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Brave New World vs. Reality
In many cases when you read a novel you may find comparisons between the "fictional" society and your realistic one. The author may consciously or unconsciously create similarities between these two worlds. The novelist can foresee the future and write according to this vision. In Brave New World, Adlous Huxley envisions the future of our society and the dangerous direction it is headed in.
Brave New World is greatly dependant upon soma, as in our world where prescribed drugs and drug abuse are prominent. This is evident when Bernard and Lenina return from the Savage Reservation. Lenina is devastated from her experiences, so decides to take soma. It illustrates how like our world when something upsets us instead of trying to solve the problem we use drugs to mask them.
Linda's addiction to soma is also an illustration of the similarities of drug abuse between our two worlds. Linda's return to Brave New World after many years brings her to the abuse of soma. She uses it as an escape from reality. Some of us use drugs to escape from the harshness and the tough brutality of reality. We always dream of the perfect utopia and expect our world to transform into it. Some of us always look for the easy way out and drugs allow us that.
A further similarity of Brave New World to us, is when John is in the hospital after his mother's death due to soma abuse, and witnesses the workers receiving their soma rations. John begins to throw the soma out ...
Ayn Rand, in Anthem, illustrates a futuristic, socialist society. In the novel, Rand destroys any sense of individuality and describes the social setbacks endured after living ‘only for the brotherhood’. The individual person fails to exist and is but a ‘we’ and recognized by a word and a series of numbers rather than a name. Additionally, she describes the horrors encountered within this different system of life: from reproduction methods to punishments. Through the life of Equality 7-2521, Rand demonstrates a person’s journey from obedience to exile in this socialist society. Throughout the entire novel, Rand criticizes Marxist theory as she demonstrates socialism’s failure to suppress revolution, thwart material dialectic, and its detriment to humanity.
Teenagers nowadays are getting fond of watching and reading dystopian books/films. A More commonly watched ones is the famous Hunger Games. Teenagers today like that particular movie because; It is controlled by one person named Snow. Most teenagers believe that teachers and parents control their lives. They also like dystopian movies because they normally have a rebel who goes against the rules. The two main Dystopian novels or movies I am going to talk about are: Anthem and The Maze Runner.
Ayn Rand's novel is still popular almost a century later because Equality 7-2521 is a representation of a character who is different and he is treated differently for it. In Anthem Equality 7-2521 tells the reader about how he fights with the other boys in the house and as a punishment he is locked in a cellar.
Anthem, by Ayn Rand, is a very unique novel. It encircles individualism and makes the reader think of how people can conform to society and do as they are told without knowing the consequences and results of their decisions. Also, it teaches the importance of self expression and the freedom that comes along with being your own person and having the power to choose what path to take in life. Figurative language is used often in this book and in a variety of quotes that have great importance to the theme, plot, and conflict of the novel.
Ayn Rand and James Dashner each wrote a dystopian novel that was back set in the future. Ayn wrote a book called Anthem and James wrote a book called the Maze Runner. Both of these books have a lot of comparison and a lot of differences. These books have a little different writing style and Anthem is most definitely a harder read. The first American publication of Anthem was in 1946. The first publication of the Maze Runner was in 2006. The novels Anthem and Maze Runner, dystopian novels, are popular among teens because of the high expectations put among them and the oppression.
The future of the world is a place of thriving commerce and stability. Safety and happiness are at an all-time high, and no one suffers from depression or any other mental disorders. There are no more wars, as peace and harmony spread to almost every corner of the world. There is no sickness, and people are predestined to be happy and content in their social class. But if anything wrong accidentally occurs, there is a simple solution to the problem, which is soma. The use of soma totally shapes and controls the utopian society described in Huxley's novel Brave New World as well as symbolize Huxley's society as a whole. This pleasure drug is the answer to all of life's little mishaps and also serves as an escape as well as entertainment. The people of this futuristic society use it in every aspect of their lives and depend on it for very many reasons. Although this drug appears to be an escape on the surface, soma is truly a control device used by the government to keep everyone enslaved in set positions.
