"Brave New World" and Utopia

Paper Summary:

This paper explains how Huxley's novel has permanently and profoundly influenced our view of the idea of utopia. It explains that the cold, cheerless, stale society he depicts, in which all creativity is stifled, all individuality outlawed and all aspects of every person's life mapped out in advance, has become a paradigm of the dangers that lurk behind any attempt to apply scientific notions to dictate every detail of the nature and purpose of human life. The writer states that the message of "Brave New World" is clear: A utopian society built around the notion that perfect happiness can be engineered for all will deliver only a soulless dystopia.

From the Paper:

"The essence of man, that the Utopians believe they have succeeded in creating a society shaped to serve, is stability and predictability, and is based on the concept that contentment is to be achieved through the satisfaction of bodily wants. The things that threaten that condition - emotions, beliefs, longings, strong attachments - are controlled and banished. Human nature is regarded as a machine, and the World Society creates the conditions in which it can run efficiently and consistently, without anything throwing it off-balance or causing it to behave unpredictably. Stability is the highest human virtue. If anything should occur to make these human machines seize up, or run too fast, or slip from their carefully engineered tracks, the drug 'soma' is available to tranquilize them until the problem has been dealt with and the danger is past. People do not even grow old any more."

More papers on "Brave New World" and Utopia:

• Analytical Essay # 67092 : "Brave New World" and Conformity"
• Comparison Essay # 71292 : "Brave New World" and "1984"
• Book Review # 1308 : "Utopia in Aldous Huxley's Novel "A Brave New World"

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