Brave New World Essay Example For Students

Brave New World Essay Huxleys Brave New World is definitely new and is something that is difficult for a person living in a 90s world to imagine for it is so very diverse compared to our society and customs today. The odd world and lifestyle that was prophesied by Aldous Huxley in the first half of the 20th century has much of the same basis of customs but they are just performed different ritually in these peoples everyday routines. If anyone from our time and our world were ever to spend any given amount of time in Huxleys world then they would be confused, shunned by society and looked at almost as a savage like John for having such different and â€Å"primitive† ways. This of course would happen to anyone from Huxleys world that infiltrated our world that we know. Its all in ones opinion whether or not Huxleys adjustments for a stable environment are just are not but what can be done is to show a comparison between a world subjected to Huxleys ideas from Brave New World and our reality today. One comparison that can be made and also the most obvious is how people are brought into the world. In Huxleys world there is a complicated hatching process where embryos are monitored and adjusted. This occurs in the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center. There are many, many aspects to this process and many different methods used to bring life into the world then what we are accustomed to. Here embryos are kept in jars and processed in several ways and conditioned in such a way that everything about the person can be determined and altered. Once these children are born they are put through several events from day one which help to suit them for the rest of their lives. For example, a type of treatment would occur to a certain group of children with a certain determined destiny and so that they enjoy their occupations and niche in their world no matter what that role may be. The people who work to keep this world stable would not want a child predestined to become a construction worker to ever find curiosity in books and learning; that child would be conditioned to stay away from books and learning by means of bad association with those certain things. The child may be given a book and then shocked so they can affiliate bad memories with studying. All persons produced by the center are subjected to many other types of conditioning processes to fit them perfectly to perform their job in the world such as hypnopaedia which is sleep-teaching. In todays reality two people mate and the woman conceives the child through birth. There is no other method of creating a human being. In our world pregnancy is considered natural and beautiful. Children are brought up very individually and in different ways, usually by families and taught the basics of growing up. Children are educated in school learning all subjects including history which is another aspect of life that is shunned by Huxleys society. The mating part in the ritual of creating life is what brings us to our next comparison, sex. In Huxleys society sex is had hastily and through promiscuity, with many partners. Love is something that is not even imagined in their world. But in reality sex is something precious and is not had without thought and without knowing the person well, actually, this is in most scenarios but it is sad to say that promiscuity does exist to some extent in our world. Love is a very serious thing in reality, even more precious than sex and love does occur often. Symbolism In The Fall Of The House Of Usher EssayHuman reproductive instincts are compromised! This is partially due to the counterbalancing desire for self-fulfillment in humans. Since the State provides to satisfy all sensual pleasures of its citizens, this desire is appeased and therefore enables the suppression of reproductive instincts. Moreover, the State provides nurture, through conditioning, in such a way as to conform all individuals to the ideals of the State. This takes place from the time of fertilization to and throughout adulthood. It guarantees, in most cases, the citizens complete acceptance of every aspect of life. For example, when babies destined for the working-class are exposed to books and flowers, they are also subjected to electric shocks coupled with loud and frightening noises; thus, paired stimuli are used to condition, or predetermine a responds, to an object or experience. As the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning puts it, what man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder. The human species has finally learned to master what its instinct desires. Furthermore, through hypnopaedia, the mind of each individual is filled with suggestions from the State. These suggestions become the thought processes and mold the desires of each citizen. The Director claims that all conditioning aim at making people like their unescapable destiny. Therefore, not only has man conquered nature by developing the ability to categorize the genes of individuals and to maximize the efficiency of the workforce, through conditioning, individuals are also taught to conform to societal values and to enjoy their status in society. If you were an Epsilon, your conditioning would have made you no less thankful that you werent a Beta or an Alpha. Ultimately, one has to wonder whether humans are slaves to genes or slaves to conditioning. In Brave New World, cultural conditioning seems to be the dominating factor in the behavior of individuals. The introduction of the Savage into civilization illuminates the slavery of the seemingly robotic Epsilon workers. In both the book and movie versions, the Savage assaults the Soma-distribution line. He sees that the masses of people are trapped, trapped by their conditioning. They are conditioned to take Soma when agitated, to behave in a certain way as to not disrupt the stability of society, and to conform to the ideals of the State. The Savage asks, but do you like being slaves? Dont you want to be free and men? Dont you even understand what manhood and freedom are? Unfortunately, his audience has no notion of freedom due to their conditioning. They are so deeply entrapped and conditioned to be content in life that freedom has no value and no meaning to them. While Huxley focuses on the sacrifice of individualism in favor of social stability, the movie version of Brave New World addresses the lack of love. This lack of love is not only evident between individuals, but it is also pervasive in the mass attitude toward art, philosophy, and even religion and science. Anyhow, the result of both worlds is the same. Through conditioning or mass propaganda, people are taught to live in universal happiness. Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily turning; truth and beauty cant. And this happiness, achieved through ingestion of soma and conditioning, leads to social stability. And according to the Controller, in Brave New World, stability is the primal and ultimate need. Men are no longer slaves of genes but are instead conditioned to serve the stability of society. Each person has his/her place, and everyone works for everyone else. While Huxley presents his Brave New World as a hopeless environment lacking love and real happiness, the movie offers a glimpse of hope in its ending: it shows that a young boy voluntarily disconnects his conditioning process. This is done intentionally. There is hope at the end of our story, Mr. Williams, one of the directors said. Throughout the movie, we get screenshots of this young boy frowning, as if he realizes that something is wrong with the world. Moreover, in the ending, his actions leave a provoking statement that suggests a victory over cultural conditioning. It suggests the presence of a stronger force driving the inhabitants of Brave New World to go against their conditioning. This force constitutes the instincts, the desires and behaviors that are programmed into our genes, that is inherent in human beings. Therefore the movie presents a comeback by nature to overcome nurture. The story of Brave New World presents a scary scenario of government control, regulations on reproduction, and a resulting lack of love in society. The battle between nurture and nature takes place. The State represents the nurturing factors that influence the behavior of individuals; the genes that provide the individuals with instinctive behaviors represent nature. While Huxleys Brave New World hails nurture as the ultimate winner, able to suppress all instinctive desires, the movie version proposes that instinctive desires can drive the inhabitants of Brave New World to go against their conditioning. The movie acknowledges the powerful instinctive desires that counter the conditioning of people. However, after examining both versions of Brave New World, one cannot help feeling entrapped by the society that one lives in. Through a careful analysis of both the book and the movie version of Brave New World, it becomes evident that our world is not so different from Brave New World. Society conditioning induces individuals to strive for better careers, more money, and larger properties. Happiness is often derived from the fulfillment of sensual pleasures and the pursuit of a luxurious life. In Brave New World, we are shocked by the amount of influence that social conditioning exerts on individuals. However, who is to say that we are not under similar influences today in our very own world?