...Title: Consumption and Utopia Student’s name: Professor’s name: Course title: 18 May 2016 Consumption and Utopia A Brave New World is a novel that was written in the year 1931, but however published in the year 1932 by Aldous Huxley, (Huxley, 2006). The novel “A brave new world” is said to have been set in London in the year AD 2540. It portrays a futuristic society whereby the individual is to be sacrificed for the state, science will be used to control and subjugate, and a world in which all forms of art and history are outlawed. These novel as well anticipates the developments and growth in reproductive technology, psychological manipulation, sleep-learning, as well as several classical conditionings that combine based on the change in the society. These novel, “Brave new world”, revolves around a number of ideas from science, sex, power, suffering, literature and writing, freedom and confinement, isolation, drug and alcohol, identity, spirituality, society and class, and finally the dissatisfaction that comes with our different passions and live. Based on research, (Huxley, 2006), Aldous Huxley wrote the novel “brave new world”, to portray science and how it affects people. He intend to portray a high technological and futuristic society and how horrifying and at the same time fascinating it might end up to be. A world in which the society is controlled by their very own impulses, thoughts and emotions and how science may at times tend to imprison humanity rather...
Words: 1018 - Pages: 5
...place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives”. Brave New World and The Matrix both take place in scientifically advanced, futuristic, and horribly imperfect worlds that strip people of human individuality. In Brave New World, the World State controls every aspect of human life, all psychological, economic, and social factors. The world that Huxley has created is a place where free thinking has never been a thought, and the freedom to choose can never be chosen. In the Matrix, a technological evolution creates artificial intelligence, that views humanity as a virus that needs to be eliminated. In the movies, people are “programed” before they are born so they can be controlled. The worlds of The Matrix and Brave New World both revolve around societies that are scientifically advanced and controlling of all aspects of human life. The World State system in Brave New World is centered around consumerism. In the novel, society modifies human behaviors so that people will want to consume goods and spend as much money as possible. They are brainwashed to think that they live in the perfect system because they don’t feel pain, discomfort, or recognize injustice but their incomprehensible truth is they don’t live real life. (Read this next sentence dramatically) They're all living a lie because they don’t got no freedom! The person who controls this society is called “The Director”. The citizens of the World State are separated into 5 groups Alphas, Betas, Deltas, Gammas...
Words: 692 - Pages: 3
...Brave New World and The Time Machine Critically explore the extent to which the personal themes in Well’s THE TIME MACHINE (1895) and Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD (1932) responded to the prevailing ideologies of social class that were present in England at their time of writing Keep in mind Wells wrote/rewrote The Time Machine, on and off, for around 12 years before it saw publication. Brave New World was apparently written in 1931 (and so the sharp change in ideas caused by the Great Depression could have shaped the novel.) Society is defined as “the aggregate of people living together in an ordered community” (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/society). Every nation on this planet is comprised of many societies which all differ in their own ways. As time passes, society itself changes. The morals or beliefs that a society once stood by overtime, radically change to form a newer, revolutionized set of ideas. Fields like science and technology reach their most advanced states. Members of a society can also change. In most cases, members develop according to the new rules or ideals that are of the norm. Some changes are for the betterment of society while others prove to have more negative impacts. These are all changes one can expect when time travelling. Although, one cannot prepare themselves for the societies I have recently seen. Throughout my time travelling I have never come across two societies so strange. Both societies were of terrifying living conditions. One can...
Words: 475 - Pages: 2
...Both Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell's 1984 predict similar totalitarian government styles for the near future of mankind. These novels portray excessive control and oppression from the government to their people. The protagonists from these novels, John the Savage (John) and Winston Smith, are outcasts from the totalitarian society. Their contributions to these books offer incredible insight to the horrors and seemingly helpless rebellion against an oppressive world state. John is Huxley’s protagonist who enters the story a little later than in normal stories in Brave New World. John was born in a exiled reserve outside of the mainstream world state. He grew up fully acknowledging that he is an outcast and shows that he wants to embrace...
