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Military Weapons

2004-10-08T22:16:59-04:00

There are many types of weapons in the military. Some are vehicles, and some are guns. They can maneuver on land, sea, or air. These weapons help the military keep peace all over the world. The military right now is in Iraq to stop

Brave New World

2003-11-25T06:23:15-05:00

Cleanliness is next to Fordliness”, was an attitude impressed upon the people of Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World. A society free of disease and suffering was achieved through a technique of conditioning called hynopaedia. “Civilization is sterilization”, was a hynopaedic slogan used to achieve the ideal society. This idea was manifested through the anesthetizing people’s emotions, the sterilization of humans and the cleanliness of society. The Brave New World sterilized people of emotions through the elimination of families and the promotion of soma. To eliminate close bonds between two people promiscuity was advocated. This was achieved through hynopaedia during childhood. Through this technique intimate relationships between people were eliminated. People of Brave New World did not know what a family was. At the mention of the words mother and father, during a tour of the London Hatchery, the students became silent and many began to blush. Soma was another devise used by citizens of Brave New World to let them escape and forget their emotions. It was a tranquilizer widely used in Brave New World. It allowed people to go into a trance whenever they wanted to escape their surroundings. This was shown when Lenina Crowne and Bernard Marx were visiting the reservation. During the Warden’s speech to the couple, Lenina Crowne swallowed half a gramme of soma to escape the boredom of the Warden’s speech. The soma allowed her to seemingly be paying attention when in reality she wasn’t listening or thinking of anything. The attitude of civilization is sterilization was also achieved through the sterilization of the female population. Bokanovsky’s Process made it possible for the Brave New World to control the amount of fertile women in society. Even with the advancement of scientific technology human ovaries were still needed for the manufacturing of embryos. Fertile women were encouraged to undergo a hysterectomy. In return for selling their ovaries, women received six months pay. Around seventy percent of the women in Brave New World were infertile. These women were called freemartins. Freemartins were produced through injecting female embryos with a dose of a male sex-hormone. The society of Brave New World believed civilization should be composed of clean and robust people. The nurses in the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms were described as, “trousered and jacketed in the regulation white viscose-linen uniform, their hair aseptically hidden under white caps.” This image expressed how everything was done in a systematic and

Aldous Huxley’s Dystopian Vision

2001-10-06T14:00:00-04:00

What is a utopia? Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary defines _utopia_ as “an imaginary and indefinitely remote place; a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, gov-ernment, and social conditions; *an impractical scheme for social improvement.”* In _Brave New World_ Aldous Huxley creates a _dystopia_ (which Webster defines as “an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives”) by predicting a pos-sible _utopia_ after many generations. Aldous Huxley analyzes how the utopia degenerated from its original intent into a terrible dystopia. In this essay I will discuss some aspects of this dystopia and relate to Aldous Huxley’s dystopian vision. Aldous Huxley begins _Brave New World_ by explaining to the reader the process of civi-lization in A.F. 632 of decanting children. First the children are led into the London Hatch-ery and Conditioning Center—the main entrance of which reads the World State’s motto: COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY (Huxley 1). This signifies that the world has become unified into _one_ state with _one_ main government and _one_ set of rules and regula-tions. The world has become “over-organized”; everything has been taken over by what Aldous Huxley describes as the “Power Elite”: a group of people who control the world and everyone in it (Huxley [_Brave New World Revisited_] 14–23). Hatchery workers wearing white lab coats working in sterilized scientific labs artificially fertilize sperm cells and egg cells in test tubes. Then, depending on the particular caste of the sperm and egg, some embryos are bokanovskified (made to bud/replicate by bombardment of X-rays); finally all embryos are sent to the Social Predestination Room, where during the nine-month process of devel-opment they are conditioned through additions or subtractions to their biological chemistry depending on their caste (Huxley 2–9). This shows the reader that there is no concern for the traditional family structure or any respect for the mystery of human creation. The society of _Brave New World_ is totally based on scientific facts and possibilities. Ethics and religion have become obsolete. Instead of having God’s gift of free will, people are now prisoners of their predetermined conditioning. Ethics and religion are grouped with history and in the words of Mustapha Mond, “History is _bunk_” (Huxley 24). In _Brave New World_ almost all the troubles in life are either eliminated or dealt with through the wonder-drug _soma_. John the Savage gets annoyed by this and cries: “You got rid of them. Yes, that’s just like you. Getting rid of everything

