...dominant theme.” To what extent do ‘1984’ and ‘Brave New World’ depict a dehumanised society? Both Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ certainly deny humanness to the characters in their novels. Kelman defines humanness as having two key attributes, identity and community. Dehumanisation occurs when these are removed from society. It is true that individuality is denied to citizens and although the community remains, it is subverted in order to fit the government ideal. It can therefore be said that dehumanisation occurs as people are denied and identity and the true meaning of community which is the perception that a person is part of an interconnected community of individuals. Dystopian literature serves to critique the current social and political conditions by looking at potential conditions. Both novels were written when the fear of growing totalitarian governments was present. The novels are a prediction of what may happen to society if this power grows worldwide. In 1946, Orwell wrote "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it." Around the time Huxley wrote ‘Brave New World’ there had been huge discoveries made in science and technology, Huxley took these and created a dystopia that uses technology to trick citizens into loving their slavery. The governments in both ‘1984’ and ‘Brave New World’ dehumanise people in order to maintain their...
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...Analysing Dystopia in a “Brave New World” The concept of Dystopia in literature is a form of exploring various interpretations of a different world. Specifically, a dystopian text explores a domain in which a society and way of life may seem ideal (Utopia), yet within the text it is later revealed that the society remain mentally unprepared and incapable of sustaining order in their world. Most dystopian texts illustrate a world which has been resulted in the consequence of humanity and this is one of the main reasons it is regularly visited. It is a genre in which the dystopian texts frequently challenge the views and values of their current audiences. This is because they are judged and critiqued on their depiction of scenes and events that breach sensitive moral and ethical issues. What makes the genre so fascinating both to read and write is to remind ourselves of the capabilities of humanity and just how much we can impact a hypothetical world. It is also a way in which we can ponder the extremes we as a society can reach and reflect the possibilities of the very future of the human race. Another reason why the concept intrigues us is because dystopian texts are subconsciously thought to be renditions of hell. With Utopia being the impression of heaven or an ideal world, Dystopia corresponds as the opposite. These ideas are explored in Aldous Huxley’s classic dystopian piece “Brave New World” [1932]. “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley is considered a dystopian text due...
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...Brave New World: Relevant or too Relevant? In the 1930s and 1940s, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell presented notions of a lurid future society in their novels. Huxley’s Brave New World is a dystopian novel that tells a tale of humans born in laboratories who are free to use drugs and have sex at their leisure, which mirrors a few aspects of today’s world. Today, sexual promiscuity and prurience has increased. Substance abuse has also proliferated. Moreover, many rapid scientific/technological developments have been made. Despite Orwell’s 1984 prophesying that telescreens and totalitarianism will be copious, our world is steadily racing toward a society that echoes Huxley’s Brave New World. The eerie resemblance is more than just a coincidence. Whether the circumstance applies to a teenager or an adult, sexual promiscuity has become increasingly common. By human nature, men and women will be aroused by someone whose attributes are in his/her favor (such as a large bosom or wide hips of women for men and muscularity or great hair of men for women), even if they are married and devoutly committed to his/her partner. Monogamous relationships are also threatened by divorce and extramarital affairs. Another reason marriages break apart is due to pornography— men and women may feel unsatisfied in their relationship and/or seek sexual gratification from a third party. A study by the Family Research Council and the Marriage and Religion Institute claims that 56% of divorces...
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...Zhang 1 ! Brave New World －the Nightmare of Dystopian Society The society in Brave New World is full of peace and harmony seemingly, but the inside of that is a dystopian society which is full of maladies that cannot be controlled. The inundation of human science and technology improves people’s living standard, but essentially, it covers up the weak and empty human’s mental world. The novel Brave New World was written in 1931 by the famous English novelist, Aldous Leonard Huxley. It describes a futuristic society that in 632 A.F in London, people are controlled by the World State, a new world which has a slogan “COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY”. The marriage is forbidden, and babies are produced in an embryo factory. At the same time, the society is formed by five castes. Different levels people have their own different jobs. In the novel Brave New World, the World State reflects a dystopian society because it embraces an exploitative caste system, is morally bankrupt, and the citizens lack freedom and human dignity. The first reason why the World State reflects a dystopian society is because it embraces an exploitative caste system. In the new world, it has an extremely severe class system, which people are divided into five different castes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. All of them are responsible to a different part of jobs in the state, like brain workers, labors, creators, and leaders. The Alpha embryos will become the leaders and thinkers, but the Epsilon embryos...
