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Example research essay topic: Brave New World Aldous Huxley - 4,448 words

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A society is, by definition, a group of people with similar interests, beliefs, and ways of life, residing and perpetuating in a specific area. Societies include people, who are organized into families, tight-knit groups of friends, and acquaintances. Individuals within a society possess certain religious affiliations, and are associated with specific institutions and workplaces. This idea of a community allows human beings to act upon their social predispositions, while still submitting to leadership, so long as the leadership seeks to serve the people. What happens, though, when society goes bad? What happens when the government controls every facet of an individuals life, when all traces of emotion, thought, and feeling are lost completely, and when husbands and wives, parents and children are turned against each other?

This is a dystopian society. The topic of a dystopian society is one that is used frequently in literature. Authors often utilize this type of situation in their writing to satirize the society around them, or to provide a warning against what could possibly happen to the world. Three of the most prominent novels that are classified as dystopian literature are Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1984 by George Orwell, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In each of these novels, the respective author is attempting to accomplish a certain goal. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley is warning society about the dangers of becoming too hedonistic and technologically advanced.

Huxley also satirizes people who are constantly in pursuit of instant happiness (Booker 171). With the writing of 1984, George Orwell is warning against leaders who are hungry for power. These people would not hesitate to strip individuals of every freedom if it meant prolonging their control (Booker 208). Lastly, in Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury was responding to Americas cultural environment in the 1950 s (Booker 88). He was warning against extreme censorship, the disappearance of real relationships, and the development of a very fast-paced society. As with all dystopian writers, the writers of these three novels chose to include certain dystopian characteristics in their writing; these characteristics include: a powerful governing body, social classes, skewed relationships between individuals, a skewed sense of identity, censorship, technology, brainwashing, and rebellion by certain characters.

In most dystopian literature, the government in power exerts a great amount of control over the lives of the people, often controlling their very actions and thoughts. The citizens are divided into distinct social classes, and they have no control over the matter. Oftentimes, the government will predetermine the identity of an individual, and emotionally, all subjects are identical. In a dystopian society, the government will use a few methods for controlling the identity of an individual. Censorship is defined psychologically as the prevention of disturbing or painful thoughts or feelings from reaching consciousness except in a disguised form. Censorship can be protecting the people for their own good; however, dystopian rules use it to censor all things that are not promoting their leadership and society.

Technology is the application of science, especially to industrial or commercial objectives. Technology is crucial for any powerful nation or state, however, in dystopian societies; technology is used only to further the goals of the government. Lastly, brainwashing is the application of a concentrated means of persuasion, such as an advertising campaign or repeated suggestion, in order to develop a specific belief or motivation. Brainwashing is never a positive thing, and unfortunately, all citizens in a dystopian society have had their minds molded through the use of brainwashing techniques. As with any society, a dystopian society is ruled by a governing body. However, the motivations of the governing body are what separate a normal society from a dystopian society.

In a dystopian, or dysfunctional, society, the government usually seeks to promote its own goals and aspirations without taking into account the thoughts and needs of the people. This is seen heavily in all three dystopian novels. The first of the three, Brave New World, takes place in futuristic London. In the World State, the lives of the citizens are controlled in every way by the government. The government decides what class they will belong to, what job they will have, where they will live, what they will enjoy, and what activities they can take part in (Huxley 12). This may seem like a daunting task, however, it is made simple due to the fact that every individual is manufactured to be exactly the same, figuring for social status which varies, but is also determined by the government.

There are ten major rulers in government; they are called World Controllers (Huxley 33). The resident World Controller in the story is named Mustapha Mond, and he is the World Controller in Western Europe (Huxley 32). Lastly, the cultural hero in the novel is Henry Ford, who is worshipped like a God (Huxley 191). Citizens commonly use expressions such as My Ford! and Ford speed.

