Brave New World Novel, Aldous Huxley - Assignment Example

Brave New World Novel, Aldous Huxley The story in Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley is set in London in anticipation of the invention of reproductive technology and sleep-learning as a means of transforming the society (Huxley, 2008). In this regard, the novel narrates the possibility of human life becoming industrialized in the future. In this regard, the novel attempted to foresee the possibility of human reproduction being transformed by technology from the natural birth system to an artificial reproduction system performed in the laboratory setup (Huxley, 2008). Students are taken through Social Predestination rooms where scientists are busy developing social castes. The students then proceed to the conditioning rooms where castes are reinforced through sleep-teaching. Plot Summary The story opens in London, approximately six hundred years in the future, commonly referred to as “After Ford.” The novel opens in a medical laboratory where the Director of Hacheries and Conditioning is taking some boys through a laboratory where human beings are being artificially developed. Since the boys appear eager to learn more, the director takes the initiative and begins to explain to the boys the actual scientific processes involved in the development of human beings though external fertilization in the laboratory test tubes. The lab process clearly brings out the theme of dehumanized life as the processes goes against the natural birth process of conception (Huxley, 2008). After the laboratory tour, Bernard Max, a high-caste psychologist, comes out as the most disgruntled character in the society where physical pleasure and material comfort provided by drug soma and leisure sex are the only issues. Nevertheless, the novel reveals Max is not at ease with women who have no respect for him and keep ridiculing him because of his position and situation. Despite the situation, Max manages to attract Lenina Crowne’s attention, a beautiful woman as Max describes her. She later agrees to spend a vacation with him in a remote village in New Mexico, known as Savage Reservation. He chooses this place because it is far away from the controlled and technological influence practiced in London (Huxley, 2008). Nevertheless, just before Max and his new found lover can begin their journey to the Savage Reservation, D.H.C, Max’s manager, narrates how he once visited the same Savage Reservation and confesses sorrowfully how he lost a beautiful woman who had accompanied her to a vacation. After making such a confession, D.H.C appears embarrassed by his socially untenable emotions and turns to Max intimidating him with expulsion for not fulfilling his social obligations by not engaging in satisfactory sexual intercourse and soma (Huxley, 2008). While in the Savage Reservation on vacation with his fiancé, Bernard meets a woman, Linda, who hails from London who confesses to having given birth to a child, John, twenty years earlier. They soon meet John who also confesses having been born a legitimate child to a man in London who happens to be D.H.C. This revelation gives Bernard a hope of challenging D.H.C. who has been an ardent critic of natural birth. As a result, Bernard decided to come back, accompanied by John and Linda back, to London with the intention of presenting them to D.H.C who was just about to expel him. After the proof of his connection with natural birth, D.H.C. gets humiliated and vanishes from the office in terror. Despite once being considered a social outcast, Bernard soon begins enjoying his success due to his social connection with the new child-John, nicknamed the “Savage.” He soon replaces D.H.C. who has flown away out of humiliation with his connection with natural birth (Huxley, 2008). The novel also reveals how John is confused when he arrives in London where almost everything appears peculiar because he had only been raised up the traditional ways, in Reservation. This became apparent when he says ‘Oh brave new world…that has such people in it’ (Huxley 44). John is actually surprised by a number of things in London such as sex for leisure, and identical human beings in the new world of London (Huxley, 2008). While in London, Lenina begins to develop an affection for John and decides to take him out. Nevertheless, she gets disappointed for not engaging in sex with John who declines the proposal. The novel also reveals that John declined to present himself in the assembly, an occurrence which taints Bernard’s status. Due to her strong admiration for the savage, Lenina appears taken over by the previous events, thinking of the savage and how she had been told of the love John had for her. Despite undressing for sex, John declines to be involved leading to her humiliation her (Huxley, 2008). Savage soon moves to the hospital to attend to his mother who had been admitted in the hospital the previous day. While in the hospital, Savage hears children and low-castes workers taking maliciously about his mother prompting him to react violently against them prompting his mother Linda to wake up, recognizing him and dies soon after. Savage got more furious and attempting to destroy all the soma that was in the hospital prompting a riot and disorder resulting in his arrest together with Bernard and Helmholtz (Huxley, 2008). After the arrest, the three meet Mustapa Mond from which Savage and Mond begins to engage in a religious conversation. It is through their conversation that Mond advices that everyone in the society is at liberty to choose between scientific medicine, machinery and universal happiness, which comes from God (Huxley, 2008). The novel ends when Savage leaves with an intention of becoming autonomous and repents of his sins. His photo is taken by a photographer from which he becomes a celebrity. However, on the very day, another riot takes place pitting Savage and anti natural birth. In the end, the news reports that Savage had hanged himself (Huxley, 2008). Huxley’s primary arguments There are quite a number of themes, which can be derived from the novel, which forms part of primary arguments of Huxley. One such is the use of technology to control the society. In this regard, Huxley warns of the negative impacts associated with giving the government a lot of power to control powerful technologies. He takes issue with the state having power of controlling the human reproduction technologies used in the development of human beings using test tubes. In this regard, Huxley is strongly opposed to the use of soma, which is a type of biological, medical, and psychological technology applied in the modern world. Huxley also stresses on the importance of having a clear distinction between science and technology (Huxley, 2008). Huxley also used the novel to show the incompatibility of truth and happiness. In this regard, Huxley reveals how characters in the novel do what it takes just to conceal the reality of their identittty and their own situations. This is manifested using soma to conceal the reality of what is happening are replacing them with phantasm as a tool for building social stability. A good example is seen through D.H.C’s when he denounces the giving of birth the natural way whereas even himself is a victim of the same. This is why Mustapha Mond says that the World State prefers happiness to truth and believes that the society is better off with happiness than truth (Huxley, 2008). Finally, Huxley took