Huxley's Brave New World could very much be seen as a
utopian society. The idea of a utopian society is that everyone can live and be
happy, to be free from "want". What details make a society utopian?
Brave New World offers many ideas, things, or sentiment to create this utopian
society.
"Our world is
not the same as Othello's world. You can't make flivvers without steel-and you
can't make tragedies without social instability. The world's stable now. People
are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get.”
This quote describes exactly how Huxley’s society could be seen as a utopian
society. Every person in the society is pleased. Everyone is happy. In our
society today many people go their entire life without ever reaching their goal
of happiness. For people in Huxley’s society they are born into happiness and
never have to worry about not getting anything they want. In our society many
of our struggles come from never achieving our goals, or maybe being cast out
for not having the newest clothes. Huxley’s society everyone has what they need
and it doesn’t cause any discord with anyone else. The community’s are friendlier,
and the invention of “feelies” creates good emotions for everyone.
On top of the “feelies”
there is also soma to subdue anyone feeling anything else but good intentions. "There's
always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you
patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things
by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you
swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be
virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle.
Christianity without tears-that's what soma is." Anytime you may even
think about stepping out of line then soma is right there to put you back on
the path. Soma creates this amazing feeling for the people that forces them to
have good intentions or happy thoughts. If everyone can be conditioned to be
happy throughout their lives then Huxley’s society has to have the foundation
for a utopia. Aside from everyone being happy, the fact that no one “wants”
anything because they have everything then that does away with the threat of
crime or poverty. Aside from the economic downfall our society is suffering,
the crime and poverty of families is the main struggle of our society. The
happiness of Huxley’s society creates never ending happiness therefore it
abolishes crime. If there was to be an incident then soma is right there to fix
the problem.
"What does
God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who
chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed
upon him?" This quote is the essence of what God wants for us. God wants
us to be happy and do good deeds. Adam and Eve were created without being able
to commit sin, and they had everything they wanted. However, when they deceived
God they became sinful and we suffer from their mistakes. In Huxley’s society
everyone is happy and allows for everyone to do good things. The happiness
allows them to refrain from most sin. Therefore, the society is better off
being conditioned for happiness to allow the society to grow and prosper without
the negatives of crime, poverty, or neglect.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: RosettaBooks LLC, 2010. Print.
Great post Dustin. I really like how you point out the fact that Adam and Eve were given the "utopian" lifestyle, be in the end decided to sin and loose everything. God gave them everything, but that ended up being not good enough. This makes me think about the phrase of history repeating it self. In Brave New World, the society is given everything they need to be happy. If history does repeat itself, how long before the citizens in Brave New World go looking for something more. (Just like Adam and Eve). I do not care what society you are apart of, change is inevitable. People will become bored of the lifestyle and it will change. I don't think there is much difference between the stories of Adam and Eve and the society Huxley has created. There are people who do not agree to the lifestyle in Brave New World. Those people are sent to "the islands". What happens if the population on the islands grow and they decide to rebel? I think it is impossible to have a society that "is conditioned for happiness to allow the society to grow and prosper without the negatives of crime, poverty, or neglect" for forever. There will always be those who disagree. Do you think that the society in Brave New World could always be a "perfect" society?
ReplyDeleteDustin you did a great job on your post. I think that you have a really interesting way of looking at this story and how soma is related to the issues the culture has. Brandi- I really like how you expanded on Adam and Eve. I think that is the perfect story to look at when you talk about Brave New World. Just like in Adam and Eve, they were able to do as they please with no fear of the outcome. That is how the alphas live their lives in BNW. They have everything they need to live comfortably and happily. But, that isn't enough. It never is. It is human nature to want more. I think that is the down fall to a perfect society. Humans want the next best thing. An easy example would simply be the fact that humans want the next greatest technology- ie phones, tablets laptops, the old stuff is not cutting edge. What do you all think?
