How Does Huxley Create A Hypothetical Utopian Society
In order to create a hypothetical utopian society, Aldous Huxley projects the future progression of technology and bases the direction of his novel Brave New World on those predictions. He shows how social standards and beliefs can be changed, and how a few upgrades over a few decades can cause society to be nearly unrecognizable, vastly dissimilar, and frankly quite strange from an outside perspective. Huxley predicts that technological advances can lead to views on birth, sex, and relationships that vary considerably from modern society. One concept Huxley hypothesizes is the idea of what we call “test tube babies.” This refers to the Community’s method of developing custom humans in labs. The fetuses and infants are modified chemically and environmentally to prepare them for life and allow them to be “happy” with their predestined occupations. Some fetuses are deprived of oxygen,
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some are intellectually stunted with alcohol, and the infants are trained to despise books and flowers through association with alarms and electric shocks. In modern culture, everyone is naturally born, inherently causing diversity. Everyone is raised by a different family, and they all develop their own interests. This is quite different from the early life conditioning shown in Brave New World. The problem with custom-producing ideal humans is that any error could result in amplified instability. Bernard Marx, for example, ended up being eight centimeters shorter than expected, and his mental state pushed people to believe someone had “put alcohol in his blood surrogate” (Huxley 46) when he was being grown. This led to a life of solitude, a characteristic which is considered an enemy of society and stability. Huxley also altered the idea of sexual pleasure and removed the risk of pregnancy with an advanced form of birth control known as contraceptives. Pregnancy is no longer necessary for society or special between a couple due to the simplicity of mass-producing multitudes of genetically ideal humans in a factory, so the society’s views on sex have shifted. With the cultural evasion of natural births and the removal of sexually transmitted diseases and infections, erotic play becomes a sport even children are encouraged to engage in with anyone they choose. A date without sex is considered unusual, which is shown through Lenina’s shock upon John’s premature departure after their date (Huxley 171). She has become so accustomed to her post-date fun, even with odd men such as Bernard, that the idea of skipping the bedroom session is simply foreign to her. Along with sexual alterations to society come new views on family. Pregnancy is all but eliminated, accidental pregnancies are invariably aborted, and humans are designed in factories, so there’s little chance that anyone will ever become a mother. The very word ‘mother’ is considered “smutty” (Huxley 36) and is uncomfortable to discuss. When John told a nurse that Linda is his mother, “the nurse glanced at him with startled, horrified eyes; then quickly looked away. From throat to temple she was all one hot blush” (Huxley 199). With the lack of necessity of parenting and the liberal views of sexual partners, weddings have become obsolete. In fact, it is actually frowned upon to sustain a personal relationship in excess. When Lenina tells Fanny that she is going out with Henry, Fanny responds “Again?” as her face takes on an “incongruous expression of pained and disapproving astonishment… ‘You know how strongly the D.H.C. objects to anything intense or long-drawn’” (Huxley 40-41). Parents and wedded couples no longer exist in keeping with the standard belief that “everyone belongs to everyone else” (Huxley 43). As Mustapha Mond describes, passion leads to instability. The Community is stable because “they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers, they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about…” (Huxley 220). If the people were to have family members or close attachments, there is a possibility that they would put their loved ones before the Community, prompting poor choices that might negatively affect this Community and potentially lead to the greatest evil of all, the awful, terrible danger of instability. This is why the controller knowingly hides and blocks both emotional and biological relationships. Anything is permissible and preferable in the name of grand old societal stability. According to Medical News Today, “test tube babies” have already become a reality, but not quite in the manner portrayed in Brave New World. IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) involves “fertilizing an egg outside the body, in a laboratory dish, and then implanting it in a woman’s uterus.” While this may not include the same degree of genetic manipulation and parentless existence, problems arise nonetheless. In a society where everyone has or had two parents, an artificially implanted fetus could potentially share the genetics of three people (the mother of the egg, the sperm donor, and the mother carrying the implanted egg), which may cause identity issues. This is not directly paralleled in the book, but it does point to the idea that test tube babies can lead to problems. Another similarity regarding unnatural births exists in slight mutations of fetuses.
Recently, scientists succeeded with “the first confirmed case of gene editing of human embryos in the US”, which has brought them “closer to the ability to create genetically engineered humans” (Motherboard), allowing them to cure diseases and mutations. Plenty of conflict resulted as many considered this activity unethical, but genetic engineering has begun, and there’s no telling how far it will go. According to New York Times, the universal standard of “family” is changing and decaying. “Marriages are dissolving with increasing frequency. In many developed countries, divorce rates doubled between 1970 and 1990…” And this is not just in America; it’s a worldwide problem. If family continues to become less of a priority, anything we have left will hardly be considered family at all, and if this process is aided by the scientific developments discussed earlier, it is foreseeable that families could cease to exist altogether, a concept that Huxley happened to put forward in Brave New
World. If this unnatural production and genetic engineering is allowed to progress, there is a very real chance that the ideas Huxley proposed could become a reality. I do not think these changes will occur to the same extent as described in Brave New World any time soon simply because books like this exist and warn us of what will happen if we go down that path, but scientific breakthroughs have put us well on our way to achieving success with this controversial spectacle. The so-called “test tube babies” would inevitably lead to changes in the format of a typical family and relationships, and the concept of family may disappear entirely; these ideas are also shown through the book. While the general concept may be slightly far-fetched, it seems that good old Aldous might have actually been right. Families and relationships will change drastically and the general perspective of sex might become radically different.
