Perfection In Brave New World

The Plight of Perfection

In my opinion the most integral theme in the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was the theme of Individuality. In a world where conformity and perfection take precedence over all other things individuality is seen as taboo, and those who think outside of the proverbial box are therefore outcasted. Although the leaders of The World State took it upon themselves to condition every iota of singular thought out of each individual there were still a few people who were very different than their ideal.

The first person to be seen as an individual in the story was Lenina Crowne. Lenina had decided to give herself entirely to a man whom she had felt very passionately, but this was frowned upon because in the

Bernard had started off as a very intelligent person who kept to himself and didn’t partake in the vices held by everyone else, but once he became popular that all changed. Once he became famous for finding John he began to have regular sex with strangers, and became a hollow depraved shell of his former self. After being ridiculed by everyone she knew Lenina began to forget about the man she initially loved, and became more promiscuous. Her newfound promiscuity caused her to lose the love of the only man who had ever truly loved her. Lastly John had been able to hold true to his beliefs for the majority of his life, but after his mother had been taken away from him by her Soma addiction that had changed. After attempting to shield himself from the temptations of society he had witnessed an orgy outside of the light house he had been hiding at and finally cracked. He joined in, and the shame was so unbearable that it caused him to commit suicide.

This novel is an allegory to how society does anything and everything to snuff out individuality. The way that people who had once been people of integrity and respect were pushed to debase and degrade themselves in order to fit society’s standards, much like today’s society is doing