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Explain autonomy VS conformity
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Like many dystopian novels, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World depicts a world in which the government has sole power and control over everyone in society. Such totalitarian government is prevalent throughout history, most notably in the reign of Adolf Hitler. These historical timelines of absolute power often led to the destruction of the minds and bodies of countless groups of people. In Brave New World, this form of government uses genetic engineering, brainwashing, and personal restrictions as their source of control. Such power is so strong that even those being affected by it are not aware or refuse to accept their weak submission. In Brave New World, the government uses to hand-pick certain human characteristics they believe are beneficial, …show more content…
Two sources used for this control are the ideas of sex and drugs. Starting with the origin of life, the government has taken over by throwing out the concept of marital conception and replacing it with genetic engineering. Not only this, but the idea that in the past "the parents were the father and mother...are unpleasant facts" the government inserts into civilian minds (Huxley 24). Although the authorities highly frown upon conception, they greatly encourage sex. Feelies, sensual movies, are a favorite past time to many people in New World society. These odd films encourage promiscuous sexual activity and brainwash citizens by forming an addiction to sex, rather than an addiction to independent thinking. Whenever discouraging thoughts form in a person's mind, the World State encourages them to take tablets of soma. "Soma is an all-purpose, feel-good drug that fixes everything; a populace in a stupor is not inclined to be rebellious" (Izzo 1). The government distributes this narcotic, themselves, as a means to keep society in a continual daze of contentment, preventing any rebellion. These drugs, along with sexual propaganda, brainwash citizens into obsessing over unimportant, physical items, creating “[an] ideal state…in which there is a material democracy controlled by an aristocracy …show more content…
Every moment, the World State expects people to spend most, if not all, time in social gatherings. When Fanny is speaking to Lenina in Brave New World, she mentions that Bernard "spends most of his time by himself – alone," with "horror in [her] voice" (Huxley 45). This practice of isolationism is an absurdity to normal society members. Such encouragement of social interaction and discouragement of alone time dissuades people from independent thinking and rebellion, ensuring the government's unshaken control. The totalitarian regime also prevents rebellion by confiscating all information that is against their authoritative control. At the end of the novel, Mustapha Mond, the World Controller, reveals collections of book in a safe in his office. When asked why he does not share such wonderful things with the public, Mustapha explains that "it's prohibited," (218) and that "[they] don’t want people to be attracted by old things...[they] want them to like the new ones" (Huxley 219). Controlling the information given to societal members is a major power-hold for the totalitarian regime, allowing them to regulate whatever they want in the stream of information entering the mind of each and every
The famous Milgram experiment focused on the conflict between blind obedience to authority and personal conscience. It turned out that 65% of ordinary people blindly follow orders given by an authority figure, and only 30% are able to follow their personal conscience (McLeod). Considering that the vast majority acquire blind obedience to authority just in the process of nurturing, imagine what would it be like if blind obedience is built into one’s nature? In the novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley illustrates ways in which government and advanced science control society by conditioning embryos to blindly follow desirable social norms. Every conditioned individual would have merited instincts
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.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley has a similar theme as to Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell. The theme is that the government has control over their society by brainwashing them. The difference is that Nineteen Eighty-four does their brainwashing by torture and fear and Brave New World does it by making happy by letting them have whatever they want. Brainwashing is persuasion by propaganda or salesmanship (Webster). The controller does exactly that in the book. Most people would probably pick Brave New World to live in over the other novel, but digging deep into the novel we realize this world is not a good one. People might act to be happy, but that’s because the government raises them to think this way before they are even born. Our society also has a bunch of brainwashing going on by our government and companies. Even though this book was written way before our time today, the author was a good predictor to what it might become in the future. I do not think it has got to the extreme point as Brave New World though. Three areas that people are being brainwashed is in the military, advertising, and the news. Brainwashing is done throughout the book of Brave New World to control the society to believe everything is for the best.
Something else that is controlled by government and science is any thing to do with marriage, romance and pregnancy. It is a rule by the government for everyone to freely have sex with anybody at anytime they want. It is against the rules of the Utopia to date anyone regularly. Government forbids anyone to go towards thoughts of monogamy and romance because they require too much time and bring no stability to life.
David Grayson once said that "Commandment Number One of any truly civilized society is this: Let people be different". Difference, or individuality, however, may not be possible under a dictatorial government. Aldous Huxley's satirical novel Brave New World shows that a government-controlled society often places restraints upon its citizens, which results in a loss of social and mental freedom. These methods of limiting human behavior are carried out by the conditioning of the citizens, the categorical division of society, and the censorship of art and religion.
This dystopian world revolves around sexual debauchery, strictly defined class systems, and the enjoyment of mindless pleasures. Conditioned from birth through a mixture of genetic altering and brainwashing, the citizens of this society do not question their circumstances nor do they seek alternatives to their given lifestyle. Instead, they are content with an apathetic complacency. There is no juxtaposition of good and bad because anything deemed ‘bad’ is ignored or removed.