Brave New World - Fears of the Future (a seconadary focus on the impact of technology on nature both

2001-08-17T14:00:00-04:00

Art is like a fractured mirror that reflects the society in which it was created. This reflection is a mosaic of images constructed by the artist’s own perceptions which in turn are determined by the values and attitudes, especially the fears and insecurities in his or her own contemporary society. The responder also has to acknowledge his or her own door of perception, as this would affect their interpretation of the art. This is especially evident in texts like Brave New World which are designed specifically as probes into the aspects of society that the writer desires to explore. Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World during the late ‘20s and early ‘30s; in the middle of the Great Depression and at the eve of the Second World War. World War One was still fresh in everyone’s memories and so was the Bolshevik revolution of Russia, which threatened to spread throughout Europe and the world. On the other side of the Atlantic the ”New World” was undergoing a revitalisation of industry with Henry Ford and other leading capitalists implementing the concept of mass production and attempting to create the ideal consumer society. There was also a form of cultural renaissance in the central European countries where the avaunt-garde was embraced rigorously in art and architecture. And in science, especially in the biological field, great breakthroughs, the likes of which the world hadn’t witnessed since the days of Newton were being accomplished. In short it was a period of great social change and instability. Such instability eventually leads to fears and insecurities, most of which tend revolve around the future of society and the future of the individual. For the rich upper class the primary fear was Bolshevism. They feared it so much so that Fascists and Nazis were tolerated, even encouraged, all for the purpose of crushing Bolshevism. Although the World State from Brave New World does not resemble Lenin’s Bolshevik state, it does however have strong parallelisms with Mussolini’s fascist Italy and shares an uncanny resemblance to the future Germany under Hitler. Even more profoundly and more importantly it’s resemblance of Stalin’s totalitarian Russia is undeniable. From the characteristics of the World State in his novel, it seems that Huxley, unlike his noble compatriots, was not fearful of Bolshevism. However unlike the socialist intellectuals of his time, Huxley had a realistic, bleak vision of the future of Bolshevism. He seemed to

Brave New World - society and socio-economic class

2001-05-11T14:00:00-04:00

Discuss how the society in Brave New World works to ensure that people do not change their socio-economic class. Through Brave New World, Huxley depicts a new, industrialized world, which is financially stable and has prevented poverty and self-destruction. Dictatorial governments are there to ensure stability and maintain perfection of the world. Therefore, just like under any other totalitarian government, social, mental and economic freedoms are abolished in order to retain social stability. The government eliminated these freedoms by censoring art and religion, by predestining peoples’ social caste prior their birth, and by controlling each individual’s life with the introduction of conditioning. At the beginning of the novel, the Director addresses his students and mentions, “ We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future Directors of Hatcheries,” (p. 29). Citizens of the World State are categorized into distinct social classes, before they come into existence. Mr. Foster explains, “The lower the caste, the shorter the oxygen,” and this shows how chemical conditioning of the embryos presets the mentality and physical features of individuals towards a certain standard specified by the government. (p. 29) In an autocratic society whose aim is to maintain perfection, people no longer have the right to choose who or what they want to be. The government engineers babies to grow into efficient adults, who will then again contribute towards a stabilized society. After birth babies’ minds are altered to accept the moral education of the government. Two processes the new world uses to control human judgement are the Neo-Pavlovian process and hypnopaedia. The children, during early childhood, are trained to like and dislike certain aspects of life, nature, and science so that they can consume the maximum resources. Beta babies receive electric shocks in the presence of flowers and books and then the Director teaches how, “ They’ll grow up with what the psychologists … call an ‘instinctive’ hatred of books and flowers … they’ll be safe from books and botany all their lives," (p. 36). The conditioning of the children forms a barrier in their minds, so that they are never free to decide for themselves, but are always bounded by the instructions of the state. Thus, the government is achieving its goal, the maintenance of stability. The Alpha students also got a chance to hear one of the hypnopaedic repetitions addressing Beta

