Conformity: To Not Be Your True Self In Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, Huxley creates a futuristic world governed by conformity and submission to society. Citizens of this World State are conditioned to follow a set lifestyle determined at birth in order to create a stable civilization. However, there is still some form of individuality in each person, specifically in the characters Bernard, Lenina, and Linda. Within each of these characters, their difference in personality does not fit the norms of society, and they therefore try to suppress their own traits with unique methods such as soma. In times of sadness and despair, Bernard, Lenina, and Linda each give up a part of their own individuality and ideology, sticking to the …show more content…
He tried to smile at her. Suddenly she put her arms round him and kisses him again and again” (127). Since Linda has an emotional attachment to John, she has a personality different from the other citizens of the World State Society. However, despite the motherly connection that she could have continued with John, she chooses to sell her life to the drug soma. When Lenina lays dying in the hospital with John next to her, she unconsciously chooses her life of sex and soma she used to have over John: “She knew him for John, her son, but fancied him an intruder into that paradisal Malpais where she had been spending her soma-holiday with Popé” (205). In the very end, Linda suppresses her emotional love for John with soma and goes back to the principles and pleasantries of the World State Society. Bernard, Lenina, and Linda all have unique characteristics that set them apart from the regular citizens of the World State Society. However, all three of them have unknowingly fallen into the conformities of the state’s maladaptive rules, preferably choosing to emanate the state’s values that do not fit their own characteristics. The World State’s guidelines and regulations pull all the citizens of the World State, including Bernard, Lenina, and Linda, into one lifestyle of living through a domino effect of conformity: the more people that conform, the more harder it is to resist the urge to conform with them. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New
George Orwell’s political parable, 1984, portrays an oppressive and dictatorial government, which thereby presents to the reader a palpable sense of danger and malevolence born out of the creation of a counter utopic totalitarian regime. Orwell’s nihilistic creation of Oceania, presents a world wherein every aspect of private and public life is abhorrently regimented and regulated by the autocratic ‘Big Brother’. The whole population at large is forced to conform to the ideals and beliefs of the tyrannical ‘party’ as a means of not only survival but also a means of being able to live an unabated existence. The party opposes all forms of individuality and
Both Lenina and Linda use soma to escape from the realities of the world. Soma is a symbol for instant pleasure, and to avoid unpleasant situations. Lenina’s use of soma suggests that she is trying to suppress feelings of embarrassment, depression, and later her infatuation with John. Resembling words that of a drug addict, Lenina says “I
Totalitarianism diminishes the idea of individuality and destroys all chances of self-improvement, and human’s natural hunger for knowledge. In George Orwell’s famous novel, “1984”, totalitarianism is clearly seen in the exaggerated control of the state over every single citizen, everyday, everywhere. Totalitarianism can also be seen in the book “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, in which humans are synthetically made and conditioned for their predestinated purpose on earth. The lack of individualism will lead a community towards a dystopia in which freedom is vanished by the uncontrolled power of the state.
In Brave New World Aldous Huxley, creates a dystopian society which is scientifically advance in order to make life orderly, easy, and free of trouble. This society is controlled by a World State who is not question. In this world life is manufactured and everyone is created with a purpose, never having the choice of free will. Huxley use of irony and tone bewilders readers by creating a world with puritanical social norms, which lacks love, privacy and were a false sense of happiness is instituted, making life meaningless and controlled.
Drugs, promiscuous sex, birth control, and total happiness are the core values of the World State in the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. In today’s society things like drug use and reckless sex are often seen as taboo, but in World State, these activities are glorified and even considered normal. Aldous Huxley attempts to address to readers the harsh realities and cruel ways of our society in an exaggerated form. His purpose in doing so is to open the eyes of society to what the world might come to if things like technology and humanity get out of hand. In the World State, the motto that people are conditioned to live by is “Community, Identity, and Stability”, all three of which are ironically twisted to encourage members of the society
Often individuals choose to conform to society, rather than pursue personal desires because it is often easier to follow the path others have made already, rather than create a new one. In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, this conflict is explored. Huxley starts the story by introducing Bernard Marx, the protagonist of the story, who is unhappy with himself, because of the way he interacts with other members of society. As the story progresses, the author suggests that, like soma, individuals can be kept content with giving them small pleasure over short periods of time. Thus, it is suggested in the book that if individuals would conform to their society’s norms, their lives would become much
Reading Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley, readers are led to a dystopia in which the World State takes control over everything including reproduction, consumption and the most important of all‐conditioning. Although Lenina and Linda are not the main characters that bring the story to its climax, they play significant roles in the story as they represent the people being affected by the World State conditioning.
