Individualism In Brave New World

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World was written in 1931 as a dystopian novel based on a futuristic post apocalyptic world. The society is under complete control, human’s are made artificially and are conditioned from young ages to accept the caste they are put in as well as what is okay and what is not okay. In this society the words mother and father are dirty words, words that mean absolutely nothing to them. The lower castes all had alcohol put into their tubes when they were developing to stunt them physically and mentally. Free will is taken from all the people and happiness is supplied through a drug called soma. This novel can be better understood through a Freudian psychoanalytical lense. This lense adopts the methods reading employed

In a last attempt to change society, John halted a soma distribution by throwing the rations out of a window. "But do you like being slaves?" John didn't understand because he didn't have the same upbringing or beliefs as the rest of the people. Before long John had become a hermit, secluded in an abandoned lighthouse. "After all, it was not to sing and enjoy himself that he had come here. It was to escape further contamination by the filth of civilized life; it was to be purified and made good; it was to actively make amends." To keep himself focused and away from

When John was led back into life in the futuristic society, he was mocked and treat as a strange attraction. He was at the awful end of a sick joke - people came from all over to understand this simple “savage” who has spent his life in curiously primitive manners. John was so poorly received, he went as far as wanting to commit

John's life seemed to be one major drama after another; he didn't have a good male role model as a kid, and it seems he never was able to get on track. What was amazing about his life was the number of problems that he seemed to get into and how he wriggled out of them (with the help of a friendly person who just happened to meet him) only to run into more problems.

The major development seen in John’s character takes place near the end of the story, as he seeks a more pure life in a remote location. John feels as though he’s been poisoned by this new civilization “I ate civilization. It poisoned me; I was defiled. And then, I ate my own wickedness.” (241). He wants to not only live a noble life, but to make this life on his own, so chooses an abandoned lighthouse, far enough away from the disaster of a community he views Brave New World as a negative place with negative ideas. This is a major change from the identity he showed before being poisoned by this civilization, but once again he stays true to his values by leading this new life on his own. John’s strong moral values prove to be the one constant in his character.

Even though the controller explains their reasoning for soma and abolishment of the arts, John can't process why anyone would want to live such a way. Isolation became his salvation. As much as John wanted to find a place he belonged, the World State was not it. John was always looked looked at differently, nothing would change that. He went into the World State immediately facing judgement, a wave of different emotions, and lot of questions.

From reading the novel called "Brave New World" by Huxley, John the savage is a character that has been mostly isolated in throughout the chapters. What this mean is that he has been separated from people, a place, including himself. But why does he do that for? He isolated himself from the people of a village in the reservation when they all have knowledge of rituals, morals, and values to learn from, he does not want to live and be a part in the world state where he can have anything he wants and lastly he decided isolated from himself. Just ask yourself on why would John isolate from all these things that will benefit him of more knowledge, get the things that he wants, and be himself?

In the novel Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley there are a few major characters that must be explained. One of these characters is John. John is an outsider in the story and has different goals and ideals than the other characters. He is the son of the Director and Linda. Even though he is the directors son he does not know about him and as a result Linda had him on the Savage Reservation and kept John a secret from his father.

(219) Soon enough, John commits suicide because of his hatred for caving in to chastity and having to experience such extreme culture shock within his time of being in this new world. (250) Certainly it shows how little the civilians cared for John when they were entertained by his self-mutilation at the lighthouse; although understandable since they have no sense of remorse or being saddened – they have no feelings at all, really. (246) This is an example of the way things are different between the two worlds: Even though the citizens of the reserves went through pain and suffering like our everyday world does, they were also been given the rights to feel those emotions. They had freedom of expression to act human-like. Being subjected to pain, but also being free to real gratitude is much more rewarding because they’re capable of owning their personal thoughts and feelings and John tremendously wanted that freedom back. Coincidentally, a drug called Soma is given when any feelings of discontent may arise to those of the ‘World State’ and this hallucinogen allows the person to forget all their

To combat this feeling of isolation, Huxley’s anti-utopia strives to eradicate all individuality. In A Brave New World, authored by Aldous Huxley, Huxley critiques many different aspects of society, from technology to science to religion, but a main critique of his is the loss of individuality and identity. This loss of individuality, as seen in the book, was relevant both in the 1930s and in today’s modern society. Huxley’s novel critiques many facets of society, namely identity and individuality. Beginning around the 1930s was the idea of statism.

Aldous Huxley once wrote, “Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfully glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid.” (6). Huxley wrote this to convey the audience to dislike and mistrust the social hierarchy in Brave New World because Huxley desired to show the importance of individuality even in an almost complete socialist society. Accordingly, every person’s identity, within Brave New World, is tied within their own social class. People are born into their class with duplicates of themselves which makes them lose any individuality if they ever had any at all. Each class has its own criteria for workers and the workers are mass produced in factories with their own special kind of conditions for each class.

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.

Therefore, he is able to resolve his conflict by trying to break free from civilization. He sees civilization as poison because it kills a person’s individuality. When John wants “the right to be unhappy” or “the right to grow old and ugly”, he is explaining the way he wants to live his own life. His response shows that he does not want a perfect life. He wants a real life with real emotions, happiness, relationships, and freedom.

Throughout the novel “Brave New World” we are introduced to characters who are struggling with internal conflicts. One of those people was John the savage who was separated from his home and the people he loved. However devastating it sounds it enhanced John in ways too.

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.