In the novel Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, civilized society lives in a world of

science and technology. Major changes have occurred during the future; Utopia now

revolves around a religion of drugs and sex. God and the cross have been replaced by

Ford and the symbol T . Instead of Sunday church, members now attend solidarity

services where morals and tradition are not learned, but rather faith is taught in the belief

of hallucinations produced by a substance known as soma . These are only a few

differences that can be found between Huxley s masterpiece and our society today.

Besides these differences, Brave New World deals with many issues and ideas that we

consider an essential part in our lives. Although there are similarities between the World

State in which Brave New World is set in and our modern society today, the differences

that exist between the two worlds are more evident and can be seen and described easily.

The main issues that will be discussed and contrasted in this essay include religion, human

life and death, and what we consider art .

Despite Huxley s prediction that there will be no true religion in the future, it can

be found in today s society because of man s need for answers to questions that cannot be

solved by science and technology. Unlike the Utopian society, religion plays an important

role in people's lives today. It represents our principles and values and guides us through

our everyday lives. Religion also gives us something to believe in and a set of rules to live

by. However, who is to say that one hundred years from now people will still believe and

practice religion? Mustapha Mond when referring to the Holy Bible says that they're old;

they're about God hundreds of years ago. Not about God Now. Mustapha Mond is

saying that with the evolution of time the need for religion has disappeared and has been

replaced by the worship of another God who is Ford. I feel that this statement contradicts

the way we think in our present day society; we need religion and an almighty god to

believe in. Besides creating a god and teaching us the way we should live our lives,

religion also helps people deal with our stress and problems. Unlike modern society, Brave

New World deals with stress by the elimination of problems through the use of soma. One

gramme, she decided, would not be enough; hers had been more than a gramme affliction.

But if she took two grammes, she ran the risk of not waking up in time to-morrow

morning. She compromised and, into her cupped left palm, shook out three half-gramme

tablets. As shown in this quote and throughout the novel, the people have been addicted

to soma as to the point of rioting when their supply is threatened. This goes along with

one of the major themes in the novel, drug abuse. Religion is an absolute necessity in our

everday lives and without it, the reality of Brave New World may come true.

A precaution taken in Brave New World to prevent chaos to occur in the utopian

society was the restraint of history, literature and art. According to our views, these things

are unquestionably important and we would go as far as saying that we could not live

without them. But for these people, they are insignificant. This is not the fault of the

people though; they are conditioned to dislike art, books, and nature. They ll grow up

with what the psychologists used to call an instinctive hatred of books and flowers.

They ll be safe from books and botany all their lives. Basically, the ideas of art and

history are sacrificed so the people would not get any independent ideas and have a

conscience of their own. Instead they receive a so called happiness. Mustapha Mond said

it best when he stated: You ve got to choose between happiness and what people used to

call high art. We ve sacrificed the high art. Also, to survive in our present day society one

must have education. Education to us leads to knowledge and for us knowledge is power;

power runs the world. However, for them there is no need for education because they do

not need power. Power will not get them any farther in life then what is already written

out for them. Therefore the knowledge of history and literature are not needed for the

general public. Mustapha Mond sums up this fact in his well-known statement: History is

bunk. Another difference that can be seen between the two worlds is the fact that the

only kind of books in Brave New World accessible to the public are reference books.

Books with opinions and emotions are non-existing. This discretion is needed because

those types of books could challenge the conditioning already served to the people. The

last thing needed in the utopian society is the challenge of their conditioning, which can be

the main reason of the sacrifice of history, literature, and art.

Perhaps the most striking contrast between Huxley s Utopia and our modern

society deals with the issue of human life (procreation) and death. Today, babies are still

the result of intercourse between a man and a woman. In most cases, the birth of a child is

a memorable and joyous event for the woman. In Utopia, however, if a woman is caught

bearing offspring, she will be punished by exile. Offspring not produced the society s way

is a threat to the society s existence, in the eyes of the leaders. Also, in our modern society

we have fathers and mothers, but in Huxley s Utopian society those words are considered

to be obscene. Mother...these...are unpleasant facts; I know it. But then again most

historical facts are unpleasant. The passage in which this quote can be found not only

shows how the brain-washed people of the utopian society look down on giving birth and

having parents, but it also shows how history is restricted to the public. Finally, the last

contrast deals with the behaviors and attitudes towards death among the two societies. In

the Utopian society, people live in a robot-like manner and then they eventually die. It is

as simple as that. They never question what they have been conditioned to do and also,

thanks to their conditioning, they do not fear death, but accept it as a way of life. That

alone is a task that our world still has not been able to accomplish. In our world we must

go through the ritual of the funeral. In the chapter in which John is summoned to the

hospital to eventually deal with the death of his mother, the differences on how we deal

with death compared to the people of Huxley s society can be seen clearly. Should she

speak to him? remind him where he was...of what fatal mischief he might do to these poor

innocents...undoing all their wholesome death-conditioning with this disgusting outcry-as

though death were something terrible... Death is an event that we take with grief and

sorrow, but as one can see in this quote, the Utopians see it as not mattering at all.

In conclusion, one can clearly see the differences between our modern society and

the society that existed in Brave New World. However, now we have to ask ourselves

whether this Utopian society is actually bad at all. This is a world that one can not help but

be happy; a world that replaced, not destroyed religion; a world that even eliminated

racism and stereotypes. It is a world where you only possess knowledge you need, where

everyone has the same values and principals. Finally, here is a world with no war, no

disease and no old age. Is utopia actually that bad? I will leave you pondering this

question, but while you are doing this, think of John, the savage, and the hardships he

went through in the Brave New World. Also think of science and technology, and if they

are not closely monitored, we will find ourselves in the frightening reality of Brave New

World.