DeleteBrandi, I believe according to how the society in Brave New World is set up and organized that it could always be a "perfect" society. The fact that the people are always able to get what they want and they never go wanting for anything would be reason to believe that the "perfect" society could go on. Soma is always readily available to control anyone gets out of line. I could definitely see the tribes on the islands being a problem though. If they were to rebel against the "perfect" society I think they would be able to take them no problem. Although we don't know what kind of tools the controllers have at their disposal, I think it's fair to say there is no standing army to control a situation like that. So that would be a very interesting scenario, but one that could be detrimental to all of society because of the extreme instability that would follow. Brianna, I think the fact money is not a problem that the people would always be able to get the next best thing regardless. If the item is not supported by the controllers then its not being circulated. The controllers have so much say in everything that the people of the society seem to be clueless to the things that might be even better than what they have.
DeleteGreat post, Dustin! In response to Brandi's question, I don't believe that any society could always be a perfect society over an extended period of time. With how mentally vulnerable the people in the Brave New World society are, their happiness could easily be upset by something as simple as not having soma, as we saw when John created the riot by throwing their soma away. Because the people in Brave New World are not individuals, they can easily be influenced and their opinions are easily corruptible. It would only take one man to target the people's weakness and use their inability to think for themselves to his own advantage. In any society like Brave New World, it's only a matter of time before one man either instigates a rebellion or recognizes how to use the people in the society for his own personal gain. Do you think that this is just the dangers of the lack of individual thinking, or could this also occur in our own society today?
ReplyDeletegood post, really enjoyed it. your post made me think about what defines happiness in Huxleys utopia. In my opinion if things are always pleasurable, and available to us then they start to loose their meaning. The bad things, and experiences in life are what makes the good seem good. If we would always be happy, then it wouldnt be happiness anymore, just the new norm. Its like really loving chocalate, you want it everyday, it makes you happy, but if you had it at your disposal 24 hours a day ,to make you "happy", then it becomes an expectation not a treat. Its in our nature to become unappreciative of anything that is always provided to us, so this is no different. All the things that make us happy do so because of the bad in life, making it necessary in my opinion, thus making a utopia an impossibility. you cant take all the bad from the world, its what makes the good seem good..
ReplyDeleteEfrain- I really enjoyed reading your response. I think that you brought up a really cool point. I think that the way you described how good and bad experiences. Your description of "taking all the bad form the world, its what makes the good seem good..." I really like that. It makes sense. More importantly I think that it helps explain the book too. In BNW the people do not necessarily have that 'bad' aspect. When they are upset or sad, they take a somma gramme and the bad goes away. Society has designed itself to take away the bad. Nothing is bad, they've been conditioned to think all is well in the world. I think the people in BNW do not have anything to make the good in life seem good. What do you think?
DeleteGreat point here Efrain, I agree, without there being anything to oppose the good in their society bad cannot exist. So I ask,do you believe that happines exists in their society if there is nothing to contrast it with? I think that words like good and happines as you say "start to loose their meaning" as well. In order to know dark, you have to know light.
DeleteGood job arguing how the soicety in BNW can be seen as a utopia. You make some good points. I agree that the soicyety is a utopia, but at the same time it can be viewed as a dystopia. I say this because to John The Savage the society is far from perfect as we hear from him throughout the novel. To answer Brandi's question, there's no such thing as a perfect society where everyone is happy, gets along, and there are no problems. Huxley's society isn't perfect, soma is used to mask the imperfections within the society so that it appears perfect.
ReplyDeleteAmazing post. I really enjoyed your conclusion that Huxley’s world is a utopia. After all, happiness’s minimal form is a state of contentment which is what everyone is conditioned to have. Huxley’s world is a world without pain and suffering where everyone is happy, which is usually what most people dream about when they think of a perfect world. However, as much as I wish for a perfect world, I still value all my sorrow, despair, and suffering. I find myself very conflicted on this issue. I would never wish any suffering upon another person and in fact wish that everyone could live life without sorrow. But at the same time, I think you need misery to appreciate happiness. Otherwise, how would you know what happiness was? I have to agree with Efrain that happiness becoming the norm will no longer make it happiness. I believe Chinese philosophy of Ying and Yang symbolizes it best. To be complete, you need both good and evil, forward and backwards, happiness and sorrow.
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