Category: Brave New World

In both The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the writers explore how control and oppression establish a lack of identity in individuals. This exploration is achieved by focusing the novels around how the main characters live under governments who manipulate individuality, relationships and knowledge to create their own visions of stability.

Huxley’s government in Brave New World is known as the World State, who are responsible for the entire planet aside from a few “savage reservations”, and rule under the motto “Community, Identity, Stability,” whereas in Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale people are under the rule of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian state representing what is left of the United States of America in this dystopian world. The Gilead society bases its treatment of people, notably women, on a fundamentalist understanding of the Bible – more specifically, the Old Testament.

In both societies, individuality is restricted by the governments. The two novels each accomplish this through their own social class systems. In Gilead, citizens are divided in to a number of castes, the women’s castes defined largely by the colours they must wear. Wives wear blue, Marthas wear green, Daughters wear white, and so on. The Handmaids are the titular characters, being the most important and simultaneously the most oppressed women in the Republic of Gilead. They are tasked with breeding and having children for the Republic. Lawbreaking women who are fertile are essentially forced to become Handmaids – their only other choice is to be sent to the Colonies of Unwomen, where they will certainly die. This class of women are identified as Handmaids by tattoos of numbers and an eye on their ankles. This calls to mind the identification system of concentration camp prisoners in the Holocaust of World War Two. Handmaids also wear red as a form of identification – the colour of blood, thus the colour of life. They are given new names that the ownership of their Commanders. The protagonist and narrator of the novel is called Offred – of Fred, belonging to him. The government has taken away the one thing that defines the Handmaids from each other – their names and identities from their previous lives – reducing them to the property of man in a higher caste. Offred remembers her real old name, and tries to tell herself it is not important; “My name isn’t Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses because it’s forbidden. I tell myself it doesn’t matter, your name is like your telephone number, only useful to others.”

Her mindset has been worn down so much that she believes whatever she thinks or feels is worthless or futile; “what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter”. All throughout the novel, readers are never told Offred’s real name. This shows just how truly lost her identity is, and how resigned she is to her fate in Gilead. This resignation is clear as Offred states, “They can do what they like with me. I am an object.” She has given up hope in order to survive. Additionally, withholding the character’s true name allows the reader to put themselves into that character’s shoes. It emphasises how the story could be about anyone in that same situation – it could be you.

The caste system in Huxley’s Brave New World is referred to as such, and consist of five castes – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon, in order of importance and social status. A person’s caste dictates their career, social ranking and appearance. The novel doesn’t seem to have one set protagonist, like The Handmaid’s Tale does, but rather several main characters – my focus will be on Bernard Marx, Lenina Crowne and John the Savage. Bernard Marx is an Alpha male, the top ranking caste. Alphas and Betas are the most attractive and intelligent individuals, tasked with the job of running society. They are not mass produced as clones like the lower castes, but rather exist as unique individuals with their own personalities. They are, however, conditioned since birth for this role, and to make them feel superior to other individuals from other castes. This brainwashes them to develop a preconceived notion about their own existence and the existence of all other people. This conditioning is given to every individual in the World State, leaving little to no room for individuality between people in the same cast, and making independent thinking nigh impossible, limiting the chance of rebellion.

There are significant differences in the methods of control that both governments use in each novel. In Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, control is established through force, fear and intimidation by the leaders of Gilead. As previously mentioned, Offred had no real choice in becoming a Handmaid. The Gilead society believes that Handmaids choose their position, when really they have no other choices but to be sent to the Colonies, or death – the Handmaids have only chosen survival. Certainly, this could be said to work in Offred’s favour. Her surrender to the ways of Gilead mean that she survives, whereas all the women we see rebelling against the Government suffer much worse fates – for example, Offred’s friend and fellow Handmaid Ofglen eventually commits suicide to avoid torture and to protect the others in the resistance, and Moira is condemned to work in a brothel, named Jezebel’s, after being caught trying to escape Gilead. Moira was, before working in the brothel, a defiant and independent feminist, firm in her beliefs and determined to escape her confinement in the Republic of Gilead. Her resignation to her fate in the brothel after her capture clearly highlights just how powerful a totalitarian state can be, breaking even the strongest women’s spirits. “She is frightening me now, because what I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of volition. Have they really done it to her then, taken away something—what?—that used to be so central to her?”

It appears that Moira actually enjoys her life working at Jezebel’s. Her homosexuality is accepted and rewarded, alcohol and drugs are available and permitted, and she has a great deal more sexual freedom than she had in Gilead. Yet, Offred is so alarmed by Moira’s “lack of volition” because it suggests the absence of hope of a better life for generations to come, and the absence of hope for Offred. Moira’s strength and spirit were always something that Offred had idolized and admired, and symbolized the kind of person that she wished to be “How can I expect her to go on, with my idea of her courage, live it through, act it out, when I myself do not?” Without Moira to look up to, Offred loses hope of freedom.

Handmaids are required to participate in the barbaric procreative ritual of The Ceremony, which is essentially ritualized rape, as the women had no real choice in taking part. This is an example of how the Handmaid’s are systematically oppressed by their government. The oppression is so embedded in the Handmaid’s lives that they don’t even view themselves as human beings, but rather objects used solely for reproduction “We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.” This reduction of women to instruments of fertility was the government’s resolution to critically low birth rates – Gilead was created largely to combat this and manufacture the increase of reproduction. Upon the creation of Gilead, women lost the right to vote, to own property, to read, to employment, and to birth control and abortion. This restricted their independence as people, therefore limiting their ability to have any control or power over the government or the men that they are surrounded by.

In Brave New World, however, control is established through science. Human beings are mass produced from a single egg, all identical to one another, not unlike a factory production line. This streamlined assembly line process was made possible by Henry Ford, the man who is referred to in the book as a religious figure of sorts. However, rather than a deity, he is worshipped as the creator of the Brave New World society. Rather than referring to God, citizens of the World State use exclamations such as “Oh, Ford!”, and celebrate Ford Day. The Gregorian Calendar has been replaced by one counting from 1908, the year that Ford’s first Model T automobile was produced, and the year is referred to as AF (“Anno Ford”) 632. Elements of previous religion remain in the symbol of the Christian cross, the top parts of which had been removed to form the letter T.

Once “hatched”, the infants are conditioned to all have the same beliefs and morals, limiting people’s independent thought as they grow older. This manipulation of thought, along with their predetermined social positions through caste systems, is the government’s plan for creating complete social stability.

