Question+4

Melissa Mohl English per. 2 5/1/11  Reaction Paper When we started discussing the aspects of the new world, I was immediately against everything about it. I’ve never been one to venture away from what I know or to explore knew ideas. I also admit that my “Hinsdale Bubble” is taking over all aspects of my life. I’m what people call safe. Though, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this class (not including the importance of sport coat Thursdays) it’s that being safe is the most unsafe thing you can do. As I listened to the class discussions I became so intrigued by ideas presented that I started to change the way I looked at the future. The idea of perfection seems impossible growing up in such a diverse world. I think that that is why I was so doubtful of the perfection in the Brave New World. However perfection in the new world isn’t impossible; it’s expected. In my research paper from 3rd quarter I explained that perfection is entirely impossible because of its links to emotion and natural competition. I also researched the competitiveness in beauty, and how people constantly compare themselves to others, trying to surpass each other. These points make perfection impossible in the world today, but very reasonable in the future. If everyone is decanted into their social class, they would have no reason to compete for anything. They are handed the intelligence, beauty, and social position that they should have and there’s no reason, or way, to escape it. Personally, I would never want to live in the new world. Growing up where I live, and having the opportunities I’ve had, made me realize how important love and emotions are. God and religion have always been a big part of my life and have made me who I am today. Nothing can replace the love I have for my family and friends. Because I’ve grown up with this love and security, I would never be able to live without it. However in the future, decanting and soma would be perfectly normal. You never want what you don’t know. The expectations and values in the future would be entirely different than today’s. Even looking at how different our society is now from those in the past, one can understand that there’s room for change. Not too long ago gay marriage was completely unacceptable, for some, unimaginable. Now, it’s becoming more and more prevalent in this culturally changing world. Killing animals and human beings to use as sacrifices seems completely crazy to me. In different cultures and times, this was normal and was completely acceptable. My point is that what seems unrealistic and ridiculous to us now, could be the standards in the future. The new world seems completely stable and well functioning. The class systems, though slightly degrading, keep the work steady and completed. Everyone accepts their duties and goes through their lives happily. Originally, I compared this to slavery and called it robotic because there’s no escape and everyone is strangely happy to take part in such labor. I started to realize that if they accept it and if they are fine with it, then what’s the issue? Today, millions of people struggle to make good lives for themselves and become depressed and unhappy along the way. Money issues create stress and too much freedom leads to power abuse and violence. Maybe having this perfect world would eliminate all the evil in society and create a stable, happy world for everyone. Huxley’s vision of the future may not be perfect, but I think that the values and ideas he presents could be the basis of a successful and stable future.

Rachel Collins Period 3 I must admit that when I first started reading this book, I was completely shocked by the civilization of the Brave New World. That fact that there was no such thing as family, the miracle of life took place in a test tube, and the way to finding happiness was by taking a type of drug called soma definitely did not appeal to me as a place where I would want to live. In fact, I didn’t think you could even call it “living” at all. Where was the passion, romance, and freedom of our world today that people cherish so much? And then it occurred to me…the people in this civilization want to live this way simply because they don’t know any other way of living. Living the way they do is all these people have ever known, and just like we are with our society today, they are comfortable and content with their way of living. In this Brave New World, there are no wars, no jealousy, no depression, and no hatred. If you work hard and succeed, you will be guaranteed happiness for your entire life. Now I don’t know about you, but I would be completely content living this way if I had never known any other way of it before. In the story, the characters are conditioned at a young age to be happy with whatever job it is they were made to do in the future. This means that whether you be a garbage man or a world leader, you will aspire to succeed at the job you do, no matter what. Plus, the main form of pay in the Brave New World is soma, which just pushes people even further to do well at their occupations. Some people may argue that soma creates a false sense of happiness within the characters of the book, but that is definitely not the case. It simply has the ability to enhance peoples’ happiness or forget their pain when they are going through tough times, but without any sort of side effects. Is it not a fact that so many in our society today use alcohol or drugs to make themselves happy, yet in a lot of these cases it’s not even legal? In the Brave New World, people are only able to obtain limited amounts of soma and it does no harm to the body. Some could even consider soma as an alternative to the drugs and alcohol of today, and in my opinion this would be a much better and safer way to go. The main characters in the book that didn’t accept the way of life didn’t have a happy ending like the rest of the characters. John kept clinging to his old ways of life and continued to suffer because of it, and in the end his extreme unhappiness and unwillingness to accept the new ways of life caused him to take his own life. Bernard kept thinking throughout the whole book only of the things he didn’t like about the Brave New World, and had to suffer the consequences by being banned to a different country. The only reason why people of today would criticize the way people live their lives in the future as portrayed in the book is because we aren’t used to living in any other way than the way we are now, and since the way things are done in the future are only meant to help and not to hurt, then I would have no problem living there. Just like how we in the United States may not agree with the way people across the world live, we still need to accept that not everyone has the same views on things and that we can still learn a lot from them.

