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Huxley s so called Utopia drastically suppresses the individual in society. The people in this Utopia are completely lacking in crucial emotions which the imperfect individual possesses. They have no feelings of love, care and sympathy because blind happiness is a necessity for stability. Being devoid of these characteristics the people in this utopia are virtual robots. The people in this society lead a life strictly controlled by the government for the purpose of maintaining a stable society. Thus the ultimate question is asked: Is it worth suppressing free will and individuality for a stable and perfect society. In Huxley s utopia life s general purpose is to uphold the stability of the government to form a perfect society. In an essence mankind has lost free will because they are no longer responsible for themselves because they are responsible for the state. The society is depended upon a control. But is perfection what a society really needs? Our imperfections make us human beings.
Loss of individuality in Huxley s Utopia can be attributed to experience as well. “All conditioning aims at making people like their inescapable social destiny. (235). Since values can be taught, in Brave New World the values established by the World State are impressed upon the children. Certain devices such as electric shocks are used to leave impressions upon people at a young age as a means to make infants afraid of books because books can contain controversial ideas. This robs a sense of the individual in the sense that from birth they are mechanically taught things that go directly against their human nature. However this loss of individualism can be seen in our own society as well. During infancy, for the most part our ideologies are highly influenced by our parents and by other controlling factors. However in this society, compared to Huxley s Utopia, at a certain age we are free to believe what we want without society enforcing certain ideas on us. So the question must be asked: which is more important, a society that guarantees individual freedom to which we choose our destinies, or a society that is so perfect that individual will is not necessary? Many modern philosophers have found that a stabile state requires a significant loss in individualism. In Karl Marx s theory of a proletariat state occurring the citizens will naturally recognize the importance of maintaining the state over the importance of individual gain. But why must individualism be sacrificed in a Utopia? A utopia is defined as an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political,
It can be argued that Huxley s oppressive and controlling utopia has many good qualities vital to its existence. One could infer that because no one in Huxley s utopia has ever experienced freedom that they would not yearn for it at all. There is no way that they know what is missing from their society. If the government provides for all your necessities then there is no real reason for freedom. However as a person who enjoys the freedom to choose my own destiny I am able to see the difference between having freedom and not having it. Because I ve experienced freedom I can understand the importance of freedom and judge Huxley s society based on that experience. Even if this lack of freedom will lead to uncontested happiness it is still unjust. If life is only happiness devoid of struggle there is absolutely no purpose to their lives and there is nothing to learn from.
One major part of the Brave New World is the fact that there is no real discrimination. People are genetically altered to be completely happy in their environment and their place in their class. There is no racial or gender discrimination either. Because the citizens are naturally bread to their place in society there is no questioning anything. With being in such a technological age there is a possibility, even if very minute, that something like this could happen. In fact it almost seems necessary to happen in order to create any type of human being that will not question its place in society. As humans we naturally question our institutions and our societies. There is no possible way that society could ever develop in to this type of state without technology that would make us not question our destinies. The Ultimate flaw in a Utopia is that it controls a person s destiny. As human beings we are given free will. Huxley s Utopia in a sense plays the role of God in society and denying us the free will. While the people under this system don t know anything of what freedom really is, there is a strong possibility that if they were to witness merely a glance at its shadow they would yearn for that freedom which they lacked. Perhaps Huxley is somehow trying to show the reader the importance of freedom and individualism by showing that without it we are simply living in an apathetic world with no goal because everything that needs to be decided has already been determined.
In Billy Bud, Melville attempts to point out how it is possible for the individual to function in society.