some are intellectually stunted with alcohol, and the infants are trained to despise books and flowers through association with alarms and electric shocks. In modern culture, everyone is naturally born, inherently causing diversity. Everyone is raised by a different family, and they all develop their own interests. This is quite different from the early life conditioning shown in Brave New World. The problem with custom-producing ideal humans is that any error could result in amplified instability. Bernard Marx, for example, ended up being eight centimeters shorter than expected, and his mental state pushed people to believe someone had “put alcohol in his blood surrogate” (Huxley 46) when he was being grown. This led to a life of solitude, a characteristic which is considered an enemy of society and stability. Huxley also altered the idea of sexual pleasure and removed the risk of pregnancy with an advanced form of birth control known as contraceptives. Pregnancy is no longer necessary for society or special between a couple due to the simplicity of mass-producing multitudes of genetically ideal humans in a factory, so the society’s views on sex have shifted. With the cultural evasion of natural births and the removal of sexually transmitted diseases and infections, erotic play becomes a sport even children are encouraged to engage in with anyone they choose. A date without sex is considered unusual, which is shown through Lenina’s shock upon John’s premature departure after their date (Huxley 171). She has become so accustomed to her post-date fun, even with odd men such as Bernard, that the idea of skipping the bedroom session is simply foreign to her. Along with sexual alterations to society come new views on family. Pregnancy is all but eliminated, accidental pregnancies are invariably aborted, and humans are designed in factories, so there’s little chance that anyone will ever become a mother. The very word ‘mother’ is considered “smutty” (Huxley 36) and is uncomfortable to discuss. When John told a nurse that Linda is his mother, “the nurse glanced at him with startled, horrified eyes; then quickly looked away. From throat to temple she was all one hot blush” (Huxley 199). With the lack of necessity of parenting and the liberal views of sexual partners, weddings have become obsolete. In fact, it is actually frowned upon to sustain a personal relationship in excess. When Lenina tells Fanny that she is going out with Henry, Fanny responds “Again?” as her face takes on an “incongruous expression of pained and disapproving astonishment… ‘You know how strongly the D.H.C. objects to anything intense or long-drawn’” (Huxley 40-41). Parents and wedded couples no longer exist in keeping with the standard belief that “everyone belongs to everyone else” (Huxley 43). As Mustapha Mond describes, passion leads to instability. The Community is stable because “they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers, they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about…” (Huxley 220). If the people were to have family members or close attachments, there is a possibility that they would put their loved ones before the Community, prompting poor choices that might negatively affect this Community and potentially lead to the greatest evil of all, the awful, terrible danger of instability. This is why the controller knowingly hides and blocks both emotional and biological relationships. Anything is permissible and preferable in the name of grand old societal stability. According to Medical News Today, “test tube babies” have already become a reality, but not quite in the manner portrayed in Brave New World. IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) involves “fertilizing an egg outside the body, in a laboratory dish, and then implanting it in a woman’s uterus.” While this may not include the same degree of genetic manipulation and parentless existence, problems arise nonetheless. In a society where everyone has or had two parents, an artificially implanted fetus could potentially share the genetics of three people (the mother of the egg, the sperm donor, and the mother carrying the implanted egg), which may cause identity issues. This is not directly paralleled in the book, but it does point to the idea that test tube babies can lead to problems. Another similarity regarding unnatural births exists in slight mutations of fetuses.
Recently, scientists succeeded with “the first confirmed case of gene editing of human embryos in the US”, which has brought them “closer to the ability to create genetically engineered humans” (Motherboard), allowing them to cure diseases and mutations. Plenty of conflict resulted as many considered this activity unethical, but genetic engineering has begun, and there’s no telling how far it will go. According to New York Times, the universal standard of “family” is changing and decaying. “Marriages are dissolving with increasing frequency. In many developed countries, divorce rates doubled between 1970 and 1990…” And this is not just in America; it’s a worldwide problem. If family continues to become less of a priority, anything we have left will hardly be considered family at all, and if this process is aided by the scientific developments discussed earlier, it is foreseeable that families could cease to exist altogether, a concept that Huxley happened to put forward in Brave New
World. If this unnatural production and genetic engineering is allowed to progress, there is a very real chance that the ideas Huxley proposed could become a reality. I do not think these changes will occur to the same extent as described in Brave New World any time soon simply because books like this exist and warn us of what will happen if we go down that path, but scientific breakthroughs have put us well on our way to achieving success with this controversial spectacle. The so-called “test tube babies” would inevitably lead to changes in the format of a typical family and relationships, and the concept of family may disappear entirely; these ideas are also shown through the book. While the general concept may be slightly far-fetched, it seems that good old Aldous might have actually been right. Families and relationships will change drastically and the general perspective of sex might become radically different.