Brave New World - Happiness

2001-05-11T14:00:00-04:00

With reference to the text, discuss Mustafa Mond’s statement: “ The secret to happiness is liking what you have to do.” Mustafa Mond is presented to us as one of the Ten World Controllers in Brave New World, of that Utopian, communal and stabilized world, set six hundred years into future. This new world that contradicts the world we live in today, eliminated the Freedoms that we depend on: the freedom of choice, the freedom of thought, religion and being. They have chosen to condition their individuals in baby factories in order to ensure identity, community and stability. The fundamental tenet behind the conditioning is utilitarianism, which describes a society that seeks to create maximum happiness. Those who are happy are thought to be efficient and beneficial to society. Mond’s statement: “The secret to happiness is liking what you have to do,” applies to his ‘conditioned’ world, with abolished Freedoms, but it does not apply to the world we live in today. Huxley shows how "identity" is established in the Conditioning Centre through the selection of the embryos into each of five groups. All the individuals in Brave New World have their identity predestined by someone else. This promotes stability by creating a group of workers whose preferences are moulded by the state. I cannot concur with this idea of ‘puppet creation’ where people can be depicted as puppets and the state can be said to be their puppet master who has a right to choose their character roles. In our society, this goes against the freedom of being and becoming someone you wish to be. Mr Foster addresses the students about Epsilons and mentions, “We condition them to thrive on heat,” (p. 31). This can explain why they are predestined to like warm temperatures and why they emigrate to tropics to become miners and steel workers and in that way benefit the society. I should mention that I do not agree with their idea that one should be conditioned to be happy with what they are doing or to perform the task correctly. In today’s society, one may notice that there are people who grew up near coalmines and without anyone forcing them to work, they still feel like they should dedicate themselves to a miner’s duty. They might have been born into a miner’s family and upon their own will, might decide to follow their family’s footsteps. One should realize

Brave New World - Society

2001-03-28T14:00:00-04:00

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

Brave New World: A Sterile Society

2000-09-13T14:00:00-04:00

“Cleanliness is next to Fordliness”, was an attitude impressed upon the people of Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World. A society free of disease and suffering was achieved through a technique of conditioning called hynopaedia. “Civilization is sterilization”, was a hynopaedic slogan used to achieve the ideal society. This idea was manifested through the anesthetizing people’s emotions, the sterilization of humans and the cleanliness of society. The Brave New World sterilized people of emotions through the elimination of families and the promotion of soma. To eliminate close bonds between two people promiscuity was advocated. This was achieved through hynopaedia during childhood. Through this technique intimate relationships between people were eliminated. People of Brave New World did not know what a family was. At the mention of the words mother and father, during a tour of the London Hatchery, the students became silent and many began to blush. Soma was another devise used by citizens of Brave New World to let them escape and forget their emotions. It was a tranquilizer widely used in Brave New World. It allowed people to go into a trance whenever they wanted to escape their surroundings. This was shown when Lenina Crowne and Bernard Marx were visiting the reservation. During the Warden’s speech to the couple, Lenina Crowne swallowed half a gramme of soma to escape the boredom of the Warden’s speech. The soma allowed her to seemingly be paying attention when in reality she wasn’t listening or thinking of anything. The attitude of civilization is sterilization was also achieved through the sterilization of the female population. Bokanovsky’s Process made it possible for the Brave New World to control the amount of fertile women in society. Even with the advancement of scientific technology human ovaries were still needed for the manufacturing of embryos. Fertile women were encouraged to undergo a hysterectomy. In return for selling their ovaries, women received six months pay. Around seventy percent of the women in Brave New World were infertile. These women were called freemartins. Freemartins were produced through injecting female embryos with a dose of a male sex-hormone. The society of Brave New World believed civilization should be composed of clean and robust people. The nurses in the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms were described as, “trousered and jacketed in the regulation white viscose-linen uniform, their hair aseptically hidden under white caps.” This image expressed how everything was done in a systematic and sterile way.

