Aldous Huxley's Brave New World: Comparing the People Living on the Reservation to the American Indians - Research Paper Example

Brave New World Introduction The Book “Brave New World” by Huxley is about the struggle of residents of reservation with the utopian society like that of Native Americans and Europeans. The condition of Native Americans can be related to the facts mentioned by Hurley in his book “The Brave New World”. According to the author the technology driven states lived in contrast to that of the residents of reservation who were natural and primitive people. The author explains that technology can make human barbaric and hurt other culture and dominate them. Same as the Native Americans being weak in power and technology was victims to white people. The author finds that the new world is emotionless, controls environment and initiates violence. The residents of the reservation in “Brave New World “and Native Americans share the hatred and despise from whites as they lived in superstition ( Thesis) Huxley residents of reservation practiced a life of superstition like Native Americans . They are alienated from the modern world or his New World states. According to ( Rob) “Written in 1931 and published the following year, Aldous Huxleys Brave New World is a dystopian—or anti-utopian—novel. In it, the author questions the values of 1931 London, using satire and irony to portray a futuristic world in which many of the contemporary trends in British and American society have been taken to extremes”. Huxley feels that the New World is a processed, drugged, regimented and conditioned society which endangered lives of reservation residents like that of Native Americans. The Native Americans had an integrated and peaceful community before removal. They lived in settled villages and hunted for food and lived in harmony. They had brotherhood and upheld their culture and had immense respect for nature and earth. They had their cultural values and beliefs and ceremonies and rituals central to their culture. The men made decisions for the community and women had their own value in their clan. However, with the arrival of white people, the Natives were removed from their territories. They lost their identity and territorial connection and got displaced. As per (Pearson) “In essence, Brave New World is a global caste society. Social stratification is institutionalized in a five-way genetic split. There is no social mobility. Alphas invariably rule, Epsilons invariably toil. Genetic differences are reinforced by systematic conditioning” In the book author suggest that the Native Americans had savage reservation in contrast to the World state. The Native Americans connected with nature and were free while the New World people were mechanical and constrained. However, the author is not praising the savage and felt that they had self mutilation, abuse and sacrifices which were perverse than civilized society. For author, returning to the past makes humans mad. He uses reservation and State to mention that one was insane and other was lunatic. Huxley thinks that both cultures can ruin our freedom and they need to find a new culture to save ourselves. In the early 19th century, the United States expanded more into the south of the country which intimidated the Native Americans. The settlers faced obstacle and Americans thought the Native Americans stood in their way to progression. The Indian removal was a forceful proposal from Andrew Jackson from Tennessee and as a result U.S acquired more land and forced natives to enter in treaty which moved them from their territories. The tribes wanted to appease the government in the hopes of acquiring from land and they wanted to escape from the harassment of the whites. The tribes were given lands but not title to it. In the same way, the residents of reservation had a choice to live in insanity or with utopian society like Native Americans. The traditional life of Native Americans changed from hunter system to agricultural life. They were leaving their home territories and migrating to a new land which brought to grief and sorrow. They became more industrial and agricultural community and started weaving, farming and raising stock. According to ( Darrenkamp) “The Cherokee Nation was allocated land in Georgia as a result of the 1791 treaty with the U.S. Government. In 1828, not only did whites for settlement purposes desire their land, but gold was discovered. Georgia tried to reclaim this land in 1830, but the Cherokee protested and took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court”. The life on the trail was like the life on the reservation which was miserable and torturous. The journey of the Tribes was a memorial to them as they were crying for the loss of their home and ways of living. Many people died from hunger, disease and it became a cultural memory for the tribe. Outbreak of cholera, bitter cold, lack of supplies and exhaustion put them in pain. Many people were also held in prison camps waiting their unfortunate fate. People with strong cultural identity survived the trail of tears. Their built a new successful lives and began new way of living. According to ( Sharri 1-8) “The Cherokee people were forced to embark on a long, bitter and costly journey far away from their homeland despite their best efforts to peacefully coexist with Europeans”. The author felt