Aldous Huxley's Hyperion To A Satyr
Ever since the beginning of mankind’s intellectual evolution, we have felt the need to segregate ourselves from others who we deem pathetic, smelly, and filthy. This separation resultsin two different social groups, the upper class and the lower class. Between these two groups is the great gulf that separates us, the gulf that, according to Huxley’s "Hyperion To A Satyr", prevents humans from achieving the brotherlylove that we need to find our ‘Hyperion’, or place of perfection. As wehumans progress and become more technologically advanced, are we headedin the right direction to reach our ‘Hyperion’?
In this paper, I will review in its entirety Aldous Huxley’s "Hyperion To A Satyr" to give a general understanding to the basis of my argument. Then, using metaphorical analysis, I willisolate the metaphors within the writing that relate to my research question,separate them into different categories based on their content, and thendiscuss them in detail. I will then focus on a single metaphor to clearlyanswer if weare headed towards the right direction or not.
"Hyperion To A Satyr" is an essay by Huxley that focuses on the involvement of dirt and stench in the historyof human existence, and the separations that they were the roots of withinour society. At the start of the essay, Huxley writes about a time he wason a beach, and came upon thousands of condoms that were strewn about onthe sand, deposited by a sewage outlet not far from the beach. The essaythen flashes back to when dirt was a normal and intended part of society.Even with this belief, segregation occurred between those who felt theywere less stinkyand those who were deemed to be louses. As time progressed,humans...
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Hence I submit that we humans are not moving away from or towards our "Hyperion", but are truly not moving atall. Throughout history, every advancement that has been made to bridge"the great gulf" and bring humans together has been counter-advanced bythe creationof another separation that only widened the gulf in anotherarea. And theendeffect of all of this is walking around in one big circle,giving manythefeeling of a forward movement towards "Hyperion", onlythey are too blindtonotice that they occasionally come back to wherethey started. Humans arecurrently stuck in a loop that we cannot get outof given our current habitsand opinions. We have come to a point in timewhen we not only need to advancein technology, but also advance ourselvesto be better people. Only then willwe all be on a road, headed in thecorrect direction, for "Hyperion".
Throughout the ages, there have been many ways to identify a person's social standing. Possessions such as homes, cars, and others, help to establish a person's place insociety. There are other ways also. Education, and a person's speech patternsare other ways to do this. But in "Hyperion to a Satyr," Adolphus Huxleypresents his view that hygiene also played an integral part. Clearly, thisdoesn't hold as true in these times, but perhaps in an earlier era thiswas an accurate measurement of wealth. But what role did hygiene play tosegregate peoplethroughout history? This question will be analyzed byapplying the meaningof metaphors used by Huxley.
“Twenty-seven years later, in this third quarter of the twentieth century A.D., and long before the end of the first century A.F., I feel a good deal less optimistic than I did when I was writing Brave New World. The prophecies made in 1931 are coming true much sooner than I thought they would.” Resting anxiously and awaiting the Final Revolution in his psychedelic afterlife, Aldous Huxley still echos an invaluable wisdom to the generations of today and the future. The prophecies he made in Brave New World, written in 1931, are some of the most compelling ever made through the medium of fictional prose narrative. The previous pessimistic postulation though was not made in his opus, but rather it is from Huxley 's non-fiction work Brave New World Revisited, written in 1958, in which he concluded
In the 1800’s, slavery was a common practice in the southern United States. This discrimination caused a greatdeal of tension between people who believed in slavery and those who were against it. The Civil War broke out as a result of this prejudice. In the 1800’s, the discriminatory nature of man immensely hindered the advancement of our society.
Through hypnoaedic teachings, reservation contrasts to the “Civilized” world, and John’s critique of the society, the reader sees Huxley’s point of view of the importance of an individual. With hypnoaedic teachings, Huxley creates the society and the values. Inside the reservation, Huxley contrasts the society of the reservation to that of Lenina’s society. Finally Huxley’s main evaluation and critique of lack of identity is seen in John’s character. John’s horrid descriptions in his point of view on society demonstrate to the reader the importance of an individual. Since there were absolutely no conscious men or women throughout society, ideas of ignoring death, God, and beauty creates a world where men and women sacrifice true happiness (Where pain and hard work are involved for a greater happiness) for a “smooth running society.” The picture of the society to the reader is horrifying and quite terrifying. Overall, within our society, the importance of the individual is not a problem. People, even teenagers, are encouraged to show who they are inside. One can truly see the idea of the importance on individual through the new openness to different sexualities. Overall, within the book, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, Huxley demonstrates the need for conscious individuals through a horrifying
Firchow, Peter. The End of Utopia: A Study of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1984.
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.
For years, authors and philosophers have satirized the “perfect” society to incite change. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley describes a so-called utopian society in which everyone is happy. This society is a “controlled environment where technology has essentially [expunged] suffering” (“Brave New World”). A member of this society never needs to be inconvenienced by emotion, “And if anything should go wrong, there's soma” (Huxley 220). Citizens spend their lives sleeping with as many people as they please, taking soma to dull any unpleasant thoughts that arise, and happily working in the jobs they were conditioned to want. They are genetically altered and conditioned to be averse to socially destructive things, like nature and families. They are trained to enjoy things that are socially beneficial: “'That is the secret of happiness and virtue – liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny'” (Huxley 16). Citizens operate more like machinery, and less like humans. Humanity is defined as “the quality of being human” (“Humanity”). To some, humanity refers to the aspects that define a human: love, compassion and emotions. Huxley satirizes humanity by dehumanizing the citizens in the Brave New World society.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth century a Scientific Revolution swept over Europe. The start of this Scientific Revolution has been atributed to Nicolaus Copernicus and his Heliocentric Model of the Universe.
