Brave New World Identity

It is a well-known fact that belonging to a group can make an individual feel not only accepted, but more powerful that if they were on their own. Whether it is a community, youth group or even religion, belonging is an everyday occurrence of like that many of us do not even realise. Belonging to a group is more influential than belonging to an individual. We can see this in the texts The Crucible by Arthur Miller, 1984 by George Orwell and the listening task. Belonging to a group can give you a feeling of acceptance, but also can help you not to be targeted or marginalised. Also, people who appear to belong to groups, when looked at closer, in truth do not belong. Belonging to a group can also give you more power as a

Our identity is comprised of inner qualities and outer representations of self. It consists of innumerable defining characteristics that make up the whole of who we are in any given moment. These fragments of self include our sexuality, gender, and sense of belonging to a particular culture, nation, religion, family, or some other group. Our identity includes our looks, personality, beliefs and fears. Each individual in society assigns themselves a particular role, whether it be as a mother, brother, retiree, performer, sportsman or as a part of their occupation, a doctor or lawyer. Often one’s entire sense of self is consumed by

In Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World, John (referred to as “the savage”) is the voice of freedom in a society ruled by an inexorable pursuit of superficial happiness. In the dystopian setting, the world controllers maintain public satisfaction “but at a very high price—the sacrifice of freedom, individuality, truth, beauty, a sense of purpose, and the concept of God” (Neilson). John’s unorthodox beliefs about monogamy, God, drugs, and freedom clash with that of the overwhelming majority of people in the totalitarian London utopia. This barrier is rooted in John’s natural moral development as opposed to the artificial conditioning of the rest of society and it leads to John’s complete isolation from the people of London.

The novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden revolves around the issues of Canadian soldiers at battle during the first World War. This story demonstrates addiction in all different forms, which is a recurring result of the trauma the war has on the characters. These cravings lead to struggling, and result in major consequences for themselves and those around them. The most prominent form of addiction mentioned is to morphine, affecting not only those taking the drugs, but also those around them. A side of Elijah his friend Xavier has never seen before comes out during the war, as a result of his intense desire for recognition.

In this world where people can acquire anything they need or want, we have to wonder, “Is the government controlling us?” Both the governments in A Brave New World and in the United States of America offer birth control pills and have abortion clinics that are available for everyone, thus making birth control pills and abortion operations very easy to acquire. Although both governments offer birth control pills and abortion clinics, A Brave New World’s government requires everyone to take the pills and immediately get an abortion when pregnant. This in turn shows us that A Brave New World’s government is controlling the population and the development of children. China is one of the few countries that currently have control of the

In the novel “Three Day Road”, two Cree Aboriginals, Elijah Weesageechak and Xavier Bird goes off to fight in World War I and becoming the most famous sniper team in the field. The author, Joseph Boyden writes about the dynamic changes in the states of Elijah Weesageechak and the corruption of war leading to his final moments. There are many types of pain that are induced in nature. However, there are only two categories that those pain fall into: Physical pain and emotional pain. With Elijah, war transform him into an apathetic killing machine.

Xavier’s outlook towards morphine is negative, “[Elijah] has been taking too much of the medicine[…]I want to tell him news of Auntie, but can no longer rely on him” (Boyden 295). Xavier cannot trust Elijah while he is on morphine. His negative outlook on morphine is changed after his own injury, “He has pulled up the material and a red nub pokes out above where his knee should be” (328). Xavier lost his leg in a European war. As a result of this trauma he becomes addicted to morphine, “The medicine is loosening its hold on me. I want more, but so little is left” (70). Like the indigenous peoples’ addiction to alcohol, Xavier becomes so addicted to the wemistikoshiw medicine that he eventually believes he will die without it, “The cost this time is that I can no longer live without the medicine” (10). Boyden’s use of the circular narrative demonstrates Xavier’s initial and changed outlook on morphine before and after his own injury. In Three Day Road, Xavier’s aunt Niska also experiences trauma from the

