Brave New World Individuality Analysis
INTRO
In order to become an individual, you must embrace challenges and suffering. Those experiences help define who you are. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley delivers a powerful message/warning of what happens to a society that eliminates individuality. In the story, individuality cannot come without pain or suffering, a element that the World State Society has taken out of their civilization. Soma is used as a drug to keep everyone in society happy and from feeling any types of hardship or pain. A society that is always happy and has no pain does not have individuality. Consequently, those in the story who are the most individual feel the most pain. In this society, everyone have been genetically engineered to view individualism as negative. This causes those who have unique characteristics to be seen as outsiders, and thus are not accepted by the community. In Chapter 11, Bernard’s …show more content…
new-found feelings of acceptance and importance into society cause him to begin to lose his individuality.
2. Lack of individuality/identity of the World State Society
The Controllers of the World State Society have eliminated individualism from humankind because they believe that it is a danger to the stability of the society. People have been genetically engineered to look, feel and act a certain way. Everyone has been taught that being an individual is disapproved of. In this society, being an individual is considered someone who is “self-consciously individual”. In other words, they possess distinctive characteristics that set them apart from others which allows them to see/they are conscious of their differences/individuality. In our society, everyone has many unique qualities that make them different/an individual. In the World State Society, everyone is made out of test tubes and is artificially modified in specific ways to create stability. Genetical engineering as well as the use of soma allows for individuality to be physically removed from society. “Everyone belongs to everyone else” (40). This phrase has become a popular proverb in Bernard’s community. If “everyone belongs to everyone else”, then no one thinks solely for themselves and everyone will work for the greater social body. Through a ritual called an orgy-porgy, which allows people to be able to go one step further away from individuality. Through this ceremony, everyone “melts” into one “Come, Greater Being, Social Friend, Annihilating Twelve-in-One!... For I am you and you are I” (81-82). In an orgy-porgy, in a series of rituals, twelve individuals, become one. This proves how important becoming one with each other and losing individuality is in their community.
Bernard wishes that others were more like him.
The goal of Bernard’s society is to eliminate individuality in order to keep stability in society. However, Bernard is slightly different than everyone else. He has a physical defect that makes him slightly shorter and more scrawny then what he “should” be. Bernard often views his individuality that his “flaw” creates as an adverse attribute because it causes him to feel like an outsider in his community. This trait also allows Bernard to see the detriments to a homogeneous society which only is visible to those who are individuales.
Too little bone and brawn had isolated Bernard from his fellow men… what the two men shared was the knowledge that they were individuals. But whereas the physically defective Bernard had suffered all his life from the consciousness of being separate” (67).
Bernard is conscious of his separation from society. He does not feel accepted into society. He is isolated by his differences which causes him to suffer and feel pain because individuality is seen as a flaw and thus is not accepted by his peers in society. With his differences he is able to see the lack of individuality in his society. Bernard suffers from his consciousness of being different. He has always been isolated from society because of his defect which just drives his want to be accepted even further. His physical “defect” has given Bernard the gift of individuality. Because he is slightly different than everyone else, he is able to feel slightly disconnected from society. Bernard is torn between his desire to be an individual and to be accepted by society. In this scene, Bernard tells Lenina that he enjoys the solitude of looking out at the ocean because it makes him feel alone and separate from everyone else. Bernard tries to explain this feeling to Lenina but because she has been created just like everyone else, she cannot fathom why isolation or individuality could ever be a good thing.
“It makes me feel though...as though I were more me, if you see what I mean. More on my own, not so completely a part of something else. Not just a cell in a social body… Lenina was crying ‘its horrible… and how can you talk like that about not wanting to be a part of the social body” After all, every one works for everyone else’… she continued in another tone, ‘why you don’t take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You’d forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you’d be jolly’” (90-92).
Being alone makes Bernard feel more like himself.