Brave New World Overview

2000-04-24T14:00:00-04:00

Basic Plot: This novel takes place in the year 632 A.F. The government controls the population of Utopia, there are only test tube births and an artificial process for multiplying the embryos. Marriage is forbidden. There are ten World Controllers; these people control the government and all of their plans. In the very beginning there are students being given a guided party line tour through the London Hatcheries. Two employees that work there are Henry Foster and Lenina Crowne, they have been dating each other too much and are discouraged by the state. So Lenina’s best friend, Fanny, picks on her because of this. Lenina then meets Bernard Marx, and grows to like him so much that she agrees to go on a vacation with him to a New Mexican Savage Reservation. This is a place where people are sent to if they do not abide to the laws of the Utopian world. This is where problems begin to happen and the Director of Hatcheries, Tomakin, threatens exile to Marx if he does not mend his ways, for he has become very out spoken. While at this reservation Lenina and Bernard meet a savage, John, and his mother Linda. From talking to John and Linda, Bernard pieces together their past. He finds out that Linda traveled to the Reservation with Tomakin years ago and became pregnant; therefore Tomakin left her at the reservation never to see her again. Linda gave birth, to John, therefore breaking a law and never being permitted to enter Utopia again. Bernard and Lenina brought Linda and John back to Utopia with the permission of one of the World Controllers. When they arrive home Bernard finds out that the Directors o Hatcheries is about to exile him, then which Marx produces John and Linda that greet him as son and wife. Tomakin then resigned in disgrace. Bernard and a friend, Helmholtz Watson, help to adjust John to Utopia, and spend each day showing off Utopia to him. John becomes more disgusted and appalled with each passing day. Mean while, Lenina has become infatuated with John and made sexual advances toward him, and this ruins his image of her as an object of worship, so he spurns her. Soon his mother died and John went berserk and tried to lecture the Utopians back to sanity. A riot takes place and Bernard and Helmholtz are exiled, but John is ordered

Farenheit 451 and Brave New World

2000-04-15T14:00:00-04:00

Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 are two books, both of which are supposed to be set in the future, which have numerous theme similarities throughout them. Of all their common factors, the ones that stand out most would have to be first, the outlawed reading of books; second, the superficial preservation of beauty and happiness; and third, the theme of the protagonist as being a loner or an outcast from society because of his differences in beliefs as opposed to the norm. We'll look first at the concept of outlawed reading. To us this sounds very strange. In the societies of both of these books, however, it is a common and almost completely unquestioned law. In Brave New World reading is something that all classes are conditioned against from birth. In the very beginning of the novel we see a group of infants who are given bright, attractive books but are exposed to an explosion and a shrieking siren when they reach out for them. This thus prevents them from wanting the books and causes them to scream and shrink away in horror at the mere sight of the books. In reference to the accomplishment of this conditioning, the director said, "Books and loud noises...already in the infant mind these couples are compromisingly linked; and after two hundred repetitions of the same or a similar lesson would be wedded indissoluble. What man has jointed, nature is powerless to put asunder," (Huxley 21-22). We come to learn that the basic reasoning behind this conditioning against reading in Brave New World was because "you couldn't have lower-caste people wasting the Community's time over books, and there was always the risk of their reading something which might undesirably decondition one of their reflexes" (Huxley 22). In Fahrenheit 451 the outlawing of book reading is taken to an even greater extent. In this novel the whole purpose of a "firefighter" isn't to put out fires, rather it is to start fires. The reading of books in their society is completely forbidden and if someone is suspected of even owning a book, the firefighters are dispatched to go to that person's residence and start a fire. They start fires for the sole purpose of destroying books, as illustrated here, "They pumped the cold fluid from the numerated 451 tanks strapped to their shoulders. They coated each book, they pumped rooms full of it...'the whole house is

