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Identity in brave new world essay
Identity in brave new world essay
Identity in brave new world essay
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Bernard Marx is an intriguing character in the book Brave New World. At the beginning of the book, he is a very main character, but as the book goes on he is put more and more into the background of the story. The reason for this can be explained by the way his character changes as the book progresses. Aldous Huxley makes an interesting point by showing how a person can be changed by obtaining something he desires. It makes the readers wonder whether success would change them in the same way or if they would be able to maintain their character.
In the beginning of Brave New World, Bernard is very easily relatable for a high school reader. He doesn’t fit in with everyone else and for this he is insecure. One reason he doesn’t fit in is because of his size. Many people look down on Bernard because of his physical handicap of being just 8 centimeters shorter than the normal alpha. For this, he gets picked on by the others. Huxley said this when describing Bernard, “The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects. Which in turn increased his sense of being alien and alone.” Many people can relate to feeling inadequate or being a little different than everyone else so they feel like they can relate to Bernard. Therefore, they hope for the best for Bernard. Everyone likes an underdog. Readers want to see Bernard succeed.
In spite of Bernard’s height issue, he is not a timid character. He is not afraid to state his opinions on matters or to stand up for what he believes is wrong. Since Bernard does not truly belong in the Brave New World’s society as he would like, he can more eas...
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...ped forward again; then again thought better of it, and was standing in an agony of humiliated indecision.” This is when the readers realize how truly hollow he is inside. Bernard has become a coward. All the things he seemed to stand for, he only stood for to compensate for the fact that he didn’t truly fit in with society. It seemed as if he didn’t care about not fitting in, but when he finally does become accepted we see his little act of rebellion was a façade to cover his desire to be accepted. Huxley is trying to show how a person can be changed by achieving something they desire. People hope they would be able to maintain their values when they attain their desires. But, sadly, values are forgotten all too often in the midst of a person’s “success”.
Works Cited
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print.
Frequently Bernard sets himself off from the rest of the Alphas because he believes he is very different than the rest of them. It is rumored that he accidentally got alcohol while he was being born causing his stunted growth. Because of this, he is constantly extremely frustrated with his craving to fit in with the rest of the Alphas and not be considered different. His most distressing experiences come when he has to give orders to members of lower castes (pg 64). Having the physique of the average Gamma, he frequently finds himself having hard times getting the lower caste members to listen to him. His physical inadequacy caused woman to laugh at him if he made a proposal to “have” her, men would joke to one another, and constant mockery caused him to feel like an outsider. Another interesting oddity in Bernard is his dislike of soma. When meeting with Benito Hoover, he was offered a gramme of soma, to which he quickly turned and walked away (pg...
Within the book, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the author critiques his society in a way that can be seen throughout events in the book. Aldous specifically analyzes the idea of an individual throughout the book from hypnoaedic lessons, the adventure through the reserves idea of an individual, and mindless happiness to along with the frustrations of John the Savage. To begin with hypnoaedic lessons, young children are taught the values of society while sleeping. One of the main lessons taught throughout the hypnoaedic refers to the identity as useless, and the society as the most important figure. Within the rising action of the plot, Lenina and Bernard view the society of the reservation as having quite a few differences when referring
The outcome of what happened to Bernard forced him to see that mistakes were one reason a Utopian Society could not exist. The Character Bernard Marx is an example of human imperfection, not because he was referred to as deformed, but because the person who created him messed up. Individuals were decanted according to specification. Any deviation was evidently the result of some mistake, a mistake made by a human. These technological developments weren’t advanced enough to create such a perfect society. Bernard was an example of this undesired reality. He was deemed an outcast due to his imperfection. Being an outcast, however, allowed him to see the world differently. He was able to realize how everything was being manipulated and he was able to discern that it was wrong.
Bernard Marx was alienated in the Brave New World because of his general appearance. As an Alpha Plus, Bernard was unusually short and ugly. Suggested by Fanny, Bernard's condition resulted from an error when he was still in a bottle, the workers "thought he was a Gamma and put alcohol into his blood surrogate." Bernard did not fit in the structured order of the Brave New World and was therefore shunned by others. The error resulted in Bernard developing outside the barriers of his caste level. His ugliness and short stature led Bernard to become a perpetual outsider, alienated by society. As an outsider, Bernard was cynical of the order and structure of the Brave New World. He eschewed Electric Golf, and other social amusements in favor of loneliness and solidarity activities, such as, thinking. Bernard attempted to find a way "to be happy in some other way," in his own way, not the established way.
In Aldous Huxley's novel, "Brave New World" he introduces a character named, Bernard Marx an alpha part of the upper higher class who does not quite fit in. Bernard is cursed by the surrounding rumors of something going wrong during his conditioning that he becomes bitter and isolates himself from those around him in the World State. Huxley's character experiences both alienation and enrichment to being exiled from a society that heavily relies on technology and forms of entertainment with little to no morals.
The central action arises when Bernard Marx, an alpha plus psychologist, becomes continually irritated at the boredom and incompleteness of this highly regulated life. Through his independent thinking he becomes frustrated and feels alone. Such feelings Marx shares with his close friend Helmholtz Watson, who was advantageously decanted in his "test tubular stages" and therefore has an ...
