Preview

Social Classes In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
954 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Social Classes In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
Aldous Huxley writes in his text Brave New World of the pitfalls of a society based on classes, with those in the upper classes holding more power than those in the lower classes having virtually no power. He describes this system as the Alphas being smart and superior to others and having challenging jobs, Betas are not to powerful, Deltas being less powerful than the Betas, Gammas being underneath the Deltas, and the Epsilons receiving grunt work that is boring for higher caste members and having absolutely no control to power. Huxley argues, “We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future...future Directors of Hatcheries”(Huxley 13). Huxley is stating that the Alphas and Betas are at the top and they come from single eggs that …show more content…
More specifically, the ruling classes use their power to be able to socialize the working classes into believing something that goes against the other classes will. Huxley states, “A society of Alphas couldn’t fail to be unstable and miserable. Imagine a factory staffed by Alphas-that is to say by separate and unrelated individuals of good heredity and conditioned so as to be capable...of making a free choice and assuming responsibilities”(Huxley 222). Huxley is stating that a society based on only Alpha Pluses would create social chaos. More specifically, no one would want to spend their time doing work that belongs to Epsilons and Deltas. Sam Cook in her text Marxist perspective of power discusses that Marxist believes that the ruling classes hod all power. Cook states in the Marxist perspective, “...there is a limited amount of power in society, which can only be held by one person or group at a time”(Cook). Cook is claiming that the ruling classes will try to control those who are below them. More specifically, the Alphas having the ability to continue to control and rule the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Gladwell’s overall claim in this chapter is that the class and family life you come from affects your chance of success. Coming from a lower class, Gladwell says, causes you to be less assertive around authority and less pressured into ambition. Parents of lower class families often do not encourage their kids to fine tune their talents through extra-curricular activities, but in middle to upper class families, kids are able to partake in multiple activities with the support of their parents. Also, in middle to upper class families, children are taught a “sense of entitlement that… is an attitude perfectly suited to succeeding in the modern world” (Gladwell 108). Children in the lower class are not taught this and therefore deprived of the advantage of knowing how to assert themselves.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The argument that Huxley's is making for being an outsider in this chapter is that being unhappy doesn't mean that you have to take some medication to cure your unhappiness, seeing different things at seem wrong just because you come from a different living style. For example, on page 118 "stuff in the gourd was called mescal... Ought to be called soma", which meant the same thing that it takes the pain, loneliness away for a moment, yet it was a medication that was required where Bernard and Lenina come from was so that unhappiness doesn't get in the way, feel pain, or also have emotions. Huxley is also arguing that Bernard is the one that doesn't take soma, that he's feeling alone, which its stating on page 128 "so am I" and he believes…

