Power In Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World

Power appears as something of an aphrodisiac to some people, corrupting their actions and judgement until it inevitably leads to their downfall. This allure to power influenced Karl Marx, a German philosopher who the author of The Communist Manifesto, and through this political theory paper, he communicated his ideals of a perfect communist society. Communism was later practiced across the world in countries like Russia and North Korea, leading to mass poverty, famine and the deaths of millions of people. His namesake in the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Bernard Marx, falls to a similar demise due to his attraction to power. In the utopian society where people are born and pre-designated into their respective social castes, Bernard’s attempts to generate popularity and take revenge lead to, not only the downfall of

When Bernard bought John to the World State, he promised to guide his transition into the opposing societal values, when in reality he was simply used a tool for Bernard to both take revenge on the Director and to generate popularity. John is marketed by Bernard, so that people must deal with Bernard first before meeting John, whom is the real target of the world state’s interests. In addition, Bernard generates unwanted social exposure for John, both to people and the World State’s backwards values, which is overwhelming for him, until eventually he takes his own life. Helmholtz meets a similar fate, as Bernard drags him into the soma riot where he is arrested by the Controller and is forced to express his shared views on the World State, ones which he previously kept quiet about. Thus, he is deemed a faulty member of society by the Controller and is sentenced to exile, a fate which is often considered the same as death. Clearly, Bernard’s attempts to generate popularity using John lead to the ultimate demise of John and