As an unknown person once said, “There is a child inside each one of us in our life, who comes out in front of the person we are most comfortable with” (1). Over time individuals grow up to become successful men and women; however, their inner child never leaves them. During times of pain or hardship, one’s inner child exposes itself to provide a sense of happiness and pleasure. As adults, one matures to develop responsibilities a child lacks; however, in Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, the citizens of the World State are infantilized by the state. The citizens do not mature in the manner that they become self reliant and independent individuals, rather the World State manages to keep them in a position of a child. The World State …show more content…
As an individual is conditioned, they are given certain qualities that no matter what they do will never change. One of those qualities is the inability to make decisions or have the knowledge to rule over themselves. The World State, as a simple totalitarian state, enforces this ideology by giving the citizens no responsibility, rather they control every aspect of their life. Alongside the conditioning process, the citizens are being taught that they have no responsibilities, rather the World State makes all their decisions for them. As the Arch Community Songster reads John the Bible he states, “We are not our own any more than we possess is our own. We did not make ourselves, we cannot be supreme over ourselves. We are not our own masters” (Huxley 232). In other words, the citizens do not control their lives or anything in regards to their lives. Their conditioning determines their destination in life and they have no control over that or themselves. The citizens are unable to make moral decisions for themselves just as a child, due to the fact they don’t have the intellect to do so. Children are too young to have the necessary skills to make adult decisions, similar to the citizens. They lack the intelligence and independence to do so. In regards to the citizens lacking responsibility, they can be seen as a child because children lack responsibility during their younger …show more content…
The lack of responsibility exemplifies the dependance a child has on their parent for decision making and so forth, just as the citizens rely on the World State. Soma helps bring out the child in the citizens by providing them instant gratification, as a child receives when they are rewarded for excellent behavior. Lastly, the parental attitude used to reprimand and discipline the citizens infantilizes them even more due to the fact it proves they have no control over themselves and the World State acts as their parents because they do not have any. This novel leaves one with the ability to understand the way a government in a society can control one’s life. One may conclude that as they grow older they mature and forget about the child that was once inside them; however, one’s inner child never goes away. No matter the circumstance, one can live their life the way they wish, whether it be as a stubborn adult or as an adult that enjoys to be childish. One’s government can not determine their destiny or behavior. Everyone in the world is the author of their own book and no matter how powerful the government is, life's a journey and everyone has their own way of doing
Imagine the world we are living in today, now imagine a world where we are told who to marry, where to work, who to hate and not to love. It is hard to imagine right, some people even today are living in the world actually have governments that are controlling their everyday life. In literature many writers have given us a view of how life may be like if our rights as citizen and our rights simply as human beings. One day the government may actually find a way to control and brainwash people into beings with no emotions like they have in the book 1984 where they express only hate, because that’s what they have been taught by the party.
First of all, The World State takes away individuality and forces its people, through conditioning, to conform to the society’s motto of Community, Identity, and Stability. The most effective way the World State conditions its people is through
Huxley illustrates just how a real world government can come to tyrannical power over its citizens through the fear of war and terror. Barr explains this very method when he states. Even more troubling than Huxley's prescient description of technological advances employed to manipulate and control mind and body is the manner in which government seizes on a military threat as the vehicle to not only control the population, but also to convince the people, even as their freedom is being stolen from them, that it is necessary to do so, and that taking freedom will make them free. Barr 850 - "The. Historically, citizens of many countries sacrifice their personal liberties for a sense of security masked as a governmental attempt to push their views onto the citizens.
The government in the future world uses various techniques to make sure the citizens of the World State are kept in check and conformed. Each citizen is imprisoned within his or her own mind, through the use of several psychological and physical devices. They are conditioned to act a certain way or have certain thoughts and ideas. People who fail to fall in line are deported to far away locations. Before the artificial birth of each child, it has already undergone its conditioning to make sure it conforms. The director of hatcheries and conditioning states, “All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable destiny”(Huxley 87-8). People’s minds are programmed to love their assigned jobs and lifestyles. Even after birth they continue to follow the motto of the World State: “Community, Identity, Stability”(21). This motto is extremely ironic having the words identity and stability in it as the World State has sacrificed identity for stability. Shock thera...
In Huxley’s Brave New World, the lack of freedom is apparent in all aspects of society. “There was something called liberalism. Freedom to be a round peg in a square hole” connotes, through the analogy of ‘a round peg’, that freedom is a disruption to the social equilibrium; it is “inefficient and miserable”. This is ironic as the preconditioned happiness provided to the individuals is ‘miserable’ as evident in “the infinitely friendly world of soma-holiday”. In addition, “what would it be like if I could, if I were free—not enslaved by my conditioning?” subverts, through the rhetorical question combined with the personal pronoun of ‘I’, the ideals of the government and their intent to control the masses.
