Individualism In Brave New World

As human beings we are very diverse. We vary from numerous backgrounds, ethnicities, morals, and cultures. However, as much as we are unique, we all share one common goal in life. Everyone has a desire for happiness. I found that throughout my daily life I based my decision off of what would make me happy, whether it was for a long or short period of time. Often happiness is associated with successfulness and achievement. Though, like the saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, happiness can be found in different ways by different people. This along with reading The Driest Season by Meghan Kenny, is what influenced me to want to find out more about happiness, if it is truly attainable, and how people achieve it.

Attention Materials: Many times I have wondered what is true happiness. Is there such thing as true happiness? Can it even be attained if there is such a thing? Is it more of fulfilling desires, or satisfying psychological needs? Every person attempts to realize happiness in its fullest essence. It seems like today people are too busy trying to get rich. Nowadays it is believed that happiness lies in that new mansion, or a nice Ferrari. People are mistakingly assuming that wealth will bring to them a personal significance in which they will achieve happiness.

Appealing towards social familiarity can function as one’s anchor for their literary audience to hold on and connect with; however in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, his presentation of society in future serves to challenge our very expectations on the extent of depths of immorality mankind can subject itself to. The horrific justifications of manipulative practices such as infant conditioning and sleep-learning indicates both Huxley’s skepticism towards motives behind radical social experiments and the underlying danger of his audience being indifferent towards the weaponization of such experiments. (AUDIENCE) Furthermore, Huxley’s development of the World State caste system and its effects of alienation towards characters such as Helmholtz and Bernard in BNW act as indirect criticism towards the recent emergence of superpowers with social frameworks determined to undermine human individualism.(CONTEXT) Both motifs also contribute to a sense of all-around absurdity in BNW’s society and its focus around the complete rejection of past conservatism, allowing Huxley’s to express his personal opposition towards the anti-traditionalist movements dominating contemporary thought at the time. (AUTHOR) The manifestation of these

The Savage was one of the very few lucky people left who still knew what it was like to feel hatred, what it was like to feel love, what it was like to feel sorrow- and he realized that he did not want to be alone in a world where people did not experience emotions, and where soma could cure all of your problems. He did not want that life and his emotions made him act upon his

Individuality is an important part of society- it adds contrast, variance, and just makes things a little more interesting. When individuality is compromised, we feel as though we have been forced into a box that is too small for us and that we are no longer the person that we are meant to be. This causes a dysmorphic sense of self which motivates us to quickly find away to become who we feel we are once again. Driven by emotions, pariahs will succumb to societal expectations but quickly realize the values cause a loss of the individuality, which they must in turn find through their own personal values and lifestyles. Sula, unlike the other women in her town, ignores society’s expectations for women to get married and have children and instead

John, the savage, is the only human in Brave New World. He despises the “civilized” world for its inhumanity and lack of morals. John loved his mother and even though she wasn't a very good one. He is the perfect balance of “civilized” and “savage”. After doing something that he heavily regrets, John subjects himself to his own discipline for his guilt.

Throughout the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, we see the mention of "Everyone belongs to everyone else,” and that leaves no room for individuality but in the novel Lenina Crowne and John the Savage, shows strong display of individuality. Lenina individuality often goes unnoticed by the World State and also by us readers. In a lot of ways Lenina can be considered a protagonist in the novel just like John. Lenina had only been seeing one man for four months and later in the book she became heavily attached to John and at one point fallen in love with him.

In Brave New World the author, Aldous Huxley, creates a community that is efficient and and stable, but not at the expense of people’s individuality. To create this world, Huxley uses technology to manipulate mankind by synthetically producing people. By producing people, their society is dependent upon the programming of the people and later dependent upon drugs and sex to deal with problems. The people are less developed in emotions which allows for similar reactions to stress and other problems in their lives. Although their world is efficient in the work they get done, the production of the people cause them to be clones of those around them.

The famous philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated that “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” The world is full of people who are conformists as well as people who stand for themselves and follow their own values. Emerson explains that by being yourself you are already part of something great. However, the question still lingers: Which is the real cause of genuine happiness? There have been many claims argued by various sources, such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Ursula Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Sherry Turkle’s TED Talk titled “Connected, but alone?”. All have come to a consensus

In a society in which virtually every decision is made for you and you are programmed to be happy it is easy for many to lead meaningless, unconcerned lives. However, when John is taken out of the place he calls home and dropped into this world of distration it is not so easy for him to accept this ignorance. In Brave New World Aldous Huxley advances the theme of community vs individuality through John’s experiences as he is cut off from home. When John first leaves the reservation and is introduced to the New World he is perplexed by the distinct cultural differences and overwhelmed by people’s interest in him.

Brave New World acquires its name from Miranda’s speech is Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”. Huxley wrote his most famous book in 1931, but it is set in the year of AF 632 in the dystopian World State City of London. In this world, humans have been engineered artificially. Therefore, words like “mother” and “father’ were non-existent. Each child is born into a predetermined gerrymandered caste based on society’s strict system of need. The upper castes of Alpha and Beta luxuriate in their privileged positions. The castes Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon carry out only the most degrading and menial tasks of society.

Written in an age of anxiety, Brave New World (published in 1932) by Aldous Huxley detailed the struggles of a utopian society. Most growing up in the era have no concept of self and are prevented from enjoying “rebellious” activities by the World Controllers. In this brave new world (2540 AD), the citizens are conditioned from birth (artificial, if you will) as to their place in society (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, in descending order in regards to rank). Children accept sex as a pastime (with no emotional connection) and consume soma to rid of their problems. Most (who have known nothing but this world), like Lenina, accept this world.

John, a savage, has never been able to fit in society. Moving through two contradicting societies, John is unable to adapt to the major differences of the civilized society due to the different ways upon how it is conducted. Living with the savages, John feels isolated from the savages as they exclude him from most of their norms. John wanted to

In modern society there is much value placed on the concept of individual freedom. However, too much freedom can provide an individual with the power to interfere with the happiness of others, thus a balance between freedom and state regulated order is required. The concept of an individual struggling against an order focused society is a common topic in texts. In Aldous Huxley’s 1933 novel Brave New World, this concept is explored by John, an outsider in a dystopian world society that places high value on stability rather than individualism. In Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, which is based Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel of the same name, a similar dystopian society is explored by the aggressively individualistic Alex.

Many people across the world have their own definition and beliefs of the word individualism. There is nothing selfish to be able to express ones personality and internal emotions. Being an individual alone could value a person’s overall true character. The claim presented would be opposed by many because people like to feel independent and self-reliant. Individualism in today’s society lets people express themselves, and helps create something small into something big. For a long time now individualism has existed since the founding of our country. History was created by those who showed independence and proved that an individual can do it all.