Michael Mayer Palmquist Period 3 English 2 H

When one thinks of a utopian society, the characteristics Mustapha Mond describes seem very accurate and convincing: happiness, stability, productivity, a sense of accomplishment. When one initially looks at the benefits of living in the “brave new world” Utopia, it is hard to find any fault with it. The entirety of civilization is stable and productive, and it is impossible to deny that people are happy and truly have a feeling of belonging. Everyone seems to fit into and accept their “caste” system, believing they have what they want. According to this interpretation, society has reached perfection…or at least in my opinion perfection to a certain extent. I had originally come to the conclusion that even though the feelings people were feeling were neither “natural nor real according to our standards”, they technically were still chemically the same. Once I got over the weirdness of thinking about what I called the brave new world’s artificial feelings, I began to like the idea of a world where someone could feel happy or accomplished or even excited just by taking a pill and waiting. “Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle” (Chapter 17, Mustapha). However, thinking about how people could control their feelings made me consider the question of to what extent to the people in the brave new world have control over their lives. Once I began thinking this, I began to see how flawed and corrupt the society actually was. The best way I can explain the way I view the brave new world is by describing a goldfish living in a bowl with everything it can possibly imagine. The goldfish will never become angry and will always think it is making its own decision, but the purpose of its life has already been decided. “Every one works for every one else. We can’t do without any one. Even Epsilons are useful. We couldn’t do without Epsilons. Every one works for every one else. We can’t do without any one” (Chapter 5, Lenina). In the brave new world, of course everyone is going to be happy and productive, they have essentially been manufactured and brain washed to believe so. However, I do believe that if you can get over the idea that the entire premises of the “productive and equal” brave new world is essentially a rigorously controlled caste system which is ironically controlled by a couple very individualistic world controllers that invests a fortune into brain washing people through hypnopædia techniques and drugs into thinking they are happy and free, only then can you think of the society as utopic.

However, I strongly feel that various aspects of the brave new world were very good and if actually possible could seriously give our society and any other society a productive and happy boost. In my opinion, the elimination of religion was a huge factor in the success of the brave new world. If today we could simply abolish or forget about religious conflicts in our world, the lives of many people would be saved. I think Huxley’s brave new world successfully got rid of religion in the sense that the society and the world controllers replaced the role of god, deciding what people would do and how they would feel about it. Also, I feel as if another positive of the brave new world was its use of new medications not to brain-wash people or make them feel a certain way, but to be able to treat very specific and personalized symptoms of people that medicine today couldn’t.

One of the major points I believe Huxley was trying to say when he wrote Brave New World was that a utopian society is impossible to achieve, as there will always be some sort of opposition or rebellion. In the case of the brave new world, as technology become more and more integrated into the society, people lost more and more freedoms while believing they were getting more and more. I guess the entire point of the book can be compacted down to the conversation between Mustapha Mond and John, where Mond describes all the terrible things society has eliminated, and John responds by claiming them all. The entire point of society is not to be placed in a maze and given the instructions on how to get out, it is to be placed in the world and discover your own path.

