Comparing Huxley's Between Hell And Reason

A utopia sounds like a wonderful thing. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “utopia” as an “imagined or hypothetical place, system, or state of existence in which everything is perfect, esp. in respect of social structure, laws, and politics.” (OED, 2015, entry 2) But what happens when someone tries to bring this imagined land of perfection into reality? Both in fictional literature and in real life applications, utopian dreams destroy societies.

The term utopia is often coined as an ideal or perfect society. In Sir Thomas More “Utopia” such a society is presented. However, today’s reader can see that this ideal or perfect society is filled with many underlying problems that make it not utopic or even dystopic. To exemplify the society More’s mention puts a strain on the freedom and relationship the citizens have with its country in to question. Such an act is detrimental in creating a utopia because if the citizens are not happy with the freedom and rights they are given how can the society itself be presented as a utopia, it is instead like a prison.

Everything comes at a price, and the price that is paid for the new order is sadly high, costing the Utopians the benefits of high art, true religion, real science, and family life, which all have been removed to promote stability. "'Othello's better than those feelies.' 'Of course it is…But that's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We've sacrificed the high art. We have the feelies and the scent organ instead.' 'But they don't mean anything,'" (Huxley 226) This conversation shows one of the tradeoffs made. Stories like Othello are inspired by strong emotions, and Utopia has done away with them. Now, there is nothing to write about, and if something was written along the lines of Othello it might cause people to think, causing instability. The movies people see are idiotic and plotless, based solely on sensations. Religion as we know it has been done away with also, as Mustapha Mond showed by his comments quoted at the beginning of this paper. Religion usually involves self-denial, and that is contrary to everything the new society is based on. With instant gratification

After reading the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley I realized that this is no ordinary story. It predicts a future overpowered by technology and government and where the people have no true freedom of choice. This book made me think about whether the utopia depicted in the novel would be a perfect place to live or a terrible place to live. It is hard to distinguish where the line is drawn between making life simpler and losing the meaning of life. Although some may look upon this type of life with envy I personally would rather have to work hard and earn my living than to lose the chance to make my own destiny.

Utopia is said to be a place where a good society is created, where one can live a good life and where power is not abused. But throughout George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the reader learns that a utopian society is in fact impossible. The reader learns this when Old Major tells of a dream he has where everything is perfect and no humans are involved, however when the revolution occurs and the humans are chased off the farm, the pigs become in charge and start to manipulate their power and the other animals, proving that no matter how hard the animals try, they will never have the good life that they want. Furthermore, in Peter Weir’s the Truman Show, we see that your own utopia can not be shaped by another being, because although being in power, Christof makes everything as perfect as he can for Truman, Christof can never give Truman the good life he actually wants which then leaves Truman finding his life unsatisfactory. The good life is determined by freedom and to be able to go where you want and do what you want to do, thus proving that a utopian society can not actually be made because if everyone could do what they want, there’s no guarantee that people would do the right thing which is why we have people in power.

“Ideas shape the course of history”- John Maynard Keynes, Economist. History has a way of always changing things. We get these ideas of how to the make the world better, how to make a country better, how a make a city better. All of these ideas of what would make the perfect place to be in. We all envision a perfect place for us to live in. We envision what the government would look like, how the government would look like. But it is not just the government we envision our own perfect way. Economic structures, religious beliefs, social customs, and legal systems, we envision these things to be perfect, according to our own wants and desires. In Sir Thomas More’s Utopia that is exactly is happening. Utopia is defined as an imagined place or

Different societies have risen and fallen in the continual search for the “perfect” society. The definition of this utopia is in constant flux due to changing times and cultural values. Many works of literature have been written describing a utopian society and the steps needed to achieve it. However, there are those with a more cynical or more realistic view of society that comment on current and future trends. These individuals look at the problems in society and show how to solve them with the use of control and power. Such a society is considered undesirable and has become known as dystopian society.

