IndexIntroductionStabilityTraditional ReligionHigh ArtDeathConclusionReferencesIntroductionIntroduction: Although it was written over eighty years ago in 1932, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World still maintains its relevance to today's society. Huxley's vision of a static dystopia that has altered what it means to be human is as terrifying as when this novel was first published. The subversion of religion, the trivialization of art and the alteration of attitudes towards death to ensure this need for stability fundamentally affect humanity. Through various biological and behavioral conditioning techniques, a successful degradation of the human condition is achieved. Huxley himself described the novel's theme as "the progress of science influencing human individuals." This is certainly not the promising Brave New World voiced by Miranda in The Tempest. Instead we have a world in which scientific methods of ensuring stability have the effect of dehumanisation: a reflection of the changes that were transforming Huxley's world such as increasing consumerism, promiscuity and changes in popular culture at the time of the novel's writing and a warning to his generation of what could happen if this path continues. Thesis Statement: So in my essay I will explore to what extent, in its determination to bring about a stable society, the World State subverts religion, trivialises art and alters attitudes towards death, thereby degrading the human condition? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Context: While reading, I was struck by how the characters in the novel are so completely different from me and what we consider normal in society. They looked like mannequins, caricatures of what it means to be human, like programmed robots in our modern world. So when choosing a question, the focus was on why the characters were so devoid of humanity in the first place. The answer was the adulteration of ideas of family and love, art, religion and even death. Secondly, the reason and justification for this deterioration of the human condition. After analysis, this was the determination for stability, regardless of cost. Only through the creation of a monstrous version of contemporary man could it be ensured that dystopia was not endangered. Stability In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, stability is the central goal and raison d'être. War, poverty, social and class conflicts have been eradicated. But to achieve stability, leaders believe in a process of dehumanization because the natural man is volatile, passionate, and inherently individual. For this reason the maxim of the World State is “Community, Identity, Stability”. Evidence and Citations: One such dehumanization effort is the Bokanovsky trial. In this way numerous clones are created to contribute to mass production. The World State wants all citizens to be equal so that there are no conflicts. The director says: “Standard men and women; in uniform batches. The whole of a small factory made up of the products of a single bokanovskified egg. Ninety-six identical twins working on ninety-six identical machines.” Children would no longer be born to mothers, there would be no more children. Because this happened in the past, when “human beings were viviparous”, the director quotes, “and when children were praised. Born". The destruction of the family unit is an important step towards a stable society and therefore they despise the idea thatonce there were parents, a father and a mother. “Mom 'These,' she said gravely, 'are unpleasant facts,'” the Director declared, demonstrating how they consider this harmful to their society, calling it “dirty”. Comment: Huxley uses irony here to emphasize the difference in attitudes between the New World and our society. What our world sees as normality is taboo in dystopia. The World State has divided people into certain castes through biochemical technology, producing identical human beings satisfied with their status. “Has it not occurred to you that an Epsilon embryo must have an Epsilon environment as well as an Epsilon inheritance?” says the Director. Not only do leaders create identical clones, but individuals who think and act alike. This is achieved through hypnopaedia, a form of sleep teaching used to condition individuals. Indoctrination through hypnopaedia and the whole Bokanovsky process of designing people to fit particular roles in society means that people no longer suffer. As John points out, it is humanity's destiny to experience pain and suffer: it is fundamental to the human condition. By conditioning their citizens they deny the natural man. Diversity has been replaced by conformity and free choice has been lost in favor of an imposed and strictly controlled conformity. The government firmly believes that to maintain a stable society, individuality must be eradicated. Thus, they make everyone look, think and act the same. For this reason, strong emotions such as love or attachment are not necessary. “We condition ourselves to thrive in the heat,” concluded Foster. «And this», the director interjected sentiently, «this is the secret of happiness and virtue: loving what you have to do. All conditioning aims at this: to make people love their inevitable social destiny." Comment: This is how stability is achieved. Individuals who accept their social position will not complain and will not cause problems: the end of class conflict. The