A Failed Utopia

A Failed Utopia

In the book a Brave New World by Aldous Huxley we are exposed to a world of unrealistic utopian desire, resulting in and creating a dystopian cautionary tale. To further examine this dystopian tale we must look to two of its main characters Lenina Crowne and John The Savage, who represent the two conflicting sides within this novel. Specifically, Lenina would represent the World State with her sexual promiscuity and her use of soma, where as John represents the Old World Order with his love of literature and need for emotional connections. The two analyzed against each other help to further show how this a dystopian cautionary tale.

To understand why this is a dystopian tale we must first understand the differences between utopia and dystopia. The word “utopia” can be defined as, “A society that has perfect or very desirable qualities.” which is what the creators of the World State intended for it to be. The word “dystopia” can be defined as, “A society in which the conditions of life are extremely bad caused by oppression, terror, or deprivation.” which is what the World State became over time. Similar to the Hunger Games both of these societies started out as ideal utopian societies but over time transformed into dystopian ones.

The World State is represented through Lenina Crowne with her lack of emotions and sexual promiscuity. One quote that really captures the overall views of the society is, "When the individual feels, society reels,"(pg.67), this quote is delivered by Lenina which further supports the claim that this is a dystopian tale by showing how she is okay to live by these rules her society enforces. To more clearly explain this quote, whenever someone starts to feel emotions other than happiness they just take soma to get happy again, which shows the deprivation this society is putting their people through. There is no doubt that being happy all the time would be great but then you are missing out on all the things that make a person an individual, and individuality should be promoted rather than demoted.

John The Savage represents the Old Word Order in many aspects such as the way he values human emotions, art, literature, and family ties. One quote that clearly identifies the differences between the World State and the Old World Order is, “A click; the room was darkened; and suddenly, on the screen above the Master's head, there were the Penitentes