Social Division

Lina Dankho

Andrew Oclancy

English 120

May 23 2017

     Brave New World, acknowledges government control which results in the failure of a society. It is a world created where everything is under control, being observed, and synthetic. The society was manufactured in a test tube therefore, it was factory made. The people were born and developed in the test tubes, so their human nature became adapted so an individual cannot identify or approach it. Every little detail of a person's life is prearranged. These people's lives revolve around their community, their existence, and security; never their individual happiness. They are basically living for their society as a whole. This society was designed to be successful but it failed to give people their individuality. The individuals sacrificed their identity to make sure that everybody was able to survive, advance, and live a life of happiness. When there are limitations on behavior patterns in a society it can restrict one's ability to be truly happy in every aspect.

      Huxley created a world where every individual’s freedom is taken away from them due to their pre-designed lifestyles. However, the characters from this book still believe that their own happiness lies within themselves. In a way, it does because they have not experienced life a different way due to the fact that there is so much power and direction over them. Ultimately, the people who watched over them, such as John, who was a savage delivered to the reservation for research, believed that they wanted more than the foolish happiness created for them.

Therefore, happiness relies upon one's freedom to decide their own place in society, the relationships they establish with others, and ability to make their own decisions.

      Society’s restrictions are also placed on characters in Brave New World from the beginning. From their technologically advanced understanding, they were given a social class as well as a job which they are to perform from the start. There are five social classes, Alphas are ranked the highest then the Epsilons are ranked the lowest. The Alphas are certain to become the most successful and outstanding. They worked in the same place since birth, and wrote false advertising phrases. They enjoyed all their advantages in their pursuits of life. The Epsilons, were very unfortunate, and were used to feeling less important than everyone else. Their job field included the friendly workers; such as coal miners, elevator operators, and steel workers. Every person from each different working field appreciated the work and found themselves indeed happy with their daily tasks. The key for happiness of the people in Brave New World was to try "creating people like their unavoidable destiny" (Huxley 37). “By brainwashing the people they saw happiness in their own attempts” (Huxley 34). John, who was naturally born, was astonished when he arrived to their community. He couldn’t comprehend how people could live under total control and not be aware of the fact that they never knew true happiness. He questioned how those individuals were so content doing the most simplistic tasks. They worked the jobs that the community assigned them. No questions asked, being under control, therefore they couldn’t discover happiness in their society.

     This assumption controlled the way the characters viewed relationships. There was no real connection with anyone. "Everyone belongs to somebody else" (Huxley 18).

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Emotionally, there were no attachments and as a result, no one was hurt when relationships terminated. John was unable to understand this idea. On the reservation, his mother was warned for her sexual behavior with the married men. This was very different from the relationships found in the other world. John comprehended love as something wonderful; not just a onetime feeling that the body feels. When he arrived in the community, he met an Alpha whose name was Lenina. He was so captivated with beauty that it hit him really hard. He felt rushing emotions of love and lust, richness, beauty, sorrow and pain. Unfortunately, they both thought differently about relationships. This prevented them from actually having a relationship together. John felt it’s better to form a relationship based on morals but Lenina was designed to have relationships with no attachment whatsoever. For that reason, John hid his feelings of true emotion that he didn’t find true happiness. The conflict between them both never allowed them to have a chance at love. They both couldn’t agree on anything, therefore, they experienced the only what they knew, which was no happiness for either of them. The way they both lived, which seemed normal produced only remorse. John was aware that people could fall in love, be happy, and share that with one person they were destined to stay with. Lenina could never be happy with just one person because of the society she was raised in. She was happy to a certain extent. She didn’t understand the way love was expressed. She was controlled, and so was her happiness. This gave her no option to live the way she wanted.

      Every character in this story had no choice to their pursuit of happiness. Nobody felt this more than a character named Helmholtz Watson, who was also an Alpha. Helmholtz was a teacher at a College of Emotional Engineering. He was looked at by his people as being far too good and skilled for his job. Bernard, another Alpha, was abandoned due to alcohol in his

Blood. Like Helmholtz, he was also different from the other people. He became isolated from the standards. He expressed himself saying that "he said something important to say and the power to say it only, he wasn’t exactly sure what it was, so he couldn't make use of the power." (Huxley 89). Helmholtz just wanted to express his true feelings. However, because of the dangers that came with emotion, he didn’t want to think about them too much. There was an empty space in his life that he could not fill. This feeling of not being able to process his thoughts clearly didn’t allow him to finding true pleasure and comfort.