In the novel, 1984, the governing body is known the Party. The job of the Party is to supervise and control all activities of life, which they do through the face of Big Brother, who is supposed to be the supreme ruler in the government. The only thing this government is concerned with is prolonging their own power. In order to do this, they must strip citizens of all freedom, including freedom of thought. The goal of the Party is to create the ultimate dystopia, completely opposite of Huxley's hedonistic society.

In this society, the government is present in every area of the life of an individual. The government supplies a person with their occupation, food, and housing. All daily activities are controlled by Big Brother, loud alarms sound when it is time for a person to do their daily exercises and the like (Orwell 30). Big Brother also monitors people closely to detect any suspicious behavior, and distributes propaganda posters (Orwell 5).

Basically, everything that happens in the world and to the individual is the result of the government. There is no individualism at all, and conformist behavior is essential. The government is the eye that is constantly watching over its subjects. The novel Fahrenheit 451 takes place in futuristic America. The government in place is a totalitarian government, which makes use of censorship and brainwashing. The citizens do not think for themselves, in fact, they hardly think at all.

They are constantly bombarded by media that real thoughts cannot manifest. This is what the government is striving for, because during the course of the novel, it is trying to cover up a huge war that threatens to destroy the world. If people have no time to think or ponder philosophically, they will not question the motivations and actions of their government. One thing that is unique to this society is the fact that the citizens willingly submit to the government. In Brave New World, citizens are brainwashed, so they cannot think anything different, and in 1984, the citizens are forced to conform.

In Fahrenheit 451, citizens are brainwashed, but it is with their consent. The people are fully capable of turning off their huge televisions, taking out the seashell radios, driving slower, and taking time to think, but they chose not to. It is easier for them to get caught up a fast paced, media-driven world. If a person was to decide to turn off their television for a while, the government would not come after them, and they would not be punished, however, they all chose to live the way that they do, and that is what has become acceptable in society. In many dystopian civilizations, the citizens are divided up into social classes. A social class is defined as a group of people with the same social and economic status.

This type of social status is seen in almost every civilization in the world; however, dystopian societies implement the class system in different ways. Often, the people have no control over which class they belong to, it is usually dictated by the government. As with all things, the government utilizes the class system to further its own interests. Brave New World is a novel that displays the class system very clearly. In the novel, the citizens are divided up into five distinct social classes; these include Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. They are all conceived in test tubes through the Bokanovsky process, which produces ninety-six infants from one single fertilized egg (Huxley 4).

These growing infants are given food and other necessities via injections into their test tube fluid. As the fetuses mature, they are provided with what they require at that point in their gestation. It is all very systematic, and if one step is skipped or neglected, there are serious results. Now, there are some instances in which select fetuses will be deprived of important things. In the creation of an Epsilon, for example, the fetus will be deprived of oxygen (Huxley 13). This deprivation leads to decreased mental capability in the child, and later in the adult.

Since the Epsilon will only be used for menial tasks, like manual labor, there is no need for it to have a high level of intelligence. Epsilons and Deltas are also genetically engineered to have a great amount of strength and endurance, which will suit them in their positions as they mature. On the other hand, the highest class, the Alphas, are engineered to have extremely high intelligence quotients. This is necessary because they will one day assume occupations that require a higher amount of intelligence and reasoning ability (Huxley 16). This society is very class-oriented, and the classes are very obvious. One has to wonder, though, if Epsilons or Deltas ever feel angry that they were not predestined to be Alphas.

The answer is that they do not. Much of the governments technological efforts are directed toward this, because if the class system is not stable, everything fails. Citizens must first be content in their social class if they are to function in society (Huxley 15). Since the classes in this society are so distinguished, there is hardly any reason for individuals of two different classes to associate with each other (Huxley 27). The Epsilons and Deltas serve the Alphas and the Betas. As far as relationships within the classes go, there are friends, and lovers.

