FREE ESSAY ON BRAVE NEW WORLD

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World was published in 1946. During this time, socialism and
dictatorships were the concepts of the day. These governments believed that having total
power would engender a perfect society. Karl Marx (Bernard Marx), Nikolai Lenin (Lenina),
and Benito Mussolini (Benito Hoover) are three men who decided to pursue this concept.
Through these examples of socialism and dictatorship, it is seen that having a government
that completely controls a nation, will fail. Many of the ideas that these governments
thought would contribute to its success were the cause of its failure. Although
technological advances, sexual promiscuity, and conformity contribute to the success of a
Utopian society, those are also the reasons for its downfall.
Throughout the novel, Huxley uses Bernard Marx, a young man who has been deformed by the
government, to underline the idea that a Utopian society cannot exist. The advancement in
technology has enabled this Utopian Society to create human life. Although everything
about the society is based on technology, it remains supervised by humans. No matter how
advanced this technology may be, if humans are directing it, mistakes will be made. "He's
so ugly!" "And then so small."," They say somebody made a mistake when he was still in
the bottle... and put alcohol into his blood- surrogate. That's why he's so stunted".
Bernard Marx was an example of human imperfection. Not because he was referred to as
deformed, but because the person who was creating him messed up. Individuals were
decanted according to specification so any deviation seemed to be the result of some
mistake, a mistake made by a human. The outcome of what happened to Bernard forced him to
see that this was one reason a Utopian Society could not exist. These technological
advances weren't advanced enough to create such a perfect society. Bernard was an
example, and he was considered an outcast.
Being an outcast, Bernard would see the world differently. He knew the way everything was
run, and he knew it was wrong. He noticed this in Lenina. Lenina wanted to have sex with
just one person but she couldn't…so she didn't. "Everyone belongs to everyone else"
was one of the World States mottoes. Sexual Promiscuity eliminates emotional
Tension, by eliminating tension and anxiety the World State was able to better control
its citizens. Bernard sees that, when Lenina is forced to have sex with many men, and in
return, she is hurt. The fact that there is no escaping emotions, and sexual promiscuity
may eliminate the tension for what is occurring now, in the long run it affects people
greatly.
Bernard was considered deformed as well as an outcast, and he felt emotional stress,
because of this. He was one of the few who did not conform. Conditioning did not make
Bernard accept life as it was. He was not satisfied with his life and this produced a
feeling of happiness. The World State sees conformity as being an aspect of a "perfect
place". There will always be someone who strays or is different. Bernard demonstrates
that a perfect society cannot be created because there is no such thing a society without
fault. Apparently, if one person is able to hold on to individuality, many other people
will as well.