Individuality Versus Conformity In the story Brave New World by Aldous Huxley we are introduced to the ways of a dystopian future. Set in London, 632 a.f. (632 years after Ford), where everyone is made from a cast, polyamory is considered normal, and all fit into the preconceived social classes made to keep order. This novel follows Benarde Marx, an “Alpha” who is upset with the created system, and later in the story John the Savage, an outsider from a New Mexico Savage Reservation, in a story that explores a society where people have their individuality sacrificed for a mild sense of happiness. Through manipulating and reading literature, excessive use of a mind-altering drug, and the government and society's rules and norms, Huxley brilliantly …show more content…
As mentioned earlier each person in their own social class is a carbon copy of each other. Even the people running the machines are a copy of each other as there are “‘[n]inety-six identical twins working ninety-six identical machines!’” (7). In life, identical twins can be raised completely opposite each other, yet still have identical traits and habits. Now take that, scale it up, raise all of the twins exactly the same, and repeat. This happens in most of the classes, except the Alphas. Bernard, being an Alpha is unique, he is upset about the fact that his stature is shorter than most other Alphas, making him more closely related to the lower classes. This gives him a unique sense of personality different from everyone else, insecurity. Another character that can be picked from a crowd is Mr. Savage. Being born at a reserve, where people live like “the old times,” is unique from the people born inside the World State and intriguing to said people. As they learn about the Savage they find and watch him. Being fed up with the attention he yells, “‘Go away!’” This then causes “a burst of laughter and hand-clapping. ‘Good old Savage! Hurrah, hurrah!’” (255.) This ironic reaction comes out of curiosity and amusement from the built individuals of the World State. Even though the Savage is clearly in distress because these people have never had other emotions other than joy, because of the soma they all take, everyone thinks that it is all just an act. But to Mr. Savage, it is very real and distressing. This scene serves as a critique of a society that places little value on true individuality. Mr. Savage, acting demented from all the attention he is getting for being a different person had built up during his time at the World State. This eventually came to be too much as
Although Sparknotes offers a concise summary of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, it lacks important character details that are crucial to understanding the individuality of each characters desire for change within the World State. For instance, Bernard Marx’s outsider status fuels his selfish desire for power, not change. By only watching the SparkNotes video summary, readers do not get a close look at why Bernard wants change, and may confuse his egocentric greed as a desire for individuality and advancement of the society. In actuality, after Bernard was blessed with social success, his discontentment with the society disappeared. In a conversation with his friend, Helmholtz Watson, readers learn, “Success went fizzily to Bernard's head, and in the process completely reconciled him” (Huxley, Ch 11) with his dissatisfaction of
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, there are many characters who don’t fit in socially in the World State. The protagonist, Bernard Marx, is stuck in between conforming to the World State’s standards, yet questioning inwardly due to his own views and values. Bernard doesn’t fit in with the rest of the Alphas due to the fact that he believes what they’re doing is wrong. He feels alienated from others, yet has a bit of a desire to be “normal”. The pressure of others is what allows Bernard to give in to the World State and not rebel against his own beliefs Bernard doesn’t approve of what the World State is doing, yet he is done what is expected of him.
Individuality’s Role in Society Anthem is a dystopian novel written by Russian author Ayn Rand in 1937. Ayn Rand was avid about the importance of the individual, and she supported a hands off government, where the people define and sustain themselves. Ayn Rand’s interest in the government’s effect on society certainly led into her creation of Anthem. At the start of the novel, Equality 7-2521, the protagonist, writes from a secluded tunnel and shares about the dystopian society he lives in which prevents education, and individualism. The society prevents individuals from learning on their own, having questions, doubting their elders, and threatens any sort of rebellion or individuality with extreme punishment.
