An essay on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World- Community, Identity, Stability

What would life be like if we lived in a world where our lives were chosen by others, they were meaningless because we all had the same purpose, and we were brainwashed to stagnate society? In the book Brave New World, Aldous Huxley writes about a fictional utopian society with a caste system of clones (Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons) with 10 controllers who manage the society. The hatchery and conditioning center have three main values: community, identity, and stability. In serving these interests, the controllers create a quintessential stable society that comes with a cost. Although everyone in a stable society in Brave New World is happy, the social stability is not worth the price of independence because it dehumanizes the clones, takes away freedom, and prevents further social progress.

Having social stability is not worth the price of independence because it leads to the dehumanization of the clones. To have a stable society, there would have to be no conflict. In the novel, the controllers accomplish a stable society without conflict by creating a class system of clones that all think alike. Their ideology is that if everyone thinks alike, there can be no conflict. These clones are massed produced and conditioned to believe and act a certain way. This conditioning is called hypnopaedia and teaches the clones to value society over individuals. "'Murder kills only the individual- and, after all, what is an individual?'...'We can make a new one with the greatest ease- as many as we like'" (Huxley 150). The director explains to Henry Foster how easy it is to add an individual to society and make another clone, that they’re all replaceable. Clones aren’t looked upon or treated as individuals. Each citizen exists to only serve the community and the success of society is dependent on one another. Between every citizen within a class thinking the same way, looking the same, being mass produced, and only serving the community, there’s no real value to citizens. There’s only value to the class as a collective whole. With this idea of none of the clones/citizens being valued for their human qualities, they’re dehumanized because they’re just part of society and make up a number. Strippen away of independence, some clones in certain classes, such as epsilons, of the caste system must live by specific rules. One of these rules obligate the clones to take a drug called soma that erases any emotion, feelings, or individual thinking that they may have. “‘Horrible?’ Lenina was genuinely astonished. ‘But I thought it was lovely.’ ‘It was base,’ he said indignantly, ‘it was ignoble.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t know what you mean’” (Huxley 172). Lenina, who takes soma, and John The Savage, who doesn’t take soma, attend the feelies where they watch a movie. John and Lenina both had different opinions about the movie. Lenina thought it was good, but that’s only because she’s conditioned to believe that about everything and the soma she takes erases any emotion otherwise. John has emotion and he can form his own opinions instead of being conditioned to think everything is happy and great. Emotions like pain, grief, humiliation, and disappointment are a human trait. The emotions that are taken away by soma to keep society stable dehumanize the clones. Social stability is not worth the dehumanization that the clones face because nothing about life can be appreciated due to a lack of purpose and comparison of emotions at different times.

Social stability is not worth the price of independence because it takes away the freedom of the clones. The clones are conditioned to follow certain rules. However, they don’t have the ability to form opinions of their own about these rules. When they take soma, they gain instant happiness. But, soma is the only thing that provides the clones happiness, but it’s only artificial. "’Yes, 'Everybody's happy nowadays.' We begin giving the children that at five. But wouldn't you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, for example; not in everybody else's way’"(Huxley 91). Two of the characters Lenina and Bernard have a discussion about happiness and Bernard stretches Lenina’s mind with questioning her if she wishes to be happy in her own way, not because of soma. Lenina and Bernard have different views of what it means to be free. Unhappiness is not a choice for this stable society. For Bernard, freedom is having the choice to be happy or unhappy. For Lenina, freedom doesn’t have a true meaning, but she’s happy without it because of soma. The clones are enslaved by conditioning and have no freedom. Lenina is happy and free because she’s been conditioned to believe so. The clones don’t even realize that they’re not fee. "’Don't you want to be free and men? Don't you even understand what manhood and freedom are?’ ..he began to throw the little pill-boxes of soma tablets in handfuls out into the area” (Huxley 218). John questions the citizens about their freedom that’s reliant on taking soma. As long as they take it, they’ll believe they’re free. But John is not a normal citizen and knows better. John tossing out the soma symbolizes gaining real freedom and loosening the ties of power that the world state holds on citizens. Having a stable society is not worth sacrificing freedom because citizens have to act and be like things that they don’t choose. Citizens can’t be happy with this way of life without soma or being conditioned to think so.

Sacrificing independence for social stability is not worth it because it also prevents further social progress. The World State uses science as a means to build technology to produce things for the clones to consume in order to have a stable society. “‘But old clothes are beastly,’ continued the untiring whisper. ‘We always throw away old clothes. Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending’” (Huxley 54). All the citizens of The World State in the novel are conditioned to consume and repurchase goods. Repairing goods instead of buying something new is considered immoral. The government forces the clones to conform to this societal norm by conditioning them. If the clones have to constantly consume, they have to constantly produce goods, leaving no time for disruptive behavior. Having no time for trouble or learn to do anything new such as to read stops social progress because they can’t learn anything new and understand emotion. "’But that's the price we pay for stability, you've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We've sacrificed the high art’"(Huxley 220). Mustapha Mond responds to John’s protests about emotion from Shakespeare's literature. Mond and John are the only two characters who can understand shakespeare and therefore emotion. They stand out compared to the rest of society because of their abilities. The rules and conditioning for the clones prevents social progress because they can’t learn the things that John and Mond are able to. Regardless of the cost the society in Brave New World has to pay for social stability, there are positives like no war or suffering. If there’s never any conflict due to the mass production of clones and no suffering due to conditioning, the society can appear to be successful. However, the benefits are not actually real or achievable in the long run.

The price of independence is not worth social stability because it dehumanizes the clones, takes away freedom, and prevents further social progress. This inhibits citizens living a meaningful life with emotion, connection, and growth as individuals. One of the characters, Mustapha Mond, has a significant motto. In his motto, the significance of community and identity is the price the society has to pay for stability. Although written in the past, this novel very much connects to the 21st century where phones and artificial intelligence are used to perform easy tasks for people. These technological advancements will be doing nearly everything for us in the future and we will no longer have a purpose, much like the mass produced clones. It is our job to manage the power of technology and appreciate the unique parts of society including individuals because if individuals feel like they don’t serve a purpose or feel capable of success, we cannot have a stable and successful society.