Perfectionism, similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder, is the need to be or appear perfect and the need for control. Many people struggle with this, but it is impossible to be truly perfect in every way, and any perfectionist can say that control is one of the hardest things to attain and maintain. However, it seems that world leaders, especially in dystopian societies, don’t necessarily understand that. This drive to create the perfect society is a catalyst for disaster and revolt, which is one reason so many authors feel the need to comment on just how impossible it is. Aldous Huxley creates this scenario in his novel, A Brave New World, as war rages between the perfect society and tradition, personified through the main characters Bernard, Lenina, and John. Another instance is Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison …show more content…
What is humanity without tradition, individuality, and identity? These authors prove how hard it is to maintain control over a whole world using satire. Aldous Huxley, Kurt Vonnegut, and WH Auden each use incongruity, exaggeration, and reversal to exhibit the war of control for the perfect society against tradition, individuality, and identity. Published in 1932, A Brave New World continues to be relatable today. Huxley uses incongruity and reversal to reveal the war that humanity could end up facing between a perfect society and tradition. In this society, humans have completely abandoned the notion of parenthood as well as traditional childhood. There is no mother or father, no childhood home, and no siblings that aren’t identical. Everyone is mass-produced in incubators. The Director, the person in charge of the factory where children are made and raised, is giving a tour to a group of boys when he says, “‘In brief,’ the Director summed up, ‘the parents were the father and the mother.’ The smut that was really science fell with a crash into the boys’ eye-avoiding
This is one of the many ways that Huxley uses satire to bring about his message, through the setting of a dystopic utopia, in itself ironic. To this end, the setting truly acts as a warning somewhat, in how “Brave New World’s […] ironic satire of a utopia warns us against the dangers of political manipulation and technological development.” (“Aldous Huxley” 1) One of the biggest features of Brave New World’s setting is the way in which the World State within it controls its citizens. The entirety of the setting is in a way a “[critique] of the twentieth-century obsession with science, technological development, and the commercial and industrial advancement,” (Chapman 1) especially in how no one in this world is born from a mother, but is instead created and genetically manipulated within a test-tube, within a great
Through his science fiction tales of misinterpreted, downcast protagonists and outrageous observations of real life, Vonnegut shines a light on America's problems, proposing a widespread cooperation of common decency and interdependence as viable solutions. Whether or not such notions actually augment the quality of relations, Vonnegut's well-reasoned and starkly ironic scenarios entertain, challenge, and enliven his design for relational welfare through synthetic families. Throughout his works Vonnegut's development of artificial families and expression of common decency between characters helps illuminate his universal theme of societal interdependence in family groups and proves that life is only worth living when individuals support each other.
Conformity, a crucial element in utopias, authorizes the extermination of individuality between groups, and, consequently, establishes the superior side. “He is our national idol, and everybody else is our national fink,” reveals Zinsser in a criticism of society’s impractical expectations for perfection (p. 3). This quote, accordingly, discloses that society places humans in two polarized groups: the successful and the unsuccessful. However, with factors such as knowledge and imagination, polarization increases between these two groups since those with power can beat this system. Furthermore, through the author’s cynical tone, the reader understands that social norms have, in turn, made the average, insignificant, and only the powerful, strong. As a result, this need for perfection has caused this desire for a nonexistent entity. Therefore, in spite of this need for perfection, humans will never be able to achieve this peaceful, yet equal state. Similarly, in Viktor Frankl’s psychology book Man’s Search for Meaning, the author finds flaws through the “perfect society” while he records his experience at a concentration camp during World War II. In an argument about the importance of failure, Frankl asserts that “without suffering and death human life cannot be complete” (36). Hence, in order to grow as people, humans need to fail in order to
In current society, critical thinking can be sparse. It is unusual that people question the traditions they have grown up with. Although this ignorance can be safe and simple, its outcome is ultimately problematic. In the satire Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut proves that undiscerning belief in anything will inevitably end in tragedy. Vonnegut demonstrates this using sensitive topics such as Science and Religion.
Huxley shows that with the right amount of control and power in the government’s hands, a society that has reached complete perfection is possible and could actually occur. Aldous Huxley analyzes the amount of freedom a society should have in relation to the power given to its government and the limitations that arise due to this ratio by creating and then elaborating on a fictional society controlled by ten rulers.
In the novel “Brave New World”, by Aldous Huxley, the book depicts an utopian society. A world where everything is under control. Everyone’s emotions and destiny are controlled from the day they are born. Western Europe, Mustapha Mond, Controls the society. Humans are born in test tubes, thus, there are no families.