The control of individuality is massively impacted by the way that relationships are policed in both novels. Relationships in Gilead between men and women are predetermined. This predetermination creates a lack of affection, emotion and chemistry and, overall, a complete lack of any love between them. Just as all Handmaids are each designated to a different Commander, Offred is forced to be paired with her Commander, Fred. The emotionlessness that is supposed to be felt between them leaves Offred with a perpetual feeling of emptiness (“deadness”). She tells us that she is “like a room where things once happened, but now nothing does.” The things she describes that once happened are in reference to her previous, more meaningful relationships that she remembers from her life before becoming a Handmaid in Gilead. Now, she is not allowed that meaning or connection between another human. She has sex only because she has no choice in the matter. The Ceremony, as mentioned in an earlier paragraph, is a ritual performed weekly, intended for the Handmaid to become pregnant by the Commander, so that he and his Wife (in this case, Serena Joy) may have a child through the Handmaid – the Wives are mostly infertile, and are considered pure, therefore granted the “privilege” of marriage. Offred describes the Ceremony as a robotic chore that nobody involved finds any pleasure in. She knows she is only there as an object of fertility “We are for breeding purposes.” This thing that she, like all Handmaids, has been reduced to has taken her over completely. Her body is used only for reproductive purposes, as a sexual device, and so this is all that Offred sees in herself. She is unable to feel comfortable looking at her own body, because “I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.” Her narration makes it clear the shame and disgust she feels in what she’s become.

The relationship between the Handmaid’s and the Wives is an unconventional one, to say the least. During the Ceremony, the Wife is present, but is not intimate with the Commander to whom she is married.

Brave New World, a pinnacle in English Literature that critiques the many and all fine points of globalization and its issues between 1900 and the date of publication in 1932. The early 1900s were home to the many changes that are still prevalent in today’s lifestyles. The Great Depression and the push away from the gold standard to revolutionize modern economies and revitalize capitalism which can be seen in the written works of Huxley. Other identities are pertinent; feminism, postmodernist ideals, and contemporary politics worked as the catalyst for the novel. Like chemistry, catalysts have inverse effects on the reaction and are still identified and traced within the product. The change of state of Western Civilization through the means of economic and societal sublimation acted upon and built the notoriable work of literature’s theme, characters, and motifs.

Aldous Huxley’s writing had allusions to philosophical ideals that challenged many societal and cultural norms. With postmodernism sparking in the 20th century and Brave New World possessing a motif of challenging the modern-era values it was a society that mirrored culture that wouldn’t spar for another 30 years. Booker makes the connection that it became a mantra of the counterculture: “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” (216). Citizens are encouraged to engage in complete sexual promiscuity, pursuing superficial, recreational sex with anyone and everyone who is interested in joining them, no emotional commitments required. All while the populace is encompassed by the drug soma. Huxley explains, “Christianity without tears—that’s what soma is” (238). Illustrating that soma is the artificial fuel for living, replacing what had been Christianity.

The World-State abandoned the classical arts of Shakespeare and many other high arts in his dystopia. In the novel, Mond bans them altogether because they might tend to trigger strong emotions; the citizens of this society are instead bombarded with a constant barrage of mindless, thoroughly commodified works of popular culture, even in their sleep. To subsidize for their lack of higher arts, they citizens are exposed to a multitude of forms of media: radio, television, and future multimedia presentations, such as “feelies” that add other types of senses. Similar to which, citizens of the New-World are developed through ample conditioning to inhabit how they think and act. “Their education does not teach them to think critically, instead at instead blindly drifting through their lives as consuming machines, meanwhile working jobs they have literally been designed and manufactured to perform” (Anderson 224). These manufactured infants are produced like branded products, given Greek-letter labels to indicate the level of the role they are intended to play in society, from the Alpha + individuals, who are intended to be the society’s movers and shakers, to the lowly Epsilons, who are intended to be its lowliest manual laborers.

With the widespread ideals of communism, Huxley was one not to ignore the kindling fire in his writing. Huxley alluded to the socioeconomic structure by creating a dystopified version of it. All beginning within the first chapter where everyone was made for the benefit of the state.

Everybody may “belong to everyone else,” but clearly, some people belong more than others. Indeed, via the zygote-splitting Bokanovsky process, new citizens can be produced in large batches of absolutely identical infants, but Alphas, produced in lower quantities, stand starkly apart from the mass produced lower rankings (Huxley 29). The hypnopaedic platitude ‘Every one belongs to every one else’ is a great example of the sort of confinement seen in Brave New World. No one can be free because everyone is subject to the desires and urges of every other person. How can you have freedom when you’re considered property? The fact that everyone is both master and slave is one of the horrifying, cyclical traps that Huxley criticizes.

In order to understand Huxley’s stance on the sociopolitical events that developed the novel it is apposite to know the events that had taken place. In 1932, the year Brave New World appeared, Hitler had not yet come to power, though Mussolini had been Prime Minister of Italy for ten years and “Huxley followed Oswald Mosley’s early reform proposals with interest” (Gregory 93). Stalin had begun widespread collectivization and the implementation of the Five-Year Plan command economy in 1928 and was clearly master of the Soviet Union.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is known for being one of the most banned or controversial books over the years. The book shows that a society can have sex with anyone and do drugs, whilst being able to openly talk about it, and have the ability to handle the issues casually and publically, with there being zero consequences as a result, happiness can be found within a controlled society, with no freedom, and the lack of a personal identity. With all the controversies out of the way, I think that this is one of those novels that a person should read at least once. The novel is written intelligently, everything is explained thoroughly, and the tone of writing is interesting. The novel is written in a sardonic tone the entire time.

The first time you read through Brave New World, one of the most striking things is how much sex and drugs are seemingly glorified. In the novel, Huxley talks about how a society based around zero freedom, and identity can impact a person severely. He uses drugs and sex as an example to how a person will use them to cope with their own needs. In the novel Huxley explains how the government gives the society a drug called Soma. Soma in small doses makes a person feel good and stress free. If a person uses Soma in a high dosage, it creates a timeless hallucination. In the World State, everyone has been conditioned to love the drug Soma. The problem, as one character identifies, is that the citizens are essentially enslaved by the drug and turned into mindless drones. So while the government may encourage drug use, it only does so as a means of further controlling the population.

In Brave New World, the author talks about how sex and violence is portrayed as two extreame passions that a person may have. In the World State, promiscuity is the law, and because of that having an emotional attachment with anyone is illegal. Because of this law, sex isn’t used for procreation but rather its used for as a distraction and pacifacation. In the novel, Lenina, the main female protagonist, is thought of as acting oddly because she has only slept with one man in the past three weeks. The novel dehumanizes sex, and devoids the passion for it. Huxley also explains how sex is treated casually, and publically, rather than privately.

The citizens of the World State have been conditioned to love their servitude Henry Ford. Everyone in the World State have been brainwashed to live in this kind of condition. Henry Ford’s idea of an ideal perfect world is when everyone is the same, and they have zero identity. Huxley talks about how a citizen pointed out that being happy all the time is in away confinement to freedom, as humans have the right to be unhappy at times as well. He also says how an environment like this is the same as prison. Because everyone is confined to be the same, it messes with the brain which makes them have a poorer mental state. Huxley also goes into detail as to how living and conditioning people to live the way they do will change them for life. Even consciousness is can’t be used as a weapon against conditioning. ‘Even an Epsilon…’ Lenina suddenly remembered an occasion when, as a little girl at school, she had woken up in the middle of the night and become aware, for the first time, of the whispering that had haunted all her sleeps. She saw again the beam of moonlight, the row of small white beds; heard once more the soft, soft voice that said (the words were there, unforgotten, unforgettable after so many night-long repetitions): ‘Everyone works for everyone else. We can’t do without anyone. Even Epsilons are useful. We couldn’t do without Epsilons. Everyone works for everyone else. We can’t do without anyone…’ Lenina remembered her first shock of fear and surprise; her speculations through half a wakeful hour; and then, under the influence of those endless repetitions, the gradual soothing of her mind, the soothing, the smoothing, the stealthy creeping of sleep.… (Huxley, 49).

