importance towards old people, afraid of the unknown (death), planet is environmentally
endangered, and there is excess of technology.
By looking deeper into the text, one can see more specific similarities like :
Economically these two societies are very much the same, everyone consumes a lot,
even when it’s unnecessary. An example of this would be when Lenina and Bernard are
going out, and Bernard wants to go to the park, but Lenina refuses as she wants to go to a
feelie, since she is conditioned to consume, and one can see that the society is very
materialistic, very much like now, it’s becoming more materialistic everyday.
A good example of the materialistic society would be when Lenina says that throwing
clothes away and buying new ones is better than fixing them.
“Always through away old clothes…Ending is better than mending” P.43
There are more examples of society wanting people to consume all they can by
conditioning people to do and like what they want them to do.
“We condition the masses to hate the country…..but simultaneously we condition them to love all country sports. At the same time we see to it that all country sports shall entail the use of elaborate apparatus. So that they consume manufactured articles as well as transport. Hence those electric shocks.” P.19
Then there are also social similarities, most to do with young kids:
Children all dress according with what they are, if they are Alpha they dress Grey,
Gammas wear green, Deltas wear Khaki and Epsilons wear black which could be
compared with today as different schools have different uniforms and different colors and
in the future it could grow to this extent.
Also when the boy stops playing erotic games with other girls, and rejects playing them,
they have to treat him and bring him to a psychologist. P.27
There is a lot of evidence telling us that sex is very important and there are a lot of
references.
“Orgy Porgy, Ford and fun, Kiss the girls and make them One. Boys at one with girls at peace; Orgy Porgy gives release. P.75
This is supposed to be the final consummation of solidarity where they meet and have
orgies.
Also there are Ethical similarities like loss of family values, and sex is a big part of
society.
“Lenina was protesting, it’s only about 4 months I have been having Henry.” P.35
This shows us that she doesn’t say that she has been dating Henry or going out with him,
but “having” him, which is a sign of him being an object used for sex. This is an example
of things being done for pleasure only and not happiness, there is a big lack of romance,
or is even non-existent.
People have fewer children now than in the past, so the future may very well be similar to
that of Brave New World.
Things like oppression are used in the BNW society as well as here, when Bernard, John,
Lenina etc, went to protest, and started telling people not to take soma and to rebel, the
crowd seems confused, and then Soma is handed out to all people to make them happy
again.
Also the government is corrupted, as the director has had a child with Linda (John), and
didn’t know about it, and this goes against everything in society and is very ironic that
the director should violate the rules, this causes him great discomfort when people start to
know.
Then there are things like the unimportance of old people and the fear of the unknown.
People are afraid of things like being sent to Poland, even though it might be a nice place.
Also the environment is endangered, very much like now.
So as one can see the BNW society is not too different to the one now, Aldous Huxley
has been able to predict what the future will be like very well, as some of these things are
starting to show up in society today, and people are taking them for granted and think its
normal.
We are loosing our freedom and individuality, and are becoming products of society
which are very controlled.
In the BNW society the only thing that matters is the physical characteristics of each
person, and nothing else, which is the case now in the year 2003.