consequence of this fate is the aptly described image of "worms" swarming over the dead body of the savage's mother, also called "khaki crowd". Evidence and Quotations: At this point, the irony of Savage John's cry “Brave New World” is more than just irony at the horror the world has become, but despair at the fate of humanity. The inhabitants of the New World are also conditioned to accept promiscuity, "everyone belongs to everyone else." It is unusual for one to be faithful to the other, monogamy is non-existent. When Fanny discovers that her friend Lenina was seeing only Henry Foster, she says, “it's not that there was anything painful or unpleasant about having one or two men besides Henry. And given this you should be a little more promiscuous...". Comment: Ironically it is the opposite of the morality of our world and proves that it is the norm in the World State. While this eliminates the conflict people may have over love, it also puts an end to passion, an emotion that humans feel naturally. In times when they face discomfort or confusion, they find escape with soma which makes people relaxed and happy, effectively negating their sadness. This is clearly seen when Lenina indulges in soma after her experience in the Reserve, “after this day of strangeness and horror she swallowed six half-gram tablets of soma and embarked on lunar eternity.” Soma and sexual promiscuity provide the escape needed to ensure happiness and social stability. The eradication of love and jealousy also ensures stability. Without passion for a specific person, everyone can have everyone else and continue to be with new people, without ever learning concepts like love and loyalty.These emotions lead to instability, but they are two of the most human experiences. As a result, the reader feels that many characters in this society “are simply automations: they simply live and breathe, nothing more.” By sacrificing family, individuality, choice, passion, love, and loyalty at the campfire in the pursuit of a stable, unchanging society, the New World has created a monstrous version of what it means to be human. John proves to be the antithesis of this new man and is antagonistic to these major beliefs of the inhabitants of the New World with his belief in family, idealization of romantic love, and disgust with conformity. Traditional ReligionHuxley paints a picture of a society devoid of religion and true spirituality. Evidence and quotes: In doing so, he issues a warning about a society that awaits us with a “soulless utilitarian existence, incompatible with our nature and purpose.” In place of a deity there is now Ford, in place of churches and prayer there are community chants and soma-induced orgies. The Christian cross was replaced by the T symbol, representing Henry Ford's Model T and its mass production assembly line. Likewise, the Bokanovsky process on which the New Worlders are built is also an assembly line. The stability of collective society requires the sacrifice of these practices and icons. The logic of this subversion is that if different paths to spirituality are allowed, this activity will make individuals different, causing dissent and breaking the control of the social collective. Evidence and quotes: World controller Mustafa Mond makes this clear when he says, “It would upset the entire social order if men started doing things on their own.” Comment: The path to spirituality is personal and any individual activity will destabilize society. In this discussion with John, Mond argues that the need for religion has disappeared, “God is not compatible with machines, scientific medicine and universal happiness.” He argues that religion is no longer necessary because they have put an end to suffering. In response, John argues, “But isn't it natural to feel that there is a God?”, that it is part of our very humanity to have spirituality. For Mond, spirituality is conditioning, to which John responds: “it's natural to believe in God when you're alone, really alone, at night.” John is actually discussing the human condition, our ability to rise above the everyday, the mundane and to consider the transcendent. But the inhabitants of the New World, as Professor Birnbaum states, "are never taught religion and are conditioned so that they are never alone and think about the possibility of God." Evidence and Quotations: John's Final Response to the Lack of Spirituality in the World The State is an extreme measure to eliminate not only one's own sin but also the emptiness of society. His cries of “Oh the flesh” and “Fry, lust, fry” as he flagellates himself. In dying, he becomes a martyr to the soulless soul of Huxley's Brave New World. The argument is for the importance of the human desire for the transcendent, something above the material. This is evidenced when Huxley depicts the idiotic elevator operator as elated at reaching the roof of his building and encountering "the warm glory of afternoon sunlight 'Oh, roof!' he repeated in an ecstatic voice. It was as if he had suddenly and joyfully awakened from a dark, annihilating stupor. 