A Brave Scrutiny of Totalitarianism in Aldous Huxley

Philippine Normal University
British Literature
Erickson P Avila
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II-2 AB/BSE Literature March 26, 2013

“A Brave Scrutiny of Totalitarianism on Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World”

Aldous Huxley had taken a brave road as he ventured the possibility of implementing Totalitarianism in the society, through his novel which was written in 1931 and published in 1932 entitled Brave New World.

I. Bit of Information about the Novel:
The story revolves around the life of people in the year of stability, A.F 632, (which means after Ford the god of the new world). The society depicted in the novel is consist of a caste system- the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Ten Controllers hold all the power in this new world and peace is maintained by conditioning infants’ mind and by soothing adults with the tranquilizer- soma. The population is further controlled through scientific methods; marriage is forbidden, and children are not born but produced in an embryo factory using Bokanovsky’s process or Bokanovskyfication to create a maximum of ninety-six human beings in one egg.
The characters in the story are John the savage, Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, Mustapha Mond, Lenina Crowne, Linda, Henry Foster, Fanny Crowne and the Director of Conditioning and Hatcheries. II. “COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY” -World State’s motto , Brave New World, 1.
Aldous Huxley gave a hint to his readers that there is a sense of totalitarianism on his novel having these three words which comprise the slogan for society. (Totalitarianism is a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life whenever necessary).
‘Community’
“Every one belongs to every one else.”
This signifies that all people must work together under one ruler, for the society to maximize its greatest happiness as a whole. There must no human activity which is without interest to the totalitarian ruler. In a totalitarian rule, it could actually come to a point where the personal happiness of the people is not the main concern of the leader anymore, because people must work not just for themselves but for the whole community We can see it in the novel where the controller exclaimed
“That’s how I paid. By choosing to serve happiness. Other’s people’s- not mine. It’s lucky.” (Chapter 16. p.251).
This I think indicates how people became submissive to work for the society. People have no choice but to conform to the patterns of his society because they were all under one ruler, where we can see in the place of Ford the god of the new world and somehow he could be associated to a totalitarian leader, everything must be according to his plan and will- for the society, “Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state,” Mussolini proclaimed in a 1925 speech. In history, before and after the release of Brave New World arose people like Stalin(mid-1920’s – 1953) and Hitler(1934-1945). These two leaders were both leave a mark on the world’s history in the field of governing people.
Aldous Huxley included on his Brave New World Revisited the problem about “Over-Population.” Human numbers are now increasing more rapidly than at any time in the history of the species, and this problem on human population might trigger a ruler to be a dictator. Why? Because basically, the larger the population the greater the power of a leader. The leader of the state will gain more power as the range of his authority becomes wider. Thus it will lead this to an over-organized society, for as the population grows, as well as their needs- and we know that in this case the government is the one who manage this kind of matter - the ruler will really get a greater opportunity to control people the more. In Brave New World, this problem on human numbers had been effectively solved by means of putting them into a caste system, conditioning the infants through hypnopaedia, brain washing and controlling people’s emotion and mind through regular take of soma. People are being controlled and “everyone works for everyone else” by these the satisfaction of the state or perhaps the one who controlled the state had met. Individualism was being box so that the focus of the people will be on the state. “When the individual feels, the community reels” (Chapter 6). A slogan discouraging individualism in favor of the community as a whole.

‘Identity’
Each person must be happy, contented, and stable with their own identity to reach the desired goal of the society. We see the social hierarchy on Brave New World – the Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons, Obviously Huxley was influenced by the caste system in Hinduism which still existed officially in the India of his times (abolished in 1949). In ‘Brave New World’ - as well as in Hinduism - divisions between castes are created by predestination and their function in society. The whole life of each being is coined by the affiliation to a caste. There are significant differences between the members of the castes, such as varieties regarding outer appearance, differences concerning intelligence and work as well as miscellaneous transport systems and housing. As a result of predestination and conditioning, everyone is happy and thus stability is achieved.
The story shows how each person accepts their predestined role in the society without complaining. In the social castes, the Alphas, were the most talented and beautiful people in the society, and the Epsilons and Gammas were the world’s menial laborers. For me, there is no equality on the way they put people into hierarchy. But this line from Lenina Crowne "Everyone works for every one else. We can 't do without any one. Even Epsilons..." (p. 91) showed that there is actually an ‘equality’ on their society under Ford. Lenina Crowne was trying to say that people cannot work without others, yes they were put into a certain place/level and role in the society and yet people believed that they were all equally made and the work given to them was actually acceptable because they were conditioned to do that. Conditioning people through taking dosage of soma, sleep teaching, sexual orgy for solidarity made them feel as though they were all part of an ideal economic and social system. later in the novel, John Savage tried to point out that such a system only benefits those who rule over the society, and not those who are part of it. Why does a character like John the Savage present in the story? As I’ve read about Aldous Huxley he is one of the liners of Democracy in his age. Meaning John Savage could be the representation or the symbol of the ‘old world’ where emotion and individualism were important.
"But I don 't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin." – John Savage (Chapter 17)
Huxley somehow, used his novel as a call for freedom for those people whom might experience oppression in the future.
"Don 't you wish you were free, Lenina?"
"I don 't know what you mean. I am free. Free to have the most wonderful time. Everybody 's happy nowadays." He laughed, “Yes, ‘Everybody’s happy nowadays.” ‘We begin giving the children that at five. But wouldn’t you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, not in everybody else’ way.”(Chapter 6) He used some of the characters to speak out his own stand about freedom, morality, and society. Like the example given above, the confrontation of Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne. Another example is John the Savage- on his debate with Mustapha Mond. The debate focuses on the crux of the novel, modern humanity’s dilemma between the old and the new world- between science and emotion, between individual freedom and social stability, and between materialism and spiritualism.
In Brave New World, Identity is also achieved by teaching everyone to conform, so that someone who has or feels more than a minimum of individuality is made to feel different, odd, almost an outcast.