The only variable that this is dependent upon is gender. Everyone of the opposite sex is a potential lover. The government uses the class system in this civilization to make society run very smoothly. All members of each class are essentially the same, and the lower classes are even made up of exact clones. This makes everything run nicely because there is never a shortage of manual laborers or of highly skilled white collar workers. The government can manufacture as many citizens from each class as it needs to in order to maintain stability (Huxley 9).

In the novel, 1984, there are three distinct social classes. The first class is made up of the inner party members (Orwell 12). These are the individuals that are involved first hand in the government; they are usually involved with the Thought Police (Orwell 6), Ministry of Truth (Orwell 8), and the like. These people work under the face of Big Brother, and their job is to make sure that everything is running smoothly and that there is no unorthodoxy going on.

The second, and biggest, social class is known as the outer party (Orwell 29). These are the average citizens. These people are under constant surveillance by the inner party members and Big Brother. Everything about their daily lives is controlled by the government. They are designated jobs and homes, and the government directs their every action. These people are also the target of all of Big Brothers propaganda.

The signs and posters reading Big Brother is watching you! are all directed towards them (Orwell 5). They also have to go through the two minutes hate every day, and their lives are monitored continuously via tele screens (Orwell 3 - 16). This party is under the greatest scrutiny by their government. The last party in Orwell's dystopian society is known as the Proles.

A Prole is the Newspeak way of describing a member of the proletariat or working class. In this society, the Proles are equated with animals, and therefore are relatively free compared to members of the party (Orwell 62). Unlike the party members, whose lives are constantly monitored through tele screens, the world of the Proles is relatively free of such devices (Orwell 82). The reason for this is that the Proles lack advanced reasoning ability and cannot organize (Orwell 73). The government simply uses them for menial tasks, much like Deltas and Epsilons in Huxley's Brave New World. The Proles are only concerned with the basic needs of life, eating, drinking, breeding, and fighting.

They pose no threat to the government, so therefore, they are granted much more freedom than are members of the party (Orwell 62). The last novel, Fahrenheit 451 differs from the previous two in that the social class are indistinct from those we know of today. Although the government censors written literature and bombards citizens with media, the socio-economic situation is virtually the same as it is in America in this day and age. If a person is poor, it is not because the government has made them that way; the same concept applies to the wealthy. The government does not control a persons occupation or housing. Also, the government does not alter an individuals personal capacity for performance to suit its needs.

There really is no way that the government takes advantage of the class system in this dystopian society. In a dystopian society, government controls everything about the life of an individual. This control leads to the distortion of relationships. In dystopian societies, relationships are skewed; there are no true friendships or intimate relationships.

Even families, the tightest social unit, are twisted. In Huxley's Brave New World there are two different types of relationships, relationships between people of the same social class, and people of different social classes. As far as relationships within the classes go, there are friends, and lovers. The only variable that this is dependent upon is gender. Everyone of the opposite sex is a potential lover, and everyone of the same sex is a friend or comrade (Huxley 67).

Each night, the citizens go out and engage in unrestricted sexual activity with members of their own social class, and the next day they refer last nights lover to their best friend (Huxley 44). Conversely, members of a certain class do not associate with members of another. Epsilons and Deltas serve the Alphas and Betas by getting their helicopters ready, operating their elevators, and the like. There are no friendships or sexual relationships between members of these classes. The government uses these relationships to promote a hedonistic way of life.

Since everyone is allowed complete access to everyone at all times, there is never unhappiness or the consciousness of a desire that cannot be fulfilled. The relationships between individuals in the novel, 1984 differ greatly from the relationships between individuals in Huxley's dystopia. In the World State, there is no trust, and camaraderie is non-existent, although the government tries to make it look as though it does exist. In this society, citizens refer to each other as comrade (Orwell 20).

This words implies a sense of friendship, fidelity, and trust, however these things are not present in relationships in this dystopian world. In fact, there is a complete absence of trust; children are encouraged to rat out their parents, and spouses are urged to report unorthodox behavior in each other (Orwell 24). They all serve as extensions of the government, and the Thought Police, the secret police who use psychology and surveillance to monitor thought crimes (Orwell 6). If a person is unable to trust their spouse, they will not be able to trust anybody else.

