Brave New World

Having just finished Huxley's masterpiece I wanted to share a little part of it. In Huxley's world freedom and truth have been abandoned in favour of 'happiness' and stability as the building blocks for society. High art is thus seen as dangeorus and unneccesary, science is constrained to discoveries that will maintain the status quo, marriage is rejected in favour of everyone belonging to everyone and therefore eliminating the danger of anyone becoming too close or caring too much about anyone else. No one 'gives birth' in the old manner as again this creates too strong a bond between parent and child. Genetic manipulation and socialisation ensure that everyone is brought up to 'be happy' and socialisation works to make "people like their unescapable social destiny". Here, the 'savage', a man who has grown up in one of the tribal areas set aside for 'native people's and thus outisde of 'civilisation' meets the controller, Mustapha Mond, who is explaining something of the logic of the 'civilisation' he helps maintain and perpetuate. The tension between freedom and 'stability' unravels with Mustapha trying to make the savage see that heroism is an outdated concept;

"My dear young friend," said Mustapha Mond, "civilisation has absolutely no need of nobility or heroism. These are symptoms of political inefficiency. In a properly organized society like ours, nobody has any opporuntities for being noble or heroic. Conditions have got to be thoroughly unstable before the occassion can arise. Where there are wars, where there are divided allegiances, where there are temptations to be resisted, objests of love to be fought for or defended - there, obviously, nobility and heroismhave some sense. But there aren't any wars nowadays. The greatest care is taken to prevent you from loving anyone too much. There's no such thing as a divided allegiance; you're so conditioned that you can't help doing what you ought to do. And what you ought to do is on the whole so pleasant, so many of the natural impulses are allowed free play, that there really aren't any temptations to resist. And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there's always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least hald your mortality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears - that's what soma is.

"But the tears are necessary. Don't you remember what Othello said? "If after every tempest some such calms, may the winds blow til they have wakened death." ....

"What you need," the Savage went on, "is something with tears for a change. Nothing costs enough here." ..."Isn't there something in living dangerously?"

"There's a great deal in it." the Controller replied. "Men and women must have their adrenals stimulated from time to time."

"What?" questioned the Savage, uncomprehending.

"It's one of the conditions of perfect health. That's why we've made the VPS treatments compulsary."

"VPS?"

"Violent Passion Surrogate. Reguarly once a month. We flood the whole system with adrenin. It's the complete physiological equivalent of fear and rage. All the tonic effects of murdering Desdemona and being murdered by Othello, without any of the inconveniences. "

"But I like the inconveniences"

"We don't." said the Controller. "We prefer to do things comfortably."

"But I don't want comfort. I want God. I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."

"In fact," said Mustapha Mond, "you're claming the right to be unhappy"

"All right then," said the Savage defiantly, "I'm claiming the right to be unhappy"

"Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphililis and cancer; the right to be in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortorured by unspeakable pains of every kind."

There was a long silence.
"I claim them all" said the Savaga at last.