The system which Huxley introduces to us is one of cold, almost clinical efficiency. There is no need for extraneous items and every one is made full use of - even after death, no dignity is spared for the dead as their corpses are burnt for nitrogen. This man-made efficiency opposes the natural order that exists within our world. Instead of birth, perhaps one of the most natural life processes undergone by human beings, members of this society hatch out of test tubes and find the prospect of ‘family’ to be overwhelming grotesque. Their entire lives are ruthlessly planned out for them, even before fertilisation where every member of the World State falls into a caste system and has a designated purpose. The entire concept of a human-directed world is one of the possible reasons as to why the World State is ‘nearer to nightmare’ as it is a world we find inherently abnormal and unnatural yet the poster child members of it know of or want no other way of life.
This same ignorance is also one of the reasons why Huxley’s world may be closer to a nightmare - although undeniably content, the members of the society do not enjoy any form of deep-seated emotion such as love or hate. Their happiness is a simple and somewhat imbecilic and drug-addled one as they know only what has been made known to them and are taught to be content with that slight knowledge. The totalitarian governing system leaves no room for freedom of speech or even thought - what the citizens know is what they have been ‘conditioned’ to know from young, the aim of which is “making people like their unescapable social destiny." This translates into activities such as intentionally stunting growth of foetuses and electro-shock therapy for babies. Whilst the end product of this may be a society that is safe and happy, things that seem fundamental to our current world such as diversity and freedom are forcefully sacrificed to make way for this new world order.
However, Huxley’s ‘world’ also encompasses areas such as the Savage Reservation where the ‘outsiders’ have been relegated to camps. This segregation provides an extremely stark contrast with the picture-perfect World State yet also deters readers from immediately concluding that any alternative to the World State would be better as it paints an almost equally alarming portrait. However, it is important to note that the ways of the World State and the ways of the Savage Reservation are not mutually exclusive - without the absolute control of the World State, society would not necessarily function as the savages do. This is also a reason as to why the world encapsulated in the novel is probably best classified as dystopia and a nightmarish future - it presents a world of extremes, where there is either complete control or barbarism and no room for compromise.
The world carefully constructed by Huxley is one that potentially serves as both a warning as well as an ideal - whilst the society encapsulates important values such as safety and community awareness, we must be careful not to over-step boundaries until we end up sacrificing what is human about ourselves as the World State has done. The world constructed by Huxley is nightmarish in many aspects - perhaps not in the ideals they have achieved but by the means they have resorted to to attain these standards such as the drug soma, as well as conditioning and the classification system. The lack of compromise in the world where it is either all or nothing represent a bleak possible future of the human race and though seemingly perfect on the surface, is ‘closer to nightmare’ within.
795 words.