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Ignorance In Brave New World, By Aldous Huxley

1456 Words6 Pages

Ignorance is bliss. This idiom encompasses one of the main overarching themes of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, social conditioning, eugenics, and Soma. In this futuristic fictional utopia, society has succumbed to the absolute control of the state in the form of Communism. Every aspect of their lives is controlled by World Controllers, from the distribution of Soma, to the hypnopedia slogans and rhymes. In this “perfect” world, all the needs of the people are met. Everyone is happy, but at what cost? According to the text, in order for such a utopia to exist, certain things must be given up from the individuality that each and every person possesses to the right for people to be unhappy. For people to be controlled, it becomes easier once their identity has been taken away. Take for example the World State’s motto which can be found on the very first page of the text. “Community, Identity, Stability.” (Huxley, 1) This phrase is ironic because in order for there to be stability in a community such as Brave New World, there cannot be identity. From birth, this sense of identity is lost for all caste members expect for the Alphas and Betas, since Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons are all essentially cloned. In addition, everyone is dressed the same, which adds to a sense of community, which in turn creates a stable society, but by doing so, identity is …show more content…

These are the values that we hold dear, yet for a utopic world such as Brave New World to exist, these aspects of life would have to be given up. When these elements are lost, we become little more than numbers, living out life for the government rather than ourselves. In order for there to be complete stability, there has to be complete control. If humans were happy and only happy because they are unable to feel unhappy, then no longer would they be humans. The cost of utopia, the cost of happiness, is life as we know it and our lives

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