that the Brave New World has political inefficiency were there was no civilization. According to author, civilization does not need any heroism and nobility. The new world was an unsettling, loveless and sinful place where there was no value for humanity according to Huxley. According to him there is a contrast between life in reservation and life in New World State. In New World, state existed for the individuals and people wanted animal pleasures. The New world state is a threat to human rights and freedom. According to him the World State determines the number of individuals needed in different parts of the world. The life in reservation was more in integration with humanity and nature. As per ( Burnett) “The long painful journey to the west ended March 26th, 1839, with four-thousand silent graves reaching from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains to what is known as Indian territory in the West”. However, the civilized people were shocked by the residents of reservation as they had savaging nature. The reservation had hallucinogens and had sacrifices and abuse in their community. The self mutilation and abuse of the Natives were horrifying which New World people could not accept. According to (Aiman ) “In this world of Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and the unfortunate Epsilons, exists drug-induced happiness, caused by what is known as soma. Here, "everyone belongs to everyone else" emphasizing the system of forced promiscuity, brainwashed into the people from the moment of birth”. The resident of reservation had problems in accepting the civilized society as they felt they had no religion, emotions and natural life. They felt alienated and distracted and could not adjust to the surroundings of the civilized society. They lost their spiritual life style and found civilized world more of scientific and less of spiritual. But in a desire to progress they started adjusting with the civilized society. They had to take up new occupation and lifestyle to civilize themselves which was not easy. The cultured abandonment and alienation created isolation and frustration in them. Nevertheless, the life of Reservation residents started changing slowly. The assimilation with Europeans and settlers changed them in every way. They started to use horses and cattle and they could hunt and travel more efficiently. They started exchanging goods with European traders like Leather, fur and tobacco. In exchange tribes got wheat flour, clothing and rifle for hunting. By civilization, the tribes were more prone to cultivate plants like corn, wheat, beans and potatoes instead of hunting meat alone. Native Americans were also introduced to weaving and started making blankets and clothing. They also started to use brick wood for shelter. They started to look more like Europeans in a span of 100 years. They changed not due to choice but due to lack of choice. However some of the negative impact of civilization was the use of grain alcohol which was new to tribal people. This brought about many problems in society. Also the tribal people were immune to many diseases like small pox, cholera and measles. The Europeans had immunity to these but tribes were exposed to these and killed 2/3 rd of the population. Ina way they were forced to change their way of lifestyle and had to produce and trade good with the settlers. By the pass of time, there were only a minority of Native Americans. The situation of the Native Americans related to the Huxley opinion of aggression and violence of New World State. The people in reservation are same as Native American in the 19th century. They had been a victim of psychological and cultural manipulation. Huxley in his fictional novel is warning the world about the consequences of a Utopian society where technology will dominate and love and emotions devaluate. He expressed the fear of losing individual identity in the modern world which is fast paced. The author is afraid that the culture of youth, sexual promiscuity, violence and selfish nature of man could change the human culture forever. This fear of Americanization of Europe can be related to the Native American people who were cultured by them. The Native Americans like the life of reservation were living in natural habitat but had to leave their culture due to oppression from Europeans. The “Brave New World” shows a contrast between the life in reservation and New World State. When the people from urban city get involved with tribal people they find their lives inhumane and hostile. However, the urban people are uncivilized for having no value for life, culture or identity of their own. As per (Dan) “Brave New World was written by Aldus Huxley in 1932 and remains, to this day, one of the shining examples of the utopia as dystopia style of speculative fiction. It tells the tale of a futuristic world where society has been stabilized through strict social conditioning, a regimented caste system, and wide availability of mood-altering drugs”. In real sense, both the residents of reservation and Native America are in a same culture and experienced difficulties out of their territories. The characters of “Brave New World” are feeling uneasiness in the alien atmosphere and the author is trying to depict the culture alienation and isolation which technology and civilization can bring in. The Brave New World suggest that unfavorable