However, as impossible as it is to meet them, human nature pursues acceptance. In the excerpt Lord Monboddo and the Savage Girl, Memmie’s savagery is a metaphor for who
In a future where individuality is suppressed and happiness is manufactured, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World transports readers to a dystopian world where the pursuit of perfection comes at a haunting cost. Brave New World is a dystopian novel in a futuristic society, called the world state, where emotions and individuality are genetically engineered and conditioned out of people at a young age. The story follows Bernard Marx, an outsider, and John, a boy from the “Savage Reservation”, as they navigate a world devoid of genuine emotion and grapple with their own identities. The story ends tragically with John hanging himself and Bernard being sent off to an island. Although it may not be enjoyable for everyone due to it exploring a dark view
If you are born a farmer, you will die a farmer. In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the caste system reveals itself in full force. Divided into five classes, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, the society classifies it’s people's lives based solely on class, which is predetermined from birth. Throughout the story, it is revealed that this ‘utopian society’ is nothing more than a facade masking a dark dystopia. The caste system in Brave New World exposes totalitarian control, human
In the Book Brave New World By Aldous Huxly, the first chapter D.C.H explains the biotechnology that makes it possible for the production of virtually identical human beings and this introduces Huxly’s theme of individuality. In Brave New World the people are “sub human” not benign capable of work but not of their own independence. Making it so that society is the same and there are no “unique” people, “We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future…” He was going to say future World Controllers,” but correcting himself, said “future Directors of Hatcheries,” instead” (Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, pg 13).
Jack best illustrates everyone’s capacity to be a savage and how easy it can be to become one. Ralph best shows human ability to suppress savagery with civilized life. As Leonard Sydney Woolf “anyone can be a barbarian; it requires terrible effort to be or remain a civilized man” which relates to the theme of savagery through both Jack decline into and Ralph’s fight against savage
They may say that in the technically and scientifically advanced society everyone conforms and follows the rules by taking drugs, having sex, using transportation, and ‘liking’ there work, however, those people aren't doing these things because they would normally want to; those people were conditioned to think and participate in that way. The citizens didn't grow up with the ability to form their own opinions, beliefs, and thoughts; the government controlled those parts of them from the day they started growing, before they were even born. John is an example of the imperfections in the government's system concerning science because if the World State wants a Utopia then they need to use all of their scientific advancements on everyone. John is what they call a ‘savage’ because his beliefs are what people in our world would see as normal, however, in Huxley's world these normal attributes are taboo. John hates the World State and eventually killed himself because of the pressures and torments of the government and the citizens of it.
Like the transformation of Chrysalises, characters in the novel demonstrates this, while playing a role to emphasize the principle ideas of individualism, discrimination, and diversity. David’s growth as a person is affected by his environment, including the way he was raised. Specifically, David admits that he prayed to be like everyone else—he states, “Please, God, let me be like other people. I don’t want to be different. Won’t you make it so that when I wake up in the morning I’ll be just like everyone...?”
Jonathan Garcia Lomas Cinco Delgado English Bridges 1st period 01/24/2023 Dangers of propaganda In a Brave New World, readers will be introduced to a story that can be described as a futuristic story of a controlled society that has no choice on what they want, but rely on drugs, mainly Soma which was introduced by scientists. This story shows the dangers of drugs used to control mental illnesses and modify other human parts of the body. Brave New World, a story written by Aldous Huxley, examines a futuristic society in which scientists use drugs to lead people to a comfortable life which controls emotions and forgets all your struggles to have a worry free life. Throughout the story, many characters come to realize they have no control over
"Everyone belongs to everyone else," whispered the voice in the dreams in Huxley's future world. The learning of lessons heard during sleep suggestion disheartened separation in friendship and love. In a sense, everyone in the novel is essentially everyone else as well. All the fetal conditioning, the learning of lessons through sleep training, and the power of convention makes each individual into an interchangeable part of the society, valuable only for the purpose of making the whole run as smooth as possible. Uniqueness is uselessness and uniformity is bliss in this novel because social stability is everything that matters.
There are many ways to create a stable society although that is easier said than done. What Huxley has done is use a Bokanovsky process to ensure that all the citizens are twins. The Bokanovsky process is an advanced embryo splitting process where one gamete can produce up to 96 individual embryos. “One egg, one embryo, one adult-normality. But a Bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, will divide.
For example Huxley writes, “for whatever the cause, Bernard’s physique was hardly better than that of the average Gamma,”... ”contact with members of the lower castes always reminded him painfully of his physical inadequacy,” (page 64). This signifies how Bernard felt inferior to those even lower than him, causing him to chose not to interact with others to avoid the distress. To further show the effects of ridicule on Bernard's seclusion, the author includes, “the mockery made him feel like an outsider”...
She is actually the opposite of savage because she has a theory that all the things in nature like rock or a tree has a spirit that means something. She considers all the living things in nature as her friend and are all very worthy. The guy she is talking to is cruel towards the nature and is inconsiderate because he doesn’t know that the things in nature has a spirit, a life and is worthy. She is trying to teach him on how he should see nature and how he should be behaving towards it. What she is trying to point out is that nature and human are connected in a way that we need each other to be able to live.