Search for notes by fellow students, in your own course and all over the country.

Browse our notes for titles which look like what you need, you can preview any of the notes via a sample of the contents. After you're happy these are the notes you're after simply pop them into your shopping cart.

My Basket

You have nothing in your shopping cart yet.

Title: Is Brave New World a utopia?
Description: Addresses the question of whether Brave New World is a utopia. First year university work.

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above


How  far  is  the  world  state  utopian?  
 
“Brave  New  World”  is  a  novel  written  in  1931  by  Aldous  Huxley  which  is  set  in  London  of  
AD  2540  (632  A
...
 –  "After  Ford"  –  in  the  book),  the  novel  anticipates  and  imagines  
developments  in  reproductive  technology,  and  operant  conditioning  and  psychological  
manipulation  that  combine  to  profoundly  change  society
...
 
The  world  state  presented  in  “Brave  New  World”  is  a  utopia  in  the  sense  that  most  of  
the  inhabitants  are  happy  and  live  in  what  they  believe  to  be  a  perfect  society
...
 While  in  “Brave  New  World”  the  state  is  logically  consistent  and  
permits  happiness,  it  is  through  a  series  of  manipulative  conduct  that  permits  no  
freedom
...
 The  residents  are  born  into  a  permanent  caste  system,  and  every  stage  in  their  
lives  is  pre-­‐determined,  when  given  a  tour  at  the  beginning  of  the  novel,  the  students  
are  told  that  in  the  hatchery  they    “Predestine  and  condition
...
   People  have  no  say  towards  their  own  
lives
...
 The  World  State  runs  on  a  
dictatorship,  where  everything  is  manipulated  according  to  the  wishes  of  each  
respective  Controller
...
 The  Controllers  decide  on  the  rules  and  laws,  and  also  have  
the  ability  of  creating  propaganda  and  censorship
...
 The  World  State  controls  every  
aspect  of  the  societies  lives  to  eliminate  any  obstacle  to  happiness
...
 This  includes  love,  science  and  religion,  all  of  which  were  
eliminated  through  the  power  of  conditioning
...
 They  are  conditioned  to  "Like  their  unescapable  social  
destiny"  which  is  the  "The  secret  of  happiness  and  virtue"  However,  as  a  result  of  their  
intensive  conditioning,  people  of  the  World  State  are  incapable  of  thinking  beyond  the  
realm  of  what  they  have  been  conditioned  to  think
...
 The  conditioning  begins  with  infancy  and  includes  loud  noises,  electric  shocks,  
and  hypnopaedia
...
 The  conditioning  is  

conducted  in  such  a  way  that  it  prompts  the  children  to  develop  feelings  of  loathing  or  
fear  every  time  they  are  exposed  to  books  or  nature
...
   
 
Soma  is  a  drug  used  to  keep  the  society  stable,  and  to  keep  everyone  content  with  their  
fate  as  it  has  euphoric  qualities
...
 On  closer  inspection,  the  inhabitants  of  “Brave  New  World”  take  soma  to  
escape  from  unpleasant  situations  and  so  consequently,  from  real  life
...
 In  brief,  soma  promotes  a  superficial  hedonism  and  results  in  
alienation  from  reality
...
 They  are  
indoctrinated  in  to  believing  that  taking  soma  is  an  instant  solution  to  any  un-­‐happiness  
they  may  experience-­‐“One  cubic  centimetre  cures  ten  gloomy  sentiments”
...
 Soma  illustrates  the  
debased  value  of  a  spurious,  drug-­‐induced  contentment
...
 
 
It  is  due  to  the  manipulation  of  the  World  Controllers,  facilitated  by  Conditioning  and  
the  distribution  of  soma,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  World  State  are  deluded  in  to  
believing  they  are  happy
...
 There  are  also  incidents  in  which  
characters  such  as  Bernard  Marx  and  Helmholtz  Watson  sense  unhappiness,  but  are  
unable  to  rebel  or  articulate  these  feelings  as  it  is  impossible  to  break  the  social  
restrictions  and  ideals  imposed  in  to  society
Title: Is Brave New World a utopia?
Description: Addresses the question of whether Brave New World is a utopia. First year university work.