Pursuit Of Vanity In Brave New World
The Pursuit of Vanity “Truth and beauty and goodness are not determined by when they exist. Nothing is inferior for being old, and nothing is valuable for being modern. This has freed me from the tyranny of novelty and opened for me the wisdom of the ages” - John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley examines a futuristic society where people live lifestyle where sexual and mental gratification are available. A lifestyle of sexual promiscuity, soma/drugs that release dopamine, and high status is the purpose of life. Short-term bursts of happiness and technological advancements enable the people of Brave New World to disregard consequences and always look forward to novelty. In Brave New World, novelty/instant gratification and the never ending need for more creates a consumer utopia that set the standard for happiness.
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In Brave New World, the conditioning of people for the glorification of sensuality and novelty creates a consumer society that is the standard for happiness.
New and upcoming advancements are always praised but “historical facts are unpleasant” (Huxley 24). Children are conditioned to dislike history and past suffering; the past is seen as the state of society in which everything was vain and ridiculous. On page 32, the Director states, “For a very long period before the time of Our Ford… erotic play between children had been regarded as abnormal… absolutely nothing… til they were over twenty years old” (32-33). The students are appalled at the fact that sex is put off till the age of twenty; the thought of delaying instant sexual gratification and waiting is a terrible thought in a society where drugs and sex are available in an instant whenever one wants
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The culture of consuming in Brave New World encourages a society of instant gratification that is not permanent and leaves one needing more. The people of Brave New World always need more sex, soma, and new technological advancements that results in a never ending supply and demand in the consumer utopia. When John confronts Mustapha Mond about the prohibition of Shakespeare, Mond states, “Because it’s old, that’s the chief reason. We haven’t any use for old things here… Beauty’s attractive, and we don’t want people to be attracted by old things. We want them to like the new ones” (219). Old things are despised by society; the overseer of Brave New World restricts old things like Shakespeare and replaces it with instant gratification which creates a consumer society where they always need more pleasure and soma. The Controller restricts the Bible, saying “God isn’t compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness” (234). The Controller says how a consumer society is incompatible with God and a greater purpose in life; society without a greater purpose turns to consumer culture to gratify their need and emptiness that John the Savage feels. Like John’s mother Linda, the people will always need soma, novelty, to live a purposeful, happy life.
“A gramme is always better than a damn” (90). In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, instant gratification and the never ending need for more creates a consumer utopia that set the standard for happiness that is escaping troubles and suffering of life. The purpose of life is happiness and never experiencing hardship, age, and suffering. Soma, sex, and novelty products help people in Brave New World to escape the real world and any suffering that they come across. They are always in need of more and more novelty that complements the consumerist society.
In Brave New World, the conditioning of people for the glorification of sensuality and novelty creates a consumer society that is the standard for happiness.
New and upcoming advancements are always praised but “historical facts are unpleasant” (Huxley 24). Children are conditioned to dislike history and past suffering; the past is seen as the state of society in which everything was vain and ridiculous. On page 32, the Director states, “For a very long period before the time of Our Ford… erotic play between children had been regarded as abnormal… absolutely nothing… til they were over twenty years old” (32-33). The students are appalled at the fact that sex is put off till the age of twenty; the thought of delaying instant sexual gratification and waiting is a terrible thought in a society where drugs and sex are available in an instant whenever one wants
it.
The culture of consuming in Brave New World encourages a society of instant gratification that is not permanent and leaves one needing more. The people of Brave New World always need more sex, soma, and new technological advancements that results in a never ending supply and demand in the consumer utopia. When John confronts Mustapha Mond about the prohibition of Shakespeare, Mond states, “Because it’s old, that’s the chief reason. We haven’t any use for old things here… Beauty’s attractive, and we don’t want people to be attracted by old things. We want them to like the new ones” (219). Old things are despised by society; the overseer of Brave New World restricts old things like Shakespeare and replaces it with instant gratification which creates a consumer society where they always need more pleasure and soma. The Controller restricts the Bible, saying “God isn’t compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness” (234). The Controller says how a consumer society is incompatible with God and a greater purpose in life; society without a greater purpose turns to consumer culture to gratify their need and emptiness that John the Savage feels. Like John’s mother Linda, the people will always need soma, novelty, to live a purposeful, happy life.
“A gramme is always better than a damn” (90). In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, instant gratification and the never ending need for more creates a consumer utopia that set the standard for happiness that is escaping troubles and suffering of life. The purpose of life is happiness and never experiencing hardship, age, and suffering. Soma, sex, and novelty products help people in Brave New World to escape the real world and any suffering that they come across. They are always in need of more and more novelty that complements the consumerist society.