Human Nature In Brave New World

Through his portrayal of a totalitarian, pseudo-utopian society, Aldous Huxley creates with Brave New World a future of societies where technological advancements, rather than freeing, have enslaved the individual. Exploring the characterization of Bernard Marx, Huxley shows how treating human beings as a technology to innovate can negatively affect their psychology and their sense of individuality. The author explores the theme of happiness and how technological advancements, like those portrayed in the novel, can bend the subjectivity of emotion to the will of the state. The fight between human nature and the power of conditioning is shown to be unending through the various symbols Huxley uses. The structure of the novel provides a key analysis

The first part of the novel acts as an exposition to the remainder of the novel, establishing the society of the World State while refusing to acknowledge its many inequities, instead leaving the reader to form his or her own opinions. When the D.H.C. discusses to the students about “the principle of sleep-teaching” (Huxley 19), he provides the reader with a specific amount of background information that implies the possibilities of such technology without stating a direct opinion. Consequently, this forces the reader to create their own prejudices about such technology ridding the world of “disease, aggression, war, anxiety, suffering” (Kass 312) while also introducing the vices of “homogenization, mediocrity” (Kass 312). Whether this price is worth paying for such humanitarian virtues comes quickly into question with the thought processes of Bernard Marx who questions the very nature of technology that prevents its subjects from being able to truly think freely. However, the benefits of such a society are highlighted as the novel moves into its second phase when Marx becomes tempted by the pressures of conformity, seeing potential benefits wholeheartedly because of the ease of agreeing with conditioning. Though Marx may have been able to put aside his humanity in order to feel accepted in society, those who were

Through the exploration of the characterization of Bernard Marx, the author forced the reader to question their own morality and whether or not one would stand in the face of temptation in order to do what one thinks is right. Technology’s effect on the happiness of the masses was explored thematically through the symbols of soma and Henry Ford, explaining that the artificial semination of emotional satisfaction into the mind of the masses could never fully satisfy any of the people’s desires. The crux of the novel, its modernist structure, shows clearly that technology is not a unilateral malfeasance but is far more subjective, with its interpretation falling almost completely to the priorities of the individual and his or her opinions. The titular brave new world that the characters in the novel both despise and adore represents the divisive nature of technological advancements. Huxley, thus, proclaims that this division between the “progressives” and the “skeptics” is essential to prevent the autocracy of technology and that one must judge the ramifications of technological advancements by oneself in order for freedom to be