since Nov. 26, 2004.
A caste system is bad; so is a race of ignorant people conditioned to act, think and feel a certain way. But if a person’s ignorance makes them happy, why ruin a good thing? The society displayed in Brave New World is good for its citizens but bad for "normal" humans. A caste system, such as the one in Brave New World, only provides a falsely secure existence, where people simply wallow in their ignorance and incredulity and don’t truly live.
The Brave New World citizens are programmed to think, act and live a certain way within their social class, in which they are again divided (i.e. gamma-plus, gamma minus). There is no movement between social classes. The higher classes don’t associate with the lower class and consider them to be inferior. They have been conditioned to do what they ought to do, so acting on their natural impulses, including sexual promiscuity, is completely allowed. Unpleasantness is not experienced; therefore, they do not know what it feels like to be unhappy or sad or lonely (perhaps to their advantage?). In fact, when their morality is threatened, they take a soma, which our society would look upon as taking drugs to numb the pain. What they are really doing is numbing themselves from the reality that their society is no utopia, and they’re just a society of organic robots. But as the controller said (P. 159), "One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them."
Since the Brave New World society is believed to be perfect, modern American society is looked upon as unpleasant, mostly because American citizens have the right to do what they please (within reason, of course). Mustapha Mond stated (P.161) that "man doing things on his own would upset social order," basically causing utter chaos. He felt that a disruption of order was caused by political inefficiency and unstable conditions. Well, nothing’s perfect, including their so-called utopia. At least, in the U.S., the social classes are interchangeable--unlike theirs, where they have been programmed to believe that those in a lower classes aren’t as worthy and should treated as such. How discriminatory! Especially Lenina, after watching the Gamma girls and the Beta-Minuses assemble on the roof (P.42), mumbling to herself, "I’m glad I’m not a Gamma." It’s almost the same thing as a white person saying, "I’m glad I’m not black."
Citizens also felt that God wasn’t a necessity in their society. The Savage believed (P.161) that if they allowed themselves to think of God, they’d have a reason for bearing things patiently. Mustapha Mond disputed that "there is no need for a civilized man to bear anything that’s seriously unpleasant." Still, the Savage argued "God’s the reason for everything noble"; to which Mustapha Mond replied, "Civilization has no need of nobility or heroism." However, the Savage desired that need; he clearly wanted what was unthinkable in that society: independence, the ability to think for one’s self. He would rather feel the unpleasantness of life rather than live on, never knowing otherwise. He didn’t want comfort; (P.163) "I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin." Mustapha Mond replied, "You’re claiming the right to be unhappy . . . to grow old and ugly and impotent . . . to have syphilis and cancer . . . to have too little to eat . . . to be lousy . . . to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow . . . to catch typhoid . . . to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind." After a long silence, the Savage said, "I claim them all."
The Savage clearly opposed the Brave New World society. He felt that the riddance of unpleasantness was just a substitution for learning to put up with it (P.162). How can a person totally feel, totally live without experiencing all there is to experience? In that society, no one cried since no one really ever had a reason to (a small price to pay for eternal happiness). The Savage felt that emotions and tears were necessary. He quotes Othello (P. 162): "If after every tempest came such calms, may the winds blow till they have wakened death." Mustapha Mond argued that people were able to experience emotion by taking a V.P.S. (Violent Passion Surrogate) once a month, and, therefore, could experience the physiological equivalent of fear and rage with much comfort (sounds like this society was a pill-popping bunch).
In conclusion, no society is a utopia, but Brave New World’s only generated a brood of ignorant, non-feeling individuals, while "normal" humans function in a society based more on independence and freedom. The ignorance of Brave New World’s citizens was caused by the conditioning and programming from scientists trying to create a utopia, and, therefore, giving them the opinion that American society is bad and theirs is good. Only time will tell if our society would ever conform to such a system; but chances are slim as long as Americans continue to value their independence and their constitutional right of freedom.
Copyright © 1998, Talia M. Wilson
since Nov. 26, 2004.