    • 179 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World there is a widely apparent stark contrast between the Utopian Society in London and apparent dystopia of Malpais(the Savage Reservation), that provides a meaningful impact both on how the story unfolds, and on the overall meaning of the book. The divergences between the two places become extremely relevant to not only the plotline of the novel, but also to the themes revealed throughout the book. Without a detailed effort to showcase the distinctive qualities that each side possess, both on opposite ends of the spectrum, the values in the book are lost. The differences that can be distinguished go beyond the surface ranging from civility and ignorance, love of others and love of materials, and the use of technology as a means to subjugate people to the government’s will.…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the novel, “Brave New World”, encourages sexual intercourse, drug use, and opposes any form of family, and religion it should be kept in the high school curriculum because these are our worst features of our world drawn out and exaggerated, and humanity seems to be moving closer to Huxley’s dystopian vision.…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Meckier, Jerome. "Debunking Our Ford: My Life and Work and _Brave New World_." South Atlantic Quarterly 78, no. 2 (Autumn, 1979): 448-459.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A cultural shift is not always an ideological one - or at least not always the one you imagine. Our norms are always evolving.” says David Harsanyi. As time goes by, everyday habits are altered to match current events and society. Neil Postman makes a point in Amusing Ourselves to Death by stating that modern society is becoming like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and not like George Orwell’s 1984. Postman includes many factors in his argument like the different forms of entertainment, control, and the concealment of truth and information. The society in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is controlled by pleasure, egoism, and the irrelevance of truth. Neil Postman is correct, modern society is becoming…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many different social classes in “To Kill A Mockingbird.” The factors that separate people into these social classes are their skin color and their occupation. For example, Atticus, Scout, and Jem are part of the highest social class. They are part of this social class because Atticus is a lawyer, which makes him a highly respected person in the community. He is also white, which, at that time was a very important factor that chose who belonged in what social class. Scout and Jem are his children and therefore are also part of this social class.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It is obvious why someone who believes in censorship might choose to object to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. This ‘new world’ is built on sexual promiscuity, abolition of family, racism, and drug abuse in the most literal sense. A world which takes the positive aspects of Western society such as technological advances and individualism and turns it into a rigid caste system, in which the members of each caste are mass produced to the specifications of assembly line uniformity.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Though this feeling of hatred towards the lower castes are not authentic, but is rather artificially evoked. Most importantly, World State needs to drill these segregational thoughts thousands of times into the citizen’s minds; rather than let the thoughts come naturally. This indicates that seclusion is not a natural human instinct, but rather an enforced phenomenon that is taught by the primitive world. Subsequently, egocentric self-glorification that drives these exclusive actions are adapted than rather inherited; as a result, Alphas and Betas are programmed and are not naturally cruel. This is stated in, “In this strange world, there is no space for freedom; all the people’s actions are guided and controlled. Brave New World is a community without freedom. Freedom, in fact, has been sacrificed for happiness and stability” (Farag). Consequently, this critique expresses how World State offers an environment where citizens are restricted to operate in only one way. It also highlights the sacrifice of freedom not only physically, but rather mentally as well. Aldous Huxley’s formation of the higher castes are to exemplify the superior classes of the 20th century, and to clarify their arrogant behaviour. Alphas were conditioned and brought…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aldous Huxley wrote the book Brave New World in hoping to create an alternate society showing that utopia’s can have dystopia aspects. One of those aspects are class distinction where people are classed before they are born and are labeled as specific and robot-like people. Another aspect is the use of drugs and how it is oftenly used to persuade people into thinking the way the government thinks and a third aspect is consumerism where people are constantly consuming products and rules and the way other people are living their life so you feel like you should follow their lead. In today’s society, class distinction is also used, it is used to separate different levels of intelligence and resources, it is used to have a lifestyle that fits…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Within Huxley’s novel Brave New World, governing parties go to great lengths to control society through the use of science and technology. Beings of superior intellect took it upon themselves to adjust society as they saw fit, tampering with how humans were born. The primary method utilized by the World Controller and Directors to maintain control over society was through cloning and the scientific birth of citizens in the society. By producing thousands of nearly identical human embryos in hatcheries, the Director has complete control over all aspects of each individual’s life; from appearance to intelligence, from occupation to class. Progress of the human race is no longer measured by achievement but by, “making…

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With a seemingly flawless reproduction, placement, and education programs, the leaders of the world order take control over the population like that. Leaving (almost) zero room for error in their pre-designed, perfectly orderly system. The leaders of the world state actively control their citizens into being mindless workers by discouraging them to think freely, which is Aldous Huxley’s way of trying to make the reader realize that they are in the same situation.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Imagine if you were thrown into the South in the middle of the Great Depression; you would probably be very preoccupied with race and social class. Accordingly, in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, set in Maycomb County, Alabama in the 1930’s, race and social class are big issues. During these times, blacks were hated and looked down upon by many white people. The Jim Crow laws established segregation between whites and blacks and discrimination against blacks. These laws play a huge role in To Kill A Mockingbird by setting up the social environment of the book. Throughout the book, we get introduced to many characters and families including the Cunninghams, the Ewells, Tom Robinson, and the Finches. All of these characters occupy a specific role in the social pyramid based on race, class, and other factors. For Scout, throughout the book, social class overrides racism in terms of how she judges and values other people at first, but ultimately a person’s essence determines their real value.…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Setting: Events of the story took place in London, England and New Mexico, United States, 632 years after the first Model T car was produced.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jill is a young girl from a rich family and she loves all of her friends, yet her best friend Lucy is never allowed to come over. Lucy’s family is seen around the town to be a disgrace because of their lack of money, unlike everyone else in this dominantly rich town. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird and The Help you are able to witness these unfair incidences and mistreatment of lower social classes and you can see the stereotyping of the upper classes and how they are suppose to act. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Help by Kathryn Stockett both show that social classes create a barrier for the equality of life and opportunities given to the many people in each class. Overall, both books allow…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays