Sacrifice In Brave New World Analysis

English author Simon Sinek penned, “There is no decision that we can make that doesn't come with some sort of balance or sacrifice”. Harmony is an admirable goal, but sacrifice is necessary to achieve it. According to Merriam-Webster, sacrifice is an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. Sacrifice has the power to create harmony, but if taken to extremes can also destroy humanity. When does the cost become too high? As humans our most valuable possession is our humanity and no price is worth enough to sacrifice it. Therefore, the perfect relationship between sacrifice and harmony exists when humanity is not lost and balance is gained. History has proven that harmony is possible

In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the world goes too far to achieve harmony. Scientists create humans by harvesting eggs from ovaries: “So we allow as many as thirty per cent of the female embryos to develop normally. The others get a dose of male sex-hormone every twenty-four metres for the rest of the course. Result: they're decanted as freemartins—structurally quite normal … but sterile. Guaranteed sterile” (Huxley 11). To create a society without war, disease, famine, abuse, and etc. the people turn to creating beings with the same ideas and beliefs. The process described in Brave New World robs the citizens of their humanity in two ways; by denying the ability to have children and by erasing individuality. The ability to reproduce is an essential characteristic of the human species because unique emotions, such as love and protective instincts develop. The ability to feel compassion and deeper emotions defines humans and without it they become animals. Next, individuality is important because it allows humans to think for themselves and for society to advance. Individuality is in part wiped out because of a lack of a family structure and conditioning. By losing their individuality the people move away from being humans to becoming like robots. Without different mindsets there are no new ideas and therefore advancement is impossible. Another way the world goes too far is by conditioning away dignity. A character in the book, Lenina, is not ashamed of throwing herself at John: “She put her hand to her neck and gave a long vertical pull; her white sailor’s blouse was ripped to the hem” (Huxley 197). Dignity is an essential characteristic of humanity because it embodies who we are and prevents us from lowering our morals to the degree in the novel. Lenina’s lack of dignity is shown by her casual view of sex and lack of shame for her nakedness. Her conditioning has caused her