Huxley Brave New World essays

Huxley Brave New World essays A full and meaningful life ultimately rests upon the individual's ability to make choices and to determine the course of their own existence. Even when these choices are wrong, and they make the person miserable, it is the freedom of will that makes life meaningful and worthwhile. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley's vision of utopia is a world that is free from strife and discomfort, where every need is met, and where anything that is potentially difficult or disturbing is removed. Through the words of John the Savage, we see the danger in such a utopia, where individual freedom and choice is compromised. In this world, life becomes a sterile reflection of the true diversity and passion that comes from individual choice. John argues that the freedom to be unhappy is one of the most fundamental rights and needs that human beings possess. Aldous Huxley's novel, Brave New World, describes a world where personal choice and the ability to be unhappy have been traded for a society where discomfort is unheard of, and everyone is obsessed with being happy. In this view of utopia, violence does not exist, and all human needs are met. Potential unhappiness is treated by a pill, soma, religion does not exist, and meaningful relationships are discouraged. Huxley's view of utopia clearly excludes individuality. In The Brave New World, true individuality is not an option. Notes the Director, "'We predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future . . .' He was going to say 'future World controllers,' but correcting himself, said 'future Directors of Hatcheries,' instead" (13). In Huxley's utopia, happiness is contingent upon accepting a preordained place in the social order. Notes the Director, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you've got to do. All condition...