Keeping a Clear Mind Creates Perfection

Reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was one of the most interesting experiences in my life. The novel questions many ideas and is a strong critique of many political ideologies, which were all present during the time of the author writing the novel. The novel introduces many ways in which he predicts that science will expand and shows the various negatives that can be the outcome of these changes. The author includes many news ideas such as the perfect drug called soma or the savage reservation to prove the imperfections of society and even be able to connect them to how our society functions through the connections in the savage reservation in New Mexico. The book does include many unclear and mysterious moments only to point out the specific contrasts between the two societies. All of these combine into a common theme in the novel, which is the imperfection of any society and that a perfect society cannot exist without some imperfections surrounding it, such as the soma.

            The message of the novel is presented many times throughout the book at uses symbols and locations such as the soma or the reservation to show the significance and the imperfection of both societies. The soma is to show that with any feelings it is impossible to create a perfect society in which everyone is happy. The lower groups in society, such as the Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons need to be maintained happy through the dosage of soma, “Two minutes later the Voice and the soma vapor had produced their effect. In tears, the Deltas were kissing and hugging one another-half a dozen twins at a time in a comprehensive embrace” (184). Such events signify the importance of soma and how it limits the perfection of society. The soma is closely related to the message of the novel, because it shows how the new society of the future, which is focused on stability, is based on a drug that has been mastered to perfection and is very helpful in maintaining a stable society in the future. The soma is not just a symbol of imperfection (well that would not be a symbol at all), it is a symbol of hope for the future and how humans are able to blindly follow anyone. Every time soma is taken it behaves as any other drug that helps people go through pain and guide that person into a better state of mind. In a society where the mind is manipulated and the humans do not have any feelings as they are said to be a threat to stability, the soma helps them blindly follow their leader.

               By including the savages in the novel and the story of the world, Huxley is able to include a critique or show the imperfections of the current society. The savages serve their own purpose of showing how it is purely impossible to create a perfect and stable society that can function on itself, where everyone is happy. I think that Huxley’s true message and purpose and a theme of the novel was to show through the various cases and the two cases of society that a true perfection of a society cannot be reached without some sort of imperfection or unhappiness that will always exist in any type of society, rather it is ran by science or if it is based on a leader, such as the savages were shown as, “up at the pueblo the savages would probably be celebrating their summer festival. It would be the best place to spend the night” (99). The message comes over very clearly when the two civilizations collide directly and when John a savage that is brought to the civilized world collides with soma and all of the lower classes and how neither have a tolerance for the other and how they are not able to reach a common way of communication, but rather they exist in their own ways, “Do the whipping stunt” was how the Delta reacted to the different ways of the savage and John reacted with soma, “Stupefied by soma, and exhausted by a longdawn frenzy of sensuality, the Savage lay sleeping in the heather” (256, 258). The resulting death of John at the end of the novel proves how the two cultures were not able to survive together and how neither was perfect as a small shift or a small change such as interaction caused a huge disturbance in both societies, which do not seem to be signs of how a perfect culture could look like.

               During the reading I was very concentrating on trying to find the political aspect of this novel as according to Foster everything is political. I knew the first political aspect when the societies were presented as focused around the great creation of Ford, which led me to believe that it must all be political and focused around the political situation at the time of the first publishing of the novel. I also tried to apply Foster’s technique of finding a symbol in the text, which the most obvious one was the soma, which came up many times and seemed to come up in a similar type of situation, but I was not able to figure out any deeper meaning of it. The political aspect seemed to be easier as it was a clear critique of the various ideologies and ideas for a perfect society that could exist and this was some sort of proof of giving a general idea that such perfect society will never be able to exist and that a small imperfection can always be found.

               I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in how science will expand to influence our lives in the future. It gives a very interesting prediction of the future seen from the previous century. The novel itself does not include any boring explanations of how the world looks like, but rather tries to incorporate the audience a step at a time leaving many blanks and uncertainties in order to help the audience visualize the scene or the future in the way they want it. The only details are the ones that signify the situation in the future society. This is a great book to know and share as it is a great conversation starter due to the many possible tangents and the many possible ways of further interpretations of the novel and the work of predicting the future.

