Postman's Analysis of Brave New World

Huxley’s Brave New World could be considered almost prophetic by many people today. It is alarmingly obvious how modern society is eerily similar to Huxley’s novel with the constant demand for instant gratification encouraging laziness, greed, and entitlement. Neil Postman, a contemporary social critic, seems to have noticed this similarity, as he has made bold, valid statements regarding the text and its relevance to our world today. This response is strongly in support of those statements and will prove both their accuracy in clarifying Huxley’s intentions and how Postman’s assertions compare to society today.

The world full of so many colors, but they are affected by the same nasty, not glossy finish. The book Brave New World by Alexander Huxley was an image of what the future holds. A picture that showed that society will be soon be taken over and forced to serve a ruling order. Huxley had many themes in the book Brave New World, to make us imagine what the world can become. One of his most poignant themes, that he used was the dangers of an all-powerful government, by using languages such as allusions and motifs.

Neil is absolutely right in his claim that Brave New World has more relevance today than 1984. This can be attributed to Orwell’s success in showing the public what he feared for in the future. His book outlined a future of oppression and pain so preventive would be taken. Whereas Huxley presented a bleak and shallow future that would be ruled by pleasure and efficiency. Two things many people strive to achieve so many would see almost no reason to prevent such a future at all. There is also the fact that if people wished to achieve 1984 they currently have the technology to do so. This is not true of Brave New World if people wish to achieve Huxley’s idea then people will need to work towards it. So it is still possible that when the technology become available Huxley’s nightmare will be

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.

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, published in 1932, is a masterpiece of science fiction. His imagined, dystopian state creatively employs facts and theories of science, as well as his very own thinly-veiled commentary on the future of society. His family background and social status, in addition to molding Huxley himself and his perspective, no doubt made impact on his writing and contributed to the scientific accuracy of his presentation. However, Huxley certainly qualifies as a social commenter and his extensive works, while sometimes biased, were always perceptive comments on the future of mankind, predictions made based on current event in his world. In other words, current affairs had undeniable impact on Huxley’s novel, and his

Javier Espinoza English 12 Mr. Larry Holguin 5th Period 05/22/2017 To What Extent Orwell’s “1984” and Huxley’s “Brave New World” Affect Today’s Culture?

He foresaw the ubiquitous prevalence of drugs, both legal and illegal, and how pharmaceuticals such as Ritalin would sedate growing numbers of children. Genetic engineering, euthanasia, a national lottery and eve corruption at the top of the world sport are all a part of his nightmare future. Time has proved he was right about his prediction. Some of the predictions are not relevant with modern world. In Brave New World, Huxley presents a picture of global dictator ship controlling a totalitarian, consumerist welfare state.

Neil Postman claims that between the two books, 1984, written by George Orwell, and Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, the world we live in today is closer to the one in Brave New World. While I agree with Postman that “Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us,” (Postman, 19-20) and Postman’s overall point of our world being closer to the one portrayed in Brave New World, I disagree that what “Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book for there would be no one who wanted to read one.” (Postman, 19-20) Mankind in Brave New World did not simply stop wanting to read books, but they were pushed by the world and forced to hate books. According to Postman, “Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us,” and what

Thesis-Huxley is prescient in his novel a Brave New World through his attention to consumerism, the use of drugs to control emotions and his concept of free sex.

There are many similarities and differences between Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984. With my analysis of both novels, I have come to the conclusion that they are not as alike as you would believe. A Brave New World is a novel about the struggle of John, ‘the savage,' who rejects the society of the Brave New World when and discovers that he could never be truly happy there. 1984 is a novel about Winston, who finds forbidden love within a society that is not aloud to love. In both novels the main character struggles with his society and government to change, which ends up in disaster.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley depicts a future world that has mechanized and removed all sense of life to being human. In this world, people work for the common good of the community and are conditioned to dislike what, today, we would consider common and healthy relationships with people and environments. The story follows a man, John, not born into the culture and his struggle with the unfamiliarity with the “Brave New World”. Published in 1932, Brave New World often leaves roots back to the world Aldous was in when he was writing the novel. I believe the genius of Huxley’s writing was his ability to effectively select the traits of 1930’s society that would later become a staple for Americanism in the coming century and, in time, allowing for a relatable story to the modern day while giving us warning to the future.

During the 1930s, the times of World War II and the Great Depression, Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World. There were several issues going on in Huxley’s time that are still present in today's world . Huxley features some of these problems in his book, Brave New World. These problems include drug or medicine usage, women and gender inequality, and traditional marriage/homosexuality. Since this book was written during the times of the Great Depression and World War II, these factors also contributed to some of these issues. Since World War II and the Great Depression are over, these do not affect the problems today. Although some of these problems are still a problem in today's world and society, they are not as much of a problem as they were during Huxley's time.

In many cases when you read a novel you may find comparisons between the "fictional" society and your realistic one. The author may consciously or unconsciously create similarities between these two worlds. The novelist can foresee the future and write according to this vision. In Brave New World, Adlous Huxley envisions the future of our society and the dangerous direction it is headed in.

The invention of technology has made life easier but has it really helped? Neil Postman's writing ‘AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH’ from 1985 brings up the concern about the use of new technology and how it's negatively affecting our society. Neil Postman's unique and very fitting title ‘AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH’ helps to portray what Postman tries to explain through this writing. Postman also uses two authors Orwell who's the author of ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ and Huxley's who is the author of ‘Brave New World’. The transition from the ‘market of ideas’ to the ‘market of images’ that technology has made. Postman writing ‘AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH’ conveys valid points about technology and the affect it has on society but it's debatable whether technology is good or bad.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley depicts a future that seems happy and stable on the surface, but when you dig deeper you realize that it is not so bright at all. People almost autonomously fall in line to do what they have been taught to do through constant conditioning and hypnopædia. Neil Postman’s argument that Huxley’s book is becoming more relevant than George Orwell’s 1984 is partly true. Huxley’s vision of the future is not only partly true, but it is only the beginning of what is to come.