Jonathan Hagler
Jen Chagala’s English 100
February 10, 2009
Working Title: Brave New World
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, is a fictional story about a futuristic utopia.
However, his utopia is not at all how the average person today would imagine; Huxley’s utopia
is filled with drugs, sex, segregation, and man playing God. In 1932, his novel was considered
offensive, crude, and extremely controversial, but in reality, how far are we 78 years later from
Huxley’s vision?
In Brave New World, all forms of negative thought, be it anger, frustration, or
depression, or greatly discouraged. Their entire world order is based on positivity. Because of
this, they developed a drug called SOMA. SOMA is a pill or gas that, upon entering the body,
forces a feeling of calm onto the consumer with absolutely no negative side effects. As soon as
someone begins to react negatively to a situation they take a dose of SOMA and are pushed back
into a drug-induced trance of peace. Today, we act like taking drugs is solely the work of hippies
and stoners. However, recently there has been a huge surge in the purchase of a new kind of
drug; Anti-depression pills. Anti-depression pills are nearly side effect free, aside from risk of
dependency which the people in Brave New World also feel, and dull the aching depression and
anger that comes along with everyday life. As more and more of these pills are prescribed to
more and more people, we get closer and closer to being dependant on the drug to function as a
society.
Drugs, however, are not the only vice consuming the brave new world. Their fictional
society’s approach to sex is almost the exact opposite of what we strive for ours to be. Almost
from birth their children are encouraged to explore sexuality. Sex games are a common and
condoned practice at school recesses and children who refuse to partake in these games are
considered different and defective. This culture of sexual conquest loses no zeal in the later years
of their lives. The adults of Brave New World engage in ambiguous sex as if it were casual
conversation. While our culture has, for the most part, managed to keep its children from overexposure to sex, there is no denying that we are on a slippery slope. It is difficult to drive down a
freeway or turn on the TV anymore without being marketed sex. For example, the popular Bratz
girl’s dolls feverishly promote flirtatious behavior for girls as young as 3 and 4. Slowly but
surely the world is becoming more and more tolerant of public sexuality.
On top of these aspects of their Brave New culture, they’ve adopted a very simple system
of segregation for everyone in their society. They have 5 classes; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta,
and Epsilon. Alphas, being the highest class, are bred with supreme intelligence. They take the
role of leaders of the World Order. As the tiers go down, their jobs become more menial and
their intelligence levels decrease to follow suit. Epsilons, therefore, are the least intelligent and
perform only the most mindless of tasks. Today, our system of segregation, while unintentional
and considerably less defined, is alive and well. The expression “the rich get richer and poor get
poorer” is a common one, especially in today’s economy. Many believe that the government
does this intentionally. Whatever you believe, there is no doubt that our society has a clear
division of socio-economic class.
The main difference between our class systems is that we are born naturally with our
intelligence while the people of Brave New World are bred like clones into their class, each one
being created with a specific purpose. The very first chapter of the book describes in surprising
detail the process of cloning and creation of human beings. When one considers the fact that this
book was written almost 70 years before the first successful cloning of an animal, it is very
disturbing how accurate Huxley’s foresight was. Now, thanks to very recent technology in
cloning and stem-cell research, our society is closer than ever to having the very same fate. As
stated earlier, we have already successfully cloned multiple animals and have been able to
recreate human organs mechanically for over a decade. It won’t be long before we are cloning
entire human bodies for their organs. Many people are against this technology and claim it is an
act against God. Others realize the enormous potential of stem cell research for furthering
medical advancements into a realm never before thought possible. No matter what your opinion
on the subject is, humans will continue to advance into the unknown and the Brave New World
might be right around the corner.
In conclusion, it is becoming more and more evident that our world is heading in the
direction of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. With the increase in availability of SOMA-like
drugs, the propagation of sex amongst children, an unintentional but equally effective system of
segregation, and the future of cloning rearing closer and closer, it is no doubt that this world
could be ours. What we have to ask ourselves is, is this what we want?