SCARCITY OF INDIVIDUALISM IN BRAVE NEW WORLD--

An individual is defined as "a single person, animal, or thing of any kind; a thing or being incapable of separation or division, without losing its identity; especially, a human being; a person" (Lexico). In Huxley's Brave New World, the blissful masses are led by the fundamental principle of "Community, Identity and Stability" (Huxley 3). The sad truth is that identity itself has been sacrificed in order to preserve happiness, community, and stability. Members of this seemingly utopian society lack identity; they cannot be individuals.

The world that Huxley has fashioned is one of castes, ubiquitous sexuality, mindless drug use, sleep hypnosis (hypnopaedia), and conditioning. All of these combine to discourage any possible individuality.

In Brave New World, people are not born. Instead, they are created through Bokanovsky's Process, "a series of arrests of development" by which millions of eggs bud and form a nearly endless supply of human embryos (Huxley 6). Before a person is even contrived, workers at the Conditioning Centre determine his appearance, his level and function in society, and even his intelligence. Incidentally, bokanovskification is "one of the major instruments of social stability" (Huxley 7). With the very creation of humans reduced to the mere semblance of a production assembly line, there can be no individuality; people are not even given the choice of what they want to be. The caste system provides a stable foundation for this new society. Instead of creating a struggle between the lower and upper classes, the lower castes (Epsilons, Deltas and Gammas) are conditioned to be so unintelligent so as to be content with where they are and what they do. On the other hand, the upper castes (Betas and Alphas) are intelligent enough to be able to understand, and, in theory, overthrow the whole system. Unfortunately, in the creation of this new world, turning back has become "impossible... because there are too few people who want to" (Hoffman 246). Hypnopaedia provides for the people a sort of moral and social education, a basis of concepts that are repeatedly pounded into their heads through sleep hypnosis:

Till at last the child's mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child's mind. And not the child's mind only. The adult's mind too-all his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides-made up of these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions!...The greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time. (Huxley 28)

Instead of ever possessing their own beliefs, people are forced to conform to the universal rules of society. By conforming, they become nothing more than mindless sheep doing the work they have been conditioned to know how to do, having ideas and morals they have been conditioned to have, participating in a society with a motto of "Every one belongs to every one else" (Huxley 43), a motto that has been conditioned into their minds. There can be no individual thought in this world, only thoughts that in some way benefit the society by keeping it stable (a basic principle of Brave New World). In this new world, sexuality has become commonplace. There is no emotion, no love--just sex. With the concepts of mothers, fathers, families, home, marriage and birth taken away, people are able to have sex with whomever they wish, without possible thought of consequence. Contraception is taken care of to ensure stability with "cartridge belt[s]...bulging...with the regulation supply of contraceptives" (Huxley 50). Women wear belts filled with contraceptives wherever they go; to them, these belts are a daily clothing accessory. Children are taught sex education at a young age and even engage in erotic play. Love, an individual, special emotion, is nonexistent, replaced by the idea of someone "having" whoever he pleases. The excitement and intense feelings of falling in love and being in love that once were unique to each and every person are no more, having been exchanged for the dull, predictable lifestyle in which everyone belongs to everyone else.

Soma, the drug of the masses, provides an outlet for any unhappiness as well as an escape from reality. "The daily soma ration [is] an insurance against personal maladjustment, social unrest, and the spread of subversive ideas" (Hoffman 245). Instead of ever having to feel discontent, one can just take a gramme of soma and forget everything for awhile:

...Or if ever by some unlucky chance such a crevice of time should yawn in the solid substance of their distractions, there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon... (Huxley 55-56)

Soma offers an evasion of any unpleasant feelings that people may encounter. If they should ever become unhappy, they need only take soma to rejuvenate themselves and feel fine once more. Still, one must acknowledge that unhappiness, however horrible, is a part of one's self, an individual emotion that a true person experiences. In this society, such an emotion is not encouraged; after all, "everyone's happy nowadays" (Huxley 91).

The few people who see and understand the system of Brave New World eventually become enveloped in its ideas, losing their sense of individuality, or they are shipped off to an island unlike Brave New World. In some cases, both are true.

