The Use Of Symbolism In Huxley's Brave New World

Brave New World expresses the idea that people in problemed societies are constantly trying to justify, avoid, or hide the flaws with their society including, but not limited to, people in the government. Huxley expresses this through the use of repetitive and abundant symbolism. In the novel, the use of soma symbolizes the use of drugs and alcohol in our own society. After Bernard expressed his feelings about the sea and the society, Lenina says, “Why don’t you take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You’d forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you’d be jolly”(90). Lenina is uncomfortable with Bernard’s remarks because they confront problems with their society that she doesn’t want to accept as truth. She

When the DHC is conditioning the children, they use books and flowers; they use loud noises and electric shocks to teach them to shy away from books and flowers (20-21). This is similar to the way that some parents ingrain gender norms into their children. For example, some parents won’t let their son paint his nails or wear certain colors, like pink or purple; inversely, some parents won’t let their daughters play with trucks or play certain sports. This is similar to conditioning because in the novel, they’re taught these things from infancy and that they’re not okay. Some stereotypes are ingrained through generations of families. Huxley gives this extreme example of conditioning for satirical purpose; he means to show that it’s ridiculous to teach children such meaningless stereotypes. Another way we see the symbolism behind hypnopaedia is when Bernard is upset at the wrestling tournament and Lenina quotes a lesson from the sleep teaching, “A gramme in time saves nine” (89). Quotes like these are scattered throughout the novel, most commonly said by Lenina; these quotes symbolize the racist and sexist jokes made by people influenced by the media. The hypnopaedic phrases symbolize stereotype based jokes because in the novel characters hear these phrases in their sleep just like citizens in our society hear slander and slurs on television. Some

For example when Mustapha Mond was lecturing the students he said, "...you all remember, I suppose, that beautiful and inspired saying of Our Ford's: History is bunk" (34). This symbolizes the non secularism in the government. Mond is a very influential person in the World State and his quotations of Ford spread the religion in the World State. This is symmetrical to the Christianity and Christianity values seen in our government and political events.For example, in court cases you have to swear on the bible (or equivalent of a different religion) and there’s a mention of God in the American pledge of allegiance. The association the government has with Christianity promotes Christianity all across America which in turn changes the way people think. Another example of the symbolism is when Bernard is at a solidarity service and the group chants, “Ford, we are twelve; oh, make us one, like drops within the Social River; oh, make us now together run” (81). This symbolizes the way the bible (or other religious texts) form the way a society thinks. In Brave New World, every citizen has ideals based on Ford and they live to meet the standards they think Ford would want. This is very similar to the way Christians aspire to be good enough to go to heaven. They live their lives according to what the Bible says and they look down on people who don’t live their lives to the same