There were quite a few changes made from Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World to turn it into a “made for TV” movie. The first major change most people noticed was Bernard Marx’s attitude. In the book he was very shy and timid toward the opposite sex, he was also very cynical about their utopian lifestyle. In the movie Bernard was a regular Casanova. He had no shyness towards anyone. A second major deviation the movie made form the book was when Bernard exposed the existing director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, Bernard himself was moved up to this position. In the book the author doesn’t even mention who takes over the position. The biggest change between the two was Lenina, Bernard’s girlfriend becomes pregnant and has the baby. The screenwriters must have made this up because the author doesn’t even mention it. The differences between the book and the movie both helped it and hurt it.
Thomas More’s Utopia and Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World , are novels about societies that differ from our own. Though the two authors have chosen different approaches to create an alternate society, both books have similarities which represent the visions of men who were moved to great indignation by the societies in which they lived. Both novels have transcended contemporary problems in society , they both have a structured, work based civilization and both have separated themselves from the ways of past society. It is important when reading these novels to focus on the differences as well as the similarities. The two novels differ in their views of love, religion, and the way to eliminate social classes. These differences seem to suggest that if we do not come closer to More’s goal in Utopia, we will end up in a society much like that of Huxley’s Brave New World.
This “black money” along with illegal exports taint local economies and corrodes the financial structure in developing countries where organized crime has strongholds. Developing countries become the targets for such practises due to the ability for organised crime groups to manipulate the system in place to their benefit. A country’s tax system is an important economic feature that has a major impact on organized criminal activities. A financial environment in the country where tax evasion is prevalent is often accompanied by the higher levels of organized crime associated with the nature and scale of money laundering. Organised crime groups take advantage of an already weak system to benefit their own enterprises. Instead of being granted a chance to improve, developing countries’ financial systems are stemmed from achieving success due to the presence of malicious “black money” operations done by crime groups. A great deal of money traverses these illegal systems every year, and it put to use on more illicit trades, operations, etc. Consequently, “according to an estimate by the non-profit Global Financial Integrity group, $1 trillion vanishes from the developing world’s economies every year. That is money that is badly needed for development” (Indrawati). By taking the money from countries where the regulations are not as strict in turn squanders any chance that
Aldous Huxley called the essay “a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.”
There has been a mass increase of juvenile delinquency in the United States, which has made a notable change in our society as a whole. It also directly affects parents, teachers, families, the perpetrators themselves, and of course, the victims. Law enforcement agencies in the United States have made an estimated 2.11 million arrests of minors. These perpetrators who were arrested have either been placed in confinement or they are under court supervision. Juvenile delinquency is described as illegal or immoral behavior, generally among young people under the legal age of eighteen. In order to reduce these high rates of delinquency, parents, and other adult figures, must first ask themselves, what is causing this? What external and internal
The forgotten few: the juvenile offender population. Seldom thought about, but yet are the foundation and underpinning of the origin of the crime in the United States. This is an inquiry as to what has been done to the adolescents and children with regards to sanctions that have not yet been really brought to light. The problematic history of juvenile offenders is one of the United States dirty little secret. The literature shows the nations children who deviate from the norm are presumed to be deviant and treated like its adult criminal population. Teenagers, kids, adolescents are presumed to be treated as if they are of age. What is lost is the cognitive development and nourishment when such negative actions occur. The basic and fundamental formative academics that have shown effectiveness are not being implemented into the sanctions for these juvenile offenders. There is a linear correlation between low education obtainment levels, mental illness and juvenile offending and recidivism. This is a significant dynamic risk factor that has the potential to eliminate the deviance of the youth in the nation. The development of our youth mentally can indeed have lasting positive effects for sustaining positive results during their rehabilitation stints and most importantly decreasing recidivism.
From the sound of the phrase, an ordinary reader would assume that black market is a place for the exchange of merchandise. In fact, black market refers to economic activities involving illegal transactions of goods and services. The goods and services involved or found in the black market may be genuine and legal in nature, but the process of transacting may make the whole process illegal. The activity of transacting illegal business bears the name “black” because it involves dark practices that always dodge the legal environments. According to Bahmani-Oskooee & Goswami (2005), the process is usually secrete and concealed from the legal officials who otherwise would have known about the transactions if they were legal. Although security officers and intelligence authorities have been striving to stop the practice, there is no sign that black market trade will come to an end any time soon. People who oppose black market trade cite reasons that include a number of well-observed facts. For example, the trade endangers the lives of consumers; moreover, it leads to the loss of taxes. In addition, it negatively affects legal business systems; it increases criminal activities and it violates cross-border trades. It is clear that black market trade is a serious economic issue and since it is unlikely to end , it is important to inform readers of its positive and negative points. Even though the phrase black market sounds enigmatic and undesirable in the current economic conditions, global economists attribute particular advantages to black market trade. Among the alleged advantages of black market trade are facts such as the following: the practice helps improve the circulation of money in the economies, it creates employment opportun...