Such is the case for Bernard Marx. Upon first glance, he appears unique. He does not take soma, vehemently rejects the idea of men freely "having" women as 4 though they were meat, and even enjoys being alone, something the new society desperately attempts to prevent, as being alone encourages thought. In the beginning, he wants to feel "as though [he] were more [himself]... more on [his] own, not so completely a part of something else. Not just a cell in the social body... not enslaved by [his] conditioning" (Huxley 90-91). Bernard knows the feeling of being alone and rejected, as he is an outcast in his own caste for being unusually small. He enjoys being scolded for his rebellious behavior, feeling as though he "[stands] alone embattled against the order of things; elated by the intoxicating consciousness of his individual significance and importance" (Huxley 98). But, as time progresses, Bernard seems to change. When he is temporarily not an outcast and has the Savage, his discovery, to show off, Bernard betrays his original feelings: he "has" whomever he wants, and even brags about his actions to his friend Helmholtz Watson. Such a drastic change of character can only mean Bernard was never an individual in the first place. Later on, when the prospect of being sent to an island (an earlier threat) becomes a reality, Bernard is terrified and even starts crying: "Send me to an island? ... You can't send me. I haven't done anything. It was the others. I swear it was the others... Give me another chance" (Huxley 226). Bernard prefers the Brave New World, the world in which individuality is stifled, to a world where he could be free to believe what he wanted. He has sadly become entrenched in his society's ideas, conditioned to want happiness, however false it may be.

Lenina Crowne is another upper caste member of society who understands the system but does not attempt to do anything about it. She lets other people influence her thoughts and does not seem to do things for herself--just for society as a whole. For instance, when her friend Fanny berates her for "having" only one man and encourages her to "play the game," Lenina agrees: "Yes, every one belongs to every one else... You're quite right, Fanny. I'll make the effort" (Huxley 43). Also, when she is alone with Bernard, she is horrified by his blasphemy and cannot comprehend "not wanting to be a part of the social body" (Huxley 91). She continually repeats hypnopaedic concepts such as, "when the individual feels, the community reels," and is unable to keep herself from growing hysterical (Huxley 94). Evidently, Lenina has become so comfortable and so encompassed in the society of Brave New World that stepping outside of what she understands is a difficult process. She can never be an individual, as she is too conditioned even to acknowledge Bernard's ideas about being different or alone.

John the Savage seems to be different. He is an outcast in his own society because he does not look the same, yet he never seems to be able to fit in with the society of Brave New World. John is against the idea of "having" more than one person, does not seem to appreciate the inventions of Brave New World, does not take soma, and enjoys art, literature and religion. But is he not conditioned by his own society to some extent? His ideas and thoughts seem to adhere strictly to the rules of his society, the Savage Reservation. There, the idea of "having" more than one person is not tolerated, and John's mother (a former member of Brave New World) is whipped for doing such a thing. Religion is a central idea in the Savage Reservation as well, and John is indignant when he learns that there is no religion in Brave New World--just "feelies," soma, and sex. Near the end of the book, John is shipped off to an island to enjoy the pleasure of solitude (a pleasure not granted by the society of Brave New World), then he realizes he cannot be alone. Reporters swarm around him and chant for the whip, which John earlier used against himself to atone for his sins. John succumbs to what society wants and begins to whip himself; as Lenina enters, he begins to whip her as well.

Then suddenly somebody started singing 'Orgy-porgy' and, in a moment, they had all caught up the refrain and, singing, had begun to dance. Orgy-porgy, round and round and round, beating one another in six-eight time. Orgy-porgy... It was after midnight when the last of the helicopters took its flight. Stupefied by soma, and exhausted by a long-drawn frenzy of sensuality, the Savage lay sleeping in the heather... He lay for a moment, blinking in owlish incomprehension at the light; then suddenly remembered-everything. "Oh my God, my God!" He covered his eyes with his hand. (Huxley 258-259)

The Savage went against everything he apparently believed in: he conformed to what society wanted him to do, took soma, and even had sex with Lenina. He followed society like a mindless drone, "finally yield[ing] his principles and himself. The only purification for that sin, he realizes on the following day, is death" (Wells 306). Whatever individuality John had vanished as he was caught up in Brave New World's society, an event that was most likely inevitable to occur at some point. John conformed, he did what the masses desired; he sacrificed his individuality, the ultimate sin.

Brave New World is a society that is inescapable. All one can do is conform; there is no opportunity for individuality. Here, "the individual is solidly integrated, is an almost indistinguishable part of the whole... The individual is no longer isolated, but he is no longer isolated because he is no longer an individual" (Satire 266). Relinquishing individuality for happiness is the greatest sacrifice of all--and proves to be the greatest folly.

back