Brave New World

Is Brave New World Still Relevant?

Here is the answer I wrote (not sure if it's good enough though): Brave New World still is relevant to modern day life in that it largely defines freedom through the structures that prevent freedom. Bernard Marx feels these constraints most intensely, as when Bernard and Lenina have a conversation about freedom. Lenina insists that everyone has a great deal of freedom - the freedom "to have the most wonderful time". Soma represents this kind of freedom, as it puts people in a hypnotic state in which they no longer feel as though they should ask questions or defy the structures of society. Bernard insists that this is no freedom at all, and instead claims that his ideal of freedom is the freedom to be an individual apart from the rest of society. Bernard strives to be free in his "own way...not in everybody else's way." Huxley argues here that certain structures in our own modern society work in the same way that drugs like soma work in this fantastical dystopia. Huxley often argues against the use of advertising specifically for the way that it hypnotized people into wanting and buying the same products. Such things keep people within predefined structures, and it suppresses free thought and choice, which ultimately restricts freedom.

Asked by
Last updated by Aslan
Answers 1
Add Yours

There are some good points there. I might add, in a more general sense, the eerie similarities with our own society. Consider the materialistic disposable society we live in. If things are broken, we merely buy something new; we don't generally value the elderly as much as we should, we send them out of sight to homes; we use drugs/alcohol to help us cope with life; many relationships are disposable rather than nurtured. These are just a few more ideas for you to consider.