Social activist Ruby Dee once said, “The world has improved mostly because unorthodox people did unorthodox things. Not surprisingly, they had the courage and daring to think they could make a difference” (Inspiringquotes.us). Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a work of dystopian literature set in a futuristic London. The novel introduces the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, the housing for the conception of the new citizens of the caste system. Those born in this society are done so by a method of conditioning, ensuring that each caste is almost identical. A group of students is being given a tour of the Centre by the director, where the reader is introduced to Lenina Crowne, Henry Foster, and Mustapha Mond. Bernard Marx, …show more content…
Lenina is an object of desire for a large portion of the male populous, including Bernard Marx and John the Savage. Lenina’s primary means of relating to others is through sex, which is what the government wants. Although this may be true, Lenina shows her unorthodox way by being exclusive to Henry Foster for several months. Fanny Crowne, Lenina’s friend, notices this quirk about her and warns her that essentially belonging to one man looks bad to others. Fanny does so in a conversation with Lenina by saying, “I really do think you ought to be careful. It’s such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man” (Huxley 41). Lenina brushes off this advice, and continues to be with only Henry, until she meets Bernard. Lenina’s relationships with Bernard and John the Savage are deemed as an act or rebellion and unorthodoxy, as they are considered to be a misfit and an outcast in the society. Even thought Lenina is violently attracted to both of these men throughout the novel, she is unable to share in Bernard’s dissatisfaction with the world as it is and is unable to comprehend John’s alternate system of values, since it is so different from her own. Lenina attempts to hide her unorthodoxy throughout a majority of the novel, but Bernard Marx exhibits his on a daily …show more content…
It is found that Bernard’s physical attributes, although out of his control, force him to be ostracized by his peers. Despite the fact that Bernard is an Alpha male, he is cursed with the inferior stature of one in the Gamma caste, which is introduced early on in the novel, “he stood eight centimeters short of the standard Alpha height and was slender in proportion” (Huxley 64). Even though Bernard is an Alpha, his physicality leads those below him to ridicule him and to not obey his orders. At any point when Bernard is attempting to give orders to the lower castes, he does so in a harsh and sharp way, so that he acts like he is not afraid of being a superior. Bernard’s peers are constantly gossiping about how he ended up with this demeanor. The current gossip deals with how alcohol was accidentally added to his blood-surrogate, and that is the reason why Bernard looks the way he does. Throughout the duration of the novel, Bernard makes it evident that he detests the use of soma as a whole. Soma, the hallucinogenic drug that the populous uses almost daily, ultimately replaces all real human emotion, and this is one of the main reasons Bernard loathes it so openly. He believes that the soma creates a world of artificial happiness, not a world of true joy. To attest to this belief, Bernard says, “I’d rather be myself. Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly”
John gradually discovers that Lenina is not the innocent, undiluted woman he once loved. Lenina’s sexual promiscuity is horrifying to him; the thought that other men have had sexual experiences with Lenina causes him to go insane. When Lenina makes a sexual advance, John shouts: “Whore! Impudent strumpet” (132). John’s dream is shattered – the perfect Other has its own imperfections, and this reality corrupts John’s self-awareness. Lenina’s image was a reflection of the person John viewed himself to be: an innocent character that is untainted by the “Brave New World” (94) and its vices. In order to expunge his sins, John flees civilization and moves to the countryside to spend his time gardening, praying, and whipping himself. His redemption is uprooted as he succumbs to the ways of the citizens of the World State by engaging in a masochistic “orgy-porgy” of self-inflicted pain and whips a woman who appears to be Lenina until she becomes a shell of a human being. Huxley provides closure to the fantasy John created by plunging John into an abyss of anguish, reflecting the idea that intense fantasy nurtures insanity. Voltaire, by contrast, ends on a relatively positive note. After a long voyage, Candide is reunited with his dear Cunnegonde only to realize that she is “a scullion … and is very ugly” (84-85). Candide stays true to his word and marries her, but he regains a sense of purpose by opting to tend to his own garden. Instead of relying on the fantasy of a perfect Other, Candide assumes responsibility for his own life by focusing on labor and cultivating his own work ethic. In Candide, characters escape the temptation of fantasy through hard work; by applying themselves to do “some service or other” (87), life is
In Aldous Huxley’s novel, “Brave New World,” published in 1932, two idiosyncratic, female characters, Lenina and Linda, are revealed. Both personalities, presented in a Freudian relationship (Linda being John’s mother and Lenina being his soon to be lover), depict one another in different stages of life and divulge ‘a character foil’. Lenina and Linda are both ‘Betas,’ who hold a strong relationship with the men in their lives, especially John. It can be stated that John may partially feel attracted towards Lenina, because she is a miniature version of Linda, in her youth. They both support the term of ‘conditioning,’ yet also question it in their own circumstances. Nonetheless, they both are still sexually overactive and criticized for such immoral decisions. Linda espouses it from her heart, while Lenina supports the process partially due to peer pressure and society’s expectations. Both female characters visit the Reservation with Alpha – Plus males, and both find a common feeling of revulsion towards it. Linda and Lenina are similar in many ways, yet they hold their diverse views on the different aspects of life.
Bernard noticed the manipulation of Lenina. Lenina wanted to have sex with just one person, but she wasn’t allowed. “Everyone belongs to everyone else” (page #) was one of the world state’s mottoes. Sexual promiscuity eliminates emotional tension. By eliminating tension and anxiety the World State was able to better control its citizens.
