Freedom Never Known vs. Freedom Never Earned: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

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What is freedom? According to The American Heritage Dictionary, freedom is referred to as “the power to determine action without restraint.” In modern day society, freedom is not thought about; it is taken advantage of and abused. Now, switching one’s perspective to that of a futuristic time period, what if one never experienced freedom, never tasted the sweet pleasure to decide what one wants to do for one’s self? In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, freedom is not known of; in fact, the civilians of the World State are strongly discouraged to be independent in any aspect of their life. “Community, Identity, Stability” is the civilians way of life (Huxley 3). In this fictional, new world realm, citizens rely on the government and each other in a way where “every one belongs to every one [SIC] else” (Huxley 48). This world has never experienced freedom. It lacks depth, imagination, and the individual freedom to think on one’s own. The World State controls its citizens through drugs, sexual relations, and separation of independently thinking individuals; this is where the lack of individual freedom is shown. Loss of freedom is dangerous to humanity. It results in the loss of individual rights, which leads to the destruction of today’s society. One’s rights would only be allowed as far as the leader would subject them to. Freedom needs to be preserved, or one risks living in a Brave New World.
The basis of the World State is the citizens’ reliance on one another to maintain daily life. Community. Community in this Brave New World is “that [of] free love and infidelity” (Huxley xiii). The government allows the citizens of the World State to be sexually free, meaning they have many different partners all the time. This allowance of...

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...rld State to decide how one should act, talk, or go about one’s life. With this power to determine one’s own fate, also comes the responsibility in determining it. If one wants to continue in the life of free choice and individual rights, one must be wise in the decisions he or she makes. Making decisions based off one’s own standards is one’s right in today’s society, but these choices have affects and consequences. Freedom of individual rights must be maintained, but one must also understand the risk one takes when exercising these rights, or one risks living in a Brave New World.

Works Cited
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial, 2004.
Huxley, Aldous. “Chemical Persuasion.” Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World Revisited. New York: Harper Perennial, 2004. 296-303.
Schmerl, Rudolf B. “The Two Future Worlds of Aldous Huxley.” PMLA (2010): 328-334.

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