Brave New World - Society
Uploaded by Admin on Mar 28, 2001
One may think that the society in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a gross representation of the future, but perhaps our society isn’t that much different. In his foreword to the novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley envisioned this statement when he wrote: "To make them love it is the task assigned, in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda...." Thus, through hypnopaedic teaching (brainwashing), mandatory attendance to community gatherings, and the use of drugs to control emotions, Huxley bitterly satirized the society in which we live.
The way the fascist and totalitarian regimes of the past used mass propaganda techniques to “brainwash” their people was very similar to the way Huxley described the hypnopaedic teachings in his novel. He also thought, however, that the present-day totalitarian states' methods were still "crude and unscientific." For example, in the novel the different classes had been brainwashed since birth to believe that they all contributed equally to society. Therefore, the people wouldn't try to think for themselves because they had never been trained to think anything differently. In addition, they didn't have any knowledge of a society that they could compare themselves to. In our society, many great lessons have been learned from the mistakes of rulers in the past. This is revealed when the Director said, "History is bunk." In our society, the dictators attempted to gain control of the world, but they usually failed because they weren't able to persuade the entire world to think like them. In the past, Communist leaders have attempted to rewrite history, but in Brave New World, this was taken one step further; they forgot about history altogether. The only people who had access to any knowledge of the past were the ones who had the power: the World Controllers. Thus, they were able to create a society that fit their liking.
Since the hypnopaedic ideas in the society were continuously repeated throughout one's lifetime, attendance to community gatherings, such as the Solidarity Service, were strictly enforced. The main purpose of the Solidarity Service was to promote social stability, and to give people something that they can feel apart of. The people were driven to this by singing songs like the First Solidarity Hymn, which began, "Ford, we are twelve oh, make us one." During this time, people were also consuming soma rations, which drugged them and caused them to get swept up in the...