Brave New World Essay

A chaotic world with unstable foundations is less than ideal, yet a world devoid of sadness and love is inhuman, bleak. A society so “perfect” as to embody only happiness, order, and stability is a dangerous one in which one sole vision presides over the rest. The act of conforming to a society which has eliminated pain, sadness, and truth in exchange for efficiency strips us of everything that makes us human. We cannot have humanity without sharing its pain and truth, its happiness and love, and Bernard from Brave New World understands this concept. He sees past the pretenses and understands that they have been conditioned to be less than human in a world that is less than perfect.

Bernard Marx is forced to conform to the society in Brave New World due to his social standing as an Alpha and the conditioning that has been administered to him as a consequence, however he begins to question and wonder. He observes a world in which soma and hypnopaedia control minds and in which individuality is a thing of the blasphemous past. He is pressured to join the mass, to take part in that which is considered essential, yet everything that makes him different leads him on a distinct path. His physical appearance and his refusal of soma and other practices isolate him from the rest. It is in this isolation that Bernard faces his inner struggle. The struggle to conform and be part of the whole or to feel alive, human, an individual.

Bernard wishes to disengage himself from soma, hypnopaedia, and everything that keeps them from thinking freely and feeling deeply. The contrast depicted between Bernard and Lenina, whom is perfectly content living off of her hypnopaedia, illustrates the deep chasm dividing them and serves to show the tension arising from the struggle. Yet Bernard does not necessarily stand up for his beliefs nor does he embrace his individuality, for he hides behind John and Helmholtz, and rather is simply consumed by the bitterness arising from his isolation and disparities. Nonetheless, he is able to identify the flaws in his society and the sense of nothingness which engulfs them all.

           The conditioning of the human race can lead to a cold, empty existence. Love, truth, and pain are irreplaceable components to the structure of mankind and when they are erased from existence they take with them much more. They take our humanity. Human nature is not perfect and once you try to will it to be so, it loses its essence.