Brave New World Revisited

“Ours was a nightmare of too little order; theirs, in the seventh century A.F., of too much.” 

Huxley is comparing the social situation during the Great Depression, the era in which he wrote Brave New World, with the world as it is presently shaping up during the Cold War. He expresses his conviction that over-organization is ruining the modern world, just as it did in the novel. 

“Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government.” 

Huxley is arguing that overpopulation will drive the world to an economic and political crisis, which will in turn lead to a world communist dictatorship. According to Huxley, these kinds of crises create the ideal environment for dictators to seize power and centralize authority in themselves. 

“But the Nature of Things is such that nobody in this world ever gets anything for nothing.” 

Humans have achieved great advances in science and technology, which Huxley applauds. Yet these advancements come at a cost; they must be “paid for” in the form of centralization of power and increasing control of citizens’ lives. 

“As the Little Men disappear, more and more economic power comes to be wielded by fewer and fewer people.” 

This passage amplifies the meaning of the previous quote, asserting the existence of the Power Elite. An example of technological advance is machinery for mass production, which only the richest businessmen can afford. Thus, the Little Man is shut out from economic advancement and the reach of the affluent Power Elite grows. 

“Any culture which, in the interests of efficiency or in the name of some political or religious dogma, seeks to standardize the human individual, commits an outrage against man’s biological nature.” 

One of Huxley’s major arguments concerns his belief that individualism is rooted in human nature. Each person is unique and has received a genetic inheritance unlike anyone else’s; this individualism is worthy of respect and reward, and thus, political and social systems should not treat people as if they are all the same.

“But though indispensable, organization can also be fatal. Too much organization transforms men and women into automata, suffocates the creative spirit and abolishes the very possibility of freedom.” 

Huxley acknowledges that a healthy social life requires a certain amount of organization to run smoothly and not descend into chaos. At the same time, however, Huxley points out that too much organization destroys freedom and the individual spirit. Huxley advocates a balanced middle course between the extremes of a “free-for-all” on the one hand and total control on the other. 

“[A] new Social Ethic is replacing our traditional ethical system—the system in which the individual is primary.” 

Huxley argues that individualism is giving way to collectivism in modern society. The new collectivism flies under the banner of the Social Ethic, which prioritizes group loyalty over the individual or the family. This prioritization is dangerous and unhealthy, as it forces the value of the individual down.

“In 1984 the lust for power is satisfied by inflicting pain; in Brave New World, by inflicting a hardly less humiliating pleasure.” 

One of the main differences between Orwell’s and Huxley’s novels is that the former depicts a violent totalitarianism and the latter a non-violent one which is all the more insidious because it pretends to be benign. This seemingly benevolent form of tyranny is “humiliating” because it reduces human beings to merely receptors for pleasurable sensations. 

“’If the first half of the twentieth century was the era of the technical engineers, the second half may well be the era of the social engineers.’” 

This quote, from an anonymous author cited by Huxley, illustrates the contrast between the older totalitarianism depicted in Orwell’s 1984 with the coming totalitarianism depicted in Brave New World. Hard science, which developed the atomic bomb and other weapons of destruction, is increasingly giving way to social and psychological science, aimed at reaching people on a subconscious level and manipulating their thoughts and desires. 

“There seems to be a touching belief among certain Ph.D.’s in sociology that Ph.D.’s in sociology will never be corrupted by power.” 

Huxley points out that academic knowledge does not ensure virtue or wisdom. Scientific experts who set themselves up as the leaders of society should not be left unsupervised or unanswerable to any other authority. Even experts who claim specific knowledge about human behavior and social patterns are not exempt from the ability to exploit their knowledge.

“The power to respond to reason and truth exists in all of us. But so, unfortunately, does the tendency to respond to unreason and falsehood…” 

Huxley acknowledges man’s dual nature—good and evil—and rejects a naïve belief in human progress and perfectibility. Thus, humans must be on guard against the darker side of human nature, particularly in the fields of politics, ethics and religion, where truth is often elusive and must be diligently searched out. 

“Thanks to technological progress, Big Brother can now be almost as omnipresent as God.” 

The phrase “Big Brother” originated in Orwell’s 1984 and entered the lexicon as a term for an intrusive and overly controlling government. Huxley is referring to the ever-increasing presence of the government thanks to the extended reach of mass media, which to him, is a form of propaganda and mind-control.