This can be a good thing because it helps one get to know themselves apart from the social body. Bernard is frustrated that he cannot “enlighten” Lenina. Lenina, like everyone else in the World State Society, from birth, has been taught the “everyone belongs to everyone else” and that individuality is wrong. Bernard wishes that his society was more individual and that people did not have to “belong to everyone else”. By trying to make Lenina understand why “not [being] so completely a part of something else” (90) is important to him, in a way Bernard is trying to have Lenina abandon what she has been taught. By the end of this scene, Bernard sorely realizes that he cannot teach her to see how individualism has some positive aspects to it. “Everyone belongs to everyone else” is a fundamental doctrine of their society and has always had a negative correspondence, and thus, Bernard gives up even trying to change her and show her how individuality could be positive because of the fact that this teaching has been engrained her in
brain.
Although his society has taken away pain and suffering with soma. Although most suffering has been taken out of their world, Soma is used as a way to complete purge humanity from feeling pain. It is also used to make people always happy, so whenever someone may not be suffering but also isn’t happy but is somewhere in between these two extremes, they take soma as a way of feel happy again. Soma takes away suffering, suffering is an aspect of life that makes an individually. On Bernard and Lenina’s first date, she offers him soma in efforts to salvage their date and cheer him up because he seems to be “obstinately gloomy” (89). He refuses the offer, “I’d rather be myself… myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly” (89). By saying that he would rather be himself, Bernard is conveying to Lenina that he believes that soma destroys what little individuality a person in their society has left. He goes on to say that he would rather be unhappy and “nasty” but also himself rather than to be happy and “jolly” and someone else. Bernard is stating that while soma makes people happy, it causes them to lose their sense of self by its ability to repress true emotions. A quality that John seems to understand; he whips himself to feel like a man and to rid himself from conforming to society and becoming solely part of the social body. Soma removes emotion from their society and leaves people forced to feel happy. Pain and suffering are traits that can shape a person to have qualities that separate themselves from another. Being an individual also comes with the pain of separation. Rejecting societal norms of conforming to what everyone else looks or feels like can cause one to feel isolated from their community. And so with individuality, comes isolation and disapproval from society which can cause that individual to suffer or feel pain from not being accepted. This is exactly what happened to Bernard, his individuality causes him to feel isolated from his community, and with this isolation he feels loneliness and pain. He wants more people to be individual like him because it makes him feel like an outsider when everyone around him is all the same and he is different from them all. Bernard tries to take part in one of the communities rituals (an “orgy-porgy”), he is unable to complete the practice and while everyone else is able to become one with each other and lose their individuality, he cannot making him feel even more lonely. “He was miserably isolated now as he had been when the service began...much more alone, indeed, more hopeless himself than he had even been in his life before” (86). In this scene, Bernard feels as if becoming accepted into society, and becoming a part of society is hopeless. Is inability to “melt in the music of the drums” and become one with the rest of the people is a reminder of his individuality and thus his isolation. Because Bernard is constantly reminded of his differences by the community’s distaste for him. In the beginning of the book, the reader is shown Bernard’s self-consciousness that has stemmed from his physical defect. “I am I, and wish I wasn’t” (64). He has been made fun of for his entire life which evidently has made him feel like an outsider. His defect has set him apart from his fellow men. Feeling like an alien in society causes Bernard to be frustrated by everyone else’s sameness. Bernard wishes that others, like Lenina could see the benefits to individualism and not just its defects. The constant mockery from those in his caste, as well as from lower castes, has caused him to envy those who are, unlike him, respected and of importance. “His chronic fear of being slighted” (65) causes Bernard’s need for acceptance from his peers to trump his want for individuality in his society.
Bernard is willing to give up his individuality in order to not be seen as an outsider anymore. Although he wishes his society supported and encouraged individuality, the judgement he has received for so long causes his want for approval from his society to make him willing to conform to society and lose his individualism. After Bernard brings John to civilization, “for the first time in his life, [he felt that he was] treated not merely normally, but as a person of outstanding importance” (156). He began getting invited to many highly esteemed events and also was then able to “have” has been girls as he pleased. These new feelings of importance and acceptance into society that he has never before felt in his life, cause Bernard to begin to lose his individuality. Success and importance go to Bernard’s head and “completely reconcil[e] him to a world which, up till then, he had found very unsatisfactory” (157). Because his society does not support those who are self-consciously individual, he is only able to become accepted by losing some of that which makes him unique.
