Marxism In Brave New World

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World presents a dystopian society in which social classes are implemented to keep the society going. Huxley alludes to many of the ideas of Karl Marx throughout the novel. The ideologies of Karl Marx are group into one belief; Marxism. Marxism would be defined as the political, economic, and social principles advocated by Marx; especially: a theory and practice of socialism including the labor theory of value, dialectical materialism, the class struggle, and dictatorship of proletariat until the establishment of a classless society (Merriam-Webster 1). In the novel, certain areas of Marxism are alluded to such as; individualism and isolation, social classes and the Conflict Theory, spirituality vs. materialism, and

Throughout the novel, many points support Marx’s various concepts.

Many aspects in Marxism are implemented into Brave New World. In the novel, Huxley creates a society in which certain social classes are kept in order to maintain stability. The population is divided into 5 classes; Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Each in their respective order, they are all assigned a place in their society. Each being brainwashed to think that a sense of individualism isn’t nearly possible. Because of the technology wielded by the World State's leaders, each caste is pre-determined and humans are grown in a manner appropriate to their status; the lower the caste, the dumber and uglier the individual. When they are grown, the Alphas and Betas are groomed to think that interacting with the lesser groups would be diminish their social status. Class is yet another mechanism for stability and control on the part of the government. It's also a big part of the reason

This alienation arises in part because of the antagonisms, which inevitable arise from the class structure of society. We are alienated from those who exploit our labor and control the things we produce.” (Marx). Karl Marx explains in his Theory of Alienation that isolation of an individual is the result of living in a society stratified by social classes. According to Marx, there are four types of alienation; alienation of the worker from their product, alienation of the worker from the act of production, alienation of the worker from their Gattungswesen (species-essence), and alienation from other workers. The type that is implemented the most in Brave New World is the alienation of workers, also known as the alienation of an individual from society. The main character, John the Savage, is the only on in his society that is naturally born from his mother, Lenina. Both of his parents were part of the upper-caste, but he and his mother are apart of the Reservation. The only part of their society that still follows traditional ways of doing things such as; natural birth, reproduction, religion, customs, etc. John and his mother were alienated from the Reservation because Lenina still carried over some of her provocative ways from the World State. Later on, a man named Bernard Marx, also part of one of the upper classes, visits the Reservation as he too is dissatisfied with living in the World