Strong and Obvious Medium of Authority

              The life of any Alpha in the future is not an easy one. Even with the society being concentrated on making the lives of every person nice, organized, stable and civilized. The need for a change in lives creates a need and demand for drugs and as the world has developed different drugs were tested as I mentioned during the war. In order to maintain the balance a new drug was created called soma, “if ever by some unlucky chance such a crevice of time should yawn in the solid substance of their distractions, there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon” (41). This drug seems to the supreme creation in society and a great stabilizers and the solution to all of the problems in society. I think that it is interesting to analyze and explore the values and the symbolism behind the soma and what is its true purpose besides drugging everyone?

               Soma is a very regularly used drug in society by all Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons. Bernard is the only character known that is never said to use soma and there are many legends about him, “People said of him that he could have got through life without ever touching soma” (61). The amount of ways in which this drug can be taken is almost infinite, the amount of ways that soma can be taken is a result of the amount of technologies that have been created over time, “He put away the soma bottle, and taking out a packet of sex-hormone chewing-gum, stuffed a plug into his cheek and walked slowly away towards the hangars, ruminating” (62). All of these subjects contain soma and are the basis of society working. The amount of ways in which soma can be taken allow any group in society to take it and maintain their stability and the stability of society. The drug seems to show the imperfection of society and how actually the society is imperfect and is only held together by the fact that all the people living in it are under the influence of soma.

               Soma appears multiple times throughout the novel and has a different usage every time. When soma is used the person under the influence as in the case of any drug goes to happy place and becomes more stable in their mind. When Lenina comes back from her visit to the reservation, she needs to take soma to overcome the stress and the cruelty that she has seen, showing the true weakness of the Alpha members in society, “As soon as they got back to the resthouse, she swallowed six half-gramme tablets of soma, lay down on her bed, and within ten minutes had embarked for lunar eternity. It would be eighteen hours at the least before she was in time again” (167). Soma also becomes the difference between the civilized world and the savages living in the reservation. The difference between these two cultures is shown when Linda thinks about her return to the civilized part of the world. “And Linda, for her part, had no desire to see them. The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday” (178). The soma seems to be the difference between the cultures and for the civilized people every time a feeling becomes strong they take soma to lose it, while in the savages the feelings stay strong and dominant, which reduces the need for soma to kill the feelings and maintain peace in society.

               Soma is also used to calm down the lower classes in society, when the conflict with the savage in the city arises soma is used to calm down people. “Two minutes later the Voice and the soma vapor had produced their effect. In tears, the Deltas were kissing and hugging one another-half a dozen twins at a time in a comprehensive embrace” (184). The multiple uses of soma create a question of the actual stability of society and how the society only maintains peace through drugging members of the society. Soma seems to increase in the importance of meaning with every part of the novel. I think that soma will prove to be a changing factor in society and actually be the base for the survival and expansion of the society.

The True Purpose of Greek Letters

Throughout the history of mankind there were classes among people. They shifted in position, power, jobs, wealth and other very important aspects of everyday life. Aldous Huxley does not step away from the idea of classes in his vision of the future in Brave New World. The author distinguished 5 major classes: Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons. This division shapes the society of the future. I found it very interesting that during the Director’s presentation to his students at the very begging of the book the idea of lower classes seemed normal and obvious, “I’d like to show you some very interesting conditioning for Alpha Plus Intellectuals” (17). The superior class got the best treatment, which seemed obvious, but I realized that would that mean that the superior class is only used to great stable conditions and that any changes to their environment might kill them. The idea of pre-divided classes created some confusion and made me rethink the situation in the society.

The classes are separated at birth at put under different treatment, Alphas and Betas remained until definitely bottled; while the Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons were brought out again” (38). They also receive different housing, “Beneath them lay the buildings of the Golf Club-the huge Lower Caste barracks and, on the other side of a dividing wall, the smaller houses reserved for Alpha and Beta members” (67).These treatments and conditions result in different jobs, careers and social positions. When of the major character Lenina wants to travel to the savages, the Director indicates that it is not safe for everyone mentioning a case of Beta minus that got lost, “She was a Beta-Minus … well, she got lost” (96). The lower classes are more easily harmed and have a smaller understanding of the world. From the very start the lower classes are marked by their clothes, which were shown when the little kids were taught in their sleep the difference in classes and said to have a huge effect on them, “I'm really awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki” (56). The difference in the classes comes up many times throughout the book so far, but all the characters seem to come from the Alpha class and that does not give a view on how the other classes look like. A reason for which the author only includes upper classes is that the life of the lower classes could seem very unchanging and going in a linear direction. The introduction of characters that are able to create a change to the society allows for the author to create action, but also to expand the ideas of how the society is organized.