Alex Cruz Period 3 Perfection? “The world’s stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get,” as stated by Mustapha Mond in Aldous Huxley’s //A Brave New World.// This sounds like perfection, but is this statement accurate? In the book, none of the main characters, including Lenina, Helmholtz, Bernard, and John are entirely happy. Take Helmholtz for example, he does not even want to be happy. On page 229, when given a choice of where to be exiled, Helmholtz chose to go an island with a bad climate, so he could write better. This shows that there is more to life than just being happy. In Helmholtz’s case, it is writing freely. “People get what they want.” I don’t need to look further than Mustapha Mond to show that this is not true. In chapter 16, Mond refers to his past career as a young physicist and his love for science, which got him in trouble. He was given the choice of being in the Controllers’ Council, or being exiled to an island. He chose to be a Controller, and let the science go. He states that he sometimes rather regrets the science. Mustapha Mond, a World Controller, does not even get what he wants, let alone people from the lower castes like Lenina. Lenina is an extremely beautiful Beta who can get any man, except the one she wants. People need a sense of self-accomplishment to make life worth living. With the abolishment of science, the people of Mond’s civilization cannot make accomplishments. Mond states that this threatens the stability of society, which Mond equates with happiness. He mentions that even labor-saving inventions have had to be suppressed. Helmholtz needs writing, while John needs God and self sustainment. The Brave New World seems to me to be a meaningless world, with no advancements (as they are being oppressed by the Controllers), no curiosity, and no individuality, inhumane. The people in this book do not seem human. They do not experience passion, love or art. Mond says, with his example of Othello on page 220, that these characteristics come from suffering and loss. This is social instability, which does not exist in the New World. This is something we can take from this futuristic society. We don’t want to go down this path of consumerism, to the point where we get rid of what makes us humans, our misfortune and inconvenience.

Zulema Gallegos English 2 H Brave New World Essay

//Brave New World// presented a different world and a new vision of the future that few saw. Within this world, society is recognized as stable and its people happy and cooperative with one another. However, the world may not truly be as perfect as it sounds, while at the same time, being better than it looks. Civilization in //Brave New World// is hailed as perfection, the ultimate society. But to truly understand the validity of this statement, first one must understand what perfection is and whether or not //Brave New World// 's society matches up. The word perfection means a state of completeness and flawlessness, but to every person, it holds different visions and ideas behind the definition. To many a society described with words like unity, equality, stability and cooperation would at first appear ideal but after examining the society itself, the truth hidden behind those words causes one to have second thoughts. Words can often have negative and positive connotations. Unity does make a body stronger and equality does allow for compassion, but at the same time one could also say that through having these, some individuality is lost as well. Stability provides for order and cooperation helps the achievement of goals but one could say they take away the unexpectedness that comes with life. Decisions always lead to consequences, both good and bad. If perfection to some means getting everything and being able to keep it all too, including the the unity, equality without sacrificing individuality, maintaining the stability and cooperation as well. In //Brave New World// the trade off involves giving up most of the unexpected surprises of life along with the hardships in exchange for stability and what they deem as happiness. Looking at the world through this view of perfection, the society does not match up. One can't live in a world where everyone wants the same things and is always content with what they have, and even if it were to exist, there would always be others who would hold a different view of perfection that would not match up. This belief could be taken to the extreme so as to say that true perfection cannot ever be achieved. If this is so, then our future remains unclear. Currently, the world we live in faces various problems, most of which continue to grow or multiply. And yet, to some people it may be their idea of perfection, while to others it may seem the opposite. Today, we consider our freedom of thought one of our greatest assets, as well as our right. It also seems to be something severely lacking in the society of //Brave New World// where the decisions are made for them since birth, from what caste they are born into, to what their likes and dislikes should be. The fact that most of the populace is ignorant of this makes it only harder to accept. Our society today thrives on making our own decision, and it doesn't seem likely that it will change in that perspective. What will probably change is the way a person expresses their decisions. However, one thing we may be able to learn from it is that early initiatives do have long lasting results, as seen with the hypnopaedia. Beginning something early on and following it through to its last stages can have tremendous results if one has the determination to follow through. Another possible lesson to be learned is the power of fear. Fear of more war, death and unhappiness led to the creation of a society without free thought or open decisions. It was enough for people to give up their dreams in order to insure never having to go through the horrors they witnessed again. It could be added to the many warnings we've had on the dangers of war and destruction. While our world may never truly accomplish perfection, it doesn't mean it can't be a better place for humanity and by trying to apply these lessons, it could be achieved.

