Instruments of Social Stability: An ANalysis of "Brave New World"by Alduous Huxley
... the reservation, Linda approaches her and speaks of the disgusting monogamy at the reservation as she says,”take the way they have each other here. Mad I tell you mad. Everybody belongs to everyone else- don’t they? (Huxley 121)”. Even after years away from “utopia” Linda still is enslaved by technologies programming. This also goes hand in hand for Linda’s ultimate choice to return to “utopia’s” ultimate technological addiction- soma. The inhabitants of “utopia” are given a daily dose of soma in order to keep their emotions of happiness constant. It helps them to give into the “oneness” of the society and be adequate instruments of stability. When Linda returns from the reservation back to “utopia” Huxley writes, “The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday(154)”.Linda’s return into soma holiday represented her return to “utopia’s” technological conformity and eventually not only kills her individuality but also her physical person. Lenina is the second character that we see in Huxley’s novel that gives technology the right to her individuality. She experiences many of the same losses that Linda does; however, she has never had the opportunity to see herself out side of technology’s claws. Her first loss is much like Linda’s inability to see the joys of monogamy and romance. Her and Fanny continually discuss the wretchedness of seeing just “one person” and make it a point to be a promiscuous as possible, just as the motto and their conditioning would require it. This also creates a loss of self respect for Lenina as Huxley writes, “And what makes it worse, she thinks of her as meat (53)”. This ultimate acceptance of one’s lack of sexual worth is part of technology’s destructive nature. Also, just like Linda, Lenina demonstrates an ultimate dependency on technology’s “gift of happiness”, soma. When Lenina arrives at the savage reservation, the new free environment of the reservation is frightening to Lenina and she uses soma to escape her fears as Huxley writes, “a gramme is better than a damn (116)”. She eventually goes on soma holiday for the remainder of the trip and looses any chance of experience of the reservation’s world of individuality. Lenina is, however, unlike Linda in that she is almost afraid to experience what could be of her. Linda makes the conscious decision to see beyond “utopia” while living on the reservation, but Lenina is frightened to even think of life with out the safety of technology. Huxley describes her fears as he writes,” and how can you talk like that about not wanting to be a part of the social body? After all everyone works for everyone else, we can’t do without any one (91)”. Because Lenina has been programmed to depend on everyone lese for stability, she will never know what depending upon herself for self worth or individuality is like. The third character that we see almost a false sense of individuality through technology is through the character of Bernard. From the very beginning, technology has cursed Bernard with the inability to be confident with his individuality. Because he is eight centimeters shorter than technology’s standards of a normal alpha, Bernard is constantly seen as an outsider and many people create stories that would explain his “abnormality”. Fanny tells Lenina about the legend of technology backfiring on Bernard’s , when she says,” they say somebody made a mistake while he was still in the bottle- thought he was a gamma and put alcohol in to his blood- surrogate. That’s why he is so stunted (Huxley 46)”. These urban myths about Bernard and his height will constantly place him outside of society, not as an individual but, much like John and Linda, an unwanted outsider. Technology has programmed everyone, but Bernard, to be alike and this will forever define human beings as “one” or not one at all. Bernard’s constant lack of acceptance into the whole of society because of his differences creates contempt for others below him who, although lower in stature and class, still measure up to his own height. The social class system that “utopia’s “ technology has created , makes Bernard feel more like part of nothing , rather than an...