Firstly, it is frequent to jumble the two names as they are nearly the same; both start with an “L” and end with similar pronunciations. Furthermore, the two women are not exactly perfect citizens of the “Brave New World” community. Lenina seems to fulfill the perfect roles of a common citizen at a first glance, although there are several gray ideals that she contributes. For instance, Lenina desires to have an affectionate relationship with only one man, of which is a shock to her best friend, Fanny, and the rest of the community; “‘No, there hasn’t been anyone else’, she answered almost translucently.
Alduos Huxley, in his science fiction novel Brave New World written in 1932, presents a horrifying view of a possible future in which comfort and happiness replace hard work and incentive as society's priorities. Mustapha Mond and John the Savage are the symbolic characters in the book with clashing views. Taking place in a London of the future, the people of Utopia mindlessly enjoy having no individuality. In Brave New World, Huxley's distortion of religion, human relationships and psychological training are very effective and contrast sharply with the literary realism found in the Savage Reservation. Huxley uses Brave New World to send out a message to the general public warning our society not to be so bent on the happiness and comfort that comes with scientific advancements.
In the first couple of chapters, Lenina, a young woman, is introduced. When we first meet her, we learn that she has been seeing a guy, Henry, for the past 4 months. The reader can assume that this is normal, since the same happens in our everyday lives, but we soon discover that this is abnormal. In the new world, a regulation is set that men and woman cannot be in committed relationships, but are supposed to have sex with as many men or woman possible. The fact that she is not promiscuous enough can get her into trouble. “And you know how strongly the D. H. C. objects to anything intense or long-drawn… why, he’d be furious if he knew…” (Huxley, 41) As the story progresses, however, she becomes an example of new world regulations, admitting that she had sex with many men. “She was a popular girl and, at one time or another, had spent a night with almost all of them.” (Huxley, 57) Old world r...
After the helicopter ride, Bernard asks Lenina what life would be like if he was not enslaved by conditioning; she responds with surprise (Huxley 78). Firstly, in Brave New World, every adult lives by themselves but to combat feelings of loneliness they have many sexual partners. Lack of personal connection with others is removed and replaced with false love through recreational sex. When John’s mother dies, the sadness he portrays is strange in the eyes of other citizens because they do not care for one another personally ( ).
Bernard is pretty high up in the social system in Brave New World. He is an Alpha Plus at the top of the caste system and works in the Psychology Bureau as a specialist on hypnopaedia. Bernard, though, is flawed according to his culture on the inside and out. " 'He's so ugly!'... ' And then so small.'
Bernard was born as an alpha, the highest caste. Unfortunately, he was born with multiple birth defects. Bernard was short and slightly disfigured, making him stick out compared to everyone else's genetic perfection. Because of this, Bernard was made fun of a lot by other people in the community, making him feel lonely, even though he was born to the highest caste.
In the novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, the author uses character development to contrast the two different societies present in the novel.He shows the importance of morality, or an increase in wisdom in the character of humankind. The author contrasts a society full of static and flat characters and another society full of round characters. In order to show the importance of life experiences in changing the character of individuals in the 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
Huxley introduces us to a whole new environment for us (as readers) and for them (Bernard and Lenina). The action is seen through the mesmerized eyes of the two characters. This specific passage shows us a scene of women breast feeding. We encounter a clash of points of view; Lenina's which is very reluctant and uncomfortable, Bernard's
In Aldrous Huxley’s A Brave New World, pleasure is the main driving force in life. The government uses tools such as the wonder drug soma and the endorphins naturally released during and after sexual intercourse to keep the minds of their well-tended flock off of matters that might concern them if they had not previously been conditioned to resort to a vice the moment that they begin to conceive an ill thought. Lenina 's adulation of John, the Savage, is perhaps one of the more obvious triggers of soma usage within the novel. Lenina does not understand John 's concept of love, and attempts to show her affection in the only way she knows how, and that is by having sex with him. She thinks this is a normal act, but for him, it is sanctity. John believes that one should only express their passion through sex if they are married as is the custom on the reservation. This leads John to call Lenina many obscene names and to send her into the tender arms of soma instead. She merely wishes him to reciprocate her advances, which she would take as meaning that he was happy to be with her. She simply wants the both of them to be joyous in their carnal revelry but “Happiness is a hard master – particularly other people 's happiness. A much harder master, if one isn 't conditioned to accept it unquestioningly, than truth” (Huxley 227, Brave New World). John and Lenina are very different people however, as Lenina tells Bernard “I don 't understand … why you don 't take
Lenina Crowne is a perfect example of someone who was conditioned, but does not fit into the social norms of Brave New World. Furthermore, religion would only strengthen Lenina’s tendency to have one man for a long period of time. In the book, Lenina is known to have boyfriends, and this shows her self-conscious knowledge of having many sexual partners to be immoral. In Brave New World, Christianity is looked down upon as a defect, but with the reintroduction of religion billions of people would be saved by the saving grace of our God.
However, to Lenina and the World State, theses beliefs promote happiness with repercussions- essentially, they strived for eternal happiness, without ever having to experience any negative emotion. The ending of the novel may have been Huxley’s commentary on this belief; one cannot escape reality, and for the Lenina and the World State, reality would be the emotions that they are trying to avoid (such as sadness, anxiety, anger, etc.). Lenina has never had to experience any negative emotions; she has always avoided them, through sex, drugs, and so on. However, reality caught up to her when she went to visit John; she was brutally beaten, and whipped back into