an issue with the all-powerful nations by revealing how powerful states take advantage of their superiority to manipulate the behaviors and actions of its citizens as a way of preserving its power and stability. This is achieved with technological interventions, which begins at conception until death (Huxley, 2008). How is technology a major factor in the lives of the main society. Technology is used in the major society to influence people’s behaviors and actions. This is seen by the use of human reproduction technology. In this regard, the novel reveals that people in the main society are influenced by technology to the extent that instead of pursuing the Godly was of giving birth, they are resorting to the use of laboratory reproduction system. As such, sex is seen as a leisure affair and not a means of reproduction in this society. This is the reason why Lenina is much disappointed of Savage when he declined to have sex with her (Huxley, 2008). Compare and Contrast the methods of social control utilized by the main society with that of the “Reservation” The two societies differ widely in terms of the methods used for social control. For instance, it is apparent that the main society is controlled by technology while the Reservation society is naturally controlled by the actions of God. For instance, the novel reveals that when D.H.C. went on a vacation at the Reservation with Linda, her fiancée, they were able to engage in sexual intercourse with led to natural birth. The novel reveals that it is through their sexual intercourse at the reservation that Linda gave birth to John, who remained an illegitimate child after his father had abandoned their mother in the remote village of Savage Reservation. The novel also reveals that when Max met Lenina, he opted to take her on a vacation at the Reservation when there are no technological influences being experienced in the world of London. Social control of the main society, on the other hand is influenced by technology, as everything seems to be seen in technological perspectives. Reproduction in this society is done artificially to produce identical human beings in the laboratory. This is the reason why John is confused and baffled by so many things, which he did not see in Reservation where he grew up. For instance, he wonders why sex in London is seen as a leisure activity (Huxley, 2008). Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley Brave New World Revisited is another work of fiction written by Aldous Huxley in 1931 but published a year later in 1932 as a follow-up to the predictions made in the earlier publication. In this novel, Huxley critically analyzes mainly the threats of humanity such as the threat of over-population, morality, over-organization, propaganda in a democratic and dictatorship society, brainwashing and the art of selling. Other issues scrutinized in the novel include education for freedom, hypnopaedia, and chemical persuasion as well as what need to be done. In this case, Huxley tries to explain why the society has found it hard to avoid such threats to humanity. Despite the society being engraved in them, Huxley finally finds an answer by advising humankind to educate itself as a way of relieving itself from such threats (Huxley, 2010). In the novel, Huxley remarks how the society has developed to resemble the one he depicted in his earlier writings. As such, he believes that as technology continues to advance, most of his ideas presented in the book would become a reality such as the artificial insemination and the development of babies using the test tube technology in the next millennium. Huxley takes particular concern with the youths in the society as regards their poor attitude towards freedom and the possibility of the youths giving up their freedom in exchange for giddy entertainments and sports, thereby leaving the dictators freely to do as they wish. He makes his point clear by comparison, the situation to dodo bird, which according to him became extinct by giving up its ability to fly (Huxley, 2010). How is this essay related to the novel The two essays are related in that they all take issues with the impacts of technology in society. For instance, whereas his earlier novel centers on how technology is denying people the freedom to exercise their rights, the essay also takes an in-depth look of the threats to humanity which has been magnified by the impact of technology in society such as sleep-teaching. The two are also related in that in they seem inevitable as the society tolerate them and appears as normal despite the negative impacts the threat has on their lives (Huxley, 2010). Choose a modern technology that has either been newly developed, or significantly further developed, since Brave New World Revisited was published Stem Cell research is one of the latest technologies that grew after the Brave New World Revised had been published. This is because whereas the Brave New World Revised was published in 1932, the stem cell research technology grew in 1960 out of a research conducted by James Till and Ernest McCulloch of the University of Toronto (Forman and Glenn, 2007). Stem cells are cells found in the multi-cellular organism. Basically, the stem cells are cell with the ability to self-replicate through mitosis to form a variety of specialized cells. The stem cells are mainly used for medical therapies that help in treatment of a number of ailments. There are two types of stem cells namely embryonic and adult stem cells. The former stem cells are those generated from the blastocyst. Adult stem cells on the other hand are those produced from adult tissues. Currently stem cells can be developed in the laboratory and transformed into specialized types of cells with similar characteristics of muscles and nerves. Embryonic stem cells are generated via therapeutic cloning, which shows promising result in therapeutic treatments (Forman and Glenn, 2007). How could a totalitarian state use this technology to subjugate its people. To understand how a totalitarian state can use the technology to subjugate its people it is imperative to understand what totalitarianism mean. A totalitarian rule refers to a political system in which the state wields absolute power over its citizens. This implies such states may subject its citizens to the application of the technology regardless of the view held by the society. For instance, the application of embryonic stem cell in research has been met by a lot of controversies especially on ethical grounds. For instance, the pro-life crusaders argue that the technology disregard human rights since it amounts to murder (Forman and Glenn, 2007). Nevertheless, since a totalitarian has all the powers over the society, it will be able to reinforce the application of the technology regardless of the position held by its people. How can the people use this technology to prevent its subjugation by a totalitarian state. One way by which the society can use the technology to prevent subjugation by arguing on ethical grounds, which may help prevent the government from subjugation. In addition, the society may also cite lack of strong evidence to warrant the application of the technology for subjugation. References Forman, L.E., & Glenn, L.M. (2007). Stem cell research. New York, NY: ABDO. Huxley, A. (2008). Brave New World. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Random House. Huxley, A. (2010). Brave New World Revisited. New York, NY: RosettaBooks. Read More