“In an age of accelerating over-population, of accelerating over-organization and ever more efficient means of mass communication, how can we preserve the integrity and reassert the value of the human individual?” 

This passage contains the central dilemma of the book. Huxley asserts that members of free societies still have time to find an answer to this crucial question, but time is running out. Huxley believes that within a short time, the loss of freedom will have taken society to a place of no return. Here, the individual’s value will no longer be redeemable. 

“We no longer buy oranges, we buy vitality. We do not buy just an auto, we buy prestige.” 

Propaganda in the form of advertising tries to link a product for sale to a conscious or unconscious desire. Advertising tries to convince consumers that a material object will provide happiness or some other immaterial quality. Visual or verbal symbols are employed in advertisements in an irrational manner to appeal to people’s wants and needs. To Huxley, advertising is a prime example of the power of propaganda in modern society. 

“If he will but accept the true faith, he can yet be saved—not, of course, in the next life (for, officially, there is no next life), but in this.” 

Huxley is referring to the victim of Soviet brainwashing techniques. Some victims are meant to be exterminated, but others are meant to survive so that they can be converted to the communist cause. As atheists, most communists do not believe in an afterlife; they believe instead in creating a utopia on earth in which the whole world will be converted to communism. 

“[T]he demand of the American public for something that will make life in an urban-industrial environment a little more tolerable is so great that doctors are now writing prescription for the various tranquillizers at the rate of forty-eight millions a year.” 

Huxley’s mention of society’s demand for tranquilizing substances appears in the context of a discussion of totalitarian governments that use drugs on their subjects as a form of mind-manipulation. Americans use drugs as an escape from the drudgery of modern life, and Huxley points out that people in the future will naturally gravitate toward drugs, and the state will no longer need to force drugs upon them.

“Every individual is biologically unique and unlike all other individuals. Freedom is therefore a great good, tolerance a great virtue and regimentation a great misfortune.” 

This passage contains a succinct statement of Huxley’s belief in individualism and the corresponding evil of collectivism. The statement sums up many of the themes and opinions discussed in Brave New World. 

“In a word, Shakespeare’s plays were not written by Shakespeare, not even by Bacon or the Earl of Oxford; they were written by Elizabethan England.” 

In this passage, Huxley sums up the opinion of scientists and sociologists who deny the importance of individual accomplishment. Huxley acknowledges the debate around the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays and claims that he has the answer to the controversy; according to these scientists and sociologists, no other individual could have written the plays, only the social environment of the playwright. 

“[I]f Bismarck and Lenin had died in infancy, our world would be very different from what, thanks in part to Bismarck and Lenin, it now is.”

Huxley asserts the impact of individual actions and accomplishments on history in this passage, noting that the impact of leaders like Bismarck and Lenin is profound. Individuals like Bismarck and Lenin affect the social environment while they are also influenced by the social environment; to Huxley, the world has been marked by these individuals, whose impacts should not be minimized.

“In real life, life as it is lived from day to day, the individual can never be explained away.” 

Once again, Huxley asserts the primacy of the individual. While people are influenced by their environment and culture, their actions nevertheless are a result of their individual temperament and personality. People inherit these characteristics through genetics; the social environment cannot be credited with every formative aspect of an individual.

“If this kind of tyranny is to be avoided, we must begin without delay to educate ourselves and our children for freedom and self-government.” 

In the final two chapters of this collection of essays, Huxley calls on readers to review the political foundations upon which the United States was built. In this way, readers will be able to combat the dehumanizing forces threatening modern society, all of which operate in opposition to the values of democracy on which the United States were founded. 

“An unexciting truth may be eclipsed by a thrilling falsehood.” 

Huxley acknowledges that declarations of truth are no longer enough to counteract the pernicious influence of propaganda. Propaganda spreads lies by using attractive imagery and/or emotional appeals to pleasure or fear. The “thrilling falsehood” is therefore more interesting and persuasive than the accurate but less attractive truth.

“An education for freedom (and for the love and intelligence which are at once the conditions and the results of freedom) must be, among other things, an education in the proper uses of language.” 

Huxley stresses the importance of language and symbols in society, echoing the message of other writers like George Orwell who believe in the power of communication. Using words in a distorted or misleading way is one of the main tools of propaganda. In order to mitigate the effects of propaganda, members of society must learn to use language in a clear and correct way in order to distinguish true from false and to avoid being deceived.