Brian Ling Brave New World Reactions Paper Imagine a world where everything is perfect. A world where everyone is as happy as can be and their desires fulfilled. Where everyone enjoys what they do in life and no conflicts between anyone. Such a utopia has been presented to us by Aldous Huxley in //Brave New World// . The people of the utopia are bred to be absolutely satisfied with whatever they are made to do. If they feel even the slightest deviation from being happy, they can quickly rid themselves of such emotions with soma. Every single individual is separated into one caste that determines their life and they enjoy being in that caste. No one in the utopia questions the state of the world that they live in, except for a few individuals such as Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson. As I read through this novel, I immediately disliked the system of the world that was being portrayed. The people of the world are made to live in a caste. They did not have any sense of self. This lack of being an individual reveals that the world being presented in the novel only has the people living in it to live in a system. The people do not exist for their own purpose, but one that is imposed upon them at birth or, as termed in the novel, distilled. If I was one of the people, I would not be able to bare living in a system, with no means to strive for something greater. I can’t stand the fact that my own future has been chosen without any chance of changing it. Nor can I accept living with artificial happiness. If the world was always happy and already had a predestined life, then people would be trapped and wouldn’t be able to experience emotions such as that great feeling of achieving something greater. What is the point to living if everything has been predetermined? Although I dislike the lack of individuality of the utopia present in the novel, the fact that everything not pertaining to the experience of ones life is completely flawless in the way it is shown by Huxley I would greatly enjoy having. Money is not a problem for anyone in the utopian society. No one suffers from the effects of disease or old age. Disposal of the dead is efficient and benefiting to the Earth. As opposed to the way of life in our world now, where many people live without the basic necessities for life, and these people also undergo horrible effects due to diseases such as cancer. Though the society of //Brave New World//  completely destroys ones sense of self, I wouldn’t mind being in such a world without the problems that are prevalent in our society. Even if I have to become part of a machine and live a dull life, as long as the problems that plague our current world are gone, I would rather live in a society much like the one portrayed by Huxley.

Carlie Abraham Palmquist Period 2 Question Number 4

The definition of a perfect world will vary from person to person. A kid might believe that the perfect world will be made of candy and that it snowed ice cream and chocolate sauce. A racist might believe that the perfect world will be free from ‘impurities’ of different races. It all depends on what your personal beliefs for what would be a better place for you to live in. That’s why some people have different opinions on whether or not Brave New World is the epitome of a perfect civilization. In my opinion, this kind of civilization comes as close as it can to perfection as possible. I believe that Brave New World could be considered a perfect world because everybody is happy all the time. If someone names one person who doesn’t like to be happy, I’ll consider going skydiving on my 21st birthday. There is no need for jealousy, depression, or anger in that world because there is nothing that would make you feel those emotions. You are conditioned to be happy with your position in life, and if you are having a bad day, happiness is given to you by pill form. But some people consider this kind of happiness is considered ‘fake’ because you don’t have to work for it, and that it is somehow less satisfactory then ‘real happiness’. Since I was young, my parents drilled into me the belief that what you accomplish feels better when you have worked hard for it. I accepted this argument as true, as it seemed like working for things is the more respectable way of life. After all, if you have two millionaires sitting in a room with you, one of them inheriting their money from family and one of them who earned it himself, which one are you more likely to look up to? The correct answer would be the man who had earned it himself. But then, if you look at both of the men’s happiness, I’m sure you will not find much of a difference. Each would have the liberty to do whatever makes them happy, whenever they feel like doing it. So, the man who had worked hard to make a good living for himself has the same amount of happiness as the man who was handed his money on a silver platter. You cant say that the man who inherited his money has ‘fake happiness’ since he didn’t work for it while the guy who earned his money has the true kind of happiness. Whether you work for it or not, happiness always feels the same. People also object to civilization in Brave New World, because they believe that a drug cannot make you happy. Scientifically speaking, your emotions are only a bunch of chemicals that are transmitted throughout your body. No matter what you do to that makes you happy, it is the same chemicals that are being transmitted. So, if we create a drug that mimics the chemicals in our body, I don’t see why we can’t make the perfect drug that makes us happy. We can make it so perfect that we get that elated feeling whenever we want, for however long we want. We could make it so it has no bad side effects either. It won’t make you do dangerous things or make you lose your mind. It wouldn’t have any bad consequences, only good ones. We could be conditioned since birth to think that Brave New World civilization is the way life should be. We would have no regrets, grief, or anger. Getting what we want when we want would be amazing. Nobody would have the need to start wars, because we would all have a sense of unity. The idea of ‘ethnicity’ would be gone. Everyone would belong to everyone else; we wouldn’t belong to an exclusive race or culture, so we would have a special connection with everybody. I don’t see how anything could go wrong in this kind of society.

