Brave New World (By: Aldous Huxley)

Essay by busumnatorHigh School, 11th gradeA, April 2004

download word file, 5 pages 3.8

Ever since the beginning of mankind, there has been a great urge to seek power and wealth. Eventually power and wealth directly coincided with ownership, possessions, and money. To this day it is still in great demand. After discovering this process in society, Sir Thomas More decided to contradict and oppose these injustices of his society. Thomas More's novel, Utopia, consists of an island that is completely civilized and free from slavery by the government. Basically, it is a seen as a 'perfect' world. However, More's idealistic perception leaves great room for influenced writers such as Aldous Huxley and George Orwell to disapprove and oppose his ideas. His idealistic perceptions are contrasted in other literary novels such as 1984 and Brave New World. Both novels contradict More's Utopia, because the societies in 1984 and Brave New World are dystopias. True happiness is never achieved, and eventually corruption in society tends to occur.

In Utopia, the utopian society presented was in a 'perfect' scenario, in that ownership, possession, and money wasn't an issue. On the island, everything was shared equally, money didn't exist, and everyone's customs were similar, '... money is not valued, and everyone on the island must work a minimum of 8 hours a day" (More, 85). In other novels such as 1984 and Brave New World that profess to be Utopias, it is apparent that total domination and tangible items are sought after. In BNW, Mustapha Mond, one of the ten-world controllers, craves domination and it was partially achieved through a drug called soma. Soma was offered and widely used to relieve stress and put individuals in exceptional state of mind. "As soon as Lenina got back to the rest house, she swallowed six half-gramme tablets of soma, lay down on her bed, and within ten minutes...