               In this part of the novel, the author also reveals a lot of answers to the previous questions that concerned me, including some information about the Nine Years’ War. Huxley believes that in the future there will be savage reservations, where people who are not under the influence of the Directors will live, “Not more than half a dozen people in the whole Centre had ever been inside a Savage Reservation” (98). The reservation seems to be even a lower class in society then the unformed and uneducated Epsilons. The discussion of the reservation brings many questions about how it began or what is the purpose of keeping these savages alive. The description of the reservation is the first time that the novel explains the major differences between the society of the future and the current society, “…about sixty thousand Indians and half-breeds…absolute savages…our inspectors visit…otherwise, no communication with the civilized world…marriage, if you know what that is, my dear young lady” (103). This is the first time the author introduces the contrast between the current society and how it will be viewed in the future. I wonder what messages will that help show and how it will significantly impact the my view of society today.

Information is Overrated

Reading Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a memorable experience and a great trip into the future. I am very happy that I chose this novel for my first quarter project. The author introduces a very mysterious, but organized future, “in this year of stability, A. F. 632”, measured the time after “the introduction of Our Ford’s first T-Model” (4, 52). Huxley begins the novel in an unclear almost mysterious way. He doesn't introduce the names of the characters until the third chapter and never describes the true identity of the Director (the head of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre), only giving the unclear physical description “Tall and rather thin but upright, the Director advanced into the room. He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not talking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five? It was hard to say.” (4) The Director is never fully introduced by name or what his position is. From the beginning he is treated with great respect and seems to be a role-model for many of the young students following him.

The novel continues with a mysterious and unclear tone, only revealing specific methods or procedures in great detail. When the Director speaks of the Bonkanovsky’s Process, he includes great detail about the results and the social stability that it creates, “Essentially bokanovskification consists of a series of arrests of development” (6). It is clear that with the description of these specific processes the reader is meant to become aware of the certain developments of society and how they affect everyday life. The Director goes in a very long speech about the describing the processes in which the population is produced or more accurately incubated, “the lower the caste the shorter the oxygen” (14). By revealing small bits of information about the society and explaining in detail the process of human growth, the author shows how the society is balanced in a very weird and unusual way. This slowly introduces the different concepts of the new society to the reader. The mysterious way is a result of the author only wanting to reveal to the reader the parts of the novel that are important as the difference in the lives of humans in the future.

Every time the Director explains the process of growth he leaves out simple details that make it hard for the reader to see the big picture and to analyze why everything is done in the way that it is. When speaking of the great change in society, the Director mentions, “then the Nine Years’ War began A. F. 141. Phosgene, chloropicrin, ethyl iodoacetate …” and later he mentions the true purpose and outcome of the war, “there was a choice between World Control and destruction. Between stability and liberalism, of course” (46, 47, 48). The author does not reveal more information about the war, which mystifies the society and the basis that it was built upon. The Director introduces only small parts of the entire history of the creation of the new system adding mystery. It will be very interesting to look for more clues about the past or how the society was founded and if there are any exceptions to the rule.

               There are many places where the author chooses to leave out information about the government. I found it very interesting that the actual form of government was not revealed. The only hints or clues left for the reader to interpret led me to believe that the society is actually in some form of a dictatorship. “’future World controllers,’ but correcting himself, said ‘future Directors of Hatcheries’” (13). When I first read this I started to think that these Directors have become controllers and that the system seems to be a dictatorship with the Directors being the leaders and the controllers of the society. This seems to be a very interesting concept and I really want to see how it comes to play in the later parts of the novel. The war seems to be a shifting point in the history of the world, but what was the great significance of that event and what actually happened is simply omitted creating mystery and lack of information around the creation of the society. It will be very interesting to keep track of how the author decides to reveal the events that shaped the society.