Ana Carell Utopia

The concept of a utopia is ages old. Communism, fascism, anarchism, and many other "isms" have tried, and failed, to create perfect societies. Imagine that a society dependent on hierarchy, drugs, and promiscuity would be the first to succeed in developing a true utopia. My first reaction to // Brave New World // was one of shock. I was horrified to think of living in a world where social status was predestined, family was outlawed, and drugs were used on a daily basis to suppress mental pain. However, after consideration, I realized that the modern civilization created by Aldous Huxley in // Brave New World // succeeds in creating a perfect society, a utopia, which provides complete happiness for each of its citizens. I have been taught to set high expectations for myself, and to pursue goals with determination and enthusiasm. Although I have felt the satisfying sense of accomplishment that accompanies achieving a goal, I have also felt the sense of failure and disappointment that comes with falling short of success. In the New World, ambition is effectively destroyed. It seems unnatural to never want more from life, but unsatisfied ambition is a common obstacle to happiness. An ambitious person is easily caught in the endless pursuit of goals. As soon as an objective is reached, the person will set another that is even more difficult to attain, and is therefore bound to be unsatisfied and unfulfilled. In the New World, though, no one is discontent with their status in the hierarchical society. Even the Epsilons, members of the lowest caste, are conditioned to enjoy their simple, mindless work. Mustapha Mond explains the Epsilons’ appreciation for their work by claiming, “They like it. It’s light, it’s childishly simple” (Huxley 224). Imagine the happiness possible in a world where there is no intense pressure to compete, to be rich, or to gain power. Another benefit of the New World is that it guarantees social stability, although this stability comes at a price. The Controllers suppress free speech or any potentially subversive act. In light of the 9/11 attacks, I would prefer to live in a safe world, rather than one filled with paranoia and fear. I do not object giving up some of my civil liberties in order to ensure peace and security. In fact, the citizens of the New World would agree. As Mustafa Mond explains, after the destructive Nine Years’ War, people wanted, “anything for a quiet life. We’ve gone on controlling ever since… it’s been very good for happiness” (Huxley 228). Brave New World also confronts another major obstacle to happiness- jealousy and envy. Jealousy originates from a desire for exclusivity (Ben-Zeév 2008). However, the inhabitants of the New World are conditioned to fear and detest exclusivity, eliminating the jealousy and anger associated with traditional relationships. In a society where ‘everyone belongs to everyone,’ it is encouraged to have as many partners as possible. If people are involved with multiple partners, the intensity of jealousy will decrease (Ben-Zeév 2008). In fact, this phenomenon occurs in // Brave New World // when Lenina appears indifferent towards Henry Foster’s, one of her partners, multiple relationships. Altering the way we approach relationships is a frightening thought, but jealousy and envy are at the heart of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Clearly, traditional, exclusive relationships have not been successful in maintaining an undying love. For instance, marriage, the promise of a lifetime of devotion, quite often fails. 50% of all US marriages end in divorce, which is definitely not an asset to happiness (Wilson 2010). The New World allows its citizens to be happier by encouraging multiple partners, and eliminating the problems associated with exclusivity. In response to his radical opinions on relationships, Huxley has been accused of destroying love. The New World does not destroy love; rather, it depicts a different meaning of the word. Love does not necessarily require everlasting commitment. Love can be brief, fleeting, and tremulous. Today, people are desperately, and unsuccessfully, searching for true love; in the New World, it's always within reach. Finally, critics of //Brave New World// believe that the happiness experienced by the characters is a false one, an illusion created by the drug //soma//. The citizens of the New World take //soma// to avoid mental pain, but the happiness they experience, although induced by drugs, is happiness nonetheless. The feeling of joy is caused by a chemical reaction of dopamine and adrenalin, so whether it is attained by accomplishing a goal or by taking //soma//, happiness never changes (Ostrow 2008). The Bible preaches that women must suffer the pain of birth, but in today's society, few people would imagine giving birth without anesthesia. It is encouraged to take medication to soothe physical pain. Why treat mental pain any differently? Yes, // Brave New World // may seem radical and grotesque at first, but I believe that Aldous Huxley has systematically crafted solutions to the major problems that plague happiness- greed, unfulfilled ambitions, exclusive love, and jealousy.