Life is full of suspicion; a person never knows who is for, and who is against Big Brother; so it is better if they do not trust anybody, misjudgment could have deadly effects. Unlike Huxley's society, sexuality is strictly controlled in Orwell's novel. The government accepts the Freudian energy-based model, which says the energy that is required for sex could be used to serve the party (Orwell 42). The government says that sex is a very disagreeable activity, and should be used for procreating strictly in the context of marriage (Orwell 58). The control of sexual relationships also serves to control the formation of strong emotional attachments between individuals. These kinds of attachments are undesirable to the government.

Lastly, in this dystopian society, families and friends do exist, however the words carry different meanings. People will consider themselves to be friends, although they hold no trust between them, and they do not confide in each other (43). Likewise, a family is made up of parents and offspring, but there is no love or caring between family members. Unlike in the previous two novels, the citizens in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 do not suffer from government control in their relationships.

The relationships between people are skewed; however, it is not the governments doing. The people have submitted to a fast-paced, media driven world, so their relationships have suffered because of it. For example, the relationship between fireman Guy Montag and his wife Mildred is virtually nonexistent. Mildred's mind is so bombarded by media that she has become completely detached from reality.

Guy even asked Mildred when and where they first met, and she had no idea. When did we meet? And where? When did we meet for what? She asked. I mean originally.

I dont know, she said It doesnt matter (Bradbury 42 - 43). Also, other citizens do not have relationships with each other. They gather as friends, but do not talk of anything of significance; all they do is watch their giant television screens. Or I listen [to people] at soda fountains, and do you know what? What? People dont talk about anything.

Oh, they must! No, not anything. They name a lot of cars or clothes or swimming pools mostly and say how swell! But they all say the same things and nobody says anything different from anyone else (Bradbury 31). These people think that they have friendships, healthy marriages, and happy lives, but in reality they are all blinded by the whirlwind of noises and images that surrounds them daily. Personal identity is defined as the distinct personality traits that define an individual (dictionary).

Due to the fact that their society is dysfunctional, citizens in a dystopian society are made to have skewed views of themselves and their personal identities. In Brave New World, the free sex idea forces individuals to accept twisted ideas of themselves, and their identities. As young children, citizens are conditioned to believe that everyone belongs to everyone else (Huxley 30). Instead of being possessive of his lover, a man will instead refer her to his friend (Huxley 39). If everyone belongs to everyone else, a person is no more their own than they are their neighbors. People have no more worth than a piece of property or furniture.

Once they have lived their useful life, they die, and society moves on. One person is not important to any one other person. Also, death is a very accepted part of life. As children, citizens are conditioned so that they do not fear death (Huxley 208). Since people have no moral worth, and they do not form romantic ties or intimate friendships, they feel that they are no more important to the world than a piece of furniture.

They serve their purpose, and they have some fun, but there is nothing beyond that. A persons true character and identity are evident through their thoughts and verbal expressions. For the citizens of Orwell's 1984, their identities are skewed because they are not permitted to conceive original thoughts, read literary classics, and express themselves verbally. Citizens are monitored constantly through tele screens, in their homes and public places. Big Brother is always watching on the other side, and people must be very conscientious of how they are behaving. Peoples thoughts are also monitored by the government.

Thoughts are controlled by what is called the Thought Police (Orwell 6). The Thought Police is the secret police that uses psychology and observation to detect anti-party thoughts in party members. When a persons very thoughts are taken away from them, their very identity goes away. Everyone becomes the same, just mindless followers of the party. Lastly, the new language of Orwell's dystopia, called Newspeak, seeks to take away individual identity. Newspeak is defined as any attempt to restrict disapproved language by a government or other powerful entity (Orwell 45 - 46).