Brave New World and The Giver: Similar yet Different

2000-03-12T13:00:00-04:00

When one examines the similarities between Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and The Giver by Lois Lowry, they may be baffled. They may think that Lowry just did a run off of Huxley's highly successful masterpiece. The similarities are extraordinary, but so are their differences. Many aspects of these novels are almost identical while others are completely foreign to each other. Both of these novels feature structure societies, but the societies are not the same. In Brave New World, there are no families or definite partners, but neither society believes in love or true family. The Giver has no specific caste system, but the members of their community do not have control of their own future; that is left to the elders. Lastly are Jonas and John. They are basically the main characters and both endure severe inner troubles, but are they similar enough to make the novels similar? In Brave New World, there is definitely a caste system of community members. Each level of society keeps to themselves. They work and live according to how they were conditioned. They do not have a certain ordinance on manners or behavior; they are promiscuous and, for the most part, outgoing. The characters in Brave New World do not know the meaning of the world love. They do not have the slightest inkling of what it is like to have a family; the idea of parents and childbirth repulse them. The Giver has a society that believes in having families for stability, but they do not believe in love. The word is broad and meaningless. When Jonas asked his parents if they loved him, they laughed and told him to be more specific because language is everything. Do they enjoy him? Yes. Are they proud of him? Yes. But do not use the word love! On the issue of childbirth, they see it as a profession without honor. They do not have their own children, their children are chosen for them. They do not grow up with their families for long; when they turn a certain age, the contact with their parents comes to an end. The characters in Brave New World live happily (and stupidly) in their own little caste systems. They are completely oblivious to anything outside their own little worlds. They are put into a profession according to their caste system and their conditioning. They know nothing about any

Brave New World: Hypnopaedic Slogans

2000-01-31T13:00:00-05:00

Sleep teaching and mind control: hypnotism techniques used for manipulation and power over the individual. Hypnotism is not widely promoted in our society as formal education; yet, it lingers on the horizon. In Huxley's Brave New World, hypnopaedia is used to promote economic stability and control emotions of the inhabitants living in England. The economy-oriented society relies on hypnopaedia to keep consumers eager to spend by them with catchy, consume-driven phrases. For example, one slogan tells people that they "do love flying. [They] . . .do love flying" (33). A resident of London likes being high, using helicopters for all transportation, and the feeling of being safe in an indestructible machine. The gas-guzzling machines cost enormous amounts of money to keep fueled, and so the gasoline market goes up. In addition, the people believe that "ending is better than mending" (35). One is taught to do away with items instead of trying to fix them. Society encourages purchasing new, always buying more and more so as to boost the economy. Furthermore, children are taught that "the more stitches the less riches" (33). Stitching and other repairing of any kind are frowned upon, because it does not cost anything, rather, it saves money. The more one attempts to mend and keep rather than throw away, the less money in circulation throughout the country and thus, the economy suffers. The prosperity of this money cycle is valued highly, and so these three jingles are sleep-taught to all. Hypnopaedic slogans focus also on encouraging emotionless bliss. For example, Lenina often says "a gramme is better than a damn" (37). Society teaches one to take a gram of soma, the drug with no after affect, to get rid of problems or worries. When people choose soma instead of dealing with problems, it promotes emotional stability throughout the nation. In addition, people learn that "one cubic centimeter cures ten gloomy sentiments"(60). One is supposed to take soma instead of feeling bad or upset about anything, which can distract the mind from other, more important matters. Instability in the workplace occurs when one has emotional stress that can take away from the quality and quantity of the work done. Furthermore, people ramble off that "was and will make me ill. I take a gramme and only am" (29). It is taught that the past and future do not matter, focusing only on the present is the correct way

Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World

1999-11-10T13:00:00-05:00

Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 are two books, both of which are supposed to be set in the future, which have numerous theme similarities throughout them. Of all their common factors, the ones that stand out most would have to be first, the outlawed reading of books; second, the preservation of health and youth at almost any cost and the keeping of people happy and stress-free; and third, the theme of the protagonist as being a loner or an outcast from society because of his differences in beliefs as opposed to the norm. We'll look first at the concept of outlawed reading. To us this sounds very strange. In the societies of both of these books, however, it is a common and almost completely unquestioned law. In Brave New World reading is something that all classes are conditioned against from birth. In the very beginning of the novel we see a group of infants who are given bright, attractive books but are exposed to an explosion and a shrieking siren when they reach out for them. This thus prevents them from wanting the books and causes them to scream and shrink away in horror at the mere sight of the books. In reference to the accomplishment of this conditioning, the director said, "Books and loud noises...already in the infant mind these couples are compromisingly linked; and after two hundred repetitions of the same or a similar lesson would be wedded indissolubly. What man has jointed, nature is powerless to put asunder," (Huxley 21-22). We come to learn that the basic reasoning behind this conditioning against reading in Brave New World was because "you couldn't have lower-caste people wasting the Community's time over books, and there was always the risk of their reading something which might undesirably decondition one of their reflexes" (Huxley 22). In Fahrenheit 451 the outlawing of book reading is taken to an even greater extent. In this novel the whole purpose of a "firefighter" isn't to put out fires, rather it is to start fires. The reading of books in their society is completely forbidden and if someone is suspected of even owning a book, the firefighters are dispatched to go to that person's residence and start a fire. They start fires for the sole purpose of destroying books, as illustrated here, "They pumped the cold fluid from the numeraled 451 tanks strapped to their shoulders. They

Brave New World

1999-09-14T14:00:00-04:00

Imagine what the world would be like if we were all "under the iron curtain." 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 allusions to prominent political dictators, Huxley bitterly satirized totalitarian propaganda and political technique to point out the problems of a dystopian society. The way the fascist and totalitarian regimes used mass propaganda techniques to brainwash their people was nearly identical 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 go against the World Controllers because they had never been trained to think anything differently. In addition, they didn't have any knowledge of a society which they could compare themselves. This was evident in the saying "History is bunk." Similarly, the totalitarian dictators attempted to control but failed because they weren't able to persuade the entire world to think like them. In addition, Communism attempted to rewrite history, but the society in Brave New World took the next step and 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 stable society. Since the hypnopaedic ideas in the society were continuously repeated throughout one's lifetime, mandatory attendance to community gatherings, such as the Solidarity Service, were strictly enforced. The main purpose of the Solidarity Service was to promote social stability. The people were driven to this idea 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 service. Consequently, at the end an orgy took place, which brought them together as one being. In comparison, the political rallies Hitler and other fascists held served a similar purpose. Just as people would chant "Hail Hitler" at these mass rallies, people in the novel would also chant their idol's

Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

For more than half a century science fiction writers have thrilled and challenged readers with visions of the future and future worlds. These authors offered an insight into what they expected man, society, and life to be like at some future time.One such author, Ray Bradbury, utilized this concept in his work, Fahrenheit 451, a futuristic look at a man and his role in society. Bradbury utilizes the luxuries of life in America today, in addition to various occupations and technological advances, to show what life could be like if the future takes a drastic turn for the worse. He turns man's best friend, the dog, against man, changes the role of public servants and changes the value of a person.Aldous Huxley also uses the concept of society out of control in his science fiction novel Brave New World. Written late in his career, Brave New World also deals with man in a changed society. Huxley asks his readers to look at the role of science and literature in the future world, scared that it may be rendered useless and discarded. Unlike Bradbury, Huxley includes in his book a group of people unaffected by the changes in society, a group that still has religious beliefs and marriage, things no longer part of the changed society, to compare and contrast today's culture with his proposed futuristic culture.But one theme that both Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 use in common is the theme of individual discovery by refusing to accept a passive approach to life, and refusing to conform. In addition, the refusal of various methods of escape from reality is shown to be a path to discovery. In Brave New World, the main characters of Bernard Marx and the "Savage" boy John both come to realize the faults with their own cultures. In Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag begins to discover that things could be better in his society but, sue to some uncontrollable events, his discover happens much faster than it would have. He is forced out on his own, away from society, to live with others like himself who think differently that the society does.Marx, from the civilized culture, seriously questions the lack of history that his society has. He also wonders as to the lack of books, banned because they were old and did not encourage the new culture. By visiting a reservation, home of an "uncivilized" culture