By imagining a world in which individuality is forbidden, Brave New World asks us to consider what individual identity is and why it is valuable. The World State sees individuality as incompatible with happiness and social stability because it interferes with the smooth functioning of the community. The Controllers do everything they can to prevent people developing individual identities. “Bokanovsky’s Process” means that most citizens of the World States are biological duplicates of one another. “Hypnopaedic” slogans and “Solidarity Services” encourage citizens to think of themselves as part of a whole rather than as separate individuals. The Controller explains that people are sent to the islands when they “have got too self-consciously individual to fit into community life.” For Bernard, Helmholtz, and John, rebelling against the World State involves becoming self-conscious individuals. Bernard wants to feel “as though I were more me.” Helmholtz writes his first real poem about the experience of being alone, and when the Controller asks John what he knows about God, John thinks “about solitude.” In the end, John and Helmholtz choose to suffer in order to preserve their individuality. Bernard, however, never chooses individuality. He has been forced to be an individual due to his faulty conditioning. He tries to resist being sent to an island. For Bernard, individuality is a curse.

The first time you read through Brave New World, one of the most striking things is how much sex and drugs are seemingly glorified. In the novel, Huxley talks about how a society based around zero freedom, and identity can impact a person severely. In Brave New World, the author talks about how sex and violence is portrayed as two extreame passions that a person may have. In the World State, promiscuity is the law, and because of that having an emotional attachment with anyone is illegal. The citizens of the World State have been conditioned to love their servitude Henry Ford. Henry Ford’s idea of an ideal perfect world is when everyone is the same, and they have zero identity. “Bokanovsky’s Process” means that most citizens of the World States are biological duplicates of one another. “Hypnopaedic” slogans and “Solidarity Services” encourage citizens to think of themselves as part of a whole rather than as separate individuals.

In Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World, people who differed from the societal norm, are often isolated and alienated from society due to their individuality. In Brave New World, the society is ordered and structured, as such, the government attempts to hold control over everything. On the other hand, in Fahrenheit 451, the society is one in which common people are often brainwashed as books were removed from society which later lead to alienation. In my opinion alienation refers to the separation or isolation of an individual from something they should be involved in. Alienation was a major theme in both novels and though the theme was similar in both novels they were demonstrated in different ways. In Brave New World, Marx, John and Helmholtz were alienated due to appearance, morals, and intellect respectively. Whereas, in Fahrenheit 451 Clarisse, Mildred and Montag were alienated through various aspects.

Alienation in the Brave New World took the basis of three forms being, appearance, morals, and intellect. Bernard Marx was one of the many characters that was isolated in the Brave New World. He was isolated based on how he looked. Marx was an Alpha Plus which made him ugly and unusually short. It is suggested that Marx’s condition was as a result of an error made by the workers when he was an embryo in a bottle. Fanny explained this phenomenon in that, “They say somebody made a mistake when he was still in the bottle-thought he was a Gamma and put alcohol into his blood-surrogate. That’s why he’s so stunted.” (Huxley, 35) This technique used on Marx while he was a fetus, is commonly used to keep the lower class small in stature. Marx was alienated both physically and mentally from numerous people in the World State as they viewed him as not up to the same or similar standard of the other Alpha Pluses. Marx was much shorter than the average Alpha male. Nonetheless, Marx tried desperately to be accepted by the World State and was not until John was brought back from the Reservation. This is demonstrated when Lenina was talking to Fanny and asked him if he knew who Bernard Marx was and he replied in a scornful voice, ‘You don’t mean to say …?’ Lenina then questions, “’Why not? Bernard’s an Alpha Plus. Besides, he asked me to go to one of the Savage Reservations with him. I’ve always wanted to see a Savage Reservation.’. Fanny then goes to question about Bernard reputation. (Huxley, 34) This shows how much Bernard is frowned upon. This society often degrades individuals who are not Alpha’s even though they have no control over what is done in the lab when they are being produced. Even though Marx was very intelligent and educated to that of an Alpha, his height restrictions and insecurities led to his alienation.

John is another character in the novel Brave New World who was faced with alienation. He had a different sense of morality due to him being born and raised outside of the society of the “Brave New World.” John was not as fortunate as the people living in the “Brave New World” and hence his knowledge was based on the works of Shakespeare. John was also raised by his mother, Linda, on Native American customs and religions as well as Christian customs and religions. With all these factors stacked against John first experienced alienation when he was banned at the Savage Reservation from be a part of Native American rituals. Another factor that contributed to John’s alienation is the fact that his mother was not born and raised at the Reservation. This was explained by Lenina who stated, “Linda was his mother (the word made Lenina look uncomfortable)-were strangers in the Reservation.” (Huxley, 88)

Additionally, Not appearing similar in looks to the rest of the Indians living on the reservation, was a barrier in John’s ability to be a part of the Savage society. He yearned to be a part of the culture so much that he often questioned, “Why wouldn’t they let me be the sacrifice? I’d have gone round ten times…” (Huxley 87) However John already knew the answer to that. Being the child of Linda was problematic for John because she had many provocative ways that were not necessarily accepted by the wider community and as such she was disliked. The fact that the other women men went to look for Linda made them hate Linda even more. Linda feels as though, “They’re so hateful, the women here. Mad, mad and cruel.” (Huxley, 90) As a result, John too was disliked as a result of the hatred of the other women towards his mother. When John first arrived in the World State, he was unable to find a place in this new environment, as such, he is again alienated as he does not conform to the actions and beliefs of the World State. He is unable to find a place in the society as his beliefs and morals were often tested. What was a paradise to the outsiders, the place he dreamed of, was appearing to be a nightmare pushing him further and further from society and from himself, and later resulted in his suicide.

Helmholtz Watson was another character in Brave New World who was alienated. In Watson’s case he was alienated because he was very intellectual. Watson was similar to Marx in that he was an Alpha male in the World State. Helmholtz Watson was an Emotional Engineer and as such he possessed “extra power”. He used his gift to say things of importance as well as use X-rays as a medium to write. Watson was a lecturer for a University where he wrote a poem talking about loneliness. He was threatened to be expelled from the university and he was also shunned. His aim was to leu others feel what he was feeling through his writings, he wanted them to feel the emotion of loneliness which he felt. This also resulted in his writing being monitored and hence, his writings became meaningless. This caused Watson to be dissatisfied with the World State. It is key to point out that even though Watson was dissatisfied with the World State, there were times he acted accordingly to his title, Alpha. Shakespeare novels which are banned in the World State, Watson would find himself reading them and finding the way in which Shakespeare writes, genius. However, what amuses him when reading Shakespeare is the thought of having a mother which in the World State, is not fathomable. Well all these things accumulating, Helmholtz is alienated from society because he sees deeper into the society than others, he has superior abilities and, he is too intelligent. It is key to note that Helmholtz differs from Bernard in that readily accepts that he is alienated and as a result, he is given the choice of islands he where he would like to stay and request to be “ sent to an island that has bad weather,” (Huxley, 173) so he can be a better writer.

