A Brave New World Quote Analysis
Aqsa Khalil
Ms. Burrows
ENG4U
July 23 2015
The Need for Control: Brave New World
Everyone wants to feel as if they are in control of something. The idea of not knowing what may happen next can drive someone insane. There is a certain satisfaction that comes along with having control, one which everyone craves. The dominate use of technology to create social stability in Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, results in individuals lacking control over their emotions, thoughts, and bodies. Soma is supplied to society to induce a state of relaxation before sexual intercourse and dying. Sexual intercourse amongst many people is encouraged to avoid emotional attachment. Art has been abandoned in order to maintain bliss and to prevent individual …show more content…
John, who has a profound love for Shakespeare, asks if the children read Shakespeare as to which Dr.Gaffney replies, ‘Our library contains only books of reference. If our young people need distraction, they can get it at the feelies. We don’t encourage them to indulge in any solitary amusements’ (179). The government opposes being alone due to the fact that when one is alone, one thinks more and has many ideas, which the government does not want. If one reads and expands their minds intellectually, this will lead to creativity and thoughts which is a danger to the government who desire unthinking compliance and to whom stability is the primary value. The government wants people to conform to their predetermined morals and if the people of the World State expand their minds by reading literature, they will develop their own personal beliefs and values, disrupting the government’s …show more content…
If women are not sterilized, they are given contraceptives that they must take before having sexual intercourse. Lenina is used to the practice, “Lenina did not forget to take all the contraceptive precautions prescribed by the regulations…Malthusian drill three times a week had made the taking of these precautions almost as automatic and inevitable as blinking” (84). Girls are taught from a young age about contraceptives and having sex. As promiscuity is portrayed as socially desirable, Lenina is conditioned to take contraceptives. She also knows very well that the State will exclude those who get pregnant in the traditional manner. As a result, the government dominates the physical systems of females and males, allowing them no freedom over their own bodies. To reiterate, the novel, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, demonstrates how society may lose dominance over their own lives if the government’s desire for stability along with advanced technology, overrules all. Sexual intercourse and soma aid civilization in not having to feel any adverse sentiments. Literature is prohibited as it causes society to think rather than being blind to their joy. Lastly, the government is able to maintain the population using human reproductive systems. Giving anyone the ability to control one’s body or thoughts always has a downfall.
Work Cited
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World.
Ms. Burrows
ENG4U
July 23 2015
The Need for Control: Brave New World
Everyone wants to feel as if they are in control of something. The idea of not knowing what may happen next can drive someone insane. There is a certain satisfaction that comes along with having control, one which everyone craves. The dominate use of technology to create social stability in Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, results in individuals lacking control over their emotions, thoughts, and bodies. Soma is supplied to society to induce a state of relaxation before sexual intercourse and dying. Sexual intercourse amongst many people is encouraged to avoid emotional attachment. Art has been abandoned in order to maintain bliss and to prevent individual …show more content…
John, who has a profound love for Shakespeare, asks if the children read Shakespeare as to which Dr.Gaffney replies, ‘Our library contains only books of reference. If our young people need distraction, they can get it at the feelies. We don’t encourage them to indulge in any solitary amusements’ (179). The government opposes being alone due to the fact that when one is alone, one thinks more and has many ideas, which the government does not want. If one reads and expands their minds intellectually, this will lead to creativity and thoughts which is a danger to the government who desire unthinking compliance and to whom stability is the primary value. The government wants people to conform to their predetermined morals and if the people of the World State expand their minds by reading literature, they will develop their own personal beliefs and values, disrupting the government’s …show more content…
If women are not sterilized, they are given contraceptives that they must take before having sexual intercourse. Lenina is used to the practice, “Lenina did not forget to take all the contraceptive precautions prescribed by the regulations…Malthusian drill three times a week had made the taking of these precautions almost as automatic and inevitable as blinking” (84). Girls are taught from a young age about contraceptives and having sex. As promiscuity is portrayed as socially desirable, Lenina is conditioned to take contraceptives. She also knows very well that the State will exclude those who get pregnant in the traditional manner. As a result, the government dominates the physical systems of females and males, allowing them no freedom over their own bodies. To reiterate, the novel, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, demonstrates how society may lose dominance over their own lives if the government’s desire for stability along with advanced technology, overrules all. Sexual intercourse and soma aid civilization in not having to feel any adverse sentiments. Literature is prohibited as it causes society to think rather than being blind to their joy. Lastly, the government is able to maintain the population using human reproductive systems. Giving anyone the ability to control one’s body or thoughts always has a downfall.
Work Cited
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World.