Brave New World Theme Statement

Brave New World Theme Statement Essay

The novel 'Brave New World' starts out with the world's states motto of stability, identity and community. One can infer from the start that these could be the books explicit themes, but once you read it through it becomes clear that the books primary focus is stability. Stability is caused by the happiness of a community as a whole, because if a community is happy then the people have no reason to riot or rebel. To control the happiness, (and in turn, stability) the people of the World State issue the people under their control to partake in the consumption of Soma. "Soma may make you loose a few years in time, but think of the enormous, immeasurable durations it can give you out of time." (p.154) Unfortunately for the controllers, drugs aren't the only things people can thrive on. Whether it is in God or another person, people need to put their faith in something in order to go on. Luckily there were historical figures before them who could help them with this dilemma, Henry Ford. Ford was the innovator of his time, introducing a new meaning to the word 'mass production' through a production line. His innovation in America's productivity proved to help unify America's communities by providing Model T automobiles at a price the modern family could afford. He was the primary choice for the 'new worlds' idol, and the citizens in society were taught to worship him. "I drink to the imminence of his coming." (p.82) Faith and happiness were achieved through chemicals and strong conditioning, but what more could Huxley give to the controller's to increase the strength of their hold on society? By ridding the new world of art and beauty, no one had the born desire and curiosity to look back into the past lives of the people before them. There was no interest in history, art, science...and books were locked away to conceal everything to everyone who wasn't born pre-determined to take on the role of a controller. Out with the old and in with the new, this is the ideal message they sent to their people, and this still holds true even for Linda as she was stuck in Malpais. "And you're supposed to mend it if it gets torn. But I'm a beta...nobody ever taught me how to do anything like that." (P.121)

As strange as it may seem, I believe love can be read as an underlying implicit theme. I think Huxley is trying to show us its importance by taking away from the world in his modern tragedy. There is no love, in the world state everyone belongs to everyone this isn't something one would call a natural instinct, but it is conditioned to children at a young age. We see this moral as it plays out in Linda's confusion towards John and his ideal of marriage, "All I can say is, it does seem a lot of fuss to make about so little. In civilized countries, if a boy wants a girl he just..." (p.135) Her conditioning makes it so unfathomable for her to even think of commitment. This ties back to the main theme of stability because of how strong emotional ties bend and break people, and you cannot have a tight-nit community with broken links. John though, represents our ideals, and us "For always. They make a promise to live together for always." (p.191) Linda and her conditioning seem to serve as a warning to us, if we want the stable society the world seeks (a.k.a. "World Peace") we cannot run the risk of giving everything else loving someone other than yourself.

Beyond the love and affection we can receive in this life; abuse, neglect, and misery follow love hand in hand. The abuse we suffer by our own hands and b the grip of another human being is another underlying topic. To help remove emotional ties, the World State has removed the ideal of family all together, cut it across all the boards. "Home, home-a few small rooms, stiflingly over-inhabited by a man, a periodically teaming woman, by a rabble of boy and girls of all ages." (p.37) To citizens o today’s actual modern society, where would we be without family? The idea itself as almost unthinkable! We believe within ourselves that if we have no one else to turn to, at least our family stands a couple of paces behind us no matter what. To most families this fact reigns true, but unfortunately this doesn't reflect everyone, every child in the world. Abuse happens everywhere, in places we don't even think to look, I think this was a main concern of the World Controllers when they decided to cut families from their new society. In the novel John is the perfect example of a family gone wrong, perfect propaganda for the cutting of family. We see his pain in his memories of being beaten as a child. " 'Linda,' he cried out. 'Oh Mother, don't!'," Linda also is the perfect example for the horrible parents out there by her quote as she beat her son to a bloody pulp. "I'm not your Mother. I wont be your Mother." (P.127)

For stability to happen you must give up the trials of love and abuse alike like they are equal. Now is this a warning from Aldous Huxley to us, or advice for us to carry as we move onto tomorrows promising light?