Huxley effectively uses distortion in Brave New World in his depiction of Soma as a replacement for religion. Soma is a rationed narcotic that is emphasized by the government to help the people escape from their problems. The people of Utopia have become dependent on the drug to keep them in a constant state of pleasure. In their "perfect" society there is no escape from happiness. The primary example of the degrading effects of Soma is Linda. Brought back from the Savage Reservation after being left behind pregnant, Linda faced many moral and ethical dilemmas she chose to avoid. Her addiction to Soma, which is looked upon as a good thing by everyone except John, brings about the terrible end to her life in which she was in a state of constant delusion. Soma, as Mustapha Mond puts it, is "Christianity without tears" (244). Soma, in effect, is the key to social stability in Utopia. Soma prevents uprisings, saves revolutions and suppresses emotions. Although Huxley's distortion of religion is powerful, there are other strong arguments in the book.
In his universe, Soma is the cure for everything. All problems, be they psychological, physical, or social are totally forgotten, their lurking shadows temporarily banished from sight. What is worrisome about this futuristic fabrication is its ideal reality. People in our current and very non-fictional times are taking steps toward the world of massive Soma use and acceptation. When one stops, and sees the world today, Huxley’s idea of the common drug; cure all, pleasant, and religion-exterminating seems to be a reasonable estimation of our future developments.
In the novel Anthem, Equality 7-2521 lived in the dark ages of the future; a loveless world that lost all trace of science. Throughout the novel, Equality 7-2521 struggled being a man of his own in a society where thinking alone was a crime. The author Ayn Rand uses different literary devices including setting, point of view, imagery, and simile to enhance this theme of individualism.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, portrays a future society where people are no longer individuals but are controlled by the World State. The World State dominates the people by creating citizens that are content with who they are. Brave New World describes how the science of biology and psychology are manipulated so that the government can develop technologies to change the way humans think and act. The World State designs humans from conception to this society. Once the humans are within the society, the state ensures all people remain happy.
Every character in Huxley's Brave New World uses soma, including Lenina, a frequent abuser of the drug. Lenina goes on a soma trip, "as soon as the got back to the rest house, she swallowed six half-gramme tablets of soma, laid down on her bed, and within ten minutes had embarked for lunar eternity." Lenina uses her high as an escape from the horrors she encounters at the reservation. The soma calms her yet gets her high at the same time. The use of soma takes her to" lunar eternity", putting her in a place of comfort and serenity out of this world. The World Society saying, "One cubic centimeter cures ten gloomy sentiments" defines the primary use of the drug as a temporary relief from depression. The slogan encourages people to use the narcotic instead of continuing to be in a gloomy state. Many characters are on a pursuit of happiness through drugs, believing it will change anything.
Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1932, with no real way to tell the future and how society would be today. The novel is based around a dystopia, a society that is the opposite of an utopia which is a “perfect” society according to the definition. Today’s society is far from perfect by definition. Huxley’s dystopia was supposed to mimic an almost impossible future, but with how things have changed in the past 90 years that future might not be so far away.
In the novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, the author uses character development to contrast the two different societies present in the novel.He shows the importance of morality, or an increase in wisdom in the character of humankind. The author contrasts a society full of static and flat characters and another society full of round characters. In order to show the importance of life experiences in changing the character of individuals in the society.
George Santayana once said, “Ideal society is a drama enacted exclusively in the imagination.” In life, there is no such thing as a “complete utopia”, although that is what many people try to achieve. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is an attempt at a utopian society. In this brave new world, mothers and fathers and family are non-existent. Besides being non-existent, when words of that sort are mentioned, ears are covered and faces of disgust are made. In a report to the Controller, Bernard wrote,”…This is partly due, no doubt to the fact that he heard them talked about by the woman Linda, his m-----“(106). Words of the sort cannot even be written. Art, history, and the ability to have emotions are shunned. This utopia is shown as a perfect world in which everyone is happy. If this was true, the people would not need to take soma, an equivalent along the lines of a cross between one of today’s “designer drugs” and Prozac.
Whether it is due to conditioning, or the firm belief that happiness can only be found by avoiding the truth, characters in the novel do everything they can to avoid despondent situations. For example, when Lenina and Bernard are visiting the reservation, and Lenina becomes frightened of the unfamiliar and seemingly barbarous sights and rituals in the village, “she felt in her pocket for her some-only to discover that, by some unprecedented oversight” she did not have the bottle and “was left to face the horrors of Malpais unaided” (Huxley 74). Soma is a drug used in the novel as a repercussion free way to escape reality, or deal with it easier. Soma is used to “calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering” (Huxley 162). Characters in the novel often take soma holidays where they are away from reality for multiple days at a time: “And if ever, by some unlucky chance anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts” (Huxley 162). Soma’s are used when denial of, or protection from, the truth by The Controllers is ineffective or