Aldous Huxley?s Dystopian Vision Essay, Research Paper
What is a utopia? Merriam-Webster?s Collegiate? Dictionary defines _utopia_ as ?an imaginary and indefinitely remote place; a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, gov-ernment, and social conditions; *an impractical scheme for social improvement.?* In _Brave New World_ Aldous Huxley creates a _dystopia_ (which Webster defines as ?an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives?) by predicting a pos-sible _utopia_ after many generations. Aldous Huxley analyzes how the utopia degenerated from its original intent into a terrible dystopia. In this essay I will discuss some aspects of this dystopia and relate to Aldous Huxley?s dystopian vision.
Aldous Huxley begins _Brave New World_ by explaining to the reader the process of civi-lization in A.F. 632 of decanting children. First the children are led into the London Hatch-ery and Conditioning Center?the main entrance of which reads the World State?s motto: COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY (Huxley 1). This signifies that the world has become unified into _one_ state with _one_ main government and _one_ set of rules and regula-tions. The world has become ?over-organized?; everything has been taken over by what Aldous Huxley describes as the ?Power Elite?: a group of people who control the world and everyone in it (Huxley [_Brave New World Revisited_] 14?23). Hatchery workers wearing white lab coats working in sterilized scientific labs artificially fertilize sperm cells and egg cells in test tubes. Then, depending on the particular caste of the sperm and egg, some embryos are bokanovskified (made to bud/replicate by bombardment of X-rays); finally all embryos are sent to the Social Predestination Room, where during the nine-month process of devel-opment they are conditioned through additions or subtractions to their biological chemistry depending on their caste (Huxley 2?9). This shows the reader that there is no concern for the traditional family structure or any respect for the mystery of human creation. The society of _Brave New World_ is totally based on scientific facts and possibilities. Ethics and religion have become obsolete. Instead of having God?s gift of free will, people are now prisoners of their predetermined conditioning. Ethics
In _Brave New World_ almost all the troubles in life are either eliminated or dealt with through the wonder-drug _soma_. John the Savage gets annoyed by this and cries:
?You got rid of them. Yes, that?s just like you. Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it. Whether ?tis better in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them … But you don?t do either. Neither suffer nor oppose. You just abolish the slings and arrows. *It?s too easy.* … What you need … is something _with_ tears for a change.? (Huxley 183)
The Savage has a very good point?_to know what happiness is one *must* experience un-happiness_. The inhabitants of this ?brave new world that has such people in it? are living a false happiness, a fake happiness?a happiness which is ultimately superficial. They enjoy their ?utopia? because they have no knowledge of the true freedoms of a member of the hu-man race. They never realize they are in a dystopia because they never _know_?they never _realize_ what the proper way of life is. They are blinded and brainwashed from Day 1 with the morals and guidelines of their society:
?I do love flying…. I do love having new clothes…. Ending is better than mend-ing…. The more stitches, the less riches…. One cubic centimeter cures ten gloomy sentiments…. A gram is better than a damn.? (Huxley 36?43)
The list can go on and on…. The society is so brainwashed that _they can only come to re-alize the truth if they are raised without the conditioning implied on the ordinary person_.
In Aldous Huxley?s _Brave New World_ many ideas are presented to the reader about dystopia and what our world _might_ end up like. Aldous Huxley?s dystopian vision is a warning to the reader and society that we must be careful of over-organization and propa-ganda, or else our world will become a _Brave New World_. Aldous Huxley has left us with an important and meaningful message. Let us not forget it!
Works CitedHuxley, Aldous. _Brave New World & Brave New World Revisited_. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1965.