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Tonhom 11-01

12 October 2016

The Cost of Becoming an Ideal Society

Can you imagine a society where the economy is massively growing, and diseases,

poverty, political issues, and crimes are absent? How wonderful would it be to live in such

society? Aldous Huxley has created that ideal world in his novel Brave New World. A story

happens in a futuristic society in which people are completely controlled by the government

(or the World Controllers) on their behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts. This World Controllers

ideal World State society reflects that in order for a society to become highly desirable where

everyone is conditioned to be satisfied with their own livings, individualism, family, and love

must be eradicated.

To stabilize the society, individualism is not encouraged or rather be considered as a

social threat. Bernard Marx, a top class intelligent man who feels alienated because of his

small appearance and his different thoughts, tells Lenina, a woman whom he is dating with,

that the sea in peace makes him feel like he is more of himself, not a part of social body.

Bernards blasphemy shocks Lenina for which it is against what people believes; When the

individual feels, the community reels, Lenina pronounced. (Huxley, p.81). This phrase

shows that people in this society have been conditioned to believe that no individual feelings

or thoughts should be occurred with anyone. These individual characteristics lead to an idea

of freedom of action for oneself over a state control, which will eventually result in social

instability, contradicting to the World Controllers goal that everyone must act and think in

ways the government suggests in order to maintain a stable community. Thus, individualism
has been eradicated from this world to avoid people rebelling against society. However, not

only this idea of self-reliance, but other human experiences have also been eliminated.

Family is another human experience that is not found in the World Controllers World

State. In the very first chapter, Mustapha Mond, the World Controller, is giving a lecture to

the students on a visit in the Hatchery Centre where humans are produced and conditioned.

He mentions the old age when people used to be raised by fathers and mothers, making an

overwhelmed confusion to the students;

Try to realize what it was like to have a viviparous mother. That smutty word

again. But none of them dreamed, this time, of smiling. Try to imagine what

living with ones family meant. They tried; but obviously without the smallest

success. (Huxley, p.30)

It can be seen that the idea of families does not exist. Humans in this society are decanted in

the Hatchery centre with no need of parents to give birth and raise their children. Moreover,

people are conditioned to believe that a relationship between members of a family group is

grotesque and obscene. The Controllers believe that a home where people live together

causes unpleasant emotions, unnecessary intimacies, and diseases, which can destroy

individual stability and, consequently, ruin the community.

Apart from family, love is another human emotional experience that can be found in

nowhere in this new world society. People are conditioned to believe that they can have sex

with anyone just for fun regardless of emotional attachment. Monogamy or going out with

one person for a long period is not accepted, just like what Fanny, a friend of Lenina, said

that I really do think you ought to be careful. Its such horribly bad form to go on and on like

this with one man (Huxley, p.34) From this dialogue, it shows that humans in the World
State do not know the idea of love. It is common and acceptable to have short-term

relationship with many people at once. Having sex without love or any emotions other than

pleasure is directly what the Controllers want; everyone is happy and stable. They believe

that love or any emotional attachments ruin ones stability, and so those things are disappear

from this society.

From this world in the book, a stable community where everything goes right and

comfortable under government control can happen with the elimination of human experiences

to prevent people from disruptive behaviors that will insecure societys happiness. Huxley

asks us is this really an ideal society? Is such a society worth losing love, family,

and individualism? Or maybe we, a future generation, could create the real ideal world where

human experiences still exist.

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