How Does Huxley Use Isolation In Brave New World

Although he wants to be an individual, to feel strongly and act freely, Bernard shows little creativity or courage. He is caught between conforming to the World State’s culture while also questioning their standards. He is surrounded by the World State rules so conforming is expected of him. Bernard conforms in multiple ways throughout the novel. He conforms by simply doing his job, working with hypnopedia, in which he implants messages into the minds of children, messages he does not even agree with.

There is a loss of privacy for the prisoner, even though they are all alone in the cell, guards are constantly watching them. They are there watching every move they make. It is often argued that solitary confinement creates a loss of freedom because the prisoner is already taken away from society, but then also isolated again in prison. The idea of being surrounded by four walls for 23 hours of the day is frightening. Therefore, many prisoners develop suicidal thoughts, personality disorders, and mental illnesses such depression, anxiety, paranoia, bipolar, schizophrenia, and claustrophobia (ConnectUS, 2015). It can also be stated that the purpose of solitary confinement is often not effective because instead of having someone there to help them process what they did, they are isolated. Prisoners in confinement simply end up just waiting for time to pass by instead of thinking about their

According to “Solitary Confinement: Common Misconceptions and Emerging Safe Alternatives” by Alison Shames, Jessa Wilcox, and Ram Subramanian on the Vera Institute of Justice, solitary confinement is often sentenced to “fulfill a prison’s or jail’s top priority: the safety of its staff and the incarcerated people under their care.” (Shames, Wilcox, & Subramanian, 2015). However, most inmates that are placed in solitary confinement are

Bernard was an outcast in the beginning of the book. He is flawed in a “flawless” world. “Well…’ said Bernard, and hesitated. No, he really couldn’t deny it. ‘Why shouldn’t I be”, this quote proves that Bernard is an outcast because he hesitated. (Huxley, 184) Living in the World State it is uncommon to hesitate. Bernard did not fit into the standards of the World State and everyone knew it. Bernard did not like to participate in orgies, group activities, and he looked different from the other citizens, “‘He is so ugly!’ said Fanny. ‘But I rather like his looks.’ ‘And then so small.’ Fanny made a grimace; smallness was so horribly and typically low-caste.” (Huxley, 41) The above quote proves that Bernard was an outcast because he looked different from the others. Bernard is just like every human being he wants to fit in with everyone else.

Aldous Huxley has a humanistic, deep and enlightened view of how society should be, and of what constitutes true happiness. In his novel, Brave New World, he shows his ideas in a very obscure manner. Huxley presents his ideas in a satirical fashion. This sarcastic style of writing helped Huxley show his views in a very captivating and insightful manner. The entire novel describes a dystopia in which intimate relationships, the ability to choose one's destiny, and the importance of family are strictly opposed. In Huxley's mind, however, these three principles are highly regarded as necessary for a meaningful and fulfilling existence.

Never, he told himself, never would he speak to Helmholtz again. ”(Huxley,156) Bernard changed from being Helmholtz’s friend to arrogant about all the girls he attracted and inconsiderate about the way Helmholtz felt about the boasting being rubbed in his face. Since Bernard was caught up with his own self,taking Helmholtz’s sadness the wrong way causes Bernard to cut their

In conclusion, Bernard is interested in pursuing his personal desires, instead of conforming to society because he doesn’t like the way society is and what it is restricting people from.

Dr. Milton Meltzer, former chief medical officer at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary (2010) states, “The sense of self, the ego and ego boundary phenomena are profoundly affected by the isolation” (par. 4). Hyper responsivity to external stimuli, perceptual distortions, illusions, and hallucinations are all a result of being restricted to the conditions of isolation. Case studies have been observing why such changes in a person occur. Findings therefore led to evidence that individuals experience a degree of stupor, difficulties with thinking and concentration, obsessional thinking, agitation, and irritability. The list continues to grow depending on whether the individual already suffers preexisting mental conditions. Although it is still a controversial issue the use of solitary confinement has not been proved to be cruel and unusual

In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley utilizes the self-imposed exile of John the Savage in a lighthouse to illustrate the novel’s theme of isolation and its effects on people. John the Savage’s exile serves as an extreme catalyst for change in him. John already felt isolated during his time on the reservation due to his being one of the only white people, but his experiences in the World State and in the lighthouse ratchet up his feelings to an extreme degree. While not actually a Native American himself, John’s experiences reflect those of the actual Native Americans during the time of colonization. Near the beginning of his isolation, he exhibits a mixture of Native American and Christian religion, begging for forgiveness from “Zuni to Awonawilona,

Solitary confinement has had a long history in the American prison system. America is the first country to adapt solitary confinement into the prison regiment. Pennsylvania had the first special housing units for inmates or “SHU”. When Europeans came to America to look at the new model for prisons in Pennsylvania they wrote reports describing to the European parliament on how prisoners were treated like caged animals. Many of them quickly realized that this was not what prisons were set out to accomplish. The purpose of a prison is to rehabilitate criminals and bring them back into society as an individual that has the best mental tools and skills to make their respective communities better. Putting inmates in solitary confinement for more than 48 hours can only lead to awful emotional pain and mental problems which can result in self-destructive behavior to regain the self-control that is being deprived through this process of isolation and expulsion.

The movie well portrays the conflict between the couple while maintaining the different shades of grey in their character. Bernard was shown as an egoist, with narcissism and no sense of responsibility for his actions, but he was also shown having a vulnerable side of him. He lacked the capacity to contain emotions this frequently made him feel that others are being ‘difficult’. His inability to express his emotions was shown by his usage of words like - ‘comic timings’, ‘hurts my feelings’ and ‘it’s

Solitary confinement is occasionally used in most prison systems as a means to maintain prison order. Mainly for disciplinary punishment, or as a place to put inmates that are at escape risk, or a risk to themselves and prison order. Sometimes inmates that are sex offenders voluntarily choose solitary as a means of protection from other prisoners. Sometimes solitary can be used to hold pretrial detainees to prevent them from messing with witness, so they can’t try and force a confession. For 23 hours a day inmates are confined to the barren environment that is their cell with high surveillance (Smith, Peter Scharff, 2006.) Inmates have no social contact. Visits and phone calls are infrequent and highly restricted. Visits sometime only take place via video screens. The physical contact one experiences is limited to the interaction with prison guards, weather it be putting on restraints or taking them off.

While solitary confinement is one of the most effective ways of keeping todays prisoners from conflict and communication, it is also the most detrimental to their health. According to NPR the reason for most solitary confinement units in America “is to control the prison gangs (NPR, 2011).” But that is not always the case. Sometimes putting a gang member in solitary reduces the shock and awe effect that it is supposed to have, when they start losing their minds. The prisoners kept in solitary confinement show more psychotic symptoms than that of a normal prisoner, including a higher suicide rate. Once a prisoner’s mental capacity to understand why he is in prison and why he is being punished is gone, there is no reason to keep said

            Bernard Marx was alienated in the Brave New World because of his general appearance. As an Alpha Plus, Bernard was unusually short and ugly. Suggested by Fanny, Bernard's condition resulted from an error when he was still in a bottle, the workers

“With eyes for the most part downcast and, if ever they lighted on a fellow creature, at once and furtively averted, Bernard hastened across the roof. He was like a man pursued, but pursued by enemies he does not wish to see, lest they should seem more hostile even than he had supposed, and he himself be made to feel guiltier and even more helplessly alone.” (63)