Analysis Of The Themes And Characters Of The Novel A Happy World

Analysis of the themes and characters of the novel A happy world

Introduction

A happy world is a science fiction novel written by Aldous Huxley and first published in 1932. Describe a dystopian and futuristic society governed by the psychological conditioning of a system formed by castes where humanity is permanently happy.

In the future society that he narrates, the government has dictatorial control over people, thus replacing their freedoms and rights to seek happiness.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was a British writer and philosopher to know encyclopedic knowledge. He could be considered one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. The author came from a renowned family of intellectuals; his grandfather, for example, Thomas H. Huxley defended the theory of evolution. Therefore, his origins allowed Aldous to have a high quality education.

According to j. G. Ballard, "Aldous Huxley was an extraordinarily prophetic man, there is no other novelist in the twentieth century who has written a more sagacious guide of the future".

In 1931, he wrote in just four months ‘A Happy World’ (Brave New World), a novel that has been represented as a vision of the consumer society. An oracle that is closer to the current reality than that of George Orwell and his famous dystopian novel ‘1984’, since in ‘a happy world’ the dictatorship is exercised through pleasure and not of suffering. These two historical works can be considered the two most influential futuristic dystopias in society.

As for the historical context, ‘a happy world’ was written in full European fascism, that is, totalitarian states based on military power, the submission of the population and the elimination of freedoms, factors that Aldous would use to tell its history.

Main Book Themes

In this novel several issues are discussed that can be reflected in today’s society.

The caste society

The story is conditioned by a hierarchical society formed by five groups, the alphas, the betas, the gammas, the deltas and the epsilones, respectively. The components of these groups are born by a system of eugenics, called ‘Bokanovsky Method’, which consists of the creation of humans through test tubes to avoid errors. Therefore, they cannot move to other higher or lower groups.

"One of the greatest instruments of social stability. Standardized men and women, in uniform groups ”. (Huxley, to. 1932, p. 23).

At present, we can see the difference in social classes divided into three groups, upper class, middle class and lower class. The purchasing and monetary level of each person determines which group you belong to having the possibility of leveling or lowering through the effort and sacrifice or, in the opposite case, falling into the most absolute bankruptcy, an abyss difficult to climb.

The narcotics

In the novel they name the ‘soma’, a drug, less harmful and more pleasant than alcohol and narcotics, which the government provides. Beings receive a mandatory daily dose of four half -gram tablets that serve to disconnect in the rest time and forget, move to another world. In this way they can control society without being aware of it. In addition, the lack of Soma causes sudden changes in humor such as anger, so society lives in constant addiction to this narcotic and they take it as something everyday that is part of his life. Regarding this issue, everyone looks equally, that is, it is a totally normalized act and in the case of rejecting the soma, they see it in the same way as we see it in the real world, something that can harm the people’s health and that is wrong.

In today’s society, the drug has passed several phases, of being a popular product, as in the seventies, to be rejected by much of the population. The narcotic has always been illegal and its consumption is judged by criminal proceedings. Its effects are basically the same as in the perfect world of Aldous but in the real world there is a big difference, most consumers die because of this authentic drug, since it is much more harmful to health. Through its use, people who take it can be controlled for the simple fact of the strong addiction it causes and for what they would do to get more substances.

Indoctrination

The novel begins in a laboratory where the director explains to the students what the Bokanovsky method consists of, already mentioned above. With the study of the evolution of the embryos, they bring to light methods of indoctrination since as they grow, they apply the theory of hypnopedia, the repetition of phrases during sleep through speakers.

“Delta children wear all of chaqui oh, no, I don’t want to play with the Delta! And the epsilones are still worse. They are too dumb to read or write. They also wear black, a disgusting color. I’m glad to be a beta ”(Huxley, to. 1932, p. 43)

In this way they educate children in their opinion and differently between groups. A gamma cannot have the same education as an alpha.

In the real world, Nazi indoctrination can resemble the indoctrination named Huxley. The use of cinema, speeches made in auditoriums, theaters and radios and the oratory of Adolf Hitler managed to convince a large part of the population to end the Jewish race. Therefore, the comparison between both can be considered.

