Brave New World and Individual Freedom

Adolf Hitler once said, “The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time…until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.” The motif of governmental control manipulates the individuals in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Society within Brave New World is conditioned to follow specific guidelines and to possess the same beliefs. The bureaucracy dominates the population of the New World socially, mentally, and physically. The motif of executive authority and domination assists in establishing characters, mood and atmosphere, and the additional theme of using technology to manipulate characters.

"'God isn't compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness.'" So says Mustapha Mond, the World Controller for Western Europe in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. In doing so, he highlights a major theme in this story of a Utopian society. Although the people in this modernized world enjoy no disease, effects of old age, war, poverty, social unrest, or any other infirmities or discomforts, Huxley asks 'is the price they pay really worth the benefits?' This novel shows that when you must give up religion, high art, true science, and other foundations of modern life in place of a sort of unending happiness, it is not worth the sacrifice.

Freedom allows one to do as they please to achieve happiness. In modern society, individuals who have freedom, use it to make choices for themselves and do so for their own benefits. Throughout Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, it is learned that lack of freedom leads to the absence of individuality, high standards in society and loss of emotions. Therefore, the key message in the novel is that freedom is required for true happiness.

America is the universal symbol of freedom. But is it really free? Does the history of the United States stay true to the ideas of our forefathers? Or has the definition been altered to fit American policies? Has freedom defined America? Or has America defined freedom? I believe America was at first defined by freedom, then after time, America defined freedom, altering the definition to fit the niche it fits in, but still keeping key components so it still seems to be staying true to the ideas of America’s founding fathers.

In this world where people can acquire anything they need or want, we have to wonder, “Is the government controlling us?” Both the governments in A Brave New World and in the United States of America offer birth control pills and have abortion clinics that are available for everyone, thus making birth control pills and abortion operations very easy to acquire. Although both governments offer birth control pills and abortion clinics, A Brave New World’s government requires everyone to take the pills and immediately get an abortion when pregnant. This in turn shows us that A Brave New World’s government is controlling the population and the development of children. China is one of the few countries that currently have control of the

Huxley reflects the consequences of totalitarian World State, upon the concern of oppressed citizens. Provoked by Freud and with Mendel’s work on genetic engineering and consumerism early 20th century, Huxley chose a science fiction medium to warn the audience as they venture into the political beliefs and attitudes of the World State and identify its dehumanising effects. The imperative verb, ‘unescapable’ as Huxley states “All conditioning aims at…making people like their unescapable social destiny” (Ch 1) illustrates the loss of freedom due to scientific means which have constrained them into accepting the ideology taught by the World State. Huxley provides ‘John the Savage’ a sense of freedom from the Mexican Reservation where he is given thought, emotions and choice. Although he exclaims “How beauteous mankind is!” in the metaphorical “O brave new world” (Ch8) compared to the Reservation’s society, after seeing the oppression and nothingness of the World State he feels the oppression. This is stressed by the asyndeton of his desires using the personal pronoun ‘I’ in “But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin” (Ch 17) as John identifies the powerlessness and mindlessness of the citizens. Though Huxley through John’s anti-thesis “I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.”

When one reflects on the period during which Huxley’s novel was written and the modern world of his time, the comparison to the socialist world cannot be ignored. The whole idea of a utopia is very similar to socialism. The World State society is under the complete control of the government. Pre-destination department chooses what people will learn, what they will do and how they will look. Each caste wears a different color clothes and does different type of labor. None of these decisions are made by people themselves. In our society, even with the socialism, where government decides what products to produce, in what quantities, and how people will live, people still have a choice and opportunity to be different. Stability and individuality in utopia are reached by taking away the individuality from people. In the World State government controls desires and consumption by creating and destroying the demand for certain objects through the psychological training of infants.

In Brave New World, Huxley utilizes characterization, motifs, and symbols to show that the pursuit of “success” as a whole comes with consequences because there is no value placed upon being an individual. The World State does what it sees as best for society to function in a systematic manner and achieve collective “success”; however, their effort to achieve this utopia fails.

As man has progressed through the ages, there has been, essentially, one purpose. That purpose is to arrive at a utopian society, where everyone is happy, disease is nonexistent, and strife, anger, or sadness is unheard of. Only happiness exists. But when confronted with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, we come to realize that this is not, in fact, what the human soul really craves. In fact, Utopian societies are much worse than those of today. In a utopian society, the individual, who among others composes the society, is lost in the melting pot of semblance and world of uninterest. The theme of Huxley's Brave New World is community, identity, and stability. Each of these three themes represents what a Brave New World society needs

The famous philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated that “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” The world is full of people who are conformists as well as people who stand for themselves and follow their own values. Emerson explains that by being yourself you are already part of something great. However, the question still lingers: Which is the real cause of genuine happiness? There have been many claims argued by various sources, such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Ursula Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Sherry Turkle’s TED Talk titled “Connected, but alone?”. All have come to a consensus

Brave New World acquires its name from Miranda’s speech is Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”. Huxley wrote his most famous book in 1931, but it is set in the year of AF 632 in the dystopian World State City of London. In this world, humans have been engineered artificially. Therefore, words like “mother” and “father’ were non-existent. Each child is born into a predetermined gerrymandered caste based on society’s strict system of need. The upper castes of Alpha and Beta luxuriate in their privileged positions. The castes Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon carry out only the most degrading and menial tasks of society.

In conclusion, it is safe to say that Huxley 's utopia went about achieving its status in the wrong way. Mankind has lost its free will to the controlling powers of a system. This system cannot be called government, as it is more akin in characteristics to slavery. Man no longer has freewill and order is kept not through respect and intellect, but via degeneration and conduct. The former sections of this essay present strategies and techniques used to maintain order in a society of individuals. Finally, it may be argued that the Brave New World protects society by locking them in a cage of ignorance; however, this is at the cost of freedom, and this is unacceptable. Mankind needs be free in order to progress as has been explained. Protection is all well and good but not at the cost of

It is a great cautionary tale for any religion-depraved, heavily medicated, and mechanized society. Many of the World State members are happy, although several characters including John “the Savage,” Bernard, and Helmholtz are not as satisfied with their lives; truth and happiness brought on by using the drug Soma are not all it is cracked up to be. With the utilization of the drug Soma and coveting happiness over truth, Huxley’s novel is a warning of what our society might become with technological advancements in the future if they are exploited.

Aldous Huxley created a literary masterpiece which shows a possible, dismal future produced by the misuse of science and technology. In his book, Brave New World, the World Controllers use various scientific methods to dehumanize the population in order to control them. The advanced use of biotechnology has allowed the government to completely eliminate family and have the population physically engineered to fit specific specifications according to the needs of society. They also use different methods of brainwashing in order to ensure the population properly conforms to their outline of civilization. Through the use of primitive conditioning techniques combined with current ones, everything the people think, like, and dislike is

The Brave New World portrays the perfect society, where citizens of “Utopia” live a life without depression, and any socioeconomic problems. In the New World, every portion of life is controlled. Only when a person is able to dig deeper inside of himself will he find that this world is nothing close to perfect. Drugs, sex, and mind games control this world and solve any problems that may arise, such as overpopulation, and caste tension. The usage of such tactics causes a loss of individuality.