Brave New World

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 12th grade November 2001

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In the novel Brave New World Adous Huxley both satirizes and shows as foolish those mannerizisms and longings that are as old as mankind and yet shall persistent well into the future as they do today. In this way he is as keen an observer of mankind, as was Shakespeare. Huxley speaks about the genetic engineering of man or the social order of man, the playfulness of sex and the pursuit of happiness through drugs.

Man has always sought an aristocracy and a lower class. Huxley gazes into his crystal ball to a time when the race will be broken down into four distinct classes; the Alphas, at the top; the Betas, just below them; the Gammas, and the Epsilons. Still he has the European superiority. The Negro race will never outstrip the whites. He see fertility as a mere nuisance, so all races are brought into being in bottles, unable to change their social destiny.

The Epsilons are the lowest class and, therefore, have no need of human intelligence. Shakespeare, too, was stuck in a social order with actors being toward the bottom.

Sex has always been the playground of adults. But Huxley sees this as abnormal and immoral. Today sex is being engaged in at a lower and lower age reflecting the theme of Romeo and Juliet. Huxley describes children in their natural state, "Naked in the warm June sunshine." Shakespeare was married at an early age for his time. Huxley also sees child sex as a labor or discovery, a natural childish curiosity.

When it comes to drugs, Huxley foresees the advent of Soma, a mixture of morphine and cocaine. Well, who does not want to feel "happy"? I'm sure that Shakespeare had his first taste of ale long before he was married at seventeen.