A fundamental theme of the Brave New World is to achieve perfection through deceitful control. Technology, conditioning/predestining, and manufactured happiness are tools of control to achieve what the leaders believed to be perfect. The Director proves my point in describing the Fertilization Process, “the operation undergone voluntarily for the good of Society…” (5). Perfection in their minds is manageable conformity without opposition. Ford’s control over the society is especially insidious because the people don’t know they’re being controlled so they’re not going to fight. It’s become normalized. The actions of the leaders and Ford propose a question, “Will this end in overall perfection in our society?” The almighty Ford decided to turn a world just like ours into one he views as a utopia. Since Ford’s methods are meant to be deceptive and efficient, they are often torturous. Even before the babies were hatched, technology was already being used to control for a better future.
Brave New World is an unsettling, loveless and even sinister place. This is because Huxley endows his "ideal" society with features calculated to alienate his audience. Typically, reading Brave New World elicits the very same disturbing feelings in the reader which the society it depicts has notionally vanquished - not a sense of joyful anticipation. Huxley's novel presents a startling view of the future which on the surface appears almost comical. His intent, however, is not humor. Huxley's message is dark and depressing. His idea that in centuries to come, a one-world government will rise to power, stripping people's freedom, is not a new idea. What makes Huxley's interpretation different is the fact that his fictional society not only lives in a totalitarian government, but takes an embracive approach like mindless robots. For example, Soma, not nuclear bombs, is the weapon of choice for the World Controllers in Brave New World. The world leaders have realized that fear and intimidation have only limited power; these tactics simply build up resentment in the minds of the oppressed. Subconscious persuasion and mind-altering drugs, on the other hand, appear to have no side effects.
After birth babies’ minds are altered to accept the moral education of the government. Two processes the new world uses to control human judgement are the Neo-Pavlovian process and hypnopaedia. The children, during early childhood, are trained to like and dislike certain aspects of life, nature, and science so that they can consume the maximum resources. Beta babies receive electric shocks in the presence of flowers and books and then the Director teaches how, “ They’ll grow up with what the psychologists … call an ‘instinctive’ hatred of books and flowers … they’ll be safe from books and botany all their lives," (p. 36). The conditioning of the children forms a barrier in their minds, so that they are never free to decide for themselves, but are always bounded by the instructions of the state. Thus, the government is achieving its goal, the maintenance of stability.
Humans seem to be obsessed with finding a certain substance to rely on for a better life. In almost every culture on the planet, such substances have been imagined, like the glorious ambrosia of the ancient Greek gods, the forbidden fruit by which Eve was tempted, or, in the World State, the censoring soma. Soma ‘enhanced’ the lives of the people of the World State by allowing them to ignore reality, suppress negative emotions, and amplify positive feelings, but through the consumption of soma, the citizens also censored themselves to the full awareness of their monotonous lives and hopeless state. Lenina, a character noted for her continuous use of soma, visits a reservation where soma is not used. After seeing humans experience ‘real emotions’ that were not under the influence of the drug, she, “...felt herself entitled, after that day of queerness and horror, to a complete and absolute holiday.” (Huxley, pg. 149) The wo...
Today’s world is far from a utopia, or perfect world with no negative thoughts or feelings, but is that a good or a bad thing? Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World, and Ray Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451, show several similar effects of what may happen to the human race if the government over-controls the countries’ citizens. In Brave New World the controlling government, or the “World State,” uses brainwashing and chemical persuasion to make the people of the country believe and follow the value of the society. In Fahrenheit 451, the government forbids the use of books to prevent the citizens from learning about the history of the world. The government goes from house to house burning every book in sight. Both of these types of governments cause a threat of physical, emotional, and mental abuse for those who disagree with the ways of the established group.
According to Sigmund Freud, the human mind is made up of the id, ego and super ego which work together in order create human behaviour. Consequently, the mind of an individual is very complex and difficult to manipulate when they are fully developed. However, if this development of these three parts are hindered or influenced by certain factors, it becomes easier to control that individual. In the novel Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the World State stunts the psychological development of its citizens through soma, erotic play, and hypnopaedia in order to create a false utopian society.
... In short, the novel Brave New World, shows that the World State eliminates individuality through social restrictions, government controlled groupings and the abuse of drugs to maintain control of the population. Social restriction through hypnopaedia and shock therapy robs individuals of their creative personalities by preventing freedom of thought, behavior, and expression. Government controlled groupings such as Solidarity Service Days and the feelies to eliminate individuality stemming from individual thought due to discontent; therefore maintaining control by eliminating the chance of people revolting and going astray from their conditioning. Works Cited Huxley, Aldous. A. & Co.
In the novels, 1984, by George Orwell, and Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, there are many hidden messages that are meant to warn society. These novels show the struggles of having governments with full control and their methods of controlling people. The messages that Orwell and Huxley portray throughout their novels are that manipulation can be used to limit freedom, technology can be used to further control people, and governments will use fear to regulate thoughts and activities.
Knowledge is the fundamental property that presides over Aldous Huxley’s dystopian society as well as our society today. In the novel, Brave New World, world controllers such as Mustapha Mond have so much influence on society because their access to information is unparalleled to that of their subjects who are kept ignorant in order to maintain stability. Knowledge in today’s society is wielded in a similar manner when compared to that of Brave New World’s societal construct. Some of these similarities include the use of news or any other media programming, schooling, and the process of growing up. These similarities are the main ideas and most supportive evidence that he/she who controls and uses knowledge wields the power.