Clarisse was one of the characters alienated in Fahrenheit 451. She depicts alienation through her experiences being rejected from school. Clarisse can be described as a very observant and intelligent person and as such, this is what cause her classmates as well as her teacher to despise her. Because everyone else in the society is of lesser intellect that Clarisse, they find her insane and strange. The resulting factor of this is that Clarisse is removed from school and because she is “insane,” she has to attend sessions with a psychiatrist. The struggles faced by Clarisse depicts how much she is affected by being alone even when she is around people within her age range. Nonetheless, she becomes companions with Montag. She highlights their friendship where she states, “you’re not like the others. I’ve seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me…The others would never do that.” (Bradbury, 21) This even aids in her alienation as she befriends someone who is not in her age range. Montag is twice Clarisse’s age and he is also seen as very off by members of the society. Clarisse knows with herself that she is isolated from society. She explains the alienation she receives by stating, “I’m antisocial, they say. I don’t mix. It’s so strange. I’m very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn’t it?” (Bradbury, 13) Even though she became close to Montag, the way in which society as well as her peers viewed him resulted in her drifting from being such close friends with Montag. Clarisse is fragile in that after being pressured by society she diminishes after because she became so overwhelmed. Her ‘atypical behavior’ as viewed by members of the society causes her sudden demise.

Another character who was alienated in Fahrenheit 451 was Mildred. Mildred was the wife of Montag. Mildred always wanted to extend her family. As such, she and Montague often argued about “the forth wall torn out and a forth wall-TV put in” which from Mildred’s point of view, “was only two thousand dollars.” (Bradbury, 20) This specifically highlights how lonely of a person Mildred is and shows her level of innocence. Mildred’s loneliness increases when Montag denies her from extending the family. She goes as far as to question whether she is of importance in Montag’s life as she wishes he would consider her sometimes. (Bradbury, 20) This led to her relationship failing and as a result, she alienates herself even more. Her questioning their relationship highlights the fact that their relationship is materialistic and shallow. She says certain things, such as questioning his love for her, to guilt trip Montag. Mildred’s alienation led her attempted suicide. Montag finds her with an empty bottle of sleeping pills and unconscious. Montag assumes that, “maybe she took two pills and forgot and took two more, and forgot again and took two more, and was so dopy she kept right on until she had thirty or forty of them in her.” (Bradbury, 37) This is a clear indication of Mildred’s depression due to her being oppressed by the system and could possibly be her seeking a way out from the society.

Lastly, Montag, the main character in Fahrenheit 451 too was faced with alienation. Montag was very vocal about how he felt about society and as such he placed a ‘target’ on his back. Being a fireman in the society, he was faced with conflicting thoughts. He is of the belief that society has “everything they need to attain happiness however something is still missing from his life” (Bradbury, 78) As such, Montag is miserable and anxious as he is living a lifestyle in which the community wants him to conform to however, he knows that this isn’t the way he wants to live. This is expressed by Montag’s frustration in that, “Nobody listens any more. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense.” (Bradbury, 82) Because of this, Montag feels alienated and as such, he decides to disobey the law and begins a collection of books after which he was caught and becomes a criminal having no choice but to leave the city.

Overall, both novels depicted alienation through several characters. Nonetheless, they are both similar in that in Brave New World, Watson was alienated because he was seen as very intellectual. Similarly, in Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse too was a very intelligent individual and was alienated because she was different from the others in her class. Therefore, it can be deduced that characters are often alienated because they are ‘too intelligent.’ Another similarity seen is between John in Brave New World and Montag in Fahrenheit 451. Both characters were alienated because they had different moral values than those in the society. John grew up in a different environment initially and as such he viewed things differently; Montag even though he was raised in that society saw certain factors that were problematic, being the removal of books. Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, shows how people who are different or don’t fit in the society become alienated similarly to Huxley’s Brave New World, which depicts that people are often isolated due to their appearance morals and intellect in that society.

Work Cited

1. Aldous Huxley. Brave New World. Chatto&Windus, 1932. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/ost-english-brave_new_world_aldous_huxley.
2. Bradbury, Ray. ‘Fahrenheit 451.’

In Brave new world by Aldous Huxley, the theme is they use technology to control society. In this novel, it shows how people can lose humanity if they use too much technology. The author shows us the world where everything is controlled by technology. This world looks perfect no wars, no problem, no crisis nothing. But what they don’t have is happiness, they don’t have any emotions or feelings. In their society before a baby is born everything is checked. They give them shocks and they don’t send them to school. In this society, they can’t control themselves because technology is very damaging and discomforting.

In a Brave New World, we can see how technology can affect the person ever since they are in a test tube. Technology is used so excessively that they can determine how smart they are going to be. In the book Mr. Foster says, “The lower the caste,” said Mr. Foster, “the shorter the oxygen.” The first organ affected was the brain. After that the skeleton. At seventy percent of normal oxygen, you got dwarfs. At less than seventy eyeless monsters.”. It is predetermined and there is nothing you could do to stop it. The process is all done while you are still an embryo. The height, weight, size, color, and even their intelligence is determined before they are born. Also, in the book, it says “We are not our own any more than what we possess is our own. We did not make ourselves; we cannot be supreme over ourselves. We are not our masters.” They cannot make decisions on their own because they are being controlled by the people that created them. At the same time, they cannot break the society law because if they do then there is punishment.

This book talks about using technology while the babies are sleeping. They use a process where someone is exposed to certain information while they are sleeping, and they must listen to it for hours so that it gets stuck in their head. After they wake up, it’s already in their head and they did not even have to put any effort to memorized it. The director of the London Hatchery explains the process. “Books and loud noises, flowers and electric shocks-already in the infant mind these couples were compromisingly linked; and after two hundred repetitions of the same or a similar lesson would be wedded indissolubly. What man has joined; nature is powerless to put asunder.” This process is good but they only train you with stuff that is good for society and that is good for the government they do not train you with stuff that is good for you.

Also, in Brave New World the society’s soma is a big part of their life. In a utopian society, it is not acceptable for you to deal with sadness and emotions or you cannot be depressed. You cannot deal with relationships in a healthy way. People that have anger issues are not acceptable in that society. Instead of being sad or depressed just soma pill. Soma is a type of drug that makes them happy instead of being sad. In Brave New World pg. 162 says “. 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 half-gram tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your mortality in a bottle. Christianity without years that’s what soma is.” Soma helps them forget their pain and makes them feel like they are happy.

In this generation, people rely on technology and science more than they rely on themselves. But they don’t understand that these technologies are controlling them and making their life miserable. But we humans don’t understand these we think we can’t live without technologies. In Brave New World it shows that overusing technologies can damage our happiness which can lead to depression.

