Dehumanisation In Brave New World

The process of discovery has the power to transform an individual, challenging their values, their identity and the way they see the world. Frank Hurley discovered the horror of the battlefield in WWI. Nasht’s film, “Frank Hurley the man who made history”, documents the impact these experiences had on Hurley’s perception of the world, leading to cynical and unethical behaviour in Papua New Guinea. Similarly, in Aldous Huxley’s novel “A brave new world”, the character John the savage experiences a process of discovery revealing the dehumanisation of people through technology. This experience is such a significant challenge to his perception of the world, that his identity unravels, and he takes his own life. Both protagonists encounter adventures

Isolated on an Indian reservation, John is brought to the technologically “superior” World State. On arrival, he utters the phrase: “O Brave New World”. This phrase is employed as a recurrent motif throughout the text, and serves as a symbolic gauge of John’s disillusionment with society as he discovers the truth of his new civilisation. Through the tone and context of his exclamation of the phrase, we understand how his mindset changes throughout the text and how ironically, his words come back to mock him. The introduction to the technological world excites him when he exclaims: "O brave new world that has such people in it. Let's start at once." His enthusiasm for discovering a new world, full of possibilities, is evident in the positive tone of the quote. Ultimately, however, his hopes are not realised and he descends into the dismay and depression that plagued Hurley. John’s quote, drawn from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, reflects John’s moral compass. This first utterance in the text holds the same awe and amazement as conveyed in Shakespeare’s play. However, as John undergoes the process of discovery in his new world, he is increasingly disappointed, and disgusted. The next time he repeats the phrase, he discovers the mass-produced, lower class of the “civilized” world and is shocked by the dehumanization: “’O brave new