Through the usage of Newspeak, the Party is removing all unnecessary words from the language. If people have no words to express their thoughts, the thoughts cease to exist. Thoughts cannot exist without a means of expressing them. It is in these ways that the government forces its citizens to adopt a skewed personal identity. In order to develop a positive identity, it is necessary for an individual to have time to think and reflect on life, and what their life means. However, in Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, citizens live lives that are so bombarded by media, that they have lost all traces of personal identity.

They have become shells, only caring about the visual and the auditory things they can experience. Most people have television screens the size of walls in their house and usually two or more walls will be made up of these television screens. The volume on the televisions is always turned up very high, and the programs are all loud so it is impossible to talk over them. Also, the citizens drive very fast, usually over 100 miles per hour.

This is dangerous, and it is impossible to carry on a conversation at this speed with the wind whipping inside the car. Lastly, they always have little seashell radios plugged into their ears. These radios are on anytime when other media is not available, even during sleep. And in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her un sleeping mind (Bradbury 12). They completely lack meaning and purpose in their lives, and these things also help shape a persons identity. One of the main ways that totalitarian governments get their ideas into the minds of the public is through the use of censorship.

Censorship is the prevention of disturbing or painful thoughts or feelings from reaching consciousness except in a disguised form (dictionary). Censorship is used in the society of Brave New World as a means of eliminating strong feelings. Those who lead this civilization believe that if people are permitted to read things like Shakespeare, which are filled with strong emotions, they will be filled with emotion as well (Huxley 124 - 125). As far as this society is concerned, emotion in general is a bad thing. It is undesirable for people to drift away from their perfect happiness. They should not be reading anything that could provoke sadness or any similar feeling.

The leaders of society desire stability, emotions are by nature unstable, which is why they are not allowed. Also, the themes written about in poetry are things that citizens would have no understanding of. Shakespeare's poetry talks about love and pain, both of which are not present in society. Censorship is a true mark of a dystopian society because it allows the government to control what the populace sees, which in turn will control what the populace feels. In the World State, beautiful works of art are censored, because the leaders do not want the people feeling any kind of strong emotion that could result from reading those works. The leaders at the conditioning centre also use different forms of aversion therapy to eliminate the childlike attraction to beautiful objects.

For example, at the conditioning centre, it was time for a group of Bokanovsky babies to learn to dislike books and flowers. So, the nurses laid colorful books and roses on the floor and released the babies. As the babies approached the books, there was an explosion of sirens causing the babies faces to be distorted with terror (Huxley 19 - 20). This horrible scene is just one example of how, at a young age, citizens are forced to form an aversion to things like flowers, and therefore leave behind the natural human love for nature and color (Huxley 21). Censorship is seen very heavily in 1984. It is the main means by which citizens in the society loose their identities; it prevents citizens from conceiving original thoughts, ideas, and emotions.

One of the major ways that the government censors what the populace sees is through the Ministry of Truth. This ministry controls all literature that circulates in Oceania. It is the official producer of lying propaganda (Orwell 8). It is also in charge of the tele screens and party organization. Winston Smith, one of the main characters, works for the ministry of truth, rewriting history (Orwell 40).

The ministry has a policy of amending any written documents that speak against the government. It is constantly revising history, and will even invent people that do not exist to support the party. Since the government is the ultimate source of truth, it is never wrong (Orwell 42). Another way that the government heavily censors peoples lives is through the adoption of Newspeak. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania. One of the goals of Newspeak is to censor out any words that are in opposition to the party.

In fact, all words deemed unnecessary are deleted. For example, the word wonderful is not needed, so the word good is used. However, in order to show that something is more than good, a plus is added in front, so the word becomes plus good. If plus good simply will not do, and whatever is being talked about is amazingly wonderful, the word can be changed to be doubleplusgood. This system makes language very systematic, and instead of having to choose between words like wonderful, excellent, or amazing, one needs only to say doubleplusgood! Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well...

If you have a word like 'good', what need is there for...


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Research essay sample on Brave New World Aldous Huxley

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