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Influences of religion on culture and society
Influences of religion on culture and society
The impact of religion in a society
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Many believe the Bible states the word of God, a way of life; however, these claims are based merely on faith. In Aldous Huxley’s mind, the masses follow Christianity because God and marriage allow one to finally partake in wanton, lustful acts. Disbelief, to him, is liberating. Some propose in Brave New World (BNW), the atheistic Huxley advocates religion, Christianity; however, he does quite the opposite, criticizing Christianity again and again.
Huxley first downplays the practices of Christianity through the odd, perverted way of life in the World State. Essentially, Huxley creates a parody of Christianity, which depicts the mindlessness of its practices along with the silliness of its followers in the real world. For instance, in chapter three, Mustapha Mond exclaims, “all crosses had their tops cut and became T’s,” which
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Huxley uses to humorously mimic Christianity. Realistically, one would never succumb to a foolish practice worshipping the inventor of the Model T, which is exactly what Huxley wants. He strives to put forth the idea that Christianity and its practices are for the simpleminded. Also, the citizens of the World State partaking in the “Solidarity Services” exemplifies Huxley’s anti-Christian message. Solidarity Services cause the inhabitants of the World State to “drink [strawberry ice cream soma] to their annihilation”, eat soma tablets, and actually sing hymns. The Services undoubtedly compare to the practice of Holy Communion, but replace the blood of Christ, the bread of Heaven with the heavenly drug of soma. Mocking the sacred practice clearly does Christianity no justice, for Huxley believes the religion to be pointless, restricting. On top of creating a parody of Christianity, Aldous Huxley also uses the discussion between Mustapha Mond and John the Savage in chapter seventeen to bring forth even more critiques about Christianity. Mustapha Mond, the Controller of the World State, refers to soma, a hallucinogen with effects similar to those of cocaine and alcohol, as “Christianity without tears”. Basically, Huxley compares the religion to illegal, addictive, and lethal drugs. He makes this comparison to depict how harmful, how wicked, Christianity can be, even with the short-lived pleasantness of the hallucinogens. Correspondingly, John the Savage confesses, “But I don’t want comfort, I want God…I want sin.” John the Savage desires Christianity and God, and in turn, Mustapha informs John he is “[claiming] the right to be unhappy”. Huxley again criticizes Christianity by directly relating it to unhappiness in humans. Ultimately, Huxley believes many followers of Christ live gloomy, unfortunate lives. And, as the novel nears its end, Huxley’s grandest message becomes more and more obvious. Along with the citizen’s way of life and Mustapha and John’s discussion on religion, Huxley, in chapter 18 of BNW, brilliantly compares The Savage to the one and only Jesus Christ, delivering the message that Christianity ultimately fails.
John the Savage practices self-flagellation, meaning he willingly inflicts pain in order to heal spiritually, which, in itself, is a foolish concept. As one might expect, John goes as far as self-crucifixion, imitating Jesus nailed to the cross. Aldous Huxley not only compares John to Jesus with self-flagellation, but with John’s last words as well. “My God, My God”, John shouts when remembering “everything”. Similarly, somewhat eerily one might suppose, Jesus shouted to the heavens, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Giving John the same famous last words of Jesus Christ greatly proves Huxley’s intentions, for immediately following the saying of “My God”, John hangs himself, which generally denotes unhappiness. Even with his religion, the only part of him left, John suffers in depression, and turns to suicide. Here, Huxley puts forth the great message: Christianity fails in the
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BNW Literary Lens Essay- Marxist Since the primitive civilizations of Mesopotamia and the classical kingdoms of Greece and Rome, people have always been divided. Up to the status quo, society has naturally categorized people into various ranks and statuses. With the Marxist literary lens, readers can explore this social phenomenon by analyzing depictions of class structure in literature. In Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, readers are introduced to a dystopian society with a distinctive caste system.
While John resumes his position, he begins to experience “excruciating agony” (Huxley 251). In Foster’s novel, he describes how notions of a Christ figure include “agony”(Foster 119), offering a correlation between John’s crucifixion as well as Christs. As Foster explains, the author may be trying to get the reader to view the character with, “redemption, or hope, or miracle”(Foster 124). Incidentally, John’s characterization contains those three interpretations of a Christ figure as seen when he has an incredible desire to save the people of the Hospital of the Dying from soma. John emphasizes how soma is “poison to soul as well as body” (Huxley 217), therefore he attempts to try and save this rotten world from soma, which acts as the antagonist against John. In this case John wishes to “bring [them] freedom”(Huxley 217), unveiling the purpose for his actions. Foster accentuates how a Christ figure works in order to “redeem an unworthy world” (Foster 120).This same goal is desired by John, which is prominent when he opposes soma. Since soma dominates the world, it allows the population to submit to the unworthy beliefs of society. When John is seen opposing soma, it accentuates John’s purpose--to save the corrupt world from
John decided to indulge himself in the Brave New World’s lifestyle. John tried sex, and soma, and enjoyed it. John knew he had sinned to his own religion, and he felt so wrong, that he murdered himself. The change that John went through was simple. John actually committed his inhibitions.