In order to become an individual, you must embrace challenges and suffering. Those experiences help define who you are. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley delivers a powerful message/warning of what happens to a society that eliminates individuality. In the story, individuality cannot come without pain or suffering, a element that the World State Society has taken out of their civilization. Soma is used as a drug to keep everyone in society happy and from feeling any types of hardship or pain. A society that is always happy and has no pain does not have individuality. Consequently, those in the story who are the most individual feel the most pain. In this society, everyone have been genetically engineered to view individualism as negative. This causes those who have unique characteristics to be seen as outsiders, and thus are not accepted by the community. In Chapter 11, Bernard’s …show more content…
new-found feelings of acceptance and importance into society cause him to begin to lose his individuality.
2. Lack of individuality/identity of the World State Society
The Controllers of the World State Society have eliminated individualism from humankind because they believe that it is a danger to the stability of the society. People have been genetically engineered to look, feel and act a certain way. Everyone has been taught that being an individual is disapproved of. In this society, being an individual is considered someone who is “self-consciously individual”. In other words, they possess distinctive characteristics that set them apart from others which allows them to see/they are conscious of their differences/individuality. In our society, everyone has many unique qualities that make them different/an individual. In the World State Society, everyone is made out of test tubes and is artificially modified in specific ways to create stability. Genetical engineering as well as the use of soma allows for individuality to be physically removed from society. “Everyone belongs to everyone else” (40). This phrase has become a popular proverb in Bernard’s community. If “everyone belongs to everyone else”, then no one thinks solely for themselves and everyone will work for the greater social body. Through a ritual called an orgy-porgy, which allows people to be able to go one step further away from individuality. Through this ceremony, everyone “melts” into one “Come, Greater Being, Social Friend, Annihilating Twelve-in-One!... For I am you and you are I” (81-82). In an orgy-porgy, in a series of rituals, twelve individuals, become one. This proves how important becoming one with each other and losing individuality is in their community.
Bernard wishes that others were more like him.
The goal of Bernard’s society is to eliminate individuality in order to keep stability in society. However, Bernard is slightly different than everyone else. He has a physical defect that makes him slightly shorter and more scrawny then what he “should” be. Bernard often views his individuality that his “flaw” creates as an adverse attribute because it causes him to feel like an outsider in his community. This trait also allows Bernard to see the detriments to a homogeneous society which only is visible to those who are individuales.
Too little bone and brawn had isolated Bernard from his fellow men… what the two men shared was the knowledge that they were individuals. But whereas the physically defective Bernard had suffered all his life from the consciousness of being separate” (67).
Bernard is conscious of his separation from society. He does not feel accepted into society. He is isolated by his differences which causes him to suffer and feel pain because individuality is seen as a flaw and thus is not accepted by his peers in society. With his differences he is able to see the lack of individuality in his society. Bernard suffers from his consciousness of being different. He has always been isolated from society because of his defect which just drives his want to be accepted even further. His physical “defect” has given Bernard the gift of individuality. Because he is slightly different than everyone else, he is able to feel slightly disconnected from society. Bernard is torn between his desire to be an individual and to be accepted by society. In this scene, Bernard tells Lenina that he enjoys the solitude of looking out at the ocean because it makes him feel alone and separate from everyone else. Bernard tries to explain this feeling to Lenina but because she has been created just like everyone else, she cannot fathom why isolation or individuality could ever be a good thing.
“It makes me feel though...as though I were more me, if you see what I mean. More on my own, not so completely a part of something else. Not just a cell in a social body… Lenina was crying ‘its horrible… and how can you talk like that about not wanting to be a part of the social body” After all, every one works for everyone else’… she continued in another tone, ‘why you don’t take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You’d forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you’d be jolly’” (90-92).
Being alone makes Bernard feel more like himself.
