Brave New World 6 Essay Research Paper

Brave New World 6 Essay, Research Paper

Aldous Huxley in his novel Brave New World written in 1932 presents a portrait of a society which is superficially a perfect world. In this satiric novel, Huxley makes fun of science and religion, using his idea of the future to attack the present. This pessimistic story of the modern world opens in London some 600 years in the future, specifically in 632 A.F.. Through the use of irony and detail he shows how the advancement of science affects human individuals. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley makes evident that the misuse of science results in a dreadful society.

Huxley’s heritage and upbringing had a significant effect on his work. Huxley was member of a family that included the most distinguished members of that part of the English ruling class made up of the intellectual elite (Barron’s 1). Aldous’ father was the son of Thomas Henry Huxley, a great biologist who helped develop the theory of evolution (1). Throughout Brave New World the reader can see the evidence of the conflicting attitude toward the intellectual authority assumed by a ruling class. In addition, Huxley’s own experiences made him isolate from the class into which he was born (1). Even as a small child he was considered different, showing an alertness and an intelligence, which his brother called superiority (1). He drew on that feeling of separateness in the characters of Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson, who are members of the elite class but have problems

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because they are different from their peers. Huxley was unable to do the scientific work he had dreamed of due to an eye illness that made him nearly blind (2). However, his scientific interests remained with him and used them in many books, particularly Brave New World (2). The reader is conveyed by Huxley’s vision of a Utopian future based on science and technology. Undoubtedly, his ancestry and the environment he was raised up in, influenced him in creating this novel.

The illustration of the apparently perfect world resembles the title of the book. At one point in the novel the title is brought up by John the Savage, when he is asked to go to London and in response he says: “Oh brave new world that has such people in it” (Seltzer 2). He remembered these words from William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”, which once was found in the reservation where John lived ( 2). He really was enthusiastic , but when he is in London it disappoints him. Furthermore, “In this modern world all aspects of the population have been controlled: number, social class, and intellectual ability are all carefully regulated” (8). Even history is controlled and rewritten to meet the needs of this society (8). This new world is a startling image of Huxley’s vision of Utopia. In addition, unhappiness is one of the feelings that are not allowed in the world which Huxley creates (Barron’s 7). Two quick and easy ways of feeling good are Soma, the wonder drug, and the “feelies”, a common form of entertainment

Palacios 5 (Lawrence 61). This civilization does its best to eliminate any deep feeling or passion. The origination of the title gets the reader acquainted with this futuristic society.

Brave New World is a satiric projection of popular values and associated uses of science in the real world of 1932. By the time Huxley started to write Brave New World, the tremendous political, economic, and philosophical changes taking place in Europe and America contributed to his disillusionment (Smith 4). Big businesses used and misused the individual and man became important as a producer and a consumer (4). These shows that industry exploited the individual by molding him according to its image and likeness. On the international and political scene, there was the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the dictatorship of Mussolini in Italy, and the Nazi Party in Germany (Coulehan 3). “He realized that communism and facism place the state above the individual and demand total allegiance to a cause” (3). Recognizing the danger he demonstrated the end result of this tendency in his fantasy. Furthermore, this book presents a satiric dystopia which describes a possible horrible world of the future (Smith 6). Huxley was concerned with the events happening in this time period because he saw them as real threats to man’s freedom and independence (6). His bitter satire results from his conviction man is unwilling to do something about these threats even though he has the power to elude them. The events of

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1932 inspired Huxley to create this darkened satire which became a serious warning, because if we use science as an instrument of power we will probably apply it to the human beings in the wrong way, producing a horrible society.

The details illustrated by Aldous Huxley give the book more credibility on the scientific advances he introduced. In the beginning of the book, we see the Director of World Hatcheries lead the new hatchery students on a tour of a Conditioning Center in London where babies are produced in bottles and presorted to determine their class level(Gitzen 239). People are conditioned from birth not to love one person, and since marriage does not exist they have many lovers (240). These details show the standards they hold in this world. In the novel Bernard Marx is a character who struggles with this society (242). He is a very small person