Topic > Evaluation of Brave New World, a novel by Aldous Huxley

Through the themes of depersonalization, scientific development and death; Aldous Huxley's satirical novel "Brave New World" criticizes modern society. Brave New World is a totalitarian novel, free from wars and greed, in which Huxley manipulates many techniques to convey the ideas that hypnopedia brainwashes society to control, drugs are used to influence the emotions and thinking of an individual and death is an inconsequential event that should not be mourned. The main idea that Huxley tries to convey to readers is that they need to be cautious about how much power they give their government over influential new technologies and science. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Through setting, Huxley's novel "Brave New World", set 500 years in the future, displays themes of depersonalization of society through the use of hypnopaedia and conditioning. The connection between Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and modern society is evident when both visions view consumption with a sacred connotation. The world state is constantly consuming due to conditioning and brainwashing. Hypnopedic teachings such as the quote: “To finish is better than to mend. More points, less riches” (Huxley, chapter 3, page 27), ensure that the world state continues to consume and that happiness is found by owning goods. Conditioning also creates human beings without individuality; “This is the secret of happiness and love of virtue, what you must do. All conditioning aims at this: to make people love their inevitable social destiny." (The Director, chapter 1, page 8) People do not choose their jobs or careers and are assigned jobs based on their birth, each person is conditioned to behave exactly like others and is happy with what they are given is given. Hypnopedic teachings and conditioning are similar to the media, TV and advertising that influence civilization to consume and act obediently without question. Huxley argues that media consumption is brainwashing society to control it. Aldous Huxley's dystopia expresses scientific development as a factor contributing to the imbecile of the mass population. Huxley uses symbolism in the form of the narcotic "soma" to control the masses; the therapeutic drug soma is used to tranquilize and quell any extreme human emotion and prevents the characters in "Brave New World" from interrogating their controllers. Soma ensures that the characters escape any moments of discontent and that the government tightens its control over the characters; "The eyes shone, the cheeks were flushed, the inner light of universal benevolence exploded on every face in happy and friendly smiles." (Huxley, chapter 5, page 42) Soma is distributed by the government en masse, so that the people work constantly, without complaint and become monotonous drones for the World State. Soma is directly related to modern chemical treatments of clinical depression or anti-anxiety pills, where the drug is used to prevent a person from experiencing emotional duress or thinking analytically. The narcotic represents a powerful form of influence that science and technology have on contemporary society because if the masses are happy, people will not be able to question what the government does. In the novel, Huxley presents death as a natural event in which an individual's death has no importance. There is no aging and people remain young. Huxley uses euphemisms to show readers that the-75)