‘Stability’
The ultimate goal of a totalitarian society is ‘stability’ because only through stability that we can maintain happiness and all unpleasant feelings and emotions will be eradicated because everything is stable..
"Stability," said the Controller, "stability. No civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability." (Chapter 3) Aldous Huxley had given factors concerning the possible ways to control people and thus to attain stability. First is the use of science to brainwash the people. On the road to Brave New World our rulers will have to rely on the transitional and provisional techniques of brainwashing. In the Brave New World the soma habit was not a private vice, it was a political institution, it was the very essence of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The daily soma ration was an insurance against personal maladjustment, social unrest and the spread of subversive ideas. The use of science to persuade or to control people could possibly be used according to Huxley, in the future.
“A gramme in time saves nine.” (Chapter 6) In the Brave New World no lower castes ever gave any trouble, because from the moment he could speak and understand what was said to him, every lower caste child will be exposed to endlessly repeated suggestions, night after night, during the hour of drowsiness and sleep, this process is call Hypnopaedia. If this is effective, this would be a tremendously powerful instrument in the hands of anyone in a position to impose suggestions upon a captive audience. Based on Brave New World Revisited, there is a possibility of establishing the concept of non-violent totalitarianism. Usually to maintain the stability of the state there should be a law or rules and regulations to follow, and whenever someone contravened the law there will be a corresponding punishment. Like in Brave New World Bernard Marx and Helmholtz didn’t experience any signs of torture or any physical punishment by participating a riot on a hospital but rather the controller had decided to send them into an island. Meaning in the future the physical punishment might transform into a new kind of a non-violent totalitarianism. There would arise the use of, for example, mass media to contaminate the mind of the people. Nowadays, the role of mass media is not just to give information and to entertain its audience but now it could actually be use as a tool for propaganda and other agenda of the government.

The things that I’ve presented above, were the possible ways to control people, and it correspond to some of the tenets of Totalitarianism, as follows;
I. A totalitarian state seeks to subordinate all social institutions to the control of the state and thereby remove all possible challengers to its control. No human activity is without interest to totalitarian rulers. To control the behavior of its citizens, totalitarian regimes recognize no limits to the means by which their ends are achieved.
A. Totalitarian systems attempt - and succeed to a degree - to direct the behavior and thoughts of their citizens by maintaining control over all sources of information.
B. Totalitarian states seek to force conformity on its citizens and subordinate all human activity to its control.
C. Totalitarian regimes will use any techniques - physical or psychological to achieve absolute control over society.

III. Conclusion: My Own Little Voice We are living 81 years after the Brave New World was published. The prediction of the new world by Aldous Huxley as it was depicted in the novel was not that merely happening now. There is no mass production of human beings, compulsory drug taking, sleep teaching for infants and public orgy-porgy. However, Some of Huxley’s speculation in the future were actually already present on our age. Like over-population, the rise of science and technology- including its power and influence among human beings, the liberated society, and the violation of human rights and freedom. For me, we don’t have to be afraid, as long as we know where to stand and know to whom we should hold on. No one in this world has the right to box our freedom or even our individual worth. The world presented by Huxley could be prevented we are not the holder of the world because it belongs only to the one who created it.

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References:
Aldous Huxley “ Brave New World Revisited” mrcharon.Retrieved March 24,2013.fromhttp://www.mrcharon.net/aptot25/aplinks25tot7prin.html
Totalitarianism.firstprinciplesjournal.Retrieved.March24,2013.fromhttp://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=974

References: Aldous Huxley “ Brave New World Revisited” mrcharon.Retrieved March 24,2013.fromhttp://www.mrcharon.net/aptot25/aplinks25tot7prin.html Totalitarianism.firstprinciplesjournal.Retrieved.March24,2013.fromhttp://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=974