A Brave New World
One may think that the society in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a gross representation of the future, but perhaps our society isn't that much different. In his foreword to the novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley envisioned this statement when he wrote: "To make them love it is the task assigned, in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda...." Thus, through hypnopaedic teaching (brainwashing), mandatory attendance to community gatherings, and the use of drugs to control emotions, Huxley bitterly satirized the society in which we live. The way the fascist and totalitarian regimes of the past used mass propaganda techniques to "brainwash" their people was very similar to the way Huxley described the hypnopaedic teachings in his novel. He also thought, however, that the present-day totalitarian states' methods were still "crude and unscientific." For example, in the novel the different classes had been brainwashed since birth to believe that they all contributed equally to society. Therefore, the people wouldn't try to think for themselves because they had never been trained to think anything differently. In addition, they didn't have any knowledge of a society that they could
In conclusion, Huxley poked fun at political tactics and leaders in his discussion of hypnopaedic teachings, community gatherings, and use of drugs in society. It may be nearly impossible to imagine our world becoming the one that Huxley wrote about. We may never know if the book was written to scold society for becoming like that, or to warn us not to. Isn't it possible that this is the society that Huxley wrote about? Maybe our minds are being controlled be the powers that be, or maybe not. But in either case, we are a lot closer to becoming the society in the book than we may realize. Since the hypnopaedic ideas in the society were continuously repeated throughout one's lifetime, attendance to community gatherings, such as the Solidarity Service, were strictly enforced. The main purpose of the Solidarity Service was to promote social stability, and to give people something that they can feel apart of. The people were driven to this by singing songs like the First Solidarity Hymn, which began, "Ford, we are twelve oh, make us one." During this time, people were also consuming soma rations, which drugged them and caused them to get swept up in the service. Consequently, at the end an orgy took place, which brought them together as one being. In comparison, the politic
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Approximate Word count = 861
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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