Words: 857 - Pages: 4
...Brave New World In Contrast to Aging in the Future The book “Brave New World” brought up many points about the future, and aging. The book is in the Utopia setting where everyone is the same, and robot-like, they take soma to stay happy and emotionally incapable. People do not age, they do not have emotions or feelings either, they are all the same. Comparing to the real world, we do age, we do have emotions, and we do care about others. In Brave New World everyone lives forever because of the medications they take. The question for today is, how long are we going to live in the future? It all depends on medical advances, and technological advances. Some people believe we are going to live longer as the years go on. Some believe that medicines or life styles may decrease our life expectancy. I believe that in the very far future we may end up like Brave New World, taking medications or other modifications to help our bodies live longer. I believe that we will advance medically in the near future, but we will not be advancing rapidly enough to be able to find a medication that everyone in society is going to take. It is far-fetched...
Words: 1655 - Pages: 7
...Brave New World Brave New World is a form of utopian literature. It’s an imaginary society organized to create ideal conditions for human beings, eliminating hatred, pain, neglect, and all of the other evils of the world. The novel takes place in 632 A.F. (After Ford, the god of the New World). It takes place in a time where man is desperate for beliefs (and structures also a relief from pain.). All civilization has been destroyed by a great war. Then there is another war, the Nine Years War, which begins the era of Ford, ensuring stability through dictatorship. The society in Brave new world is based on a strict caste system. The highest of the five castes enjoy easier and better tasks, while the lower ones perform unskilled and all the dirty jobs. Ten Controllers hold all the power in this new world and peace is maintained by training infant minds and by dulling down adults with the tranquilizer, “soma.” The population is further controlled through scientific methods; marriage is forbidden, and children are not born but produced in an embryo factory THEME: Science and its influences on humanity is the major theme of Brave New World. The novel depicts a new society where human beings have been stripped of individual freedom, programmed to certain types of behavior, and conditioned to respond in scientific ways to specific stimulants. All traces of the old order have been eliminated. No longer are human emotions or relationships important. Infants are created in...
Words: 881 - Pages: 4
...empty entertainment to keep a community thriving, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World depicts a distorted society by over exaggerating the use of new technological advances and unemotional lifestyle. Throughout the novel, a futuristic, highly advanced world is illustrated based on the activities the people of the new world society partake in and the creation and decanting of the humans. This brave new world created is an exaggerated form of life today by emphasizing high technology and erotic and i satisfying entertainment distort life and create a false sense of a pure, perfect society. Continually, the use of technology plays a large part in the society because the use of technology...
Words: 734 - Pages: 3
...education. The veterans fought for us to all be able to go to school. The America I believe in is brave/strong, because the military fights for us to be safe and free. In some places in the world, getting an education is rare. In Mogadishu, Somalia, 36% of girls go to school. It’s very unfair how some countries do not...
Words: 502 - Pages: 3
...“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. Throughout the works of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley slowly transformed all of the themes in a way that explained each character and situation that happened. The tones of the book also helped transform what he was trying to portray in his writings such as miserableness which Bernard felt every day. The most prominent theme that was shown in the book was the internal struggle some of the characters had with having freedom with their inner selves and not being trapped in the confinement of the world they were living in. Internal freedom and self-confinement were something that was unheard of to many...
Words: 652 - Pages: 3
...Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Brave New world is a dystopian novel written in England in 1931 and published in 1932 during the Modernism literary period. The setting of the novel is in London and New Mexico ruled under an imagined future one-world government called the World State. The World State of Brave New World is a totalitarian dystopia that uses technology to, deceive its citizens into loving their slavery. Dystopia is a society, in this case the World State, that is an imaginary society organized to create ideal conditions for human beings, eliminating hatred, pain, neglect, and all of the other evils of the world. Huxley wrote Brave New World as a dystopian novel due to the rise of technology and science in the 1930s, focusing on the totalitarianism evils (meaning centralized or dictatorial). Huxley imagined a future of a totalitarian state where there is no such thing as freedom of anything and happiness was forced through manipulation, called conditioning in the novel. When Huxley wrote Brave New World, it was just a little over a decade since World War I. During this time, totalitarian states were popping up in the Soviet Union and Fascist parties were gaining power in Europe. Also, there were advancements in science, technology, and the relationship between the two as the world became more industrialized. Aldous Huxley was born in Surrey, England, on July 26, 1894, to a well-known family of scientists, writers, and teachers deeply rooted in England’s literary...