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley’s most famous novel, and other similar pieces of literature, focus on a dystopian society where “progress” no longer benefits the the people. Instead, it oppresses them, they are subjugated to the will of the society for the benefit of those at the top of that social system. Those whose only goal is to perpetuate themselves. Individuals within that system whose actions and beliefs match the will of the society are know as being orthodox, while those who don’t fit into the rigid hierarchy established by the society are considered outsiders, who must be forced back into line. Huxley saw this occurring in his society and it has grown even more dramatic today. In order to illustrate his pessimistic thoughts on the trends of society, Huxley created a series of outsiders, primarily Bernard Marx, Mustafa Mond, Helmholtz Watson, John the Savage, and Linda, and uses them to demonstrate how the system uses various methods, chiefly, conditioning and the power of institutions to force the outsiders back into Orthodoxy even to the expense of their lives.
In the Sci-fi futuristic novel “Brave New World”, published in 1932, Aldous Huxley introduces the idea of the utopian society, achieved through technological advancement in biology and chemistry, such as cloning and the use of controlled substances. In his novel, the government succeeds in attaining stability using extreme forms of control, such as sleep teaching, known as conditioning, antidepressant drugs – soma and a strict social caste system. This paper will analyze the relevance of control of society versus individual freedom and happiness to our society through examining how Huxley uses character development and conflict. In the “Brave New World”, Control of society is used to enforce
Everyone in the Brave New World is conditioned to conform to the societies rules: Community, Identity, and Stability. In the world we live in today, are we not conditioned the .same way? We are taught to follow the rules of society by example of our parents, churches, and even celebrities. We don’t describe the process as conditioning, but essentially they are the same thing. In Brave New World, conditioning is used to control the minds of the population, and in modern times, social norms control the population.
As readers, we see how the analysis of conflictive themes has been taking over literature scenarios. When reading between the lines of certain books we can perceive themes such as conformity and rebellion. Mostly these themes can be seen in writings from times of social upheaval. According to The Oxford Dictionary, the word conformity means “behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards”, while rebellion means “the action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention.” These terms create a constant battle among societies. A certain amount of conformity needs to exist in life in order to avoid disorder. This is the reason society has laws, rules and expectations. Literature represents life, and these themes can be found at the root of many literary works. Conformity can also be considered as silence. This silence is based on the restrictions of real feelings and thoughts in some literary pieces. During the sixteenth century, the emphasis on conformity was at its height. Works of literature from this time period have often reflected a fascination and frustration with this particular characteristic. People do not want to be restricted in terms of expressing opinions and developing certain activities. When facing oppression, denial of their freedom, they rebel, and that contributes to the part of the process of change in society. Not all kinds of rebellions are rationally fundamental, but when they are, it can transform society for the
It is no lie that the United States has diversity—but that does not stop those at the top from trying to stomp any exhibition of that diversity out. Since the beginning, America has been driven by an innate sense of superiority that we have the right to do what we want to do as long as it furthers our democracy. Regrettably, the reality behind this notion is malevolent. In the past, Anglos “conquered” those from cultures who they saw as inferior for what they saw as the “greater good”; even today, we prosecute those from different cultures simply for being different and not conforming to the American norm. Sadly, with this goal of furthering the majority, the U.S. has forgotten the
In the novel, Brave New World the government has an interesting way of ruling its citizens as they destroys all historical events and experiences such as love, friendships, freedom reproduction, way of learning and other personal interconnections as the world controller Mustapha Mond says, “you all remember, I suppose, that beautiful and inspiring saying of Our Ford’s: History is Bunk” (Huxley 34). The World State treats all its citizens as children by giving them quick satisfaction when contradicting their responsibility. The director gives every citizen a specific social function before they are created and put into one of the five castes which forces the citizens to use a drug like soma repeatedly and to be interested in strong sexual desires,
One of the characters, Linda, from “A Brave New World”, rejoins the world state after twenty years in the savage reservation. Linda is ashamed to return to the world state as she has broken a fundamental rule of society. “So they're having children all the time - like dogs. It's too revolting... And yet John was a great comfort to me (Huxley, 122).
Aldous Huxley’s compelling futuristic novel, Brave New World, takes place in an elaborately constructed society whose citizens have their intellect highly conditioned from birth to be entirely “jolly” [as stated in the text] throughout life merely through superficial fulfillment that the government is able to provide. However, the perpetually gleeful yet blind citizens are stripped of their dignity, compassion, values and morals-ultimately losing their human emotions without the realization that they’ve lost such an important aspect in life. When problems arise, the drug soma is a quick ‘solution’ to the distress it brings. An outcast to the new society, Bernard Marx struggles through his life, seeking to understand why his peer’s, such