it is seen that the World State eliminates individuality through social restrictions, government controlled groupings and the abuse of drugs to maintain control of the population.
From the beginning of the novel technology has been a focal point. Brave New World is first set at the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. This center is where all the humans are being produced and conditioned. Conditioning a method used to influence ones mind with a variety of different values and morals, predestines these new beings into five different classes Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. As written in Huxley’s Brave New World “All conditioning aims at that making people like their unescapable social destiny.” (16) This quote signifies that each group is designed by the World State to hav...
Dale Carnegie once expressed, “Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.” Analyzing this quote, it is crucial to note the underlining theme that happiness, true and genuine happiness, requires a shifting away from conformity and the status quo in order to discover the treasure found in one’s own self. Therefore, finding out who one’s self is mandates a state of solitude which acts like the green pastures by the still waters that restores the soul. However, with its roaring and hungry fire that sends up flutters of red and yellow and orange and white fireflies soaring into the carnivorous night, conflict is the key ingredient in shifting away from acquiescence and society’s present state of affairs.
Happiness plays an important and necessary role in the lives of people around the world. In America, happiness has been engrained in our national consciousness since Thomas Jefferson penned these famous words in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Since then, Americans have been engaged in that act: pursuing happiness. The problem however, as Ray Bradbury demonstrates in his novel Fahrenheit 451, is that those things which make us happy initially may eventually lead to our downfall. By examining Guy Montag, the protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, and the world he lives in we can gain valuable insights to direct us in our own pursuit of happiness. From Montag and other characters we will learn how physical, emotional, and spiritual happiness can drastically affect our lives. We must ask ourselves what our lives, words, and actions are worth. We should hope that our words are not meaningless, “as wind in dried grass” (Eliot).
The philosopher Aristotle once wrote, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” This famous quote compels people to question the significance of their joy, and whether it truly represents purposeful lives they want to live. Ray Bradbury, a contemporary author, also tackles this question in his book, Fahrenheit 451, which deals heavily with society's view of happiness in the future. Through several main characters, Bradbury portrays the two branches of happiness: one as a lifeless path, heading nowhere, seeking no worry, while the other embraces pure human experience intertwined together to reveal truth and knowledge.
In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley deftly creates a society that is indeed quite stable. Although they are being mentally manipulated, the members of this world are content with their lives, and the presence of serious conflict is minimal, if not nonexistent. For the most part, the members of this society have complete respect and trust in their superiors, and those who don’t are dealt with in a peaceful manner as to keep both society and the heretic happy. Maintained by cultural values, mental conditioning, and segregation, the idea of social stability as demonstrated in Brave New World is, in my opinion, both insightful and intriguing.
...dure the hardships of life in order to enjoy the blessings. Sadness is a defining characteristic of a human being: “In spite of their sadness-- because of it, even; for their sadness was the symptom of their love for one another-- the three young men were happy” (Huxley 242). Sadness is a symptom of joy. Loss is a symptom of love. But Huxley knew that it is worth it to feel both pain and happiness instead of nothing. Without these defining characteristics of humanity, all that remains is a stable, well-oiled machine, certainly not a group of human beings.
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.