Dystopia In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

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Dystopian literature often requires portraying a futuristic civilization striving to maintain an ideal image of society. Frequently achieved through bureaucratic, technological, or moral means, citizens are held in a permanent state of oppression at the hands of an elite. This is the world Aldous Huxley has created for the reader in Brave New World (Huxley 1958). Whether written with intent through Huxley’s perceptions of human nature or by coincidence, his predictions on modern society have become more apparent since the novels original publication in 1932. Huxley utilizes the contrast of a dystopian society and an emotionally driven reservation, to illustrate the many potential failings that modern human civilization has encountered. At the pinnacle of these aspects is the deterioration of what it means to be a complete human being. Within the reservation, people have forsaken the pursuit of technology and science in an attempt to embrace their emotive selves. This lack …show more content…
Corporations now more than ever dictate how people find their place among others, not culture. This creates a global obedience to an elite and a consumerist model that is portrayed in Brave New World as clothing styles rapidly come in and out of fashion for the purpose of preventing market stagnation (Huxley 1958). The industrial advances occurring throughout Huxley’s life surely contributed to its inclusion into the novel. However, the extremity to which it has been pursued in modern society is more reflective of the imaginings of Huxley’s dystopian London (Huxley 1958). The pursuit of trends creates a false sense of individuality that both Huxley’s fictitious Londoner’s and real people succumb to in many aspects of their lives. Possessing such a narrow window of social acceptability brings about a self-governing conformity, compelling humanity towards a world not dissimilar to Huxley’s