Unorthodox Castes In Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World

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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”

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