Satire In Brave New World

Colin Carpenter
2/7/2023
Mr. Wolfson
DLI-Language, Analysis, and Power
The True Cost of happiness; Aldous Huxley’s use of Satire in Brave New World
The key to happiness seems simple: freedom — freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, etc. However, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World begs to differ, saying the key to happiness is the opposite: control. Huxley says the only way to achieve true happiness is with ignorance of what one cannot have, which is impossible with freedom of thought. Brave New World, is a dystopian novel taking place in 2540 ce. There is one government called the “World State,” which controls Earth, besides a few ‘savage’ reservations, which are areas designated to show the world what life is like without

In a conversation between Mustapha Mond and World State citizen Helmholtz Watson, Mond says, “The Inventions Office is stuffed with plans for labor-saving processes. Thousands of them” (Huxley 249). But, it would be “sheer cruelty” (Huxley 250) to give lower caste workers more leisure. In this statement, Mustapha Mond is saying that giving more free time to lower caste workers would be cruel. This claim sounds completely ludicrous, even ironic. In our world, more free time means more happiness and more time for enjoying Earth's many pleasures. But, in a world with no problems and struggles to deal with, there is nothing to do with extra free time. All you can do is think, and thinking leads to truth, which to the World State, is the opposite of

In another conversation between Mustapha Mond and the savage, Huxley’s satire is made very clear: “ART, SCIENCE–you seem to have paid a fairly high price for your happiness,” said the Savage, when they were alone. “Anything else? “Well, religion, of course,” replied the Controller” (Huxley 257). Here, the savage is asking about what else the government suppresses, to which Mustapha Mond answers “religion.” Restricting religion seems completely unbelievable. In our world religion is what people turn to in times of sadness, fear, and pain. Religion is what people turn to when they don’t have answers. Religions are supposed to be based on love and faith. How could irradicating them be necessary for true happiness? Professor Johnson concurs, saying, “The idea that Huxley’s modern society became not only independent of any religion, but that it seems to be stable without one is absurd, but terrifying to the reader” (Johnson 3). However, in a world with almost no sadness, fear, and pain, there's no need for any religion to turn to, all anyone needs is the government-provided drug ‘soma.’ Religion would just create unanswered