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...Shakespeare’s plays, especially King Lear, in Brave New World .Often times both authors use Aristotelian conventions like reversal or recognition or they use motifs like those about clothes and God. They use these concepts to inform their respective audiences of the irony in the words “civilization” and “nobility”. They relay to the audience that nobility and baseness are not determined by birth, but rather by action. The writers juxtapose opposing concepts like savagery and civilization or nobility and baseness to allow the audience to understand that these terms are ironic. Similarly, they use techniques like reversal and recognition with motifs like those concerning clothes to express the same message. Initially Huxley uses the motif of nobility to show that his views on nobility are similar to those of Shakespeare, as he believes nobility should be based on ones actions. In King Lear Shakespeare repeatedly refers to Burgundy as “noble Burgundy” (1.1.223). He does this in order to show the irony in calling him noble as Burgundy is noble by birth, but not by action. This is obvious when Burgundy dismisses the idea of marrying Cordelia, once Lear removes her dowry, which in his eyes makes her worthless while in the eyes of France her worth does not change. Huxley uses the same motif to emphasize that there is a lack of nobility in the World State. In Kazi 2 Brave New World John Savage is one of the only people in the World State who has a proper understanding of what...
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...produce an improvement in the human condition. That is, people can become happier in terms of quality of life (social progress) through economic development (modernization) and the application of science and technology (scientific progress). Progress implies change and evolution and throughout history most advances have been positive. However the rythm of progress seems to have accelerated over the last few decades and the technological breakthrough and scientific developments are causing some people to question this progress. Should we fear progress ? To answer this question I will present three documents. The first document I have choosen is an excerpt from “O brave new world” by Aldous Huxley. O brave new world is a dystopian novel which anticipates developments in reproductive technology, sleeplearning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that combine profoundly to change society. The extract is about reproductive technology. The D.H.C (Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning) is talking about the Bokanovsky’s Progress to a group of students. Humans grow in incubators. Before this progress, they only grew one by one in incubator but with a bokanovskyfied egg it’s possible to make 96 humans grow. Later in the excerpt he explains that these 96 persons will be twins and will work on identical machines. There will be millions of identicals twins. In this world the principle of mass production is applied to biology. To sum up, it’s a totalitarian...
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...In the novel Brave New World Aldous Huxley depicts a society where legal hallucinogens keep people happy and the government has disregarded common social norms in favor of a peaceful community. Huxley uses the title Brave New World ironically to emphasize the lack of bravery within the fictional society and the behavior of the main characters within his book. Conditioned to fear deep emotions, individuals within the civilized communities quickly learn “when the individual feels the community reels.” (94, Huxley) Consequently, the people of this society naturally avoid deep thought, alone time, and use pills to increase their happiness. There is not anything brave about this society, not when its member refuse to suffer through mild discomfort without the help of the drugs provided to them by the government. However,...
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...fascinating aspects of Brave New World for me is that it epitomises the pursuit of physical perfection and treatment of the notion of female beauty. In my opinion, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World conditions people into the ‘perfect human’ leading then to the ‘ideal society’ that Brave New World is about. This is a precise reflection of today’s society and our so called ‘obsession for physical perfection’. You see, in Brave New world, humans never have to think of dieting, plastic surgery,...
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...Brooklyn Public Library. Esther Lombardi said that the language of the book was objected to on social grounds, and derogatory meanings such as “slave or servant.” I don’t agree with the banning of the book because I grew up reading the book in school as a requirement and it was educational. Aside from slang terms and derogatory language, Huckleberry Finn is a part of adolescent history. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was banned for religious and political reasons on September 16th, 2004. According to Austin Cline “it depicted Christ marrying Mary Magdalene and fathering a child.” I don’t agree with the banning of The Da Vinci Code because the novel is a fictional plot that doesn’t reflect reality. Dan brown also didn’t depict actual history in the plot so it doesn’t refute religion. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was banned by the Board of Curriculum in Seattle schools, and in schools in Glen Burnie for sexual content. According to Alexandra Petri “in Glen Burnie the issue was too much sexual content in Seattle, there were complaints of racially offensive or derogatory language, misinformation, and stereotypes.” I do not agree with the banning of a Brave New World because it is a depiction of a society through Huxley’s fictional and creative perspective. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck was banned in 1997 in Peru, Illinois for race and gender conflictions. Ron Titus from the Marshal University said the of Mice and Men had offensive language, racism, violence, unsuitable...
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...into a perfectly formed embryo, and every embryo into a full sized adult” (4). With the help of technology, identity and the purpose of nature have been obliterated. By destroying the idea of the individual, the only thing left is to meet the fairly simple needs of the people. As a result, this makes the individual dependent on the state to not only provide for them, but to have complete control over all of society. Including the individual's knowledge of the natural world, the impression of god and a sense of their placement within the system. Throughout the novel, Brave New World the idea of a utopian society is questioned to be compatible. In other words, one could argue that the citizens in the novel are satisfied and happy. While another...
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...Cody Hudson Professor Michelle Grady Communications Cluster 21 March 2013 Brave New World: Technology and the End of Jobs “Brave New World” is a phrase said many times by people, since Aldous Huxley wrote the novel Brave New World in 1932, every time a greater technology, for anything, comes about; not necessarily referring to Huxley’s book, but more referring to the fact that modern technology is becoming so great that it will/or has downsized companies by replacing the human element. Sure jobs are lost, but is this a bad thing? One would have to really dive into the question and do some in-depth research and analysis to figure out the answer, but maybe there is not a right answer? Whether greater technology advances are better or not, one thing is for certain; people will lose jobs because of it. Auto plant workers, factories, coal miners, farming, telephone operators, cashiers, tollbooth collectors, and bankers: These are just a few examples of jobs that are being replaced by greater technology in our present day, even some earlier on. Yes, this is a bad thing for the people employed by those jobs, but maybe for the “greater good,” whatever that term, used by many optimistic people, is really supposed to mean, the same technology that ended those jobs will create more jobs or even better jobs--who knows? Maybe the advances in technology aren’t needed, but created because of corporate greed, to minimize a company’s cost to employees and fatten the wallets of the suits...
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...Throughout history, the technological world has continued to evolve and grow to new heights. Sometimes, these technological advancements are controversial and present a multitude of issues that make call into question its benefits. Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, features the birth of babies in artificial wombs as an alternative to natural pregnancies. Huxley describes new problems arising such as Although this controversial device could be available in the far future, it is currently only being researched as a way to treat and care for premature babies who would not survive outside of the womb. With these new technologies, it is possible to have positive impacts on the health of unborn babies without encountering negative effects such...
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...a seemingly perfect world is often anything but. Every utopia has its flaws and cracks, and few novels make this point more clearly than Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The futuristic setting of the story exposes the reader to a world dominated by technology and complacency. People are no longer born; they are made in laboratories all around the world, and have their destinies chosen for them before they even leave their test tube. Sexuality is treated in a very flippant manner, and self-gratification is the primary driving force for the actions of nearly every single person. History is no longer relevant, and people never question what they are told. The key question regarding the nature of this kind of world is a question to which the answer is yet unknown. The question is something any reader of this novel should ask himself or herself, and that is simply this: Is it worth it? There is no crime rate, and peoples’ desires are rarely left unfulfilled, but is it worth the giving up of free will and of choice? There is no clear answer to this question, and there will likely never be one. Although this question has no obvious answer, the logic behind this world is fairly easy to understand. Perhaps Aldous Huxley himself summarizes it best in Brave New World Revisited when he states, “Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government. And permanent crisis is what we have to expect in a world in which over-population...
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...If Brave New World was Aldous Huxley's technocratic purgatory, Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four describes a hell beyond Huxley's worst fears. Compare and contrast the two novels as visions of a future that has gone dramatically wrong. Brave New World and 1984 were both written by men who had experienced war on the grand scale of the twentieth century. Disillusioned and alarmed by what they saw in society, each author produced a powerful satire and an alarming vision of future possibilities. Although the two books are very different, they address many of the same issues in their contrasting ways. Huxley's novel sets out a world in which society is kept carefully balanced, with the means of reproduction just as closely controlled as the means of production. Human beings and the goods they make are tailored to one another: people are created in order to fulfil particular purposes, and are encouraged to consume so as to maintain the cycle. The society presented in 1984 is less comfortably balanced. The population is kept content with a rather meagre lot because of the constant war, which, as is explicitly stated in the Book, is a convenient means of maintaining the status quo, and the Party keeps a very close watch on those members of society who are deemed capable of disrupting it. Although set in Orwell's future, 1984 does not put great emphasis on technological advance—indeed, within the society of Oceania, there is effectively none any more, because the methods required for...
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...Dystopia: The World Today Introduction Written in 1931 and published a year after, The Brave New World (1932) contradicts the idea of Utopia (perfect world); a type of novel that queries the values of 1931 London using satire to dramatically represent a futuristic world in which occurring fads in British and America have been taken to extremity. People from The World State are living peacefully, free from any kind of war, abhorrence, impecuniousness, illness and physical sufferings. The novel depicts a potentially perfect world, not to mention people can enjoy wealth in terms of material possessions and all form of pleasures. Using high technology, human beings no longer have to conceive. They are created in factories wherein they are being prepared for future lives. The children are raised altogether and minds are controlled through sleep-teaching to further enhance their condition. As they turn to be adults, people are already destined to certain classes. And if one was unfortunately destined to be of the lower class, he would be raised to generally like the kind of life designated to him and be trained not to like nor appreciate - basically to the extent of being manipulated - other roles but theirs. They are subjected to engage or yield themselves in totally harmless entertainment and physical activities as form of leisure. There are several anticipations which were depicted by Huxley in The Brave New World. Although some of them may not be totally proven by this time,...
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