“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision,” professes Howard Roark, attempting to validate his expression of identity while prosecuting himself during the trial of the Cortlandt Homes (Rand 678). The futuristic society within Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian novel, Brave New World, introduces a paucity in the freedom of the individuals, through a lack in the way the society is allowed to think, to the submission of the actions of the individuals, to the conformity in the overall daily lives. Born in Surrey, England in 1894, Huxley was born into a society in which technological advancements were held in high praise and with full excitement. Striving to one day become
The characters in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World represent certain political and social ideas. Huxley used what he saw in the world in which he lived to form his book. From what he saw, he imagined that life was heading in a direction of a utopian government control. Huxley did not imagine this as a good thing. He uses the characters of Brave New World to express his view of utopia being impossible and detrimental. One such character he uses to represent the idealogy behind this is Bernard Marx.
How valuable is the protection of individuality? In a society dominated by falsified, scientifically manufactured happiness, individuality proves a rarity. Aldous Huxley’s speculative novel, Brave New World, demonstrates the consequences of this type of impassive society. Bernard, Helmholtz, and John are all unique from their peers, and they think individually as a result. Because of their individuality, the group is ultimately banned from civilization and sent to a remote location. Being segregated because of appearance or mental capacity and not subject to society’s influences stimulates individuality; however, the knowledge and truth correlating with individuality comes at a price, in this case, happiness.
Bernard was born as an alpha, the highest caste. Unfortunately, he was born with multiple birth defects. Bernard was short and slightly disfigured, making him stick out compared to everyone else's genetic perfection. Because of this, Bernard was made fun of a lot by other people in the community, making him feel lonely, even though he was born to the highest caste.
...nly contemplate living as an alpha or beta because we cannot contemplate living without being able to formulate ideas or basically think. No one considers living as one of the lower castes and only working throughout life until death. Thus, it seems that Huxley intended to portray an acceptable society on the surface with undesirable traits hidden deeper. In conclusion, both of these novels portray an attractive life in a utopian society, if one can conform to the rules. When people cannot conform to the societies in which they dwell (as the main characters of both novels cannot) they are branded as subversives and punished as traitors. Life in 1984 would be almost too unbearable to live. Life in Brave New World is only acceptable if one is willing to live a life of the caste one is in, that is to produce (as a lower caste) or consume (as a higher caste).
Bernard is a misfit who is constantly mocked by his peers for his physical defects, which is the primary cause of his dislike of the World State’s society. He is an Alpha male, and yet his physical flaws and insecurities lead him to feel lonely and self-conscious. In a world of tall, handsome, and broad-shouldered Alphas, Bernard is short, slender, and ugly, and prejudice in favor of size is universal. “The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects (Huxley 56).” From this quote it becomes evident that Bernard is angry at the world for not accepting him and claims to be an individual. But in reality, he accepts this prejudice and he supports it because he knows that if he had a better physique, he would not be a subject of mockery of the society. He himself is prejudiced against people based on their...
...mething to live for.” This is only one of the numerous, powerful sayings that should be taken to the brave new world. A quotation that should not only make people think, but make them pause, then, reflect and hopefully realize that perhaps they have been on the majorities side for far too long. Huxley was trying to confirm that at the end of the day, not many human beings are going to get every single thing that they try to do in this life, correctly. Not every human being will be either completely perfect or completely imperfect. That even in places like the brave new world, mistakes can take place, for example, Bernard who belongs to the highest caste (alpha) but isn’t ‘as appealing’ as he should be. However, at the end of the day “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson
In Brave New World, Huxley introduces multiple characters and problems to explore both internal and external conflicts throughout the story. One character we see in depth is Bernard. An alpha in society, Bernard struggles with inner conflict that separates him from the rest of his peers. Unlike others he sees the world he lives in as flawed. He questions everything and as a result of this, feels isolated and different. He struggles with his inner feelings as others start to judge him. He has the option to go against the part of him that says to act like every other Alpha, or to go with the part of him that wants to stand up for what he believes to be morally right.
Bernard Marx an Alpha plus specialist in sleep teaching is an example of a character that changes in the brave new word. He changes from a character that symbolized individuality to a character that just wanted to desperately belong to the society. At the beginning of the novel he seemed to be very different from the society, he acts like a rebel trying to battle against the order of things. He seemed to be an “individual” in the first few chapters. For example On his first date with Lenina with lenina he says ” I’d rather be myself. ‘Myself and nasty .Not somebody else, however jolly”(77). He wanted to be something else different from the rest of the society. However we see that his root concern is to be socially acceptable and not really about becoming an individual. In chapter 6 Bernard shows signs of undergoing a change in his character. When the Director summoned Bernard to his office for being unorthodox, Bernard goes on to brag to his friend Helmholtz Watson on his victory over the director when he says” I simply told him to go to the bottomless past and marched out of the room and that was that “(85). We get the sense that Bernard’s victory wasn’t so much about personal integrity as it was social acceptance. Finally, his character undergoes a c...