Brave New World – Analysis

“Over the main entrance the words, Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center, and in a shield the World State’s motto, Community, Identity, Stability.” (Huxley,1) As Brave New World opens, the ideas of this motto initially seems like a decent idea. As the book develops I found there is no community, identity, or stability and is a mere paradox and false representation to create a stable utopia.

The idea of community we have today is virtually non-existent in this new world. When I think of community I think of next door neighbors, attending weddings, and family dinners. In the utopia present by Huxley this is all banished. Solitude and time that one person needs to be alone to think and relax is highly discouraged. Sexual promiscuity is formed so there is no family or dependence to occupy one’s mind. The idea of community that relates to current day church is when Bernard attends the Fordson Community Singery. Here the twelve individuals eat strawberry ice-cream soma, praise Ford, and all diverge in an Orgy-Porgy. This felling of community replaces church sine God is now unheard of. Sex and Ford makes up this utopia’s community. The only true utopia seen in Brave New World is when Bernard and Lenina visit the Savage Reservation. Mothers are seen with babies and there are nuclear families. This true community is viewed by the civilized as grotesque and disturbing due to there conditioning.

Destiny in Brave New World is chosen for you before you are even decanted. From the Bokanovsky’s process group details of heredity, jobs, and names are written on the bottle people are being formed in. Alcohol is injected in the bottle if the person is of a lower class to make then less intelligent and capable. The jobs are determined and people are prepared with immunizations and resistance to certain chemicals in correspondence to their job. Classes are created and people are taught to love their class and accepting of other class levels. While on a tour of the hatchery the Director says, “All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny.” (Huxley, 16) In present day people are given the chance to do anything , think what they please and do any job they want.

On this extreme, everyone’s life is predestined and set in advance. The only sense of identity people are given is their name. This is only a label to categorize people and keep track the Bokanovsky Group. From a single embryo many twins are created. From a single embryo many twins are created. A whole factory is staffed with “one hundred and sixty-two Deltas divided into two Bokanovsky Groups of eighty-four red-headed female and seventy-eight dark dolychocephalic male twins, respectively.” (Huxley, 208) In this situation it was possible that there was 80 other people that looked just like each other. These twins had no identity and were stripped of all human qualities.

Stability is a main goal in this utopia. Producing large amounts of genetically identical twins are what keep balance. “Borkanovsky’s Process is one of the major instruments of social stabiltiy.” (Huxley,7) Every person has their job to do and proper

class. Each person is taught to love his or her job so no one is unsatisfied. When people are satisfied with their job happiness is guaranteed. Hypnopaedia, sleep teaching, is used to brain wash individuals. “Ending is better than mending” and other propaganda is forced through sleep beginning at birth. There is no longer any need for literature because people are taught not to love old things. The new society can not relate to tragedies because there is no social instability. Science is highly censored and controlled because if any change occurs a slight imbalance may occur and people may be unconditioned. Soma is taken like candy and prevents emotions of sadness or depression. The people are truly unstable because they are constantly dependent on the soma to take holidays from the world that is suppose to be perfect.

Any scandals, hatred, ignorance, and envy was simply abolished in the name of technology. People are now happy, hygienic, and economically secure. Brave New World presents a possible idea for the too near future. Human beings are turned into mindless, emotionless, walking zombies that only perform menial tasks. This life has to high of a price to pay for the simple stability it has to offer. Existence would be meaningless and only serve to keep the human race continuing. Hopefully technology will never bring us to the point of human destruction. “They’re well off; they’re safe’ they’re never ill; they’re not afraid of death; they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers to fell strongly about; they’re so conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to.”