"Brave New World" Aldous Huxley

In his novel "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley describes the future of the human race after the global war when the stability of the WorldState became government's priority. In order to achieve a state of stability, the government divides people into classes, supplies them with seductive drugs and programs the entire population during their sleep.

In the future, all people are raised in test tubes with chemicals added to shape the human body and mind. The lowest classes such as Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons are the basis of the stability in this new society due to their lack of individuality. They look as identical twins with strong bodies and undeveloped brains; the deficit of oxygen in the test tubes before they were born keeps their intelligence low. "The lower the cast, the shorter the oxygen."( p.14).

At a very young age the people belonging to low classes were programmed to be happy the way they are. They are not a threat to stability because they are not able to become smarter with time and demand a better life. Lenina and Henry , two individuals representing the upper classes, discuss this issue. “I suppose Epsilons don't really mind being Epsilons.” –“Of course they don't. How can they? They don't know what it's like being anything else. We'd mind, of course."(p.74) In contrast to lower cast, the Alpha and Betas were raised to support intellectual needs of society.

However, the most intelligent ones resist against of the official propaganda and criticize society’s rules. For example, Helmholtz Watson, an Alpha+ individual, thinks about the possibility of changes, "We need some other kind of madness and violence. But what? What? Where can one find it?" (p.185) When thoughts of the Alpha people become dangerous to the stability, the government sends them away from their communities to special islands. Any bright individuality is the greatest threat for the civilization and should be isolated without delay.

The next tool for promoting social stability occurs through a popular sedative drug called Soma. "Christianity without tears- that's what soma is," the Controller of Western Europe explains to the Savage. (238) Happy people don’t fight, so drugs help the government to keep stability in the WorldState through pleasure and artificial happiness. “A gramme is better than a damn,” is the most popular slogan in this society. (p.55)

Using drugs helps the upper classes to escape unpleasant or disturbing questions that sometimes arise. "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. So jolly," Lenina advises her friend. (p 92).

Moreover, soma helps the lower classes to relax after a hard day’s work. In fact, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons get their mandatory dose of soms dsily. Here is how this ritual is described by Huxley: “Soma distribution!" shouted a loud voice. "In good order, please. Hurry up there.” The young man took out a handful of tiny pill-boxes. "Now," he said peremptorily, "step forward, please. One at a time, and no shoving.” (p.209) Probably, low casts are not allowed to choose the drug dosage themselves because of their low intelligence. On the other hand, upper classes can take any amount of soma in order to escape reality. They prefer being doped than being depressed.

Finally, the most powerful way of controlling the population is through hypnotic propaganda which is programmed to run during the population’s sleep period. For instance, the popular slogan "everybody belongs to every one else" (p.121) is implanted into the mind constantly, night after night, and destroys all personal attachments. As a result, love, family, and friendship does not exist in this society. Even books that contain information about old fashioned values are destroyed. Words, such as “mother” and “father “ become dirty and insulting meanings.

This absence of family makes people feel that they truly belong to everybody within their class, so they do not question the morality of free sexual interactions among the people of the same class. As the Controller of Western Europe explains to the Savage, " passion and neurasthenia mean instability. And instability means the end of civilization (237)."

Sarcastically, Lenina proves that at some point the controller is right. Because of her passion to Savage, she made a professional mistake while working with embryos. What if because of her mistake, there will be brilliant smart Alpha person born as an Epsilon? His protest against casting rules might be beginning of the end of this perfectly organized society.

But before that ever happened, the stability of the utopian society is out of danger, and Aldous Huxley's fantasy about perfect organization of the future world will continue to surprise readers with its scared perfection. ( Author Crazy Nurse)

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