Truth and Happiness in Brave New World Essay

Truth and Happiness

Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, believed that society was not all that it seemed. He believed there were hidden truths that, if manipulated the wrong way, could very well lead to an outlandish social transformation. In Brave New World, Huxley creates a society in which all the members are sheltered from truth and knowledge in order to ensure their happiness. By using ignorance, soma, and sex, Huxley expresses the idea that true happiness cannot coexist with knowledge and truth, and that blissful ignorance is the key to attaining social stability.

In the third chapter of the novel, Huxley introduces an important concept that is widely used in the World State, which is the spread of ignorance. When the students are being lectured during a tour of the Central London Hatchery And Conditioning Centre, the D.H.C. repeats a phrase that was used by their Godlike figure, Henry Ford, which is that History is bunk (34). This important phrase is most likely repeated frequently by World State members, alongside others such as one cubic centimeter cures ten gloomy sentiments (89) and ending is better than mending (49). The repetition of such phrases allows for hypnopdia to be to be applied, which guarantees that the phrases being taught will have a long term effect on the individual. Because hypnopdia is not appropriate for building knowledge, it is only applied as a way to teach moral education (26). These phrases are taught this way so that the citizens cannot question or doubt its truthfulness. All they know, or need to know, is that it was taught to them and that it needs to be practiced in everyday life. The ignorance utilized in the World State prevents its citizens from knowing that equality and freedom are absent within their society, or even that these powers are something to actually be desired. Without this knowledge, it is easy for people to be easily conditioned into liking their inescapable social destiny (16), which allows social stability to easily fall into place and independently take its course.

In order to ensure ignorance, reality must be distorted or even hidden away. To do this, the World State uses soma to cloud the mind of surrounding realities such as pain and suffering. With the presence of pain and suffering, stability is threatened. This is revealed when Lenina, vexed by Johns queer behavior, asks herself, My Ford, have I given this one its sleeping sickness injection or havent I? (187), and is ultimately responsible for the death of that Alpha-Minus some twenty-two years later. The emotional damage that Lenina is experiencing caused her to make that mistake. Soma helps to relinquish these kinds of emotions, which helps to ensure stability. The same is evident in Lindas case as well. After returning from the Savage Reservation, she is looked upon as a hideous and disgusting creature that should not even exist. The only reason for her return to civilization was for her to return to soma (154). Linda goes on soma-holiday after soma-holiday to escape the unbearable truth that she is a grotesque creature in the eyes of her beloved society, and dies as a result of it. As Mustapha Mond describes,

There's always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your

enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering...Anybody can be

virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a

bottle. Christianity without tears-that's what soma is" (238).

Emotional pain and suffering are what caused Lenina to make a mistake with her surrogate, and Linda to create a stir in the World State. The protection that soma offers is essential to keep a stable society.

Huxley employs sex in his novel as a way to further prove his point that bliss will easily allow ignorance and stability to overcome the individual, specifically in the World State. If people are happy and get what they want, they will not question their situations or circumstances. By sleep-teaching the phrase every one belongs to every one else (43), the World State is able to completely degrade sex as though it were a meaningless, everyday activity. By also promoting promiscuity, sexual acts are not only meaningless but also required if one is to conform with society. When Lenina confides in Fanny about how she only has had Henry in the past month, Fanny is shocked and explains how its such horribly bad form to go on like this with one man. At forty, or thirty-five, it wouldnt be so bad (41). Fannys astonishment demonstrates the abnormality of having just one sexual partner for such a period of time. Because people are encouraged to be promiscuous, it is not hard for someone in the World State be satisfied all the time. Even at an early age, the citizens are taught that sexual tendencies are positive traits to have. When the students in the beginning of the chapter tour the Central London Hatchery And Conditioning Centre, the D.H.C. explains,

For a very long period before the time of Our Ford, and even for some

generations afterwards, erotic play between children had been regarded

as abnormal (there was a roar of laughter); and not only abnormal,

actually immoral (no!): and had therefore been rigorously suppressed (32),

which shows that erotic behavior is considered natural among children. Even a reluctance in participating in such behavior is grounds for investigation, which is witnessed when a crying boy, who doesnt want to be sexual with another child, is taken away to the Assistant Superintendent of Psychology, just to see if anything is abnormal (32). It is more than likely that the child will be reconditioned until he is willing to engage in erotic play again, so that he will develop a yearning for something that is easily attainable. The World State makes sure that an inevitable human need, such as sexual satisfaction, is easily achievable. In doing so, people are able to get what they want and have no desire to question their surrounding circumstances, thus promoting stability.

Huxley did not write Brave New World as a mere prediction of how society will change if placed in the wrong hands, but also as a direct satyrical work that shows how society then, and even today, has unappealing truths behind it. By instantly satisfying needs, social stability is easily achieved, which is proved in Mustaphas sentiment, The world's stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get (220).