Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is known for being one of the most banned or controversial books over the years. The book shows that a society can have sex with anyone and do drugs, whilst being able to openly talk about it, and have the ability to handle the issues casually and publically, with there being zero consequences as a result, happiness can be found within a controlled society, with no freedom, and the lack of a personal identity. With all the controversies out of the way, I think that this is one of those novels that a person should read at least once. The novel is written intelligently, everything is explained thoroughly, and the tone of writing is interesting. The novel is written in a sardonic tone the entire time.
The first time you read through Brave New World, one of the most striking things is how much sex and drugs are seemingly glorified. In the novel, Huxley talks about how a society based around zero freedom, and identity can impact a person severely. He uses drugs and sex as an example to how a person will use them to cope with their own needs. In the novel Huxley explains how the government gives the society a drug called Soma. Soma in small doses makes a person feel good and stress free. If a person uses Soma in a high dosage, it creates a timeless hallucination. In the World State, everyone has been conditioned to love the drug Soma. The problem, as one character identifies, is that the citizens are essentially enslaved by the drug and turned into mindless drones. So while the government may encourage drug use, it only does so as a means of further controlling the population.
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In Brave New World, the author talks about how sex and violence is portrayed as two extreame passions that a person may have. In the World State, promiscuity is the law, and because of that having an emotional attachment with anyone is illegal. Because of this law, sex isn’t used for procreation but rather its used for as a distraction and pacifacation. In the novel, Lenina, the main female protagonist, is thought of as acting oddly because she has only slept with one man in the past three weeks. The novel dehumanizes sex, and devoids the passion for it. Huxley also explains how sex is treated casually, and publically, rather than privately.
The citizens of the World State have been conditioned to love their servitude Henry Ford. Everyone in the World State have been brainwashed to live in this kind of condition. Henry Ford’s idea of an ideal perfect world is when everyone is the same, and they have zero identity. Huxley talks about how a citizen pointed out that being happy all the time is in away confinement to freedom, as humans have the right to be unhappy at times as well. He also says how an environment like this is the same as prison. Because everyone is confined to be the same, it messes with the brain which makes them have a poorer mental state. Huxley also goes into detail as to how living and conditioning people to live the way they do will change them for life. Even consciousness is can’t be used as a weapon against conditioning. 'Even an Epsilon…' Lenina suddenly remembered an occasion when, as a little girl at school, she had woken up in the middle of the night and become aware, for the first time, of the whispering that had haunted all her sleeps. She saw again the beam of moonlight, the row of small white beds; heard once more the soft, soft voice that said (the words were there, unforgotten, unforgettable after so many night-long repetitions): 'Everyone works for everyone else. We can't do without anyone. Even Epsilons are useful. We couldn't do without Epsilons. Everyone works for everyone else. We can't do without anyone…' Lenina remembered her first shock of fear and surprise; her speculations through half a wakeful hour; and then, under the influence of those endless repetitions, the gradual soothing of her mind, the soothing, the smoothing, the stealthy creeping of sleep.… (Huxley, 49).
By imagining a world in which individuality is forbidden, Brave New World asks us to consider what individual identity is and why it is valuable. The World State sees individuality as incompatible with happiness and social stability because it interferes with the smooth functioning of the community. The Controllers do everything they can to prevent people developing individual identities. “Bokanovsky’s Process” means that most citizens of the World States are biological duplicates of one another. “Hypnopaedic” slogans and “Solidarity Services” encourage citizens to think of themselves as part of a whole rather than as separate individuals. The Controller explains that people are sent to the islands when they “have got too self-consciously individual to fit into community life.” For Bernard, Helmholtz, and John, rebelling against the World State involves becoming self-conscious individuals. Bernard wants to feel “as though I were more me.” Helmholtz writes his first real poem about the experience of being alone, and when the Controller asks John what he knows about God, John thinks “about solitude.” In the end, John and Helmholtz choose to suffer in order to preserve their individuality. Bernard, however, never chooses individuality. He has been forced to be an individual due to his faulty conditioning. He tries to resist being sent to an island. For Bernard, individuality is a curse.
The first time you read through Brave New World, one of the most striking things is how much sex and drugs are seemingly glorified. In the novel, Huxley talks about how a society based around zero freedom, and identity can impact a person severely. In Brave New World, the author talks about how sex and violence is portrayed as two extreame passions that a person may have. In the World State, promiscuity is the law, and because of that having an emotional attachment with anyone is illegal. The citizens of the World State have been conditioned to love their servitude Henry Ford. Henry Ford’s idea of an ideal perfect world is when everyone is the same, and they have zero identity. “Bokanovsky’s Process” means that most citizens of the World States are biological duplicates of one another. “Hypnopaedic” slogans and “Solidarity Services” encourage citizens to think of themselves as part of a whole rather than as separate individuals.
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