Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalysis vs. George Orwell and Aldous Huxley's Utopian Societies “He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore” (Freud 215). Sigmund Freud demonstrates through the theory of psychoanalysis that, regardless of suppression, the mind's unconscious desires will always surge to the surface. Furthermore explaining that like a verbal mistake, it reveals an unconscious emotion or thought. The psychoanalytic approach deals with the characters in the book like real people and attempts to find the reasoning through the point of view of unconsciousness and consciousness. Although the …show more content…
This would primarily include experiences of sexual pleasure and aggression and if there is no satisfaction, it would trigger pain. This is the first stage in smaller children. In Brave New World, the emphasis of sexual needs must always be a fulfillment. The erotic play that is done with the children is the start of their sexual activity and the Director of Hatcheries mentions, “...and even for some generations afterwards, erotic play between children had been regarded as abnormal...and not only abnormal, actually immoral...and had therefore been rigorously suppressed” (Huxley 32) as well as, “even adolescents like yourselves...Barring a little surreptitious auto-erotism and homosexuality-absolutely nothing” (Huxley 33). The Director explains the norm of the society and how the urges aren't even necessary because there is control. There is an immense disbelief at the thought of any sexual activity being prohibited. There is a narrow channelling of impulse and energy, everywhere exclusiveness (Huxley 40). As has been noted, sexual desires are not frowned upon by the World State, so the upbringing urge of sexual activity is defined more with control rather than immediate …show more content…
The id has shown that both societies have acted strongly through sex, but Brave New World acknowledges it without emotion or actual disturbance. Unlike that society, 1984 frowns upon any relations, yet it is still one of the urges mostly seen in Julia and Winston. Next, the ego shows the balance through the conscious and unconscious. Demonstrating both of the character's internal struggles to fight the urges and think otherwise from the rules of the societies. Lastly, the superego, portrayed through the Big Brother party and the native reservation society, has set the moral rules through these parent like figures in the the lives of John and Winston. Given these points, it is understood in our conscious, through the questions that affect us strongly, makes us quicken as people. When we work through some question of conscience, we enter into the inner sanctuary of our personhood (Crosby 93). All in all, through the criticism of Freud's theory came Huxley and Orwell's psychological reasoning for the Id, Ego, and Superego in 1984 and Brave New
As for intelligence there have been three capacities and virtues that should be targeted for moral enhancement, which are the sensitivity to the features of situations, thoughtfulness about doing what is moral, and the proper capacity for people to make proper judgments. The continued progress in the modification of learning, cognition, memory, the capabilities of decision-making will help assist the moral enhancement with these tasks. There have also been many neurochemicals that have been used to enhance cognitive abilities, which include increased attention span and cognition span. Drugs like OxyContin have also been used to help with empathy, and to make people feel happier. It may be believed that a drug like soma was only possible in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, but perhaps not. Utilitarian’s have been pushing for human enhancement that uses drugs, genetic engineering and nanotechnology to ensure the maximum amount of happiness possible while attempting to eliminate any pain. Proponents believe that this would reset the brain’s thinking patterns, and allow people to think more positively by keeping our minds engaged, rather than in a constant dull and depressing state. Many anti- depressant drugs are attempting to do just this. It is safe to say that moral enhancement is not just a potential innovation, but a technology that is already beginning.
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
The social structure of George Orwell’s 1984 is based on Freud’s map of the mind and the struggles between the id, the ego and the super ego. The minds of these individuals living in this society are trained to think a certain way. Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis can be applied to Orwell’s 1984. Using Freud’s psychoanalytic approach, 1984’s main character Winston Smith is portrayed as the one who goes against the ideas of the Party. In a Freudian point of view, Winston’s character represents a mind where the id is the driving force and where the ego and superego are ill developed in the views of the Party. Freud describes the psychoanalytic process as something that is normally used to treat patients with
The color of the groups uniform determined how intelligent and skillful the people were mentally. A certain color(grey) determined if you were clever, an Alpha, and another color(green) determined if you were vapid, an Epsilon. More specifically, every individual was made to believe this in their sleep. As Huxley states, “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. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki… Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid”(Huxley 27/28). Huxley is stating that brain washing begins since one is born and occurs when an individual is not aware of what is going on in their surroundings.
Reading a narrative from a psychoanalytic perspective can prove to be a sometimes frustrating experience. Psychoanalysis often disregards the actual texts and verbal context of a piece of literature in favor of the Freudian and Lacanian ideas, which seek to find encrypted motifs in the depths of every creation in order to reveal the author’s unconscious mind. Nevertheless, the critiques of psychoanalytic interpretation of literature claim that such interpretations focus on the content of the text at the expense of the literary form and temporal dimension, which can reduce the literary plots to lifeless machinations. Furthermore, psychoanalytic interpretation of a text may tell us less about the author’s unconscious mind and more about the
In Aldous Huxley’s novel a Brave New World, published in 1931, there are several attacks on society. Throughout this essay it will be seen what these problems were and if they were fixed. If the problems were fixed, it must be determined when they were. The primary focus is to answer whether we have changed for the better, women’s role in society and the social classes. In the end it will be obvious that a perfect society is impossible but we have made improvement.