climatic condition, geological condition , poverty of natural resources was not worth for civilizing for Native Americans. Family, chastity and religion had less value in New World and Native American felt isolated and exploited. The author explains that the quality of tribes improved but they were not content or happy. The social engineering only made them more of machines rather than humans. There was clash of two cultures and the indigenous people were forced to fit in a culture which was alien to them. The humanity was moving closer to the Huxley’s dystopian vision. The author suggests that technology was a blessing and a danger to human society. Technology should be used for welfare but not for offense. Huxley states that New World had no creativity, individuality and they don’t have life but just live life. The civilization is not ablaut losing humanity but being more human, polite, harmonies and liberal. The residents of reservation respected their culture, identities, personalities and religion. The residents in reservation and Native American were the real brave people .The braveness is not marked by oppression, violence and cruelty but by surviving and living in new circumstances under adversities. According to (Kirsch)“Brave New World makes the illiberal assumption that giving people more freedom and less authority will degrade them”. The white people being civilized could not understand the primitive people in story and in reality. In the “Brave New World” the life of Native Americans is in a natural habitat and complex mechanical society is not their desire and dream like reservation residents. They live in co – ordination with nature and their habitat and a person from a New World may feel insecure and frightened by the way of tribal living. The characters in the “Brave New World” are petrified by the Soma drink which is hallucinating and the self mutilation by the tribes. They feel dislocated and disoriented people in the tribal community and wanted to escape from the condition. Huxley does admit that the ways of tribal people are insanity and they live in superstition and ignorance. However they are content in their life and live in accordance with nature and their tradition. According to ( Deegan) “The members of Huxley tradition – denied family and affection, and bred in a scientific laboratory - remained all of their lives unable to love”. The people in New World do not understand the values of culture, tradition and family life and wants to indulge in pleasures and lust. For them life is comfortable but happiness is an artificial thing and temporary. They do not respect the lifestyle of residents of reservation. The situation is same like the Native Americans who are aliens to White people. The Native Americans has their own peculiar culture and white people did not consider or respect them but attacked them with hatred and vengeance. They were treated for the benefit of whites and were disowned from their homelands Conclusion Life in reservation is in contrary to the scientific world of New World State. The author states that the concept of “unity in diversity” can be a curse and a blessing. The Native Americans who were removed from their territory were facing difficulty in assimilating with the culture of the settlers. The Native Americans found that their life was progressing but they were losing their identity and feeling discontent. When the urban people in the “Brave New World” were trapped with residents of reservation then they felt humiliated and frightened. They thought the reservation residents were animals and wanted to escape from these inhumane people. However, the same is felt by Native Americans in the rule of settlers According to (Wan Jun ) “ Huxley saw a lot of new problems created, such as loss of social order, overpopulation, mechanization, and irrational worship of science, as portrayed in his famous work Brave New World, written in 1932”. The New World was in lunacy and the life in reservation was in insanity. The same is the case with the Native Americans and the settlers. The Native Americans after centuries is still living in the past and the settlers are so advanced that they have abandoned the human values. Both the people in the reservation and Native America are living a life of superstition and ignorance while the urban people were living a scientific life. The life in reservation and that of Native America is similar Bibliography Aiman, A. "Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - review." http://www.theguardian.com. The Guardian, 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. . Burnett, John G.. Birthday Story of Private John G. Burnett, Captain Abraham McClellan’s Company, 2nd Regiment, 2nd Brigade, Mounted Infantry, Cherokee Indian Removal, 1838–39. 1890 http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newnation/4532> Darrenkamp, Angela. "The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears: Cause, Effect and Justification." http://historymatters.gmu.edu. History Matters, 2000. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. . Deegan, Sara J. " A Brave New World and War on Women." http://www.elephantjournal.com. elephant, 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. . Dan, . "Brave New World By Aldous Huxley." http://www.rantingdragon.com. RD, 2013. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. Read More