In the novel, “Brave New World,” written by Aldous Leonard Huxley, the author attempts to explain the character Bernard Marx and explain why he has incited such controversial emotions in readers and literary critics, and the way he’s being observed within the novel as a full. He shows the importance of morality, or a rise in wisdom within the character of individuals. The author contrasts a society filled with “static and flat” characters and another society stuffed with “round” characters. So as to point out the importance of life experiences in changing the character of individuals within the society. Bernard Marx, an Alpha-Plus specialist in sleep teaching is an example of a personality that changes within the “Brave New World.” He alters from a personality that symbolizes individuality to a personality that just wanted to desperately belong to the society. Throughout the novel, the author uses character development and motivational standards to contrast the 2 different societies present within the novel, and the way that emphasizes whether Bernard Marx could be a sympathetic character.

The event seen in Bernard’s character takes place near the top of the story, as he seeks a more pure life in a very remote location. Bernard Marx receives most attention within the early a part of “Brave New World” that it seems as if Huxley has chosen him for the most character. Later, however, John, the Savage, takes the central role within the novel. John, on the opposite hand, feels as if he’s been poisoned by this new civilization. The text states that “I ate civilization. It poisoned me; I used to be defiled. And then, I ate my very own wickedness,” (Huxley 241). Both Bernard and John want to not only live a noble life, but to form this life on their own benefits, but John lives remote from the disaster of a community. John also views “the Brave New World” as a negative place with negative ideas. This is often a significant change from the identity he showed before being poisoned by this civilization, but another time he stays faithful to his values by leading this new life on his own. John’s strong moral values persuade be the one constant in his character, as against Bernard who seems to be fearful and timid because the novel progresses.

Bernard Marx is that form of character who lives during a society where the majority people are flawless, and he, together with some other characters are a small amount sympathetic every now and then within the novel. Those that have some flaws are discriminated against and oppressed by the bulk. Therefore, Bernard Marx cannot hope for a cheerful life. He includes a short stature/reputation, which is believed to be caused by his surrogate’s alcoholism. Although he has an Alpha-Plus status, he’s painfully alert to his flaw and blames it for not having the ability to reach life. Bernard believes he’s a real individual. Deep in his soul, he wishes to fight conformity and oppose the pervasive social pressure. However, it seems that he cannot simply become a real hero, a rebel that might change the planet. Bernard Marx’s job is psychology. The text states that “O brave new world. O brave new world that has such people in it. Let’s start without delay,” (139). Although he only knows so little about himself, he would love to be creative and courageous, but each time he gets the chance to square out, he acts sort of a coward. His subservient nature makes him respect the authority, and he’s willing to seize power himself. because the story unfolds, Marx is becoming increasingly detestable. He looks whiny and trivial, and he’s so desperately focused on personal success that readers gradually lose interest in him and switch their attention to other characters within the novel. This illustrates the explanation why the author of this novel believes that Bernard Marx is one in all the most characters during this novel.

The way Marx interacts with others is additionally important to grasp this character. Another example would be Helmholtz Watson. These men are both Alpha’s, which suggests they’re smart and have a privileged position within the society. they need many things in common compared to others within the novel. However, Marx seems to be too shallow towards Helmholtz. When he’s compared together with his friend Helmholtz, this character remains weak and uninteresting, and he’s unable to get readers’ empathy despite his pain and loneliness. Unlike “Brave New World,” Helmholtz, or the convincing and powerful Mustapha Mond, he cannot conceive of his values and goals and focuses on succeeding in society instead of defining his individuality towards society. The text states that “The greater a man’s talents, the greater his power to steer astray. it’s better that one should suffer than that a lot should be corrupted,” (147).

Although it seems genuine of Bernard’s revolt against these values and goals towards society, it’s later discovered that he behaves this manner only because less attention is paid to him. He’s also physically inferior to the opposite Alphas. His own interest in Lenina also provokes him against this conversation. Rumours regarding his physique further make him criticize the new world. Bernard is taken into account oddly not only because he’s physically smaller than the opposite members of the Alpha caste, but also because he likes to spend time by himself, and he doesn’t wish to participate in sport activities furthermore. On the opposite hand, there’s a spark of hope in society, especially towards Bernard. His experience with Helmholtz makes him more mature by the tip of the novel and allows him to be told more about himself and skill what he can truly do as a personality during this novel.

This essay will discuss The Brave New World book by Aldous Huxley and the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S Eliot. The Brave New World was about a perfect society with minor defects. There are some people that want to go beyond what they can do and explore. The government will not allow any exploring of science unless needed or they will get sent off. The poem is about a potential lover. The poem explains the fragile state of mankind. Also the idea of what a completely changed society looks like. Everything that is written has a meaning, message, thought or warning that usually occurs. There was both a message and a warning in the two passages. The Brave New World message was that there is no such thing as a perfect Society. Also, the Brave New World Book brought the thought of what people after World War 1 thought the 2000s would be like. The poem The Love Song J. Alfred Prufrock displayed the message of never showing what he feels towards a woman. When writing the meaning, messages, thoughts, or warnings can come in the slightest way and may not even get noticed by all.

The purpose of the book Brave New World signified the warning of giving the state control over the new technologies. The state uses science to make the technology better which creates a happy and perfect Systemic world. Also, that is what the world would look like if everything was to the full potential. Nevertheless, everyone is supposed to listen to what science is telling them to do and think. However, every once in a while someone gets curious and wants to find their own solutions or answers with science. Except the Government will not let someone find the answers or solutions to something that doesn’t need to be found. The outcome if someone strays from what they need to be doing they will get sent off to an island of their choice forever. Sometimes the deciding controller will give the choice of the island or to never be curious or stray from the track of science. Not every time the controller will give and the option. Another thing about The Brave New World was that letting the state have the new technologies can give them too much unnecessary power. Lastly, in a perfect society, there is no room for there to be heroism.

The intention of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’s poem was the idea of a changing society. What I got from this poem was that it was talking about a possible lover. There were many ideas and thoughts that this poem expressed. One of them was the refusal for talking to a woman that he was interested in due to his ways of thinking. The poem explains the state of mankind. Everyone nowadays shelters themselves and doesn’t express their emotions or feelings toward one another. In my understanding, Prufrock would not go near any woman of any sort. In that matter, Prufrock tried to avoid any and all emotional interactions. It’s almost like Prufrock had an emotional barrier/disconnection from everyone no matter who. It is a bit dramatically written how Prufrock had such an emotional disconnection from the world. This poem has got me thinking if anyone really never had an emotional connection with not even a single soul. I believe that every person at least feels one emotion or has one emotional connection to at least one person in their lifetime. Lastly, the expressed thoughts are aimed at an audience or audiences that do not appear directly but are recommended only in the words of the speaker.