The consumption of Elijah’s character and innocence is consistently and progressively shown through the morphine which he takes. As Elijah becomes more and more dependent on the morphine he has less and less need for food, which causes a symbolic physical change. Elijah confesses to Xavier that he has less and less need for food and the medical staff tell him that “[he is] looking quite anemic” (272). As Elijah feeds more and more on the morphine, he has less of a need for real food. This shows his loss of innocence through his consumption of such an evil substance and his loss of fundamental human needs. Elijah’s loss of innocence due to morphine is further shown when, after talking about Elijah’s addiction to morphine, Xavier says: “[h]e is someone I no longer know” (308). This shows how Elijah, who was initially shown as a rather innocent character, has changed into something that even his best friend does not recognize. Elijah’s changing personality depicts the sad story of his loss of innocence due to his consumption of morphine. Boyden demonstrates Elijah’s loss of innocence due to morphine and also shows the ineffectiveness of modern medicine through the motif of

The sense of belonging humans naturally seek in life reflects the feeling of security and being accepted. They struggle with their identity as they make the choice whether to reject the individuality and belong to a community or group. When individuals seek to belong and rigidly follow society’s norms and practices, they must adhere to the strict rules of their society. In doing do, the desire to belong comes into conflict with the need to be an individual. These ideas are powerfully evident in Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible”, “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger and the Gurinder Chadha film “Bend it like Beckham.” In each of these texts, most desire to belong but need to restore the balance between the need to belong and the

Although the phrase of “every one belongs to every one else” (Huxley 43) is used by the society of the World State to show social conformity and unity, multiple cases of alienation and isolation are present among the main characters within the novel. In the World State, people live “where everyone is happy, but no one is free” (“Brave New World”). In the beginning of the novel, readers are introduced to Bernard Marx, who is conditioned to be an alpha, one of the highest rankings in the social ladder, but is alienated because of his size and anti-social approach to the civilized lifestyle lived out by the majority of his colleagues. Bernard’s characterization by Huxley sanctions the reader to enter into the controlling society of the World State. Bernard has “erratic attempts to conform to a society in which he feels essentially alienated” (Neilson). Correspondingly, John, the savage, believes in love and marriage, which are values instilled into him by the natives while he lived on the reservation.

A lot of people in the world struggle with self-identity and understanding who they are, and the people and events around them in their daily life provide a sort of fill-in for the gap that exists inside of them, whether it’s in the form of jealousy or admiration. Instead of relying on themselves and making an impact on the world based on who they are themselves, these people often undermine their own identity and sabotage their lives and those around them by focusing on, obsessing over, and essentially depending on other things that only appear to be a part of them. In the novel A Separate Peace, the author, John Knowles, brings up this subject of the risk of dependency on self-identity through the main character and protagonist, Gene, and

A sense of belonging is a universal want among mankind. Everyone wants to feel important, special, and loved. However, many people are willing to sacrifice their own principles, character, and individuality in order to fit in with those around them. If an individual refuses to confirm they are often rejected by society. They are deemed, strange, bizarre or even crazy. In a world that teaches uniformity and rejects uniqueness, individuals who are not afraid to be told they are wrong are rare. Many great works of literature feature characters that teach us that it is ok to be different, and that we should hold true to our own values even in the face of criticism and rejection.

Huxley's work, Brave New World, is a book about a society that is in the future. This book contains many strange things that are generally unheard of today. Yet we see that some of the ideas that are presented in this book were already present in the 20th century. The idea of having one superior race of people can easily be seen as something that Hitler was trying to accomplish during the Holocaust. Huxley presents the society in his book as being a greater civilization. A totalitarian type of leadership is also presented in his book. According to him, this would be the best and most effective type of government. Hitler also thought that a totalitarian government was best. We see several similarities between Hitler's Germany and Huxley's

Alexander Hamilton, the first US Secretary of the Treasury, once said “if you do not stand for something, you will fall for anything.” The formation of an individual’s beliefs, sense of belonging, and sense of community all stem from the realization of self identification. Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 both depict a futuristic society where self identification is either being stripped from citizens or has been completely eradicated altogether. The rise of technology in both societies has usurped the importance of knowledge and personal experiences in regards to personal identity formation. This war on self identity is no coincidence, both novels depict government’s that wish to brainwash citizens in order to ‘stabilize’ their respective societies. Governmental entities in Brave New World artificially suppress emotion and encourage consumption to promote a seemingly perfect utopia; whereas in Fahrenheit 451 the vilification of book knowledge is used in order to mold society according to the government’s standards.

Aldous Huxley wisely inserts many instances of distortion to the elements in Brave New World to successfully caution the world about its growing interest in technology.