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Brave New World - Utopia

 

            Imagine a society where individuality does not exist. Everyone has a predisposed fate when it comes to their career and intelligence, knows nothing more or nothing less than what is presented to you through hypnopaedia, has no voice in society. Everyone and everything is completely controlled. This scenario replicates the World State. The novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley centers around the unattainable idea of a utopia; however, the society described better reflects a dystopia and was written to convey a warning message to the readers in 1932 and future audiences. .
             The World State, the functional society in Brave New World, seems Utopian in theory, but its overarching plan for moral, social, and cultural improvement actually results in dystopian themes such as loss of individuality and brainwashing. In the World State, a person's life begins in a test tube when they are genetically engineered to fit into the structured caste system, and one's fate is predetermined by a scientist in the Central London Hatchery. The lowest caste is the Epsilons and the highest is the Alpha. The characters are trained to not question the way the society works and to follow directions aimlessly, shown in the World State's motto; Community, Stability, Identity (Huxley 1). This demonstrates loss of individuality because everyone just acts as they are told, no one is different and no one stands out. Theoretically, this population should be filled with disgruntled citizens (who wants to spend their lives pushing buttons like an Epsilon?). However, The Controllers have found ways around this consisting of personality conditioning, drugs called Soma, distracting activities like Obstacle Golf and Feelies (movies involving the senses) and promoting mindless sex. The people are brainwashed by these activities into thinking this is the absolute best way to live. The Controller gives his reasoning behind this by saying, "The world's stable now.


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