The document under study is an excerpt from Brave New World, a book penned by Aldous Huxley and published in 1932. It is a portentous novel that foresees the future. My essay will fall into two parts. I will first focus on the themes present in the excerpt. I will then show how technology illustrates these themes.
First of all, one of the main themes of Brave New World is personal identity. In this world, individuals have lost their identity. Thus, the lower class is cloned by the 'bokanovsky process.' 'One egg, one embryo, one adult-normality. But a bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, will divide. From eight to ninety-six buds, and every bud will grow into a perfectly formed embryo, and every embryo into a full-sized adult. Making ninety-six human beings grow where only one grew before. Progress.' So, on the one hand, people are genetically identical, but on the other hand, they are also trained to accomplish the same tasks, and they have the same colors of clothes, and the same feelings. Thus, personal identity has disappeared because 'everyone belongs to everyone'. This quote demonstrates that they are taught to be against individualism. In this state, each one acts like the others. Moreover, they are expected to do the same activities and games. However, Bernard seems to be different from the rest of the characters. First, he has a physical appearance different from the other alphas. It does not seem well integrated in this state. This could be a way that Huxley employs to prove that, show that personal identity is very important in society. Another major theme in Brave New World is consumerism. Indeed, goods are never repaired, and they are always replaced by new goods, as it is written 'ending is better than mending'. Consumption and production keep society stable. The more stitches, the less riches; the more stitches - Thus, the more a person restores, the less she will have to buy, thus reducing the inflow of money into the socio-economic system. It keeps people busy and focused only on what they need to do. However, this does not lead individuals to think for themselves. They do exactly what is expected of them: they produce and consume. Since their childhood, they are taught to consume. Henry Ford was a famous designer of Ford cars. Therefore, Fordism is a method of large-scale production, especially the production of the Ford T. Huxley was inspired by this method of overproduction in Brave New World. However, it is not cars but humans that are produced in this state. Huxley warns us of the dangers of over-consumption. Moreover, religion has been substituted by consumerism. This ensures the happiness of everyone. 'Every man, woman, and child [is] obliged to consume so much per year' only in the interest of the industry. In this way, by keeping the people busy, the state monitors and influences people's thinking. According to me, another main theme of this extract is totalitarianism, control of the society. This state monitors everything that individuals make and condones no opposition. Thus, people no longer have freedom. We can compare Brave New World with 1984 by George Orwell. Thus, 1984 describes a totalitarian society where the government watches the people through fear, hatred, and lack of hope... And, there are posters everywhere that say 'Big Brother is watching you'. However, in this excerpt from Brave New World, the people seem to be monitored by happiness, and they are provided the drug 'soma'. As the Director says 'That is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny.' Another important theme is the loss of morality. Therefore, the religion that helps to instill moral values in human beings has been eradicated in this world. Bernard seems to be distinct from the rest of the community. Moreover, he does not seem to be integrated into society, so we can note the theme of being alone
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Then, technology is very prominent in Brave New World. So technology is used at a very high level. Thus, in this state, technological advances have transformed society, it no longer has freedom, technology also allows the creation of humans who later will be controlled and prevented from thinking. It is a technology that teaches humans morality but not at any time, when they are asleep: 'The D.H.C. halted and, bending over one of the little beds, listened attentively.' Thus, the government provides citizens with only the information it wants. This is proof that technology controls people's minds. Moreover, in this world, everything is created around technology, but it hurts people. Thus, individuals are manufactured and their actions are regulated. Moreover, technology substitutes for personal emotion. So the nurse would push a button, and everyone would start crying. Besides, they even play, and entertain themselves with technology such as 'Electromagnetic golf'. In addition, people are formed, elevated in 'test tubes' instead of being formed in their mother's body. This highlights how crucial technology is. Since their formation, they have been controlled. Technology is a perfect example of the themes mentioned above.
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