UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIETY
Brave New World is a very powerful novel based on a totalitarian government and a dehumanized society. This novel has a similar idea to George Orwell's novel, nineteen-eighty-four, except instead of inflicting fear and pain on the ruled society, the population is brainwashed to be convinced that they are happy. Each individual is born or "decanned" from a bottle. While each baby is in the development process they are put through numerous different conditions, genetic engineering and extensive conditioning to ensure that each individual is trained to enjoy which ever area of society they are assigned to be apart of.
Children are raised stripped of any sort of personal relationships: including family, friends, long term boy/girlfriends, even the words, mother and father, are considered pornigraphic. Instead of lasting relationships, children and adults are encouraged to engage in frequent erotic play. The average individual in the modern society has the belief that an intimate relationship should only be between two people, however, in the society of the brave new world this would be considered very strange, suspicious and inappropriate behaviour.
Characters do not only lack human connection but they also lack any type of natural experiences. Everything from dirt to plants are completely nonexistent in this society. This is because "a love of nature keeps no factories busy. It was decided to abolish the love of nature, but not the tendency to consume transport"(18). Individuals of the brave new world society have no deeper meaning or purpose other than to consume.
One of the main products that are consumed within the society are soma pills. Soma is a type of relaxant that allows the characters to go on a "soma holiday". Characters are conditioned to take soma if they begin to feel any sort of confusion, pressure, anxiety or conflict developing to avoid ever feeling unhappy. Soma allows individuals to be calm, sedated and distracted from the truth that there are major flaws in the seemingly perfect society.
Characters are also conditions to believe that they cannot be happy unless they surround themselves with materialistic items. People live by the saying "ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches"(52) . Goods are continuously being replaced and purchased to maximize the happiness of the people and also to benefit corporations.
Happiness is defined in the novel by
"the lovely music that came out of a box, and all the nice games you could play, and the delicious things to eat and drink, and the light that came when you pressed a little thing in the wall, and the pictures that you could hear and feel and smell, as well as see, and another box for making nice smells. and the pink and green and blue and silver houses as high as mountains,/ everybody happy and no one ever sad or angry, and everyone belonging to everyone else, and the boxes where you could see and hear what was happening/ and babies in lovely clean bottles- everything so clean, and no nasty smells, no dirt at all - and people never lonely, but living together and being so jolly and happy"(110-111).
Despite the neglect of human connections, deeper meaning and feelings, individuals who live in this society depend on soma, consumption, sex and materialistic items to maintain their happiness.
Brave New World is a very powerful novel based on a totalitarian government and a dehumanized society. This novel has a similar idea to George Orwell's novel, nineteen-eighty-four, except instead of inflicting fear and pain on the ruled society, the population is brainwashed to be convinced that they are happy. Each individual is born or "decanned" from a bottle. While each baby is in the development process they are put through numerous different conditions, genetic engineering and extensive conditioning to ensure that each individual is trained to enjoy which ever area of society they are assigned to be apart of.
Children are raised stripped of any sort of personal relationships: including family, friends, long term boy/girlfriends, even the words, mother and father, are considered pornigraphic. Instead of lasting relationships, children and adults are encouraged to engage in frequent erotic play. The average individual in the modern society has the belief that an intimate relationship should only be between two people, however, in the society of the brave new world this would be considered very strange, suspicious and inappropriate behaviour.
Characters do not only lack human connection but they also lack any type of natural experiences. Everything from dirt to plants are completely nonexistent in this society. This is because "a love of nature keeps no factories busy. It was decided to abolish the love of nature, but not the tendency to consume transport"(18). Individuals of the brave new world society have no deeper meaning or purpose other than to consume.
One of the main products that are consumed within the society are soma pills. Soma is a type of relaxant that allows the characters to go on a "soma holiday". Characters are conditioned to take soma if they begin to feel any sort of confusion, pressure, anxiety or conflict developing to avoid ever feeling unhappy. Soma allows individuals to be calm, sedated and distracted from the truth that there are major flaws in the seemingly perfect society.
Characters are also conditions to believe that they cannot be happy unless they surround themselves with materialistic items. People live by the saying "ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches"(52) . Goods are continuously being replaced and purchased to maximize the happiness of the people and also to benefit corporations.
Happiness is defined in the novel by
"the lovely music that came out of a box, and all the nice games you could play, and the delicious things to eat and drink, and the light that came when you pressed a little thing in the wall, and the pictures that you could hear and feel and smell, as well as see, and another box for making nice smells. and the pink and green and blue and silver houses as high as mountains,/ everybody happy and no one ever sad or angry, and everyone belonging to everyone else, and the boxes where you could see and hear what was happening/ and babies in lovely clean bottles- everything so clean, and no nasty smells, no dirt at all - and people never lonely, but living together and being so jolly and happy"(110-111).
Despite the neglect of human connections, deeper meaning and feelings, individuals who live in this society depend on soma, consumption, sex and materialistic items to maintain their happiness.