The Society of America Today and the Society in Brave New World - Term Paper Example

Comparing The Society of America Today with the Society in Brave New World by: Aldous Huxley In the novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley satiricallycreates a dystopia. A society that is essentially built on a communistic basis but to the extreme of excluding individuality, family units, culture, art, science and literature altogether. Instead, this dystopia is held together so to speak, by a rigid set of rules and the administering of very potent psychotropic drugs as a means of mental and emotional escape for its citizens. The purpose of this paper, is to examine how the world of Huxley’s novel compares to society today in America. In addition, the conditioning center of Huxley’s novel will be compared to the media and of today. Whether or not present day American society is utopian or dystopian will also be discussed. As an initial reaction, one living in contemporary American society may react to this novel by saying that there is simply no comparison to be made between Huxley’s dystopia and American society today. If one takes a closer look however, at Huxley’s novel as well as the film adaptation of the novel, one can easily begin to draw parallels. One example of this is the extreme to which Americans are prescribed and take psychotropic drugs. One would be hard pressed to walk the streets of any metropolis in America today and not walk passed hundreds of individuals who take Zoloft, Prozac, Welbutrin, Paxil or any other commonly used anti-depressant. One needs little more than a complaint of anxiety or depression to a physician in order to acquire a prescription for one of these medications. Another comparison which can be made is between the government of Brave New World and the American Government. It is safe to say that today‘s American government is anything but efficient regardless of debatable programming administered by some facets of the media. In other words, many would agree that certain aspects of popular media are prone to consistently report in favor of their chosen political party. Huxley‘s government was efficient due to “conditioning“ but today‘s U.S government is somewhat inefficient despite possible conditioning, “Huxley’s government is a model of efficiency precisely because its conditioning program is so effective”(Paden, pp.218). Certainly, in America today, we are not programmed directly or fed drugs against our will but we are subject to the information fed to us by the media. An issue which is somewhat taboo in today’s American society is that of class systems and whether or not America is in fact made up of glorified class systems. The answer to this is not unclear from any vantage point. We are indeed a class system society. Huxley’s Brave New World is also a class system society composed of alphas, betas, gammas and epsilons. This is of course relatively self explanatory in nature and is not dissimilar from the American upper class, upper-middle class, middle class and lower class. It should be mentioned that the film adaptation of Huxley’s novel depicts a group of people who live on “reservations” and are essentially social rebels or outcasts. This differs from Huxley’s “savage reservations”, as they are more akin to natives who are simply trying to preserve their original way of life and avoid forced conformation: Interestingly the social structure of the “Savage Reservation” differs between the novel and the film. Indeed, the “Reservation” (note the name change) in the film is not inhabited by Huxley’s “savages” at all; that is, they are not Native Americans attempting to maintain the remnants of a traditional way of life. Instead, in the film, the Reservation is populated by representatives of some violent, post-apocalypse, militia America, who live in mobile homes, drive minivans, hang out in the parking lots of decaying malls, and drink Southern Comfort. (Paden, pp.218). It can be said that this is similar to the stereotype of lower class America. The implications that the socially excluded group lives in mobile homes, drinks cheap liquor and takes part in militia activities or right wing conservatism is not a stretch from modern day American ideals of low class. Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1932. The book however is set in the future, and models its ideals around Henry Ford. Furthermore, it is Ford that the novel places upon a pedestal as a deity. The novel was actually modeled after Huxley’s vision for the future of America, albeit a frightening one. Therefore, it is meant to be a cautionary novel and entirely satirical. That is why the world of Huxley’s novel is considered a dystopia as apposed to a utopia. Huxley’s world removes any form of individuality from its inhabitants and essentially brainwashes them. Certainly, we are free from such rigid restrictions in individuality here in America, but we are also far from a utopian society. Huxley’s society is branded by promiscuity without marriage or monogamy. It is fair to say that American society is most likely much more promiscuous and sexually experimental than the America that Huxley saw first hand, but people are still free to marry, enter into committed relationships or remain single and engage in socially active sexual behavior. The difference is that there is in fact a choice in today’s society. Although, it is important to mention that gay marriage is restricted at this point in America, so that is a freedom that is limited by the government based solely on the religious or moral decisions of those in political power. It can then be said that today’s society is not only a class system but can be related to Huxley’s alphas, betas, gammas and epsilons. The alphas can be said to be the individuals in political power that pass such bills that restrict gay marriage and other controversial freedoms. In all fairness, Huxley’s society is carefree and technologically advanced but is void of some of the most important aspects of humanity such as art, literature, culture and individuality. American society is defined by its cultural diversity including art, literature, music, science and freedom of individual expression. This however does not by any means define America as a utopian society. There is inversely, a great deal of poverty, economic hardship, an escalating oil crisis resulting in a decrease in economic growth, poor foreign relations and policies (we are currently at war and have been on and off over the past 15 years), tremulous race relations between different ethnic groups and so on. In conclusion, although our modern day America is not a great deal like the society of Huxley’s novel, it is still not a utopia but rather a dystopia which is precisely how Huxley’s society is classified. Certainly, American society is desperate for improvements in many areas, but would not be any better off if converted to the dystopia of Huxley’s Brave New World. Works Cited: Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York. Bantam Books Inc. 1939 Paden, Roger. Ideology and Anti-Utopia. Contemporary Justice Review vol. 9, No. 2, June 2006. Pp. 215. The Literature Network. Brave New World. Retrieved May 14, 2008 from website at: http://www.online-literature.com/aldous_huxley/brave_new_world/ Read More