Freedom In Brave New World

The society in Brave New World is centered around happiness and self-pleasure. The citizens are conditioned from birth to believe that the meaning of life is to be as happy as possible for as long as possible. John, the savage from the reservation, is what we today would consider a “normal human being”. At one point in the story, John says, “But I don’t want comfort. I want God. I want poetry. I want real danger. I want freedom. I want goodness. I want sin.” He does not enjoy the current ideologies of the current world. John’s natural humanity makes him desire the imperfections of life. Mustapha Mond says that John is “claiming the right to be unhappy.” All of these items listed are considered controversial in the Brave New World society, and are connected to suffering and unhappiness.

Freedom is just one of the many things that John listed, but I believe it is a very important idea. At first, you may think that freedom equals happiness. This correlation makes sense because with ideal freedom, you are not controlled or pushed around by anyone but yourself. You get to make all decisions on your own and with only your own wants and needs to consider. While this seems perfect, freedom also causes incredible suffering - for yourself, and for others. For example, if you have

complete freedom and you have the choice to sentence a criminal to death, it is totally up to you to kill this human or let them continue their crime against society. Another example of suffering caused by freedom is how it can contradict itself. In order to have “complete freedom” in society, everyone needs to be able to anything that they desire. However, this is impossible. In this scenario, anyone can prevent anyone else from committing an action, because they can do anything, but the person being hindered also has the freedom to do anything. Do you see the problem? Lastly, a byproduct of freedom is complexity. When situations and choices are simpler, people tend to be happier because there is less indecision. When you take away freedom, no one has to worry about which choice to make, if there are very limited options, or none at all.

The second idea that sticks out to me is that of “real danger”. If you ask about their opinion on it, most people will say that they dislike danger. This is because it is tied to suffering, pain, and general hardship. John desires danger because it would allow the world to seem more mortal. The goal of life is to live as long as possible, as happy as possible. The people in Brave New World are used to the “cushion” of society. They have almost nothing to fear and simply live for sex and overall happiness. When choosing “real danger” over a nearly perfect, safe life, you are accepting a few consequences. Suffering can come not from danger itself, but from the uncertainty of danger. You never know if today is your last day, or if you are about to make a huge mistake in your life. This constant uncertainty will eat away at your sanity and cause paranoia. Danger can also affect you through the people around you. Knowing that your friends are in constant danger will have the same effect as I previously mentioned, but also in a different way. If your friends are in danger, and you end up losing one or more of them to an accident, you are directly affected emotionally. This is more suffering. Also danger can obviously affect you through the accidents that happen as a result. There is no way to claim “real danger” without also claiming unhappiness.

In conclusion, I believe that is unsurprising for John to desire these qualities of life.

He was not grown and raised in the twisted society of Brave New World. These traits are a part of our society today, so we should not have a hard time imagining his view towards them. Mustapha Mond does not understand how we can accept the unhappiness that these things bring into our lives, while still enjoying ourselves. This is one of the biggest ways that the Brave New World society is flawed. The reality is that no matter how “unhappy” these aspects of life are, life as we know it is no longer the same without them. We cannot function without these key ideals governing our

lives.