This can be a good thing because it helps one get to know themselves apart from the social body. Bernard is frustrated that he cannot “enlighten” Lenina. Lenina, like everyone else in the World State Society, from birth, has been taught the “everyone belongs to everyone else” and that individuality is wrong. Bernard wishes that his society was more individual and that people did not have to “belong to everyone else”. By trying to make Lenina understand why “not [being] so completely a part of something else” (90) is important to him, in a way Bernard is trying to have Lenina abandon what she has been taught. By the end of this scene, Bernard sorely realizes that he cannot teach her to see how individualism has some positive aspects to it. “Everyone belongs to everyone else” is a fundamental doctrine of their society and has always had a negative correspondence, and thus, Bernard gives up even trying to change her and show her how individuality could be positive because of the fact that this teaching has been engrained her in
brain.
Although his society has taken away pain and suffering with soma. Although most suffering has been taken out of their world, Soma is used as a way to complete purge humanity from feeling pain. It is also used to make people always happy, so whenever someone may not be suffering but also isn’t happy but is somewhere in between these two extremes, they take soma as a way of feel happy again. Soma takes away suffering, suffering is an aspect of life that makes an individually. On Bernard and Lenina’s first date, she offers him soma in efforts to salvage their date and cheer him up because he seems to be “obstinately gloomy” (89). He refuses the offer, “I’d rather be myself… myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly” (89). By saying that he would rather be himself, Bernard is conveying to Lenina that he believes that soma destroys what little individuality a person in their society has left. He goes on to say that he would rather be unhappy and “nasty” but also himself rather than to be happy and “jolly” and someone else. Bernard is stating that while soma makes people happy, it causes them to lose their sense of self by its ability to repress true emotions. A quality that John seems to understand; he whips himself to feel like a man and to rid himself from conforming to society and becoming solely part of the social body. Soma removes emotion from their society and leaves people forced to feel happy. Pain and suffering are traits that can shape a person to have qualities that separate themselves from another. Being an individual also comes with the pain of separation. Rejecting societal norms of conforming to what everyone else looks or feels like can cause one to feel isolated from their community. And so with individuality, comes isolation and disapproval from society which can cause that individual to suffer or feel pain from not being accepted. This is exactly what happened to Bernard, his individuality causes him to feel isolated from his community, and with this isolation he feels loneliness and pain. He wants more people to be individual like him because it makes him feel like an outsider when everyone around him is all the same and he is different from them all. Bernard tries to take part in one of the communities rituals (an “orgy-porgy”), he is unable to complete the practice and while everyone else is able to become one with each other and lose their individuality, he cannot making him feel even more lonely. “He was miserably isolated now as he had been when the service began...much more alone, indeed, more hopeless himself than he had even been in his life before” (86). In this scene, Bernard feels as if becoming accepted into society, and becoming a part of society is hopeless. Is inability to “melt in the music of the drums” and become one with the rest of the people is a reminder of his individuality and thus his isolation. Because Bernard is constantly reminded of his differences by the community’s distaste for him. In the beginning of the book, the reader is shown Bernard’s self-consciousness that has stemmed from his physical defect. “I am I, and wish I wasn’t” (64). He has been made fun of for his entire life which evidently has made him feel like an outsider. His defect has set him apart from his fellow men. Feeling like an alien in society causes Bernard to be frustrated by everyone else’s sameness. Bernard wishes that others, like Lenina could see the benefits to individualism and not just its defects. The constant mockery from those in his caste, as well as from lower castes, has caused him to envy those who are, unlike him, respected and of importance. “His chronic fear of being slighted” (65) causes Bernard’s need for acceptance from his peers to trump his want for individuality in his society.
Bernard is willing to give up his individuality in order to not be seen as an outsider anymore. Although he wishes his society supported and encouraged individuality, the judgement he has received for so long causes his want for approval from his society to make him willing to conform to society and lose his individualism. After Bernard brings John to civilization, “for the first time in his life, [he felt that he was] treated not merely normally, but as a person of outstanding importance” (156). He began getting invited to many highly esteemed events and also was then able to “have” has been girls as he pleased. These new feelings of importance and acceptance into society that he has never before felt in his life, cause Bernard to begin to lose his individuality. Success and importance go to Bernard’s head and “completely reconcil[e] him to a world which, up till then, he had found very unsatisfactory” (157). Because his society does not support those who are self-consciously individual, he is only able to become accepted by losing some of that which makes him unique.