The story is set hundreds of years in the future in a world with completely separate values and beliefs from those of today’s society. Birth has become an outdated and even disgusting thing. Instead of being born, humans are mass-produced through very elaborate cloning methods. Children are raised in a society that promotes both sexual promiscuity and drug use. They are brainwashed in their sleep to enjoy everything about their lives and to accept every aspect of society. Each person is predestined to fall under a specific social class that determines what they will do for a living, who they must take orders from, and even what they look like. Every aspect of every person’s life is manipulated, yet everyone feels free.
The novel breaks into the delineation of what a dictatorship would look like, "A new age of society that uses genetics and cloning in order to control and condition individuals living in a world where everyone is to be the ideal of a perfect being." After reading Huxley’s brave new world, I believe he is foreshadowing what our society could possibly end up as if we are to be controlled under one government, to be in one society similar to each other, living in a world of lies, disadvantages, no emotions, and no rights. Huxley’s novel is a perfect utopian society where flaws are hyperbolized and gives the reader the dark side of a new age, a new world state. Society’s focus on perfection, the impact of an individual’s loyalty and fulfillment can cause them to be hurt and disappointed. Such as being created to the standards of a perfect society, born from a factory and conditioned.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, portrays a future society where people are no longer individuals but are controlled by the World State. The World State dominates the people by creating citizens that are content with who they are. Brave New World describes how the science of biology and psychology are manipulated so that the government can develop technologies to change the way humans think and act. The World State designs humans from conception for this society. Once the humans are within the society the state ensures all people remain happy. They program these humans to have needs and desires that will sustain a lucrative economy while not thinking of themselves as an individual. Huxley describes the Worlds State’s intent to control their society through medical intervention, happiness, and consumerism which has similarities to modern society.
“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley is one of his most famous novels. The author created a complex novel by developing a story focusing on a Utopian and Dystopian society. The novel was written 83 years ago and people are still amazed by the content of the book. “Brave New world” takes the reader into a world of fantasy and fiction. In “Brave New World” Huxley describes a very different society. In this futuristic society, the interaction between people changed. People could enjoy their sex lives without having to be attached to a single person. In the book, there is a phrase that express that “everyone belongs to everyone”. In the novel, technology and modernization advance on a grand scale. This means that babies were no longer being born
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a science fiction book that captures both the benevolent and malevolent sides of cloning and mass production of human embryos through science. Huxley’s book, published in 1932, conveys his well-developed and disturbingly accurate ideas about human behavior in what was then the distant future. Some of Huxley’s predictions have been realized today, some to a greater degree than others. These specific predictions which are closely related to today are; our sexual practices, obsession with youth and beauty, abuse of drug and the declining practice of religion. For the people of the “World State”, life is based on immediate pleasure and constant happiness; lack of religion, fixation on beauty, sex and the use of
Huxley's Brave New World fast-forwards several centuries to an imaginary civilization that has moved past traditional birth and child-rearing by parents. This society takes the guesswork out of life in order to promote consumerism and reduce social unrest. There are five inescapable castes: Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Episilons. Caste is crucial because a citizen's work is progressively more menial the farther down the hierarchy he or she sits. In this civilization, fetuses are kept in bottles and manipulated with chemicals to be prepared mentally and physically for the jobs that have been assigned to them. After decanting (birth), they are subjected to years of conscious and sub-conscious instruction that teaches them not to question their ...
Australia is the largest island in the world and is the only country to occupy an entire island. Australia is also the smallest continent. When people think of Australia, they think about kangaroos and the outback (Lepthien 7). However, there is much more to learn about this unique country, including information about its geography, climate, government, people, plants, and animals.
In today’s society a person is shaped by family, friends, and past events, but in Aldous Huxley’s classic novel, Brave New World, there is no such thing as family, history and “true” friends. The government controls every aspect of an individual from their creation in the hatcheries to their conditioning for their thoughts and careers. In this brave new world the ideas of stability and community reign supreme, and the concept of individualism is foreign and suppressed, “Everyone belongs to everyone else, after all,” (47). Huxley perverses contemporary morals and concepts in Brave New World, thus distorting the ideas of materialistic pleasures, savagery versus society, and human relationships. These distortions contribute to the effectiveness of Brave New World, consequently creating a novel that leaves the reader questioning how and why.
When people think of a mother they think of a comforter, a lover, and a role model. Today, most women’s dream is to become a phenomenal mother: being someone their child, and even observers, can look up to. What if a woman is denied her dreams of becoming a mother, or even compelled to think being a mother is indecent? Suppose people of the world are conditioned to believe the words “birth” and “mother” are obscene, and the only mothers existing in the world were called “savages.” Would one’s dreams be crushed as a result of the absence of motherhood? Would she feel like something is missing in her life without the love of a child? In Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the unpleasant feelings toward births and mothers are universal. To be living in a world which is “perfect,” there are many imperfections because of the lack of a mother’s love.