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Dehumanization In Brave New World

Decent Essays

Micaela Rios-O’Leary
Professor John Isles
English 1A
March 13, 2017 The End of a Civilization Imagine a world where you are not allowed to be yourself. Imagine a world where morality was abolished and science dominated all aspect of life. Imagine being told what to do with your body, your sexuality. Imagine a world where you are so heavily controlled, even your thoughts are not your own. Imagine not being able to recognize your own emotions that lie inside you. Imagine being taught to rely on prescriptions drugs to cope with not being able to express what you feel inside. Imagine being so heavily controlled, you are oblivious to the veil over your eyes. Aldous Huxley portrays a fantastic peak into our future by conveying …show more content…

From reproductive rights, morality, and drugs, Huxley develops a futuristic approach to mankind. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley serves as a cautionary tale about contemporary American culture by illustrating the technological and scientific advancements within a society to establish power and the affects it may have on mankind.
In Brave New, Huxley shows us how the influence of a human conditioning in a government controlled society, can result in the dehumanization of humans by the loss of free will, with today’s technological and scientific advancements, it is no surprise more scientists and philosophers are starting to debate human consciousness and whether or not free will still exists. Early in the novel, Huxley shows us that in order for a society to remain completely conformed, we have to change the primal instinct of an individual, and ultimately their free will through conditioning in order to keep the society stable. Conditioning forces people to obey the principles of the government through subliminal messages. With the loss of free …show more content…

In Brave New World, soma is used to oppress the competence to be aware of one’s personal feelings and the ability to communicate their emotions. The people in Brave New World have been so conditioned to seek drugs to forget their human feelings, they have become incapable of self-expression. Soma is a powerful drug encouraged by the government to consume whenever one gets any emotional urges. It is distributed rationally throughout the population and acts as an anti-depressant. Soma is provided by the government to distract people from any cruel realities or any human emotion that may want to question or change the government in power. It numbs people of their feelings and abolishes any emotional responses while creating a sense of euphoria and well-being. With the backing of science, the state provides them with soma to dissuade their attention from the harsh truth, while keeping them in a happy bliss. Throughout the years, scientists and doctors have seen a growing trend in the integration of pharmaceutical drugs in our healthcare, rather than encouraging life style changes. For instance, pain-reliving drugs are the most commonly prescribed medication in America. Pain-reviving medication produces a false euphoric sense of well-being and pleasure.

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