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Works Cited <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Ben-Zeev, Aaron, PhD. “Does my Partner Belong to Me? The Justification for Jealousy.” //Psychology Today//: n. pag. //Psychology Today//. Web. 2 May 2011. Ostrow, Ruth. “Happiness is a Chemical.” //The Australian// 29 Sept. 2008: n. pag. //The Australian//. Web. 3 May 2011. Wilson, Jacque. “Engaged Couples Fight Divorce Rates.” //CNN// 9 Aug. 2010: n. pag. //CNN//. Web. 3 May 2011.

Aidan Jones Brave New World Essay

I occasionally roll out of bed in the morning thinking //this day is going to be terrible//. Then I get to school and realize I forgot my lunch or that I didn’t do an assignment. By the end of school, I am extremely depressed at how poorly my day went. Then I have to go home and do several hours of homework and study for a test that I realize I am sorely unprepared for. “What if I could take all the rotten events that day and stay as cool as a cucumber. The AP Euro test I messed up on? No big deal. I can’t think straight without a lunch. No big deal.” In //Brave New World//, soma does this for everyone every day. In Huxley’s Utopia, the civilization relies on soma to stay at a state of perfection where everyone is happy. Citizens in Utopia are happy with what they are doing at that moment. However, although the Utopia seems like perfection on the outside it isn’t. Everywhere in the book, people are using soma to stay happy or forgot something painful. For example, when Henry Foster and the Assistant Predestinator are talking about Lenina like a piece of meat, Bernard automatically swallows a gramme of soma. After Lenina visits the Savage Reservation, she falls into a soma-induced sleep to forget about the “horrible” things she saw such as old people and women with babies. Yet because the people of Utopia rely on soma so heavily, it would be their downfall. If several people stopped taking soma, the “society would reel”. According to Bernard, who doesn’t take soma as often as he should, “why shouldn’t it reel”. If the ideas of Bernard were in other people’s brains, the Utopia would begin to fall apart. Another problem with this close to perfect society is the technological advancements. One thing I enjoy very much about my life is the new technology that is available. I don’t know what I would do if companies like Apple or Sony didn’t come out with new Iphones or new video games. In our world, there is always something new to buy or play and I take great pleasure in taking part in our world of consumption. Yet in the Utopian world, their technology seems to be stagnated. They are concentrated on developing the perfect humans and maintaining a population that will be sustained by their economy. If I were part of their society, I would become bored easily because of the lack of technological developments in the way of entertainment. They seem happy to go to the Feelies, play Obstacle Golf, or visit the Savage Reservations as forms of entertainment but this would become boring fast. I don’t understand that if there are people genetically designed to be smart, then why doesn’t the Utopia develop more technology than they already have. As an outsider, Huxley’s Utopia seems to have a few problems with it, but otherwise, he satisfies the people’s demands and creates a perfect society where everyone is working for the betterment of the community. Although the society isn’t quite perfect, I am sure I would enjoy living a world where I get to fly my own helicopter and do basically anything I want besides go to work.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-top: 12pt;">Ankit Aggarwal <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-top: 12pt;">English Question #4 If what Mustapha Mond describes as a stable, happy, and prosperous society is the Brave New World, it would in fact be a utopia. However, if you look deeper into the society in the Brave New World, it would seem to most people in todays as almost the exact opposite of a utopia. The future, according to Huxely, has many aspects that are different from the world in 1932 and even 2011, but it isn’t clear whether or not he is describing it as a utopia or dystopia. Huxely takes the risky job of trying to predict the future, but his motivation isn’t exactly clear throughout the whole book. In the beginning of the book, he describes the society so that it would seem to the reader as a utopia. Showing a tour of the area in the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center where people are decanted and created to fit into their caste. With this system it seems that since no one really knows how it would be to create your own life and every need of society would be fulfilled without the hassles of people trying to earn more money or have a better life. It seems that everything is stable because no one complains and everyone is made to have a certain job, and no one is made to do anything to terrorize the perfect society. However, as the book advances through the plot, the flaws from the society and it’s artificial feeling seem to make the seemingly utopic place a more disturbing dystopic (not sure if it’s a word, but I used it anyways) society. The most important thing I find dystopic about the society directed by Mond and created by Huxely is the fact that everyone is assigned their life. You cannot do what you wanted to do with your life; it would be created for you. Although, the people created would find nothing wrong with it because they wouldn’t know any better; to me this type of artificially created life is not something perfect, but a negative for each person not necessarily society. Also, the soma that people use to make themselves happy goes along with an artificial life because it seems that the people don’t know any better since they are designed to do their job and taught by hypnoepaedia to stay happy, hence soma. Flaws besides the artificial society are also presented through some of the characters including Bernard, Helmholtz, and Lenina. Bernard is supposed to be the most superior alpha male, but something went wrong, which can be considered a flaw to a utopic society, and he is not the typical alpha male. Bernard feels the need to do extra work to receive his place in society, something that is not meant to be done in this supposed utopic society. Helmholtz a friend of Bernard is a writer, but he isn’t happy with his life as he ponders about alienated subjects that aren’t normal of this society and wishes to be exiled so he can write better. Also, Lenina is considered one of the most beautiful women in the Brave New World, but she feels insecure and a need to prove her beauty by having sex, a common activity in the Brave New World, in order to prove it to herself. Overall, it may seem through the supposed stability and happiness that this is a utopic society, but the way it operates and functions seems dystopic to me and probably most people in this world. People are not meant to be poured out of a test tube and created like robots, creating your own life, personality, and character are the norm of today’s world. Utopic or dystopic in any view, I would certainly not ever want to live in this society because of its disturbing characteristics.

