Brave New World



After reading the novel Brave New World by Aldus Huxley it is easily realized



that it is unlike any other classic story. It predicts a future overpowered by



technology and where the people have no religion. The plot of the story made me



think if this would be a perfect place to live or a terrible place to live. It is hard to



distinguish where the line is drawn between making life simpler and losing the meaning



of life. Although some may look upon this type of life with envy I personally would



rather have to work harder than to lose myself.



The first think that made me dislike the ideas is this book was the fact that the



government overpowered the world, causing the loss of freedom. Never having to



worry about a job is something most people would appreciate, but at the same time it



is not worth losing all freedoms. Freedom is more important to happiness than having



needs automatically satisfied. I also feel that religion plays an important role in



people's lives. It represents our principles and values. Religion guides us, gives us



something to believe in and a set of rules to live by. Mustapha Mond when referring to



the Holy Bible says that "they're old; they're about God hundreds of years ago. Not



about God Now" (Huxley 237). Mustapha Mond is saying that with the evolution of



time the need for religion has disappeared and has been replaced by the worship of



another God who is Ford. It is stated that they basically live a fulfilled life, according to



a strict set of rules and then they die. But is that really a fulfilled life? Also thanks to



their conditioning they do not fear death but accept it as a way of life. That alone is a



task that our world still has not been able to accomplish, but if the loss of a life means



nothing, wouldn’t that reflect that the life itself meant nothing? In this civilization, the



people are isolated from one another, divided into five different classes. In every



society there will be invisible classes of people, but to have them so defined is a crime.



No one is given the chance to move up and make more of themselves. The members of



each class are ranked according to their mental capacity and physical appearance. This



seems that it would take away all motivation and dreams, and sometimes our dreams



are all we have. It seems unfair that even before you are born, your future is already



written out for you. The mental inferiority of the lower classes is very important for the



survival of the utopian society. They know that is the people got to smart they would



realize how much they were missing out on. The people in the society are also



deprived of their history, culture and background. According to our views, these things



are unquestionably important and we would go as far to say that we could not live



without them. Education is not needed in the Utopian Society. Education to us leads to



knowledge and for us knowledge is power and power runs the world. However for



them there is no need for education because they do not need power. Power will not



get them any farther in life then what is already written out for them. I also feel that I



would miss my family , relationships and most of all, love. The people in Utopia were



brought up in conditioning centers and feel that parents and family are primitive. In our



world, parents pass on to their children their own values and principles. What they may



become as a result of their upbringing could be anything and have a clean slate.



Monogamy is discouraged by the utopian society and considered improper " Four



months of Henry Foster, without having another man --- why, he'd be furious!



if he knew..." (Huxley 40). This restrains peoples from getting too emotionally involved



and putting their loved one's needs before the society's. In the utopian society,



everyone belongs to everyone else. I feel that this also takes away from life because a



person can not be complete until they experience love. In the Utopian society, "you're



so conditioned that you can not help doing what you ought to do" (Huxley 244). Thanks



to their conditioning, nobody even considers fighting. And if ever anyone gets angry or



depressed, there is always soma. To me the soma seems to represent drugs in our own



society. A substance that people turn too in order to maintain there feelings.



There are many specific examples that led me to feel the way I do about this



novel. One is Bernard Marx who is an alpha-plus and therefore should be living the



"good life". But even though his mental status is that of an Alpha-plus, his physical



appearance is similar to that of an Epsilon. " They say somebody made a mistake when



he was still in the bottle---thought he was a Gamma and put alcohol into his blood-



surrogate" (Huxley 46 ). He quickly becomes an outcast and does not get along with



the opposite sex. This shows that even in this society there are imperfections and



racism. Helmholtz Watson also does not like the Utopian civilization. The problem with



him is they let they him get too smart. That led him to want a better life, a dream he



felt was unobtainable in Utopia. This makes me think that if the smartest guy didn’t like



it he was the only one who thought enough to realize.



In conclusion one can clearly see that human beings can not adapt to anything, and



if they could they would not be happy doing so. It was best said by Mustapha Mond at



one point. "The key to happiness is enjoying who you are and what you do". (Huxley)



How can you do that is your life is controlled?