Brave New World. Huxleys imagined world is nearer to nightmare than to heaven on earth. discuss.

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Question 2: Huxley’s “imagined world is nearer to nightmare than to heaven on earth.”

                    Discuss.

Huxley’s much-analysed ‘imagined world’ could very well be the crux of the novel - a world that is completely safe, where society comes before the individual and everyone is perpetually content. However, Huxley’s novel forces us to confront what must be sacrificed in order to achieve this sort of society and it is often a question if the end justifies the extreme means taken in order to achieve it. There are flaws that exist, however, in the fabric of this ‘perfect’ society - anomalies such as Bernard and even Helmholtz that jeopardise the entire system, providing a contrast for the readers. These flaws are proof that perhaps the statement ‘What man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder.’ is not entirely true and signals the failure of the system to fully eradicate all opposing sentiments - making it a ‘nearer to nightmare’ for those who think differently, such as Bernard.

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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 ...

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