In any passage, the meaning, messages, thoughts, or warnings can appear in any way shape, or form and may not even get noticed by all. However, the ones that do catch the hidden message will learn the most from it. The Brave New World showed warnings about what would happen if you give the government control over the advanced technologies. Also, the Brave New World Book brought the thought of what Aldous Huxley thought the world would be like in the 2000s after World War I. Another message that The Brave New World has shown was that not even a perfect society is perfect. One more meaning that I found in the book was that nothing is supposed to be perfect. The Brave New World has many hidden messages, warnings, thoughts, and meanings in the book. The poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S Eliot expressed a message that not everyone expresses their emotions. The poem displays Prufrock having a dramatic disconnection to the world. Prufrock didn’t have any emotional connection shown in this poem. The poem signified that Prufrock refused to talk to the woman that he was interested in due to his ways of thinking. In my opinion, the poem is one big metaphor.

In conclusion, this essay was about The Brave New World book by Aldous Huxley and the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S Eliot. Everything that is written usually has a meaning, a message, a thought, or a warning. As you write or read meaning, messages, thoughts, or warnings may appear minimally and may not be noticed by most. A perfect society Will never exist. There will always be people who want to go beyond what they can do and research and explore. However, the government in The Brave New World book will not allow any science or research unless necessary or the person will get punished. The poem is an idea of ​​what a completely changed society is like. Also, the poem is about a potential lover and explains the fragile state of humanity. There are many meanings, messages, thoughts, warnings in both passages. The message of The Brave New World was that there is no perfect society that is really perfect. The poem Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock showed the message of never expressing your feelings for a woman. Overall The Brave New World book and the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock has different points of view but, in the end, nothings perfect.

Novels based around dystopian societies have become increasingly popular throughout the twenty-first century. People indulge in societies that are so outrageous, it makes their mediocre lives appear marvelous. One of the first blockbuster dystopian societies was the World State in Brave New World.This novel, written in 1931, was influenced by the greatly changing world that Huxley saw around him. The dystopian society and characters of Brave New World were influenced by the cultural and scientific developments after World War I, as well as the rise in new political ideologies.

As the twentieth century progressed, scientific advancement happened rapidly, to the point where no one could keep up with the current pace. One of the most important inventions during this time period was the assembly line. The assembly line, invented by Henry Ford, revolutionized factories as it created a system where each worker was in charge of a specific item. This resulted in a mass production of identical parts to a bigger machine, in Ford’s situation, an automobile. This new way to manufacture items was a genius invention, as it resulted in an economic boom: one that was never seen before. Many people thought Ford was a savior for bringing about this new economy, and Huxley played on this fact in Brave New World. Huxley saw Ford as a brilliant man, and “chose to make Ford not just a hero to the characters in his novels but an actual god” (Gale). The idea that Henry Ford is elevated to the level of a god allows Huxley to compare his novel to the real world. People were in awe of Henry Ford as he brought about an economic boom that helped everyone in the United States of America, and the world. People love when they economy is booming, and will do anything to stay in that state of prosperity. Huxley takes this urge and exaggerates it in Brave New World where the “future workers do their duty and buy more and more material goods to keep the economy rolling, even to the point of throwing away clothes rather than mending them” (Gale). Corporation, and the World Controllers, want efficiency and prosperity, and they will do anything to make sure that continues to happen.

To keep the economy flourishing, people had to be willing to spend money. One of the places people were willing to spend money was the cinema. These silent movies allowed people an escape from their everyday lives, which was needed as the entire world was involved in a deadly war. However, the development of sound in movies changed the face of cinema forever. These “talkies” as they were eventually coined, invoked a new range of feelings that was never felt before. Huxley manipulated these “talkies” into Brave New World by exaggerating the feelings they brought about. Huxley chose to call them “feelies,” which was a clear play on the “talkies.” These “feelies” were “three-dimensional and scented, with tactile sensations produced by metal knobs embedded in the cinema chairs” (Winter). These “feelies” were clearly Huxley’s view of how the movies and cinema would evolve over time. In Brave New World, one of the “feelies,” Three Weeks in a Helicopter, was highlighted to reflect the immersion of the cinema. This movie, was shown in the Alhambra, which was a popular building in Great Britain that carried a certain connotation relating to the arts and entertainment. However, the Alhambra was changed from a museum to a cinema in response to the booming cinema industry. Many people did not support this radical change, including, Huxley and others who saw it as a form of, “cultural degeneration, and hence is a fitting forum for the feelies” (Winter). Going from a thoughtful museum to a cinema reflects that people strived to be easily entertained, and did not want to have to think about what they were looking at. The “feelies” and the “talkies” distracted people from what was going on around them and allowed them to escape from the harsh reality.

This essay will focus on the ideas of collective and individual identity and how they are presented in ‘The Dead’ (1914) by James Joyce, Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley, ‘Daddy’ (1965) by Silvia Plath and The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood. The idea of identity, in general, is a central theme in all of these texts. Gordon Marshall (1998) describes identity as centred on two distinct areas, namely the psychodynamic and the sociological. An example of sociological identity would be gender identity as a largely social construct, born of patriarchy, whereby outside societal influences demand behaviours associated with traits of the particular gender. On the other hand, psychodynamic aspects, as pointed out by Freud, arise from interiority which create personal traits and tendencies in forming individual identity. However, Foucault (1982) challenges the extent to which a person possesses an inner self that goes into forming a person’s identity. Rather, he identified the self as being defined by an ongoing discourse involving shifting perspectives of oneself, within a power network, relative to others. Similarly, Freud, in identifying the id, the ego and the superego as components which interact to form the self, places emphasis on the crucial role of outside influences, including the values of family and wider society (de Oliveira Moreira, 2008). Therefore, though each perspective might differ in degree, both the sociological and psychodynamic aspects recognise the influence of the collective in the formulation of individual identity. This essay will examine the way that, in all four texts, aspects of living up to societal and familial constructs of identity produce a negative impact upon the sense of individual identity.

Before World War One, Dublin was in the situation where many of its people were searching for national (collective) identity, as part of the move towards independence from Britain. This issue is explored in ‘The Dead’. However, as Mark Corcoran (2011) states, ‘I will argue that Dubliners goes deeper than metaphors for a war of independence or the search for a collective national identity. I will argue that Joyce identifies, through everyday examples, the root structures in society which contribute to a crisis in identity’. Corcoran is pointing to wider and deeper structures arising from cultural factors which reach beyond the sense of nationhood. From the confusion arising around collective identity in relation to commonality of belonging, Corcoran is arguing that this also had an effect upon people personally, upon their personal identity. This is a problem for the central male character in the tale, Gabriel Conroy. Joyce explores the uncertainties around identity for those caught in an ambiguous situation where, though identifying as Irish, they are through language and culture British or, at least, possessing an aspect of individual identity heavily influenced by British values and culture. Gabriel has plans to travel and, when questioned by Miss Ivors as to why he will not stay to learn more about his own country, he responds, ‘I’m sick of my own country, sick of it!’. The repetition of the word ‘sick’ infers a sense hatred for his own country, conveying to the reader that he is not only mentally, but physically repulsed by it. However, this response is possibly hyperbolic. He more likely reflects upon complexities and contradictions implied in the wider context of the tale, whereby Gabriel’s status is tied up, on the one hand, with the dominant power, given his position as a university lecturer, and the stifling cultural and religious expectations as a married Irish Catholic, on the other. The way his identity might be viewed by many on the Nationalist side is expressed through the derogatory term of ‘West Briton’, which causes Gabriel to feel ill at ease, as it possibly encapsulates the ambiguity of his own sense of individual and collective identity when confronted with Miss Ivors’s notion of Gaelic identity in relation to Ireland.