'Roof!'' Comment: This symbolic ascent to heaven reveals a spirituality that has survived the conditioning process and indicates humanity's desperate longing for something beyond the physical. A need for spirituality that is part of the human condition: a residue of ourshumanity that cannot be conditioned. Our sense of the spiritual emptiness of the New World is heightened by the author's juxtaposition of wilderness life and values. Evidence and Citations: Their religion is a combination of Christianity and Native American beliefs and has a concern for the soul and a spiritual oneness with the natural world. It turns John into someone different from the citizens of the New World. Prompted by the coming of age ceremony at the Antelope Kivawith, he experiences a vision and "discovers Time, Death, and God." John obtains these revelations because he lives in a world in harmony with nature and spirit; one in which he can achieve solitude for such thought. Comment: Such a world allows the freedom to question the reason for existence and allows man to retain his humanity. In John's words, “something about solitude, about the night, about the pale mesa under the moon, about the precipice, about the plunge into shadowy darkness, about death” is indicative of the freedom to question. Contrasting this land with the world of Bernard and Lenina heightens our sense of the debasement of mankind. Evidence and Quotes: John's eventual suicide represents his rejection of the spiritual emptiness that exists in this new world. It is the manifestation of a superficial existence dedicated to the stability of society. He becomes a figure of Christ and in seeking death reveals his humanity, the description of his body “turned to the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south” is the symbol of a society that has lost morality and concern for what it means to be human. Comment: Only in suffering and death can John maintain his humanity. Like Jesus on the cross, he dies for the sins of the Brave New World: a world without a moral compass or spirituality: a world without religion. High ArtTopic Phrase: Rather than cultivating a word of creativity and imagination, the World State focuses on the superficial and banal. Evidence and Citations: According to Professor Zhamurashvil there has been an effective denial of high art, citing as evidence the cabaret scene where saxophones become “sexophones” and numbered couples dance to synthetic music devoid of art and culture . Likewise, they invented “Feelies” and films like “Three Weeks in a Helicopter,” a juxtaposition to Othello, so that people could experience real feelings during the films. In this film a black man kidnaps a white woman and she is saved by alpha males: a parody of Shakespeare's tragedy of jealousy. Then the art is degraded and replaced by superficial incarnations. Instead of classical music there is cabaret, instead of Shakespeare there is soft pornography. Such transformations of high art into crass commodities of consumerism can only degrade the human condition. In Huxley's nightmarish vision, music, literature and art are considered very dangerous because they evoke emotions. When people have individuality, they tend to express themselves through art such as painting and poetry. They communicate their feelings with words and images that allow people to feel emotions. Evidence and quotes: Mond says: “You cannot create tragedies without social instability. The world is stable now. People are happy; they get what they want and never want what they can't get." Comment: They have conditioned individuals to want what they can have. Not being aware of other emotions, they will never have an unattainable desire. Because art has the ability to enlighten people, allowing them to be aware of their own oppression, people will feel dissatisfied. This feeling can lead to instability and the collapse of the social order. Evidence and Quotes: Mond says, “Universal happiness keeps the wheels turningconstantly; truth and beauty cannot." Instead of allowing people to have art and sensations that can make them unhappy, they took them away. Instead of allowing people to have art and sensations that can make them unhappy, they removed them. Evidence and Quotations: Further explain: “Our civilization chose machinery, medicine and happiness. That's why I have to keep these books locked in the safe. They are obscene. People will be shocked." Comment: Mustapha Mond believes that something will be sacrificed no matter what, so they chose happiness, the rest must be altered or replaced. Evidence and Quotes: Although the removal of these experiences and feelings will make society stable, Huxley argues that if man loses art and culture he becomes something less than human. Comment: John, having lived on the Reservation, serves as a contrast and believes that art can provide comfort to those inevitable difficulties of the human experience. Before Linda taught him to read, John experienced innate emotions such as grief and loneliness. Contrary to Mond's argument that art is dangerous and makes people feel dissatisfied, Huxley argues that Shakespeare eases John's suffering. Another example given by What John contradicts Mond is that he believes that suffering is worth the recognition of truth and beauty that can be seen in Shakespeare's plays when he says: “something that is new like Othello, and that they can understand”. Mond states that it is better to free oneself from the “inconveniences” of experiencing passionate emotions by reading the play Othello and that it is better to simulate a “violent and passionate surrogate.” That it is better to imitate the human being: a denial of the human condition. To read Othello is to feel passion, a destabilizing force for society. In contrast to this dehumanization, John