Words: 1273 - Pages: 6
...Freedom Freedom is the power of action, speaking, and thinking. We have had freedom since they signed the declaration of independence on July 4, 1776. The thirteen Colonies regarded themselves to a new. I’am thankful for living in America because of our parents and grandparents. Because our grandparents might of fought in a war for us. Even our parents could be transferred and they aren't with you right now. America is great we should be proud of America because back then there wasn’t freedom for some people. They had slavery too. Would you have wanted to be slave? Nowadays there are hard workers. They have to work to pay bills for their families. To me what home of the brave land of the free is that we are brave and we have freedom....
Words: 335 - Pages: 2
...Brave New World by Aldous Huxley May 2012 Brave New World Brave New World idolizes the perfect future. This utopia seems infallible, but the pieces do not fit together. In this world, people take the easy way out, avoiding pain, and have a way of thinking that is not compatible with human nature. Life, altogether, has no meaning. There is nothing worth living for; no family, loved ones, or even God. Is this truly utopia? In fact, it is a chaotic society in which everyone thinks they are happy. At first inspection, it seems perfect in many ways: it is carefree, problem free and depression free. All aspects of the population are controlled: number, social class, and intellectual ability are all carefully regulated. Even history is controlled and rewritten to meet the needs of the party. Stability must be maintained at all costs. In this dystopian novel, Brave New World, presents a horrifying view of a possible future in which society has become a prisoner of the very technology it hoped would save us. In Brave New World Huxley's distortion of technology, religion, and family values, is much more effective than his use of literary realism found in his depiction of a savage reservation. Through his use of distortion Huxley tells a classic tale with the theme of, be careful what you wish for because it may not truly be what you wanted. Huxley effectively uses distortion in Brave New World through his depiction of social values of the future. For example, when...
Words: 1328 - Pages: 6
...“Instead of always buying new things, people should mend or exchange their possessions” In Aldous Huxley’s famous book, Brave New World, the citizens in the World State were conditioned to believe that “ending is better than mending”; that buying a new item instead of repairing the flawed one brings the greatest benefit to economy and the world they are living in. When one’s possessions become faulty, should one buy the same item to replace it or perhaps mend or consider exchanging it? Buying new things means purchasing the same good, at a brand new condition. Mending is repairing a damaged item to working condition. Exchanging suggests the replacement of one good with another; and possessions imply material goods with monetary value attached to it. One of the advantages of buying new things when the old one is defective or worn off is that it helps drive the economy, as mentioned by Huxley. Consumer spending a direct factor that help lift an economy. Consumer spending has evidently helped many countries overcome its financial woes during the tough economic times. For example, the Japanese economy had grown a robust one percent in the first quarter of 2012, largely fuelled by a one percent increase consumer spending. In the States, where consumer spending accounts for about 70% of the economic activity, the economy grew at a stunning 2.5% during the third quarter of 2011 due to increased retail sales. However, buying a new product when it becomes defective is socially...
Words: 752 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 1258 - Pages: 6
...principles are brought to mankind in Aldous Huxley’s groundbreaking novel, Brave New World. This novel raises the questions; how can people achieve these secret goals of society? And how will we ever get to the point of a worldwide community? A sense of identity? And a stable society? The answer is swirling around the world, every second of every day. Time. In order to achieve these ideals, people must learn from the past and prepare for the future, only when the two elements are combined will “Community, Identity, [and] Stability”(1) be prominent in today’s world. One major lesson adults try to implement into children from birth is that one must learn from prior mistakes. In the novel, the people of the World State prosper because they have learned from their past mistakes. War, famine, morals, and other concepts of the past are eliminated from society to insure stability. When the leaders had to make the choice between “World Control and destruction. Between stability and”(48) chaos. In the past chaos has been proven to live up to its definition. Due to their choice against disorder, the World State proves that people need the past to learn from their mistakes. One such example is John’s attempt to free the people from soma. The Savage attempts to cause a revolt amongst the Delta workers. He throws the “poison” out of the window, handful after handful (213). The members of the World State had learned from the past and were able to quickly squash the revolt...
Words: 747 - Pages: 3