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<span style="font: 110% 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> Is perfection ever even completely attainable? The perception of perfection can change based upon whose eyes your looking through so a world that one person views as perfect, may be seen as hell by the person standing next to them. When a father watches his son play quarterback, he may think his boy is the next Peyton Manning; however the men standing twenty yards down the field are asking themselves, “Why hasn’t this kid been benched yet?” However, if you say that I’m being to literal in the question that asks whether this “Utopian” world, that Aldous Huxley presents in //A Brave New World,// truly is perfection, then maybe we should slightly lower the criteria and ask if this world is the best possible world imaginable. ======

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<span style="font: 110% 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> The Utopia does not even fit the bill as the best possible world, seeing as there are many serious flaws with this society that Huxley presents. In an ideal world, everyone should be happy. However, Huxley obviously went out of his way to point out people who weren’t satisfied with the Utopian society and made many of those people main characters. Bernard was unhappy with the majority of the aspects of this world, and Helmholtz Watson, despite being a near-perfect individual, supported Bernard in many of these criticisms and was also unsatisfied with the Utopia. However, my bigger issue with the Utopia isn’t so much what the people in it don’t like about their society, yet it more has to do with what is being hidden from these people. Through the soma, hypnopaedia, and genetic breeding, the free decision-making skills of the people are all but eliminated. Before birth and at an early age, it is basically already decided what types of lives the people will lead, and what things they will or won’t like. The soma also stops people from getting angry, which, in some cases, therefore may hide the people’s true emotions. These people aren’t given the opportunity to form their own opinions for themselves. For example, my favorite food is Sloppy Joe’s, but I may have never even tasted them before if, at birth, whenever I was shown Sloppy Joe’s, I was also given an awful smell which would lead to me to stray away from them for the rest of my life. And just as bad as having things decided for me is having things hidden from me, which is clearly the case in this Utopian society, where they are stuck in this little bubble of protective civilization. They have extremely limited knowledge of the world beyond the borders of the Utopia, because all they’ve known their whole lives is to be content with living in this small, complex, and efficient society. ======

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<span style="font: 110% 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> These people of this Utopia are living in a world that could be described as black and white, where they are missing all the excitement of color. There is a whole new dimension of the world out there that they aren’t able to experience because they simply aren’t aware of it and have never known anything else in their lives. The right of free-choice, at least in my opinion, plays a huge role in happiness, and as Mustafa Mond points out, happiness equals stability, so to create this ideal world, or “perfect” world, I believe you need to give these people a greater ability to find things out on their own and formulate their own opinions on things based upon their experiences. ======