Whilst Gabriel struggles with his sense of personal and collective identity, it could be argued in ‘Daddy’ that the speaker’s individual identity was stolen as a child and the speaker therefore ponders, in her adult life, upon her childhood. She says ‘black shoe/In which I have lived like a foot/For thirty years’ (line 1-5). The imagery of herself ‘like a foot’ encased in a shoe, conveys the feeling of being trapped and limited in movement. This idea of entrapment can be related to identity in that she was trapped as a child and even, perhaps, as an adult; the speaker appears to feel unable to find a way to grow and create an identity of her own. However, another way in which this can be explored and viewed is by the application of Corcoran’s (2011) wider perspective that collective identity impinges on the individual. Therefore, as well as an uncertain individual identity, the speaker’s lack of secure family life has restricted her sense of collective identity. The main reason clearly being that of her father. The way in which Plath describes her father figure is vivid and, as Browne (2008) relates, ‘These father figures are examined through a mythical imagery that acts to place the significance of the memory of the father into the lives of Kinsella and Plath’ (p.54). What Browne is saying here is that the way Plath describes her father is both child-like and dream-like, the first readily apparent reason being calling her father ‘Daddy’ throughout the narrative which gives the impression that she is still not over her haunting childhood. He is also described as a vampire, as in ‘If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two-/The vampire who said he was you/ And drank my blood for a year’ (stanza 15, lines 1-3). Throughout the whole narrative, it is clear that the speaker holds an idolization for her father. However, she also holds resentment. The speaker says, ‘if I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two’ perhaps suggesting the speaker could be referring to both of these personas from which she views her father, hence the reference to a vampire as at first glance, it is not known that someone is a vampire. Furthermore, the context and nature of the language conveys the possibility that her father was a Nazi. Therefore, describing him as a vampire could be a metaphor for his ‘thirst’ for blood, or his sick thirst for mindless killing. Nevertheless, legend holds that vampires are immortal, which could in the poem be a representation that in the mind of the speaker, the enhanced, myth-like memories around her father never die. A further contextual piece useful for examining ‘Daddy’ around the effect of childhood events and upbringing upon individual identity, is Plath’s novel The Bell Jar (1963). This text explores the life of the aspiring poet, Esther, who experiences lack of fulfilment in an internship as a guest editor as Ladies Day magazine in New York City while struggling with issues of identity and social norms. The Bell Jar focuses upon the theme of potential negative, collective familial influence upon individual identity, but extends this wider to look at the impact of wider society. Ultimately, patriarchal power inherent in the family implied in ‘Daddy’, where the speaker says, ‘You stand at the blackboard, daddy/In the picture I have of you’, is starkly illustrated in the novel when Esther attempts to take her own life and is then forced into hospital for psychiatric treatment.

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) is set in a future dystopian theocracy where religion has triumphed and society is organised around the service of a small elite. Gender identity is at the centre where women are assigned to named subservient roles, including the handmaids whose single task revolves around child bearing. They are stripped of individual identity to the point where they lose their original names and are, instead, each assigned names, beginning with ‘Of’, which implies belonging to a powerful male. The females enrolled for the purposes of conception also wear the colour red, a symbol of the female reproductive system. However, they also wear white wings, white being a symbol of innocence. Lal (2018) links this situation to contemporary ideas in some parts of the world around the surrogacy industry, where surrogate females are told that in helping infertile couples into parenthood, they are angels. However, she claims that the reality is that the surrogates are bullied into fulfilling the role. Likewise, in The Handmaid’s Tale, the women are forced to live in a world where their only purpose is to reproduce, thus diminishing their individual identity. The white wings are a direct contradiction, amounting to denial, of any prescribed identity as angel or innocent, suggesting that the women are a part of a society where they are being exploited and are forced to see their situation and its context through a crude, dominant construction of innocence. An example of the way in which this is presented occurs in chapter 23, when Offred plays scrabble with Arthur. He becomes curious, by her reticence, in relation to her perceived lack of characteristics which define her individuality. In turn, she views the interactions with the commander as a source of exploration, trying to find her sense of self. By this, she as an individual is offering a form of resistance of the type identified by Foucault in a socio-cultural system constructed for the benefit of a dominant elite (Foucault, 1980, in Howell, 2019). Moreover, Offred becomes aware there is much more to her given purpose than what she has been led to understand. In this regard, she observes:

I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will. I could make it run, push buttons, of one sort or another, make things happen. There were limits but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me. Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping (p.95).

This shows that Offred originally believed that her body was an extension of herself, now she does not even consider herself as an individual. Rather, she is a dehumanised product composed of flesh. She compares her body to a ‘cloud’ to represent how breakable she is and that she lacks the solidity of ‘being’. She also compares her uterus to a pear, which she implies as being the central part of the body and the thing that is keeping her alive. This is illustrated through the image of it pulsating, just like a heart, the actual organ that keeps people alive.

Like The Handmaid’s Tale (1965), Brave New World (1932) is set in a future dystopia. Conversely, however, religion has been eradicated. Whilst The Handmaid’s Tale focuses on the effects upon individual identity of the abuses of religion, Brave New World implies its absence is one factor in the lack of moral guidance (Attarian, in Bloom, 1996). The novel addresses Huxley’s own disillusionment with society and politics, and focuses mostly on the loss of individual identity which has been subsumed into that of the collective. Attarian claims that Huxley wrote it at a time when he was moving towards an acceptance of the existence of God. From a Freudian perspective, individuals in Brave New World lack appropriate moral guidance from outside which would work through the ego and the superego to restrain the id’s selfish drive to personal pleasure, which Huxley claims is essential to form an identity that is responsible and fully human. Throughout the novel, the saying ‘everyone belongs to everyone’ is repeated to emphasise the idea that scientific advance, alongside eradication of religion and abuses of concepts of socialism completely consume the individual through a totalitarian system of government. The separate and unequal caste system, which is introduced early in the novel, has a huge impact on individual identities. This is because all people in the novel come from test tubes and are created by a ‘perfect’ combination of accurately engineered genes which are set to fulfil certain roles according to the resultant, pre-set intellectual and physical characteristics.

Thus, all of the texts discussed present identity as a central theme. Though set in different contexts and time periods, all address the notion of individuality and how constructed concepts of the collective impinge on this. ‘Daddy’ (1965) addresses the effect of immediate familial impact upon individual self, whilst The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Brave New World (1932) take to the limit the extent to which a sense of collective identity can be engineered and abused for the benefit of the few. However, the subtlety and contradictions inherent in the way that notions of the individual and the collective interact can be seen in the discussion around Gabriel Conroy in ‘The Dead’. Maybe paradoxically, the texts imply and illustrate that an individual’s self-perception is tied in with that of the collective which, on a basic level, implied in ‘Daddy’ and ‘The Dead’, gives a sense of belonging. All texts, however, illustrate to one degree or another, the negative impact upon the sense of individual identity of uncertainties and abuses around the power of the collective.

