Brave New World
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 are 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. In the science fiction book Brave New World, we are confronted with a man, Bernard Marx. Bernard is inadequate to his collegues. So he resorts to entertaining himself most evenings, without the company of a woman. This encourages his individual thought, and he realizes that independent thought is rewarding, and that he must strive to become a real individual. Although this is true to a certain extent, Bernard does not realize that he would much rather attain social recognition. At least, not until the opportunity presents itself. Thus, through a series of events, Bernard uses the curiosity of the society
She adheres to the principles of the society without so much as a second thought. Everyone is brought up to be happy, and most do not even know what sadness or anger is. All is cured artificially through surrogates or drugs. The inhabitants of this society are not given any sort of mental flexibility. It desires to acquire knowledge, unceasingly and neverendingly. The Savage is brought in from outside of the utopian society by Bernard as an experiment. Soma, the hallucinatory drug, the 'perfect drug' that is used by all, even induces the same kind of happiness. `Doing repairs on the outside of a rocket in mid air is a ticklish job. Although this would appear a perfect society at first, it becomes obvious later on in the novel that the race will no longer evolve. " (32) All two hundred and fifty beings will be the same - they will look alike, talk alike, act alike, have the same job, and generally be the same people inside different media. As well, the same ovary can be used to produce over seventeen thousand individuals with the same basic genetic background. He faces "civilized society" with a bright outlook, but eventually comes to hate it bitterly. Huxley presents the ultimate in utopian societies.
Common topics in this essay:
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