Brave New World:An Utopia of Forsaken Individuality

In a utopia, society becomes seemingly perfect; everyone is joyous and there are no struggles that people face in normal societies. But in order to attain this “perfection” of society the people must, in return, give up their identities as human beings. In the novel, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley displays the ideal society of the future where everyone has a place and is happy with their social caste, except Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson. They don’t fit in the utopia because they discover their own individualities in a world that is set out to demolish any trace of identity in its inhabitants. On the other hand, Lenina Crowne shows characteristics of a misfit in her history of exclusive relationships but all her values are that of a functioning part of the utopia. Bernard and Helmholtz are able to discover their own identities, while Lenina is more suited for the New World, because they don’t fit within the perfect society like Lenina and everyone else. They realize that they are misfits in such a society by wanting fulfillment and values that the New World is incapable of giving them. Bernard Marx is never able to fit in his position in society which causes him to notice faults in the perfect society. He has the inferior body of a lower caste yet he is in the very high standing social caste of an Alpha. Due to this he becomes an outcast in the alpha society, people are always whispering about how, “somebody made a mistake when he was still in the bottle-thought he was a Gamma and put alcohol into his blood-surrogate”(46). This causes Bernard to have an inferiority complex and want to be alone; which furthers society’s distaste with him because “when the individual feels the community reels” (94). The author uses the hypnopaedic sayings to display how the New World really consumes society’s personalities, making them all similar by having them use the same rhymes often; which control peoples’ minds to a higher extent. Bernard doesn’t use the hypnopaedic sayings, even though he writes them, which sets him apart from society who uses the sayings rather than thinking for themselves but also makes him hypocritical when he becomes annoyed with people for using them. “The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects”(65). The society that was constructed from the demise of identity allowed Bernard’s identity to manifest itself through the recognition of his physical weaknesses. Unfortunately this also causes his identity to be weak when the possibility of being part of society arises in a backhanded way through John’s popularity. Helmholtz fits into the New World physically as an Alpha and is well received by the majority, yet there is something missing in the New World intellectually for him. Helmholtz finds that the New World has shallow social values and doesn’t offer enough challenge for him intellectually while Bernard grows angered by the New World because they see him as physically unfit for his position. Their grievances with the New World allows them to form a comradeship, despite them having the opposite problems with the New World. Helmholtz has the opposite problem that Barnard has; he is too strong to fit in to society, even as an Alpha. Helmholtz realizes his potential for something more in his life but he is unsure about exactly what it is; “It’s not enough for the phrases to be good: what you make with them ought to be good too .They aren’t important enough, somehow. I feel I could do something much more important. Yes, and more intense, more violent. But what?”(46-47). Helmholtz would rather write stories with tragic storylines and philosophize than take soma and have sex like everyone else. He feels underutilized as a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering; he feels the need to do something more with his life. This longing for greatness and fulfillment that society is unable to offer him drives him to become an individual that has needs that don’t only benefit society but benefit him emotionally as an individual. Throughout the story, Lenina’s values represent those of someone who is a well-oiled instrument of The World State. Lenina’s character seems shallow because she can only relate to others through sex instead of conversation but this allows her to fit into society. Huxley describes Lenina as “pneumatic” when Henry describes her to the Director and even when she describes herself; for her character the word “pneumatic” has a double meaning. Lenina is considerably desired by men throughout the book because she is attractive and sexy; “pneumatic” could mean curvy when used as a physical description. Yet it also means “full of air”; imply she is an air-head and that she is just an empty shell of a human because she doesn’t have her own identity. Lenina follows every social rule to the T and preaches every hypnopaedic saying ever whispered in her ear. For example, when Bernard starts talking about wanting to be something separate from the social body she says, “How can you talk like that about not wanting to be a part of the social body? After all, every one works for everyone else. We can’t do without any one” (91). She uses the hypnopaedic saying to combat Bernard’s socially unacceptable desire of being solitary. Lenina has a chance of being an individual in the being but she sabotages her chance of realizing that she could be an individual with her own set of values when she listens to Fanny and tries to not have exclusive relationships anymore like her relationship with Henry Foster. She very well had the potential to be her own person but since she follows the values laid out for her and the rest of society she decides to be like everyone else; to be one with the society of the New World. She also ruins her chances of discovering her own identity by taking soma whenever she feels slightly uncomfortable; the soma keeps her in a high state which doesn’t allow her to think of anything other than things that make her feel happy. In the novel, very few characters are able to find their own identity due to the World State controlling the mass population in underhanded ways. Lenina doesn’t truly find her own identity because she remains true to the values of a World State citizen till the end; she does find love though. Bernard has individuality as a result of alienation yet he loses it once he gets the chance to become part of society. Helmholtz on the other hand finds just what he is looking for, a place where he can challenge his intellectuality and find gratification through struggle. Only certain characters in the novel have their own individuality because they realize that they don’t belong, and therefore, they don’t share the hedonistic values of society. They need fulfillment that the World State cannot give to them through drugs and an easy life; they need struggle in order to attain true happiness. This is true in today’s society; people need to go through strife and problems in order to feel accomplished. Without pain there cannot be pleasure.