The gullibility of Huxley’s society not only scared him, but it petrified him.... ... middle of paper ... ... The. http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_modern_literature/v025/25.3buchanan.html>.
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.
In the dystopian novel, Brave New World, Huxley uses symbols to create meaning and to get his agenda across. The use of sex and reproduction, and Shakespearian writing and religious texts, as symbols in the novel help to push Huxley’s agenda that total government control is devastating, and the inner human drive to be an individual can never be suppressed. Also, the fact that the novel was written in 1931 shows that Huxley was attacking the newly forming Socialist nations.
In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley deftly creates a society that is indeed quite stable. Although they are being mentally manipulated, the members of this world are content with their lives, and the presence of serious conflict is minimal, if not nonexistent. For the most part, the members of this society have complete respect and trust in their superiors, and those who don’t are dealt with in a peaceful manner as to keep both society and the heretic happy. Maintained by cultural values, mental conditioning, and segregation, the idea of social stability as demonstrated in Brave New World is, in my opinion, both insightful and intriguing.
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 utopian government control. Huxley did not imagine this as a good thing. He uses the characters of Brave New World to express his view that utopia is impossible and detrimental.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World portrays a society in which science has clearly taken over. This was an idea of what the future could hold for humankind. Is it true that Huxley’s prediction may be correct? Although there are many examples of Huxley’s theories in our society, there is reason to believe that his predictions will not hold true for the future of society.
Romeo and Juliet is probably one of the most famous plays in history. It has been translated in almost every of the common languages in the world. Many people have analyzed this piece of art and concluded that one of the main themes is love. This story of forbidden love has been an example and a great influence for future literary works. There has been cases where people’s relationships connect to the lover’s tale. Huxley understands the influence created by these plays, and has reflected his feelings about Shakespearean love in his book Brave New World. He demonstrates in his book that no connection between individuals changes the way you think, yet when there is a feeling of passion your personality can also change.
In Brave New World, christianity is looked down upon as a defect, but with the reintroduction of religion billions of people would be saved by the saving grace of our God. The people would be set free from the reigns of tyranny. Soma, sex, and feely shows is their holy trinity. For example, “Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your mortality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears-that’s what soma is.””(Huxley 162). The government is trying to use soma to replace morality, human free-will, and God himself. They’re trying to make christianity look like a weakness, but it in fact is a great ally in the adventure of life. Furthermore, the idea of sex with many partners would be looked down upon as immoral and temptation that is brought upon by the devil himself. People would finally be able to make judgement calls based upon reasoning, and not the drugs that pump through their veins. Lastly, the feely shows could not coexist with religion. The people would be filled with the Holy Spirit, making the feely shows dwarf in comparison to the spiritual enlightenment that comes with religion. Brave New World would be no
During the past few weeks my class and I have been reading your book, “ Brave New World”. While reading your book I have discovered a few captivating issues. These issues include the destruction of the family, the use of drugs, and polygamy (obligatory sex). These issues are interesting because of their implications in life today, and the frequent times they are shown in the book. The ways they are used to control people and make their life easier, and the fact that our world seems to be falling into the same state.
Literature is both shaped by our culture and shapes it. Because of this it is an effective representation of the culture of a time. One can tell how people were affected by the events of the times by how it comes through in their writing. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a prime example of this. The work was targeted at people in a post WWI world. This is a time between WWI and WWII where the world is still shocked by how rapidly the science of war had advanced. People also continue to be appalled with the mass death of a World War caused by such technology and therefore yearn for a more stable world. Because of this yearning, they attempt to create a more stable environment for themselves. Most people had lost faith in the institutions they came to know because those institutions caused the War. Therefore the League of Nations was founded in 1919 only 13 years before “Brave New World” was published in 1932.
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the author depicts a collective society in which everyone has the same values and beliefs. From a young age, the people in the World State’s civilization are conditioned to believe in their motto of “Community, Identity, Stability.” Through hypnopaedia, the citizens of the World State learn their morals, values, and beliefs, which stay with them as they age. However, like any society, there are outsiders who alienate themselves from the rest of the population because they have different values and beliefs. Unfortunately, being an outsider in the World State is not ideal, and therefore there are consequences as a result. One such outsider is John. Brought from the Savage Reservation, John is lead to conform to the beliefs of the World State, thus losing his individuality, which ultimately leads him to commit suicide. Through John and the World State populace as an example, Huxley uses his novel to emphasize his disapproval of conformity over individuality.
Even though the novel, Brave New World was written quite some time ago, Huxley still makes points that are relevant today. By using satire, he warns us on issues such as science, technology and religion. We should slow down our uses of science and technology, especially when using them for abusive purposes. We also need to be careful about letting the government get too involved in aspects of our everyday lives. If we start letting simple freedoms go, we could lose some major ones.