argues that these “inconveniences” are worth addressing, and Helmholtz Watson agrees that words can impact people and make them feel. He says: “read and they pierce you”. Watson begins writing his poem by describing the process, "that extra latent power I have within me." He feels more alive thanks to art. Although Helmholtz is conditioned, there is a part of him that seeks the power to express his feelings and experiences. When the Comptroller asks him what climate he would like to be sent to, Helmholtz rises “from his pneumatic chair” and says he would write best in a “bad climate” with lots of “wind and storms.” This "rise" is symbolic of his independence and rejection of the New World. According to John the meaning of life is art, being the transformation of suffering into meaning. Huxley tries to convey the idea that a society in which people exist in their own humanity, although unstable, can exhibit meaning and beauty in life. Although John and Mond have different opinions about art in society, they both believe that citizens need catharsis, or emotional release, to become happy. However, the two disagree on how such release can be provided: John giving credit to art; and Mond who thinks drugs, like soma, are the key. In World State, Mond explains that people still experience pain, but in a different way because they "prefer to do things comfortably." John, of course, chooses the least convenient alternative to the novel's conclusion. Huxley's argument through his surrogate John, summarizes the human condition of needing art as an outlet for our emotions and comfort for our pain. In Brave New World, art and creativity are seen as essential to humanity, if we are to remain human, not just to express and satisfy our emotional needs, but as part of the human condition. DeathTopic Phrase: In Brave New World byAldous Huxley, people no longer fear death, losing their connection to the natural world. Dr. Gaffney tells John, “Death conditioning begins at eighteen months. Each child spends two mornings a week in a hospital for the dying. All the best toys are kept there and given chocolate cream on the days of death. They learn to take death as a matter of course." Comment: This conditioning continues throughout childhood until death loses its traditional impact and meaning. The end of life is described as aseptic, positive and meaningless, emphasizing the belief in community, that the death of an individual is a minor inconvenience, the painful emotions of grief and loss are eliminated, and the spiritual meaning of death fades the human body begins to deteriorate. At death, they are transformed into phosphorus. Lenina asks Henry Foster of smokestacks around them and he responds with “The recovery of phosphorus,” informing her that the dead can help grow plants find it reassuring that once they die they will be recycled and become chemicals that benefit the collective society When the mother by John, Linda, succumbs to high doses of soma, is sent to hospital The appearance of the dying hospital as “a sixty-story tower of primrose tiles” with “brightly colored areial hedges” represents the conditioning towards death. When patients are dying, they lose their identity and people in the hospital start referring to them as numbers due to their conditioning to not fear death, "Number 3 'It could ring any minute'". There is no way to remember these people because there is no family, no burials or cemeteries. After death they are cremated. In the World State, instead of remembering the past, people forget it and look forward to what will happen in the future. On the other hand, John considered the death tragic because he came from a world where women give birth to children, have families, and feel love for each other. John wanted to find a way to keep his mother alive and see her one last time. Unlike the people in Brave New World who forget, he held his mother's hand and called her name remembering what she had done and how she had taken care of him. The nurse, seeing John's unconditional nervous and anxious reactions to Linda's impending death, makes her ask, "You don't feel bad, do you?" Evidence and Quote: Meanwhile, a group of children run in and casually watch Linda dying while they were having a snack and John was yelling at them. The nurse then responds by "undoing all their healthy conditioning to death with this disgusting cry, as if death were something terrible, as if anyone mattered so much!" Comment: This shows once again how in Brave New World people are conditioned to accept death and not fear it. Due to the children's lack of humanity, John pushes the child who asks him whether Linda is dead or not. The soma that Linda consumes makes her feel happy and therefore she does not worry about her impending death,” Linda watched, smiling vaguely and without understanding. His pale, swollen face had an expression of imbecilic happiness,” of incomprehension about his fate due to soma. But even as she dies, when she realizes her death is “filled with terror,” we see the human condition. John calls the children “shameful” while the nurse responds: “Shameful? But what do you mean? They are conditioned to death." Evidence and quotes: Since families did not exist in their world, there would be no feeling of “missing someone” and “remembering those who are important to one” because everyone lives their lives following the rules of their conditioning. Because people can be..