Dystopia or Utopia: Perspective in Brave New World

It is an odd thing to think about, how closely related a utopian society and a dystopian society really are. Numerous aspects determine if there is dystopia present, and these can change depending on the point of view. A dystopia to one person could be an utter utopia to another, it all depends on the individual's perspective. Brave New World is an excellent example of how dystopia/utopia can be viewed.

The society in the novel Brave New World is viewed primarily as a dystopia, this is because of the lack of individuality, identity and emotion. The individuals in Brave New World are engineered humans predestined for a specific career and lifestyle. They are brainwashed by the World State through Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning, giving every person

In Brave New World “as technology increases, the use for human beings in the work force decreases leaving an overwhelming amount of depression among humans” (123HelpMe, 1). Therefore the world state developed a structure for the society to keep people busy, Including the caste system and the predestination of careers and the conditioning that forces them to believe they are happy doing what they are doing. In Brave New World's society this is necessary so people do not try and oppose the state and the structure. One of the main ways the World State controls the citizens and their emotions is with a drug called “Soma”. This drug is an antidepressant with no side effects, it is the perfect thing to help keep everyone happy and keep the community stable. The people that live under control of the state must take this drug so they continue believing they are happy, and so they continue to comply with the World States born) so they can be properly engineered and conditioned to fit their designated role in society. As the Director says, “the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny” (Huxley, 12).This is the whole idea of the Brave New World society, being conditioned to like what you are doing so the people will stay happy and in turn keep the community stable. After all, the Brave New World motto is “Community, Identity, Stability.” (Huxley, 1)

Although there are people like Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson and John the Savage who are not fond of how things are run by the World State, most of the people living in this society see it as a utopia. The people are given a certain job that they are conditioned to like, and if they are feeling depressed all they have to do is take a Soma and they will feel better. This supports the idea that a society can be viewed as a dystopia and a utopia simultaneously, it just depends on which character you are getting information from and what that individual's perspective