How would you feel if you were exiled? Most would say this would be a terrible experience. However, several theorists have many different views on the impact of being exiled. American theorist Edward Said claimed, “It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” But on another note, he said it is “a potent, even enriching.” Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, expands on this idea of exilation. Throughout the novel, several characters are faced with being exiled, whether it be from their home or community. In particular, a man by the name of John seems to experience the bulk of it. John’s experiences show that being exiled is
A big theme in the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is the idea of psychology as a means to control the masses and by default society. Psychology is a very broad subject that covers many opinions and ideas. We’re going to cover five psychologists who come from either the psychoanalytic or behaviorist section of psychology. These theories and beliefs they have convey the messages and ideas of control, sleep teaching, and conditioning. These ideas and opinions helped shape several bits and pieces in this novel.
In the Sci-fi futuristic novel “Brave New World”, published in 1932, Aldous Huxley introduces the idea of the utopian society, achieved through technological advancement in biology and chemistry, such as cloning and the use of controlled substances. In his novel, the government succeeds in attaining stability using extreme forms of control, such as sleep teaching, known as conditioning, antidepressant drugs – soma and a strict social caste system. This paper will analyze the relevance of control of society versus individual freedom and happiness to our society through examining how Huxley uses character development and conflict. In the “Brave New World”, Control of society is used to enforce
Brave New World is a cautionary tale about the crushing effects of an authoritarian regime on human individuality. In this satire, Aldous Huxley offers a critique of totalitarianism by creating a single World State government and society. Although the World State’s motto is “community, identity, and stability,” ironically, the concept of individual identity is all but lost to the citizens of the World State (Huxley). The government controls virtually every aspect of human activity -- from creation to death. In exchange for comfort, happiness, and stability, the people in Huxley’s world give up their free will and sense of self. To make his point, Huxley employs powerful symbols of a mechanical, mind-numbing world where individual identity
At the very beginning of the novel sex is shown to play an important role in the new society because kids are playing sex games in bushes. This should immediately evoke a sense of bewilderment by the reader because sex amongst children is looked down upon by normal society. Throughout the entire novel sex occurs quite often, but love is never correlated with the intimacy. The characters simply choose who they want to be with and then act upon the person without putting forth much effort at all. Having sex with others and not loving the person is something that is normally looked down upon in normal society, so Huxley obviously intended to have a large impact on the readers. To further his exploitation of taboo subjects, Huxley makes the New World a society in which drugs known as Soma are used to fix any problem that may occur. Whenever something that seems like it might be the least bit problematic arises, Soma is taken to ease them of any tension. This eliminates any problem solving and rids of the overall satisfaction from overcoming difficulties. But problems seldom occur to inhabitants of the New World, and Huxley wanted to make drugs commonplace in Brave New World. So, Soma is also taken during most instances of sex which increases the drastic impact on the reader. All of Huxley’s exaggerations of the New World is meant to make the reader think about his own society and think about the path
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World introduces us to a futuristic technological world where monogamy is shunned, science is used in order to maintain stability, and society is divided by 5 castes consisting of alphas(highest), betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilons(lowest). In the Brave New World, the author demonstrates how society mandates people’s beliefs using many characters throughout the novel.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley illustrates what is actually happening in modern society. The novel is a satire of a totalitarian government and although it is fantasy, there are early traces of it occurring in modern day. It is hard to imagine a government that is solely based on the ideals of the people when there is an elected government body who makes decisions. The government’s goal is to have stability and prosperity and that, at times, is accomplished at the expense of the individuals who are governed. Accordingly, there is danger in having an all-powerful state because personal freedoms are lost. More so, there is power in having knowledge that others do not possess because it is a gateway for the government to control the public
The New World, a man-made Utopia, governed by its motto, Community, Identity, Stability (Huxley 3). A man-made world in every way. Human beings fertilized in bottles. Identity, gender, intelligence, position in society, all predestined. Human beings classified in the order of precedence: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. Every one conditioned to be a certain way. Every one works for every one else (Huxley, 74). All man-made to ensure social stability. Is society in the New World truly better than in the 2000s? Are people in the New World truly happier than we are in the 2000s? Do we in the 2000s have any thing in common with the New World? Are there significant sociological differences between
This novel takes place in the year 632 A.F. The government controls the population of Utopia, there are only test tube births and an artificial process for multiplying the embryos. Marriage is forbidden. There are ten World Controllers; these people control the government and all of their plans. In the very beginning there are students being given a guided party line tour through the London Hatcheries. Two employees that work there are Henry Foster and Lenina Crowne, they have been dating each other too much and are discouraged by the state. So Lenina’s best friend, Fanny, picks on her because of this. Lenina then meets Bernard Marx, and grows to like him so much that she agrees to go on a vacation with him to a New Mexican