Conditioning In Brave New World

Conditioning in Brave New World Utopian societies are often thought to be impractical based upon the human idea that no one person or thing can ever be completely perfect. Because this idea of perfection is practically impossible to achieve, various controlled techniques need to be used in order to create a utopia. Aldous Huxley states in his foreword to Brave New World that the creation of a perfect utopia is quite possible if we as humans “refrain from blowing ourselves to smithereens” in attempts at creating social stability (xiv). Huxley’s Brave New World “depicts a World State where there is absolute social stability made possible by government-controlled research in biology and psychology” (Woiak 4). While the existence of this utopian

The members of utopias often represent the most ideal human beings who work together to create the ideal homogeneous society (Tuzzeo 1). Although these perfect societies seem possible, they are generally labeled as imaginary due to their impracticality within the real world and the great amount of effort that is needed to create them. The Greek translation of the word “utopia” means “no place,” further suggesting the fantasy of utopias, to the point that they are nonexistent (Tuzzeo 2). Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World depicts a utopia composed of ten World States, each with its own ruler. The utopian World State within Brave New World is defined by the motto, “Community, Identity, Stability” (Huxley 3). The rulers of the World State proclaim the importance of these three aspects but place an emphasis specifically on “stability.” The main objective of the World State rulers is to maintain social stability within their societies to allow for a proper functioning utopia. One of the ten World State rulers, Mustapha Mond, states, “Stability. No civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability” (Huxley 42). Mustapha Mond emphasizes the importance of stability, suggesting that his civilization, or utopia, would fail to exist without it, but more importantly, he narrows the existence of his

At a young age, the children are conditioned based upon Pavlov’s concepts. The Director explains this Pavlovian conditioning as it takes place during the beginning of the novel. First, the children are released into a contained room along with books and roses., objects which the children have made no previous associations with before. Once the children curiously examine the books and roses, loud noises begin to sound and painful electric shocks are transmitted through their bodies. The Director explains that the children now link “books and loud noises” and “flowers and electric shocks” (Huxley 21). After experiencing these traumatizing events, the children “shrank away in horror,” and “the volume of their howling suddenly increased” when sighting the books and