Brave New World Essays (740 words) - Utopian Novels, Brave New World

Brave New World Brave New World George Santayana once said, Ideal society is a drama enacted exclusively in the imagination. In life, there is no such thing as a complete utopia, although that is what many people try to achieve. Aldous Huxleys Brave New World is an attempt at a utopian society. In this brave new world, mothers and fathers and family are non-existent. Besides being non-existent, when words of that sort are mentioned, ears are covered and faces of disgust are made. In a report to the Controller, Bernard wrote,This is partly due, no doubt to the fact that he heard them talked about by the woman Linda, his m-----(106). Words of the sort cannot even be written. Art, history, and the ability to have emotions are shunned. This utopia is shown as a perfect world in which everyone is happy. If this was true, the people would not need to take soma, an equivalent along the lines of a cross between one of todays designer drugs and Prozac. The Director, who goes nameless for most of the story, is less important than the controller is, and he also knows less. This is shown by his shock when the Controller dares to speak about two of the forbidden topics, history and biological parents. It is believed that topics of this nature will cause this utopia to deteriorate. Once the utopia deteriorates, people are not happy all the time. Even by its own criteria though, Brave New World is not a society where everyone is in fact happy. There are asylums in Iceland for Alpha misfits. Even in this so-called utopia, no one is perfect. Lenina has lupus and Bernard is emotionally unstable, due to a mistake in the bottling-plant. If a person is to run out of soma, they feel sick. It may seem to be a utopia, but in essence, brave new world is far from it. Well-being is not and can not be, genetically pre-programmed, but that is what the soma is for. When one of the inhabitants experiences unpleasant thoughts or emotions, which supposedly do not exist anyway, they receive soma: One cubic centimeter cures ten gloomy sentiments( ). Although the people here are allegedly emotionless, it is shown that they are far from it. Bernard is overcome by feelings of non-conformity. He feels that people should be monogamous, he has emotions, he believes in love. Bernard loves Lenina. This is a concept, though, which is too abstract for these inhabitants to fully understand. Bernard realizes that he is not the only one that feels this way when the Director speaks of an occurrence over twenty-five years ago, which is alone, bad manners in this utopia. The fact that he still dreams of this occurrence shows that he was more emotion than what is good for you in this system. When Bernard brings Linda and her son, John to the Director, he responds with disgust. After this, Lindas face twists grotesquely into the grimace of extreme grief ( ), an emotion that is unknown to these sheltered people. It is impossible to live in a perfect society, because nothing can be forever perfect, and what is perfect for one, the Director for example, may not be perfection to another, like Bernard. In order to overcome the possibility of this happening, all must lead sheltered lives. A life without love and emotion is far from perfect though. To combat the unhappiness, the perfect drug, soma is taken. Even soma is not perfect. Taken in excess, soma is lethal, and that is how Linda dies. After her death, her son commits suicide. If all were perfect, suicide would be unheard of. So once again, nothing in this brave new world is actually perfection. There is no such thing as a utopia. A utopia cannot be achieved because nothing that is perfect for one is perfect for all, no matter how sheltered their lives may be. This brave new world may have been the idealistic society for some, but not all, because if it was what everyone wanted, it could not be overturned. This brave new world was, in fact destroyed. Love, feelings, and emotions destroyed it. Nothing can be completely flawless, and that is