Freud in "Brave New World"

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses Freud's structural theory of the conscious and the unconscious within "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. The paper looks at the characters Lenina Crowne as the "ego", John the Savage as the "id" and Henry Ford as the "super ego" within Freud's structural theory. The paper shows how one can realize the modernity of Huxley's writing within the context of his futurist utopia. The paper is of the opinion that this novel provides an interesting critical view of Freud's theories, highlighting the importance of both individual and group issues that arise in human relationships.

From the Paper:

"The basis of the Freudian Structural Theory is to determine the nature of the human psyche at the conscious and unconscious levels. The historical character "Our Ford" in Huxley's novel has become the central aspect of Freud's Super Ego defining the male dominancy of cultural norms tat must be followed in relation to the purely sexual libido of the Id and the mediator of the Ego (Freud 47). Ford was symbolically named after the American automobile manufacturer Henry Ford (Bloom 88), which symbolized the assembly line autocratic tendency of Huxley's futurist society. Our Ford is called "Our Freud" in the novel, as Huxley suggests that horrors of father/mother relationships that arise within this Super Ego aspect of human cultural interaction and macrocosmic family values in Chapter Three."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bloom, Harold. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. New York: Chelsea Publications, 2002.
• Freud, Sigmund. Ego and the Id. New York: Norton, 1962.
• Hope, Ronald. "Aldous Huxley's Philosophy." 2001. Contemporary View. 2001. Find Articles Database. 8 February, 2007. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_1621_278/ai_71712195>
• Huxley, Aldous. "Brave New World." 2006. Huxley.net. 8 February, 2007. <http://www.huxley.net/bnw/index.html>
• Watt, Donald. Aldous Huxley: the Critical Heritage. London, Routledge, 1975.

More papers on Freud in "Brave New World":

• Book Review # 1308 : "Utopia in Aldous Huxley's Novel "A Brave New World"
• Book Review # 117996 : "John the Savage in 'Brave New World'"
• Analytical Essay # 46767 : "Individual and Society in "Brave New World"

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