Brave New World: A Bright New Future

Ethan Balakrishnan
ENG3UR
Mr. C. Kesner
Earl of March S.S.
19 May 2015

In his novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley offers his prediction of a technologically
advanced future, detailing and exploring its inevitable moral dilemmas. However, in doing so, he
also unwittingly creates a template for a perfect society. By basing the World State on his
perceived trends in the advancement of society and technology, he creates a world that is
shocking by the standards of modern western society, but also in fact indisputably ideal when
viewed through an impartial eye. Huxleys world, an elaborate thought experiment, possesses
few of the characteristics of the commonly accepted dystopia. Contrary to the typical failed
society, the World State was created for the benefit of its citizens, who are not even technically
limited to their prescribed way of life. Additionally, the archetypical society is a mechanism that
operates through limitations of personal freedoms in the name of communal happiness, which
logically leads to the conclusion that satisfaction and stability should be a civilizations
culminating goals. Ultimately, Brave New World is perceived as a dystopian novel because it is
viewed through the lens of current societal ideals; rationally, the World State is a utopia.
At the core of a typical dystopian society, at least that represented in literature, is a
corrupt government [that] creates or sustains the poor quality of life (Gordon State University).
In the World State, however, it is apparent that the social structure was set up solely to benefit its
citizens, uniting them peacefully under one well-oiled oligarchy. Controller Mond, in his debate
with John, reveals that he possesses no individual agenda, opting instead to serve his people,
when he admits that happiness is a hard master - particularly other peoples happiness (200).
Mond had given up his strong passion for science in order to pursue a position maintaining the
worlds happiness and stability, while sacrificing his own. Given the homogeneity of the World
States society, it is logical to assume that the other World Controllers are in a similar position as
Mond; they all enjoy only a very slightly higher number of benefits than the citizens to whom

they cater. A government of this type is also more honest than that of the modern era; corruption
is all but non-apparent, and the Controllers work for the citizens, as opposed to the reverse which
would be expected in a failed state. In his same speech, Mond also reveals that the institution of
the new society was highly warranted, and even necessary for survival of the human race. He
notes that society still held transcendental signifiers such as truth, beauty, and knowledge in high
regard right up to the time of the Nine Years War [...] Whats the point of truth or beauty or
knowledge when anthrax bombs are popping all around you? (201). As the old society led only
violence, warfare, suffering, and death, it was necessary to install a new civilization, which was
successful in achieving world harmony. As stability is generally preferable to instability, and as
Brave New Worlds government served the people, the World State is an ideal world for its
citizens. As a utopia is a society that is ideal for its citizens, there is ample proof that the World
State is a utopia.
Though no one utopia can be ideal for every single citizen, this problem can be avoided
by offering multiple types of societies. The World State, in addition to their normal system,
offers both intellectual islands, and the opportunity to get lost in a savage reservation. Of
course, the only exception to this idea is the second protagonist, John. The Savage appears to be
special, struggling to fit into both his savage society and into the brave new world. His
dissatisfaction with both societies leads him to his doomed search for true happiness through
self-punishment. While this form of happiness at first glance appears to John, and to the reader,
as more authentic, in reality it is not.
Johns self harm fits into two commonly accepted psychological models: interpersonal
boundaries and self-punishment. In the first model, self-injurers are thought to lack a normal
sense of self due to insecure maternal attachments and a subsequent inability to individuate from

the mother, as well as affirm[ing] a distinction between oneself and others, and assert[ing]
one's identity or autonomy(Klonsky). This perfectly applies to John as his mother Linda fails to
attach emotionally to him as a result of her anti-maternal conditioning in the World State.
Furthermore, John is disturbed by Pops sexual advances on Linda and the villagers whipping
of his mother. John, however, remains almost unreasonably attached to her, so it therefore
follows that a lack of maternal individuation is present in him, and that he should tend to selfharm. The second model, self-punishment, suggests that self-injury is an expression of anger or
derogation towards oneself (Klonsky). As John perpetually experiences feelings of guilt and
inadequacy, he fits into the model, explaining his final journey of corporal punishment.
The mental state for which John strives through futile self-harm is no more authentic than
that offered by soma, a drug described by Mond as Christianity without tears (210). Happiness
is a measurable phenomenon, and though it is not yet completely understood, it is known to be a
completely neurochemical and endocrine process. Victims of self-injury present biological
changes which indicate the mechanisms through which the process works: Endogenous opiates
(endorphins) are released in the bloodstream following bodily injury; they reduce the experience
of pain and also can lead to a feeling of euphoria (Nock). Johns failure to achieve happiness
through these means, and his subsequent escalation of harmful procedures, are also explained by
the fact that repeated self-injury leads to higher background levels of the hormone, and,
naturally, an ever-increasing tolerance. Johns search for meaning is really a search for an
alternate - and disadvantageous - means of achieving an inferior soma-like endorphin high.
The reader perceives Brave New World as depicting a perverse society devoid of
meaning, authenticity, and true happiness because these transcendental signifiers are illusions
innate to the reader as a result of their respective societal ideals and preconceptions. The reader

considers this future society as shocking and unacceptable to the same extent that a citizen of the
World State would so consider modern life. Considering these points, the quality of life in the
World State is undisputably superior to that in all known societies; it approaches the ultimate
ideal of happiness and success. Therefore, the World State is a utopia.
Society is, in and of itself, a mechanism that functions through limitation of personal
freedoms, in that that which is deemed socially unacceptable is a freedom which has been
limited. In Brave New World, it is obvious that the World States government is not the only
organism which restricts liberties. In the savage reservation, inhabitants uphold the collective
belief that manhood can only achieved through corporal punishment and bizarre, deadly rituals.
Lenina is (understandably) confused by this irrational misconception, and John reveals the extent
of his brainwashing when he replies to Leninas questioning, declaring that he wishes to be
punished for the sake of the pueblo - to make the rain come and the corn grow [...] to show that
Im a man (100-101). Clearly, the old society has indoctrinated its members as much as the
new, and, ultimately, with a lesser outcome in terms of happiness and progress. In this way, the
savages are no more free than the world citizens, and, thus, neither are their collective goals
more authentic. Though the savages scoff at their happier counterparts, compared to them, they
are nevertheless less happy, less advanced, and as equally socially confined - their society is in
every way inferior.
The World State is only so successful as a result of the governments methods for
maintaining stability. This method is, at its core, very simple. Mond explains that it its not
possible to have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices. (209). Social stability is
acquired only through consistent happiness, and therefore consistent happiness - which is offered
by the World State - is necessary for sustenance of a utopia.

While Brave New World is generally accepted as a warning of a possible future dystopia,
the new world it describes actually has characteristics that make it superior to the modern world.
The World State, rather than something to flee, should be a goal to strive towards.

Works Cited
"Dystopia/Utopia." Gordon State University. Web. 10 May 2015.
<http://ptfaculty.gordonstate.edu/jmallory/index_files/page0082.htm>.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2007. Print.
Klonsky, E. David. "The Functions of Deliberate Self-injury: A Review of the Evidence."
ScienceDirect. 3 Mar. 2007. Web. 10 May 2015.
Nock, Matthew K. "Self-injury." Harvard University. 4 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 May 2015.
<http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~nock/nocklab/Nock_2010_ARCP_online.pdf>.