A utopia is what everyone is aiming for, but is that really what they are getting? With the hopes of a perfect society, we the people are rushing for a drastic change in the way things work without giving too much care in which direction things are changing, and that can and will cause definite issues. In the hopes to rush into a perfect world, too many people are treating government like a roulette wheel and hoping for the best, even though all odds are against them. In doing so, they are setting themselves up for a more controlled tomorrow.

When one reflects on the period during which Huxley’s novel was written and the modern world of his time, the comparison to the socialist world cannot be ignored. The whole idea of a utopia is very similar to socialism. The World State society is under the complete control of the government. Pre-destination department chooses what people will learn, what they will do and how they will look. Each caste wears a different color clothes and does different type of labor. None of these decisions are made by people themselves. In our society, even with the socialism, where government decides what products to produce, in what quantities, and how people will live, people still have a choice and opportunity to be different. Stability and individuality in utopia are reached by taking away the individuality from people. In the World State government controls desires and consumption by creating and destroying the demand for certain objects through the psychological training of infants.

In Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World, the focus is constantly on the question of whether or not the advance of technology requires a sacrifice of human individuality, religion, love, and many other aspects of life. Therefore, Aldous Huxley's theme is that the price of happiness and social stability will be the sacrifice of the most cherished possessions of our culture. In the novel, Mustapha Mond states that "God isn't compatible with machinery and scientific medicine, and universal happiness." (Huxley). Here Huxley shows how religion can be sacrificed for peace. This world he has created with his novel shows religion is no longer needed to satisfy human desires. Unfortunately sacrificing and eliminating these aspects of life causes citizens

As man has progressed through the ages, there has been, essentially, one purpose. That purpose is to arrive at a utopian society, where everyone is happy, disease is nonexistent, and strife, anger, or sadness is unheard of. Only happiness exists. But when confronted with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, we come to realize that this is not, in fact, what the human soul really craves. In fact, Utopian societies are much worse than those of today. In a utopian society, the individual, who among others composes the society, is lost in the melting pot of semblance and world of uninterest. The theme of Huxley's Brave New World is community, identity, and stability. Each of these three themes represents what a Brave New World society needs

‘One man’s utopia is another man’s dystopia.’ This is a famous quote we must often bear in mind when writing about such topics and it is often fairly accurate. A utopian society, in this essay, will be defined as a “non-existent society that is described in considerable detail…” (Fitting, 1993, 1) and an ideal and visionary society that enjoys perfection in various fields such as politics, law and more as seen in Thomas More’s famous novel, Utopia. A positive utopian society is often impossible due to a variety of reasons, primarily human nature and the inevitable inequality found in these idealized societies. A prime example of how a utopian society is often impossible can be found in Andrew Niccol’s film, Gattaca (1997). The film Gattaca explores a new version of an idealized society, a utopia that revolves heavily around genetic engineering. In Gattaca, an individual’s future is delineated by his or

The quality of your individual life would greatly improve in utopia. The burdens you face from corporate monopolies, the overwhelming weight of the devaluation of your currency and the lack of faith in your neighbors to achieve a civilization of peace and mutual respect has taken its toll for too long. Although this sounds as if it was taken directly from George Orwell’s book (1984) itself, the propaganda of a utopian government rule and the current everlasting war breathes as it’s on self-reliant organization today. Weary of the multiple political parties that are emerging every three seconds, we are faced with a question that has been proposed since the beginning of logical thinking. Is it

Utopia is a brilliant novel written by Thomas More. The idea of a utopia seems impossible, how can anyone live in a perfect place when perfection is in the eyes of the beholder? The Utopia in this novel is nothing more than abundant of already established ideas therefore it can’t not truly be a Utopia.

Throughout the ages, man has come to idealize a word that is most commonly related to ‘heavenly’ or ‘perfect’ without actually picking up the book and realizing for themselves that there is no such thing. A Utopian society could never exist because man is made to want, to desire success. Man is competitive by nature and would never be happy in a society where everyone is equal and there is no chance of advancement. Sir Thomas More dreamt of a land that was much like England but could never surpass time. He opened the eyes of a nation and made its people desire something new. Views were significantly changed and the world would never be the same. Sir Thomas More inspired dramatic changes in religion, community life and even paved