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Brave New World: True Happiness

Topics: Brave New World, Personal life, Aldous Huxley Pages: 9 (3753 words) Published: July 15, 2001
What is true happiness? This is an important question that is related to Brave New World, a novel by Aldous Huxley. This book was written right after the first automobile was mass-produced, the Model T Ford. This assembly line production sparked Aldous' mind into thinking if humans were produced in the same way. When Aldous imagined this he thought that the world would be quite different and he decided to write a satire on present day culture. He thought that a world like this would be in a certain state of happiness. The residents of World State A.F. 632 are not truly happy. Instead they live a life of instant gratification, or a fleeting moment of happiness that ends quickly. Also they have no adversities in their life so they are never truly sad so therefore cannot be truly happy. They also can have no happiness in their lifestyle due to the fact they don't have a spouse or one partner. Even though the people think that they are happy they are not truly happy.

The people of World State AF 632 live a life of instant gratification. They prefer, due to conditioning, many bits of instant gratification over one, long smooth happiness. The major reason that people believe they're happy is because they have a lot of sex that is instant gratification if you don't love your partner. The entire culture of World State AF 632 is based around sex that is used to make people think they are happy and keep moral high. "And I had six girls last week. One of Monday, two of Tuesday"¦" (156). This quote is Bernard Marx boasting to Helmoltz about how many girls he had. Another idea that this quote suggests is that Bernard, like the rest of the society basis happiness around sex and this is shown by how he brags about the girls. In this world one would never brag about how beautiful the ocean or forest is. Also illustrated by this quote is how no one truly loves his or her partner. Bernard refers to his encounters as girls and not even by their names, just "girls." The people of the World State like this but they didn't have a choice. Kids are conditioned to like instant gratification over a loving one at a young age. The garden scene, on pages 31-32, depicts young children are playing in a sexual way at a very young age so as they grow up they expect this to continue. This is one of the major ways people are conditioned to like instant gratification over a loving relationship. The sexual games at an early age are a positive encouragement but there is a negative one as well. This is clearly shown on the top of page 24 where the kids are extremely embarrassed and confused when it comes to a mother and a father and a loving relationship. They alienate this so much that the words mother is an obscenity. Sex is one way that the culture shows it prefers instant gratification but soma is the best. This is so widespread and the society is so dependent on it that is a way of life. The people prefer to be happy for a while and die earlier than prolong their own life and abstain from using soma. A doctor explains how he knows soma kills people earlier than they should die but it is worth it (154). This excerpt clearly shows how the society has been brainwashed to believe this. No one has the choice as to whether they will like some or not. These three examples from the novel clearly show how the people of World State AF 632 prefer instant gratification instead of a long loving relationship. Without a loving relationship there cannot be true happiness.

The people of the World State AF 632 cannot be truly happy because in order to feel happy you must have some comparison of sadness. With the way the world is designed, people are never sad and therefore can never be happy. Many people are ignorant of real adversities, but John the Savage understands it. He states that when he says, "I'm claiming the right to be unhappy." (240) He knows that unless he feels sad at times we won't feel happy. John also tries to get happiness from pain that can...
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