Metaphors In Brave New World

Society requires a balance in order to succeed. A balance alongside guidelines allows for appropriate amounts of freedom and structure for a community. A disruption or bias to one end of the spectrum causes individual dilemmas and problems for the whole population. In their 20th century dystopian novels Brave New World and Lord of the Flies, Aldous Huxley and William Golding use metaphors to reveal how governmental order needs to find a balance of the society to prosper. The lack of equilibrium can repress individual freedoms or allow chaos to reign. All societies should allow a certain level of individual freedom. Without freedom, oppression does not permit anyone to show their true self in the community. In his novel Huxley depicts how

Hideously masked or painted out of all semblance of humanity, they had tramped out a strange limping dance” (113.Huxley). The people who wish to continue tradition and follow their ancestors end up treated as monsters and seen as inhuman. The lack of understanding of differences in Brave New World creates a lack of self worth and choices. Huxley explains how the society judges uniqueness and condemns those with radical ideas. Therefore those who do not adapt to society’s standards will suffer. On the other hand, in Lord of the Flies, the boys have an abundance of freedom and lack of structure. The scarcity of authority and strict rules however, still create a similar effect. Simon, knowing different information and thinking separately, becomes seen as monstrous when, “The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face” the boys

Throughout Huxley’s novel, the Controller’s take various steps to stop their idea of corruption. While doing so, they also stop individualism. In one of Huxley’s metaphors Controllers call science “dangerous” where science must remain “chained” and “muzzled” (225.Huxley). Huxley voices how even in a civilized world, fear and isolation appear constantly. Science forms thoughts and ideas, and as sciences becomes hidden from the members of society, they cannot show themselves as individuals through any ideas. Huxley stresses how a society in total control, even over thoughts, does not allow freedom, only a mirage of individualism. Without said freedom, citizens may not experience true fulfillment. No self fulfillment results in diminished self worth and creates the mindset one person does not matter. Therefore, singular loss ends up seen as miniscule. Contrasted to Lord of the Flies, Golding uses the actual Lord of the Flies, a pig’s head, to stand for all evil in civilization. Instead of an idea or subject viewed as a root cause in destruction and corruption, the Lord of the Flies represents evil within. Golding introduces this sinister being with; “They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned” (138.Huxley). The Lord of the Flies limits all of the boys to their fear and savagery throughout the novel. The evil in man’s mind