Conformity In Brave New World

In Brave New World, Huxley emphasizes that conformity compromises humanity through the elimination of knowledge and history to eradicate curiosity. Knowledge and history are irrelevant concepts within this society, as it is believed that they lead to curiosity which creates the possibility of change, an exiled idea in this world. Huxley explores the concept that by conforming to society’s rules and regulations it compromises humanity’s individual perspectives and rights to knowledge and history. In the novel, the idea that people are conditioned to believe and understand what they have been taught and not to question the possibilities due to the lack of knowledge is explored. The people in this society are taught what they need to know to succeed

If you're a Beta and have always worked in the fertilizing room? What are you to answer?” (105). This quote examines how information is not accessible, the people only know basic knowledge relevant to their position and have been conditioned to avoid curiosity in any other area. History is an obscure concept, it has been banished and is an irrelevant source to this society. In this quote Huxley uses repetition of the line “What are you to answer” because this society only knows what they have been conditioned to remember. The have no recognition of outside knowledge, and Huxley specifically uses this device to portray to the reader that this society believes that history itself is toxic, and it only creates problems instead of solving them. Huxley uses devices like repetition to make the reader question if the system within the society is just, and if the regulations put in place to ensure stability are successful or if they are actually removing humanity from the society instead. Mustapha Mond, the resident controller for Western Europe, begins to explain the irrelevance of history to the children that are on a tour of the city at the beginning of chapter

They believe that there is nothing to learn from history, and that it will not benefit society in any way. As well, in this quote, Huxley uses the technique of a list. The way Huxley writes this sentence, there is a reduced amount of punctuation showing how his ideas begin to get smaller and smaller and eventually his sentences turn into single words of hatred. The controller’s anger begins to build up as he talks about history, showing how he views knowledge and history as toxic and harmful tools that could destroy this society’s way of life. In the novel, an outsider is brought into their world and has no understanding that history is an unknown concept. This outsider believes that knowledge and history create passion and emotion, which has been completely extracted and is something that this society views as dangerous. The Savage is confused as to why this society does not learn and study history: “Do they read Shakespeare, asked the Savage… certainly not said the headmistress… our library, contains only books of reference. If young people need distraction, they can get it at the feelies. We do not encourage them to indulge in any solitary amusement” (142). This quote explains how history has been abolished, and is not beneficial to the society’s stability. For the Savage, his confusion is that he believes that history is