Should humans be autonomous or responsible? In other words, should they follow the convictions of their own hearts or surrender their ideals to another power presumed to be superior in its wisdom? This dilemma between autonomy and responsibility presents itself constantly. The struggles over abortion, euthanasia, and drug legalization are perfect examples. In each of these cases, individuals are either pushing for stronger individual rights (the freedom to make decisions regarding their own lives) or a stronger stance on the behalf of their government (to legally prevent individuals from making bad decisions).
In many real and fictionalized totalitarian societies, children live apart from their families. I believe that dictatorial leaders enforced this living arrangement because they don’t want parents to influence their children, to make sure people are loyal to the society, and to maintain everyone equal. They do this so that they have total control over their society.
previous quote is referring to how the people are controlled. They have no say in their own life style.
The World State also uses controlled groupings of people to brainwash them further into thoughtless people with no sense of individualism. Lastly, the World State uses drugs to create artificial happiness for people, leaving no room for intense emotion which causes people to revolt against the World State. Within the novel Brave New World, it is seen that the World State eliminates individuality through social restrictions, government controlled groupings and the abuse of drugs to maintain control of the population. Social restriction robs individuals of their creative personalities by preventing freedom of thought, behavior, and expression; but is vital to the World State for maintaining complete control over the society. Social restriction’s purpose is to enforce obedience, conformity and compliance out of people.
Firstly, perhaps no book has linked animals to human counterparts better than Animal Farm. Orwell's beasts serve as a representation of important characters of the World War II era and beyond. For example, Karl Marx, the inventor of the communist movement, was represented by Old Major, the most important animal on the farm until his death. Much like Old Major, Marx was a visionary who dreamed of equality. Old Major states:"Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you, comrades: Rebellion!"(Orwell, Animal Farm, 30). In addition, he inspired the Russian Social Democratic Leader Party, led by rivals Joseph Stalin and Leon Trostky. Napoleon is represented by Joseph Stalin and much like him, he builds loyalties within the communist party ( pigs and dogs) so that he can overthrow Snowball (Trostky). Snowball displaying similar traits with Trotsky in the fact that they both fight bravely in their respective battles. Trotsky was an important component to the victory in the Russian civil war, Snowball displaying this bravery during the battle of the cowshed. The hens, geese, and sheep that are executed are a representation of the millions who opposed Stalin's, and who are killed banished as a result. The hens and geese are not known for their docile natures, and serve as perfect rebels . As well, the pigs' metamorphosis of their face and behaviour is symbolic of the transition of a government initially for the people, into ...
People have free will. People have the ability to choose right from wrong. With this responsibility people need to think about the outcome of actions and how it will affect society.
For a historian, the 20th century and all the historic events that it encompasses represents a utopia with endless sources of inspiration for the analysis of political figures, events and their consequences. Political figures such as Benito Mussolini of Italy, Adolf Hitler of Germany, Mao Zedong of China and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union are all names we are familiar with due to the time period that they influenced; this time period after the trauma and atrocities of World War I and the Great Depression led to completely new forms of government in Europe and beyond. These “manifestations of political evil”, commonly known as totalitarian states, should not be considered as mere extensions of already existing political systems, but rather as completely new forms of government built upon terror and ideological fiction. Therefore, this was also a time in which political philosophers such as Hannah Arendt, the author of the standard work on totalitarianism, “Origins of Totalitarianism”, could thrive. When looking at totalitarianism as a political philosophy, two initial questions have to be dealt with: what is totalitarianism and what kind of effect it had on countries ruled by totalitarian regimes. The reasons for its occurrence have briefly been mentioned above, although there are much deeper ideological, social and economic reasons including imperialism and anti-Semitism. In order to fully understand it, we must also contrast it to other political systems like authoritarianism and dictatorship, which are similar to a certain extent, but lack crucial elements that are in the core of totalitarian ideology. Out of the many examples of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century, Nazi Germany, Communist China and the Soviet Union stan...
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 World State’s intent to control their society through medical intervention, happiness, and consumerism, which has similarities to modern society. Designing life from conception is an intriguing concept. Brave New World’s World State is in control of the reproduction of people by intervening medically. The Hatchery and Conditioning Centre is the factory that produces human beings.
Children live in a world designed for them by adults. The two cultures, child’s culture and adult’s culture exist side-by-side. As the children eventually mature into the adult world, they grow up learning the structure of what is expected of them. As children challenge the authority or expectations, they are battling the construction that was predetermined by the adults. Children have to live in a world where they are living in the structure, as well as being active agents. The two combating ideas are one component that makes growing up a difficult learning experience.
The World State society brings happiness to the masses, but not individuals. The children of the World State are conditioned, from birth and beyond, to be happy in the World State and not seek truths. This means the State is ill-equipped to deal with individuals who are not pleased with the mass happiness. These individuals would rather have truth than the facile facade presented to them. There is nothing wrong with the State, as it is meant to keep people happy.