Happy people do not rebel. Happy people are easy to control. Happy people do not question authority. Only the discontented demand change. Only those who see that their individual rights are being threatened will fight back and try to reclaim these God-given freedoms. While “The Declaration of Independence” enshrines “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our “unalienable” human rights, it significantly does not demand happiness itself as one of these rights. In the society depicted in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, however, citizens have been denied the right to pursue their own vision of happiness. Instead, they have been subdued into a false sense of contentment that makes them merely cogs in a massive machine, the sole purpose of which is to fuel production and encourage consumption. The world envisioned by Huxley is a horrifying dystopian nightmare in which the rulers have insidiously brainwashed their subjects and ultimately themselves into thinking that their world is actually a utopia where happiness is derived exclusively through the satisfaction of physical desire.
In the end of the novel, John the Savage is confronted by Mustafa Mond, one of the twelve World Controllers, who explains in great detail the state’s methods and extols the advantages of his society in which everyone is blissfully ignorant, safe, and free from illness. He reveals that such a society is stable and controllable because its members are subjugated by comfort. John protests, “But I don’t want comfort.” Instead, he realizes that his fundamental desire is “the right to be unhappy” because that right is ultimately required for individuals to be truly free instead of slaves to the false happiness provided by a government that sedates its citizens into submission and obedience through an addiction to physical pleasure.
The apparently “happy” people depicted in Brave New World are the ultimate “test-tube babies” having all been manufactured in a cold sterile “hatchery” rather than coming into the world the “old-fashioned” way. Quotas are mathematically determined for each of the five classes of human beings from Alphas (the rulers) to Epsilons (the laborers), so the status of each fetus must be predetermined. Lab technicians achieve quotas by depriving non-Alpha fetuses of varying amounts of oxygen and administering alcohol into their fragile systems. The quantity of babies born in this dystopian factory is more important than their quality. Since uniformity and standardization guide the whole process, there is no place for individuality. Instead, the Central London Hatchery resembles an assembly line with a conveyor belt that constantly churns out human babies.
It seems entirely appropriate, then, that the people in this society worship Henry Ford, the inventor of the assembly line and mass production, instead of God. They implore the name of “Our Ford,” make the “Sign of the T” (in honor of Ford’s famous Model T automobile) as a religious gesture, and designate the year with the abbreviation A.F. (“After Ford”). This replacement of God with a secular deity in Brave New World reflects a common trait of fictional dystopian societies in which the rulers can only attain complete control by eliminating allegiance to a higher power.
The power of the state is also secured by abolishing family bonds. What better way to do this than by removing the need for mothers and fathers? The babies produced in the hatchery are not brought up by loving families after birth but instead are raised in state institutions. As the children grow up in these indoctrination centers, they are not only denied parental love but are also conditioned to hate both nature and knowledge, as they are exposed to roses and books and then administered painful electrical shocks. Childhood itself is seen as an overly lengthy process to achieve adulthood when individuals can join the vast machinery of the state as producers.
Children are subject to “hypnopaedia” (sleep teaching) and bombarded with a series of inane slogans that thoroughly brainwash them after thousands of repetitions. Throughout the novel, these slogans are often repeated by some of the main characters revealing how effectively these ideas have been entrenched in their minds. For example, “Ending is better than mending” emphasizes the consumerist attitude that permeates the society asserting that it is better to buy something new than to fix something used. “Everyone belongs to everyone else” reflects the collectivism that characterizes Huxley’s dystopia in contrast to an individualistic perspective that would threaten the state. John the Savage, who learned to read from a forbidden copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare, quotes extensively from this source providing a stark contrast with these simplistic hypnopaedic sound bites.
Since the “viviparous” manner by which children used to come into the world has been replaced by insidious reproductive technology, a purely hedonistic attitude towards sex has emerged in the society depicted in Brave New World. Promiscuity is encouraged and committed relationships have been abolished. The children are even encouraged to play erotic games at the state-run institutions which raise them to adulthood.
There is no appreciation for the past in Huxley’s dystopia; in fact, knowledge of history, and anything old for that matter, is seen as dangerous. The solitary act of reading is greatly discouraged; instead, going to “the feelies” is the entertainment of choice among the masses. These movies appeal to sight and sound as well as touch and have simplistic plots encouraging shallow thought and anti-intellectualism. Censorship is used as a tool of the state to prevent ideas contrary to its approved narrative from emerging and influencing citizens to question authorities.
While the indulgence of sensual pleasure lulls the people of Brave New World into a false sense of happiness, the real key to their subjugation is a little pill called “soma.” Soma produces the euphoric feeling of alcohol without the negative side effects such as hangovers. Everyone takes it on a daily basis whenever a negative thought or feeling threatens their contentment. A hypnopaedic slogan related to soma explains how the substance eliminates regrets about the past and worry about the future that might make one unhappy: “Was and will make me ill. I take a gramme and only am” [italics added for emphasis]. John the Savage ultimately refuses to take the soma that killed his mother because he would rather be truly unhappy and free than falsely happy and a slave to the state.
Ultimately, John wants nothing to do with a society devoid of art, history, and religion. He wants to read Shakespeare and worship God and be an individual instead of a cog in a collectivist machine even if the cost for this behavior is some unhappy thoughts and feelings. In the end, what he ultimately wants is to exercise “the right to be unhappy” because he realizes that the truth inherent in those things prohibited by the state is preferable to the lies it brainwashes its citizens with. As John the Savage urges a group of Epsilons to not take their soma, he says, “I come to bring you freedom.” He realizes that true freedom may not necessarily result in happiness, but it provides the only way for individuals to actually attain this often elusive feeling. False happiness, conversely, offers no hope for true contentment.
NOTE: I had considered comparing and contrasting the society depicted in Brave New World with our own current reality and detailing the ways in which Huxley was a prophet. But I will leave that to you and let you be the judge. Keep in mind that Huxley’s purpose, like so many dystopian writers, may very well have been to provide a warning to future generations, enabling us to prevent the horrors depicted in his fictional society. My belief that we should heed these warnings is what currently motivates me as a writer.
We have now entered the era of works that are not “in the public domain,” so I will no longer be able to include substantial excerpts. I recommend reading the dystopian classic Brave New World in its entirety anyway. If you want to supplement the book, which is particularly difficult to dramatize, with a film version, I think the one that adheres most closely to Huxley’s novel (despite its poor production quality) is the 1980 version available on YouTube:
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