Brave New Worldtopics Essay Example

to drive individuals to act on their beliefs, dreams, growth, learning, and love. In Brave New World, the government discourages these intense human characteristics and controls emotions in order to maintain control and achieve stability by ensuring everyone is happy.The government endeavors to eradicate any painful emotion, resulting in the absence of deep feelings and passions. Huxley illustrates the government's awareness of the perils associated with negative emotions through the controller's statement: "Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery." Once individuality and emotions are eradicated in Brave New World, the process of dehumanization extends to art and personal expression. Since no one in Brave New World can generate or convey emotions, individual expression is stunted. The absence of a cultural atmosphere exacerbates this artistic void, and tragedy no longer stems from man's circumstances; it once originated from a specific situation, which has been eradicated in the new society. Without literature, people will never think and learn; although they may live in a stable society where nothing ever changes, they pay the price of creativity and the ability to think. The leaders in Brave New World assert that "you've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We've sacrificed the high art." The inhabitants of Brave New World perceive life's purpose merely as the maintenance of well-being, disregarding Huxley's description of it as "some intensification and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge." Religion, born out of an individual's contemplation of creation, is non-existent.In the Brave New World, individuals are not taught religion and are conditioned to avoid contemplation of God, ensuring they never feel

alone. The creation of a religion requires intense emotion and personal belief, resembling an act of artistic expression. This would pose a threat to the utopian society, as it would introduce the notion of a higher being and undermine the importance of stability. Instead, citizens remain devoted to their society, as exemplified by Bernard Marx's statement that it is satisfactory to continue being socially useful even after death. The significance of the individual is disregarded within the Brave New World. People are denied the opportunity to plan their own possessions, alter their societal role or rank, or choose a lifelong partner. Consequently, the society eradicates individuality and hampers human progress, despite falsely believing they are advancing humanity. Loss of identity largely stems from genetic engineering, which interferes with natural reproduction and emotional connections. In this society, people are not born through traditional means; instead, a single fertilized egg is cloned repeatedly until there are ninety-six separate embryos.The cloning process involves placing identical embryos in tubes to grow until they are ready to be born. This engineering has significant implications, as everyone in the Brave New World is effectively parentless, and the terms 'mother' and 'father' have become unspeakably obscene. With the elimination of the family, the government has effectively eradicated the primary source of human emotion: familial love. There are no longer any mothers, fathers, siblings, relatives or grandparents. Consequently, individuals seemingly merge into a collective mass, all in the pursuit of stability and progress. "Sexual freedom is legalized" as a means to further stabilize society, with encouragement for unrestricted sexual relationships, particularly among the young, in order to discourage any attachment to love. By

initiating sexual relations at a young age, citizens are unable to fully comprehend the significance of love and its associated emotions. This emotional manipulation serves as a deceptive tactic by the ruling government to obscure the loss of basic human sentiments. In this utopian society, what would be considered true love in today's world gives rise to neurotic passions and the establishment of family life, both of which disrupt the harmonious functioning of the community. Willingly embracing their oppression, the people in this Brave New World are influenced by the indoctrination of the younger generation. Through strict birth control measures and numbing emotional experiences coupled with early sexual experimentation, the new generation is molded and educated accordingly.The education in Brave New World is not a process of learning, thinking, and discovery, but rather a method of programming. This results in a society that worship the technologies that hinder their ability to think. Every individual is conditioned to conform to society's demands and to enjoy the work they are assigned. The government employs hypnopaedia, or sleep teaching, as well as shock therapy as the main forms of education, recognizing the usefulness of manipulating the vulnerability of the human mind. Huxley illustrates this through an early example in Brave New World where a Director at a Hatchery explains to students that through repetition, certain stimuli are permanently associated in the mind. The government exploits the innocence of children to further enhance their meticulously engineered society. Entertainment in this world serves as mere distractions created by the government to conceal the cultural and emotional void. Deliberate and captivating distractions serve as policy instruments, ensuring that people devote minimal

attention to the social and political realities.The government in Brave New World creates entertainment and promotes the use of soma, a powerful drug that induces deep numbness. Citizens are encouraged to consume soma in order to escape intense emotions. Huxley portrays how individuals would take soma during moments of solitude or leisure, when they are aware of their individuality. Although the society in the novel lacks war, suffering, disease, and social conflict, it comes at the expense of love, family, science, art, religion, and history. Despite being published in 1932, Brave New World holds significant relevance in today's world. It can be seen as an exploration of Homo Faber, the man-made aspect of human interaction. This fictional society is a triumph of scientific manipulation, with every aspect carefully constructed and controlled.Personally, I found the concept of the Brave New World and its regime to be incredibly fascinating. It resonated with me and made me contemplate the stark contrast between our society today and the sheltered lives of the people in the Brave New World. As entertainment continues to push boundaries and become more extreme, I can't help but wonder if virtual reality will transport audiences into a soma-like experience, delving into their subconscious minds. Is it possible for a new medium, even more advanced than television, to further waste an individual's time? The future seems to indicate that the wasting of time is already visible in our society.