In my essay, I decided to focus on the idea of identity in both collective and individual terms. The fact that we were able to conjure up our own question played a positive part in terms of the fact I was able to pick a topic around something that particularly interested me, more so the texts which I enjoyed the most. I was particularly interested in The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), so my choice of topic originated from the discovery of the theme of identity within the novel. I then further realised that this theme can be applied to other texts we have studied. I do not normally enjoy the study of poetry as much as novels. However, due to having to include ‘Daddy’ (1965) I had to analyse a poem in detail, especially in terms of my topic. This, I believe, sharpened my poetic analytical skills and heightened my interest. Therefore, for future reference, I will be able to apply poetry to my work more confidently. ‘Daddy’ also inspired me to look into more of Plath’s work, including The Bell Jar (1967).

The way that the first part of the assessment for the 20th and 21st century literature module was set out was very useful for me. I liked the fact that as our first piece for assessment, we were able to form our own question, gather our primary and secondary sources and then make a plan. This made the actual essay much easier to complete. However, having to come up with a total of fifteen secondary sources, originally sounded quite daunting as this was not always something I feel confident in. Nevertheless, it turned out to be an ideal way to prepare me for my final year and my dissertation. It also made me understand further the impact that gathering my own sources has on my work and how reading more articles and using critics within my essay can improve the work impeccably. Looking forward, this is something which I will definitely take more time and effort to do in my assessments. Nevertheless, this was not completely new to me as this approach was also practised in the literature review in the module ‘Romanticism’. Therefore, it gave me a further chance to practice these skills in to the second semester.

The studies from the module ‘Theory into Practise’ was able to furthermore help me complete my essay, as it gave me confidence to apply theory to my work. I chose the concept of ‘dreams’ as my topic in the module, where I focussed solely upon Freud and his ideas surrounding dreams. As a result, I had the opportunity to understand Freud as a critic and research into his other theories, which included identity, making it easy to apply his ideas to this essay.

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18. Robbins, M. (1996) ‘Nature, nurture, and core gender identity’. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (Vol. 44 Suppl.), pp. 93-117

A common tactic that authors use in their novels, plays, and short stories is the use of contrast. More specifically, authors often use contrasting settings in their works that represent different ideas or different types of people to contribute to the overall meaning of their work. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is no different. The main story of Brave New World takes place on Earth but far into the future. The events of Brave New World take place about 600 years “after Ford,” in reference to when Henry Ford’s Model T car was first created in the early 1900s. In the society that Huxley creates in this novel, the entire world is being ruled under a unified government known as the World State. The World State rules over all, with the exception of a few territories. The two territories that Huxley contrasts throughout the novel are the two main areas the story is located: areas with major World State influence and the “Savage Reservation” in New Mexico.

In Brave New World, by Huxley contrasting these two areas by showing how people are being brainwashed by the World State versus the Savage Reservation holding more traditional values of modern times, contributes to the overall meaning of the work by showing the reader that the imperfections of modern society should be cherished, even if they seem to be insignificant. In areas under the influence of the World State, the World State has abolished nearly everything that society today is accustomed to. For example, in society today, all of human life is conceived naturally. Babies are born from a mother and live the life that they are given. In the World State, however, this is most certainly not the case. Some time in the future, scientists were able to find a way to create human life in a lab. Humans are essentially manufactured in labs in large quantities, similar to how Henry Ford’s Model T cars were manufactured in large numbers in factories. The babies are then placed into five castes, which are named after the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon.

Alpha is the highest caste whereas Epsilon is the lowest. Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons are placed in a process known as Bokanovsky’s Process where embryos undergo “a series of arrests of development” (Huxley 6) so that they are physically inferior to Alphas and Betas. By humans being developed in this manner rather than being born naturally like in the world today, it emphasizes one of the central themes that Huxley conveys in Brave New World, which is the lack of individuality amongst the World State. The World State despises individuality and the questioning of the system because they believe that individuality and “[u]northodoxy threatens more than the life of a mere individual; it strikes at Society itself” (Huxley 148). The World State fears individuality, so they have sucked it out of society to create a world where they have complete control and the sentimental things in life like family time and leisure activities do not exist and people are conditioned to believe this is the proper way. The Savage Reservation, however, has a much different philosophy.

On this Savage Reservation, the ideas of the World State are not nearly as present as they are in places such as London, where a great deal of Brave New World takes place. In fact, the reservation greatly contrasts from areas of the World State and is structured a lot like modern society. Two major characters in Brave New World who are accustomed to the traditions of the World State, Bernard and Lenina, tour the Savage Reservation and they immediately notice how different this reservation is to the world that they know. For instance, when Lenina sees an elderly looking man at the reservation, her “eyes were wide with horror and amazement” (Huxley 110). The reason why Lenina reacts in such a manner is because the World State has found a way to eliminate the impact that old age has on one’s body, so Lenina is simply not accustomed to seeing people suffer the effects of old age. Lenina explains that in her society, the “Director [is] old; lots of people are old” (Huxley 110), but they do not appear wrinkled and with white hair like this man. This further shows that the World State has stripped away traditional ideas such as aging through the use of chemicals and conditioning, but the Savage Reservation keeps these traditional values because they are not under the influence of the World State. It appears that they seem to better appreciate what life used to be like before the World State took over the world and set their totalitarian regime into action.

In addition to the Savage Reservation letting people age naturally, they also support the idea of natural birth, which is the way babies are created today. One example of this is John, the son of the Director and Linda, a former Beta woman. Before the events of Brave New World, Linda and the Director visited the Savage Reservation and Linda was impregnated. She was left behind at the reservation and decided to keep the baby because she was denied an abortion. Clearly, because the Savage Reservation denied Linda an abortion, they obviously value life much more than the World State does. The World State has the belief that life is expendable because anyone who dies can simply be replaced by creating and conditioning a new baby in the fertility labs. The people on the reservation, however, see life as valuable because citizens in the reservation are born naturally, so they cannot be simply replaced like in the World State. Even if some traditional values in modern society may seem insignificant, Aldous Huxley urges the reader to further appreciate the values that they may take for granted by contrasting the two main areas of Brave New World, which are the areas under the control of the World State and the Savage Reservation in New Mexico. In the World State, due to their fear of being overthrown, they have created a society where the people are created in a lab rather than born and placed into a social caste system. Even worse, the World State uses various methods to condition its citizens to believe what the World State is doing is correct. On the other hand, the Savage Reservation still holds on to the values of modern society. They value life and there is no conditioning. Despite its name, the Savage Reservation seems to be even more civilized than the World State because they do not appear to suppress the emotions and thoughts of its citizens. They value history and literature, whereas the World State tries to erase most of it from time so that their citizens do not have access to it. This contrast is one of the driving forces of the plot of Brave New World, and without it, Aldous Huxley would not have been able to give the powerful story that he did.