Brave New World Thesis

Brave New World Thesis

In Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley gives us a vision of what the world might or will be like in years to come. Huxley tries to tell us through his writing that we should stop improving our world in unnecessary ways, and stop giving the higher ups more power than they need; stop being played with. An analysis of Brave New World reveals one challenge facing government: accepting community, identity, and stability through soma and conditioning.

            The government in this world are so proud of their way of conditioning people, that when Watson tries to find a deeper meaning into writing poetry the Authority comes barging into the classroom threatening Watson to hand him that immediate sack where Watson says “I’m a marked man.” And explains that his poems for about being alone, which is not allowed in this world. The government created soma so that no one will ever feel alone, sad, angry, or depression; it’s all about being happy and just doing your role in the society.

            Marx is another character that gets pushed around a lot by the Controller (government). The government knows that Marx is not “normal”, so they put him into a test. Marx brings a Savage from the reservation called John, and the government sees this as an oppurninty to  “have some fun”. The government doesn’t get upset, however, when John kills himself. This just shows the government that any hope of some how connecting to the Savages to come to the civil world is a waste of time, and probably should dispose of them.

            The government creates products of pleasure and entrainment to control the people. One being soma, which I’ve already discussed, but another is sex-hormone chewing gum (which is seen by Hoover). The government convinces the people that they’ll have more fun if they chew this gum, more pleasure, more females to have. Hoover offers some gum to Marx, but Marx refuses to take a piece knowing that the government is mocking him through this gum.

            Another good example of this power, is when John is yelling at Dr. Shaw, about Linda, whom is slowly dying due to taking too much soma, which again is provided by the government. Through the doctor’s words is the government, when he states “But think of the enormous, immeasurable durations it can give you out of time. Every soma holiday is a bit of what our ancestors used to call eternity.” John not being fooled by this then states that “Eternity was in our lips and eyes.” Which no one understands, because old books have been thrown out.

            Old things are always replaced in this world by the government. All poets from old times, Jesus, music, and families, have all been replace with something new and fresh. Jesus went to Henry Ford, and poets only wrote about happiness etc. These “old things” are all unneeded in this world, no one will benefit from knowing these or understanding these things. Stability is what the government is achieving so no one feels awkward about himself or herself.

            People dying are no problem, because after death they are used to help plants grow. They allow children to see the people dying which fascinates them. When Linda is dying and John sits by her side, children crowd around her, watching her and asking John all these questions about her. John finds this disrespectful and yells at the kids sending them away, which he gets in trouble for from the Head Nurse. The kids and Nurse find John crying about his dying mother very strange and that he should be rejoicing about her death, not mourning it.

            These few examples clearly show how the government has everything under control, and how they have absolute power over every individual in society. This analysis of Brave New World reveals that the challenge against the government has not been won and accepting the community, stability, and identity through soma and conditioning is just a step closer to utter control.