What is Huxley Trying to Say?

What is Huxley Trying to Say?

As we finish Brave New World by Aldous Huxley I look back on our earlier discussion: what is Huxley criticizing? We were able to come up with a plethora. Some of the many critics often ranged from the dependence of technology to the agency of the mind. In this post I will be analyzing the scenes where John is conversing with Mustapha Mond, and after he is exiled in order to uncover what the main critics of Huxley.

The conversation begins with Mond being straightforward and stating to John “you don’t much like civilization, Mr. Savage,” (Huxley 197) which then leads to back to a quote from Shakespeare, although rather Mond and not John said the quote. This rather shocking scene was where John began to question why something was wonderful as Shakespeare was no longer present in civilization. Mond replies with the simple response of “because it’s old…we haven’t any use for old things here,” (Huxley 197). From this scene Huxley is pointing out the disregard for old things in this new civilization and how it is negatively impacting them. The World States’ desires for new technology and advancements has forced them abandon old values and ideas. This then kills societies morals and allows them to continue conditioning humans and kill the idea of the individual for the well being of the community. Arguably things like Shakespeare along with other forms of art and expression allows us to form ideas and options that allows us to be our own person with our own set of values on society. But by killing this art form just because it is old and not allowing for the creation of new expressionist art the society becomes robotic.

This loss of old values and more importantly the loss of creativity was one of the central arguments from this scene and one that is expressed throughout the novel especially though John’s reference of Shakespeare. Huxley even goes far enough to express the value of Shakespeare by even naming the novel after a famous quote from The Tempest. In class we talked about how creativity allows for society to develop an individual and Huxley makes John a creative character that stands out among the rest though his expressive views, knowledge of Shakespeare, and ability to see the break from the World State and nature.

The second dominant argument formed between the two is the argument of God.  Interestingly enough Mond is well versed in the idea of God and Christianity perhaps even more than John, yet he states that the view of God is no longer needed among the World State. According to Mond there is in fact a God but he “manifests himself in ways to different men…now he manifest himself as an absence,” (Huxley 210). John’s reaction to this was that the absence of God has turned this society into a society without morals and fear. Which a world without morals and fear may sound just fine but as scene in this world the people just once again become robots of the World State. John also goes on to blame the Ford state for the absence of God, which he is correct. By implanting their new Ford lifestyle people forgot and don’t acknowledge any higher all-good, all-powerful being like God and rely on the technology to solve their problems. In addition the Ford state of the world makes everything into a irrational perfect state, no longer allowing for fear and hope.

This presentation of God or better lack of God in this civilization comes back to many the criticisms made in class. One of the arguments this addresses is the need for pain and loss, often with pain and loss people also form the need for hope and with hope comes God. If people can never truly feel the powerful emotions of love, hate, fear, hope then they are absent and robotic. The God scene also brings up the argument of right and wrong and how society determines one from the other. Often God and morals are taken into consideration with these things and the lack of God allows for people to live a life without morals.

These are just a few of the many criticisms in Brave New World what others have you noticed and how do you think these allow for development of society?