Sex

In the world of Huxley, intimate relationships do not condition the linking of feelings towards other people, it is simply about enjoying the act, of giving pleasure. The reproductive phase does not depend on a mother and a father, therefore, infants are owned by Ford, as are all humanity, that is, everyone belongs to all. However, the ‘wild’ society, humans who live outside of the society of Huxley live the same as the humans of today’s society. Original reproduction. Fathers and mothers. People create sentimental links between them and can generate rejection. In this ‘wild’ society, people are paired, therefore, if you are unfaithful to your partner they can repudiate you since it is frowned upon.

Social marginality

The characters Bernard Marx and John ‘El Tavaje’ are considered different in their respective societies. Bernard is an alpha-more with a brilliant intellectual capacity, but due to an error in its incubation it has a lower stature to the rest. John, is the son of Linda and in the ‘wild reserve’ they repudiated him for having the whitish skin tone and knowing how to read and write, in addition to being able to speak another language.

At present, unfortunately there are many cases of marginality, either because it is tall or low, fat or thin, white or black, for having a sexual inclination or another, even for belonging to a social class or another to another.

The religion

In the novel they name Ford, the God of his world. They reject all the past, everything lived before Ford and any far -fetched action they take ask Clemencia to Ford, “Oh, Ford!". In addition, the humans of the ‘wild’ civilization pay tribute to their gods and perform religious and spiritual rites.

In the real world, something similar happens, there are several gods, God, for example, is the Christian character who has most influenced society. Millions of people worship them and are faithful to their ideals, to any sin committed, they ask for clemency just like the humans of the happy world Ford.

Freedom and false happiness

This is the big topic of the novel. The ability to give up being part of a society to have its own thinking.

“What feeling would I experiment if I could, if free, if you were not enslaved by my conditioning?”(Huxley, to. 1932, p.103)

These words of Bernard were a turning point in history; Lenina did not take it well and offered him the famous Soma, which represents the type of freedom that society could acquire, a hypnotic state in which they do not have to challenge anyone or anything. His thoughts live imprisoned, without being able to have their own judgment; They look like simple puppets dressed in colored divers.

"This is the opinion she has of herself. He doesn’t care to be more than meat ”(Huxley, to. 1932, p. 105)

The conformism of humans facilitates the control of those above. The only freedom they know is the one that the soma provides them. In addition, civilized society constantly lives in false happiness.

"The people are happy; You have what you want and never want what you can’t get. He is comfortable, safe; He is never sick; He does not fear death; Ignore passion and old age; There are no fathers and mothers who hinder; There are no wives or children or excessively strong love ”(Huxley, to. 1932, p. 220)

This false moral is caused, once again, by the traditional conditioning and submission to the famous Soma.

In relation to today’s society, freedom is also conditioned. From my point of view, a person is free if she is not tied to any ends, without debts or without responsibilities of others. As for happiness, we live in a world in which there are numerous psychological problems that affect us in such a way that we cannot know the feeling of full happiness, in fact, many people think that happiness does not exist, it is unattainable. You can feel joy at a given time but full happiness as such.

Main characters

Bernard Marx

The protagonist of the novel could be considered. It is an alpha-more man but with a different physique from the rest due to a failure in the incubation process, therefore, he has a bad reputation in the happy world society. He has the reputation of a lonely man, an aspect that he was frowned on in the society in which he lived. In addition, I constantly thought about freedom, prefer to be the same with its own thoughts rather than submit to Soma.

He takes a relationship with Lenina Crowne and close links with John ‘El Savaje’ to convince him to go to future society, the happy world of Aldous Huxley.

Lenina Crowne

It is Beta’s ideal model in the happy world. She maintains various relationships with men, for which she is conditioned, and among them is Bernard Marx. She with him will travel to the ‘Wild Reserve’ where she will meet John and from which she will learn many things, including a person.

John "The Savage"

She is one of the few characters that live scattered from utopia. He is the product of a natural pregnancy between Lina and the director of predestination. She grew up in a civilization where love and marriage were valid. He was treated as a different being from the rest by belonging biologically to another society.

Upon arriving in the happy world, he falls in love with Lenina but she just wanted to have sex with him. Upon realizing that lust was stronger than her love for her for her, he begins to whip her body as punishment.

The director of predestination

He is the character that opens the story in the laboratory, his function is to ensure that all the processes and rules of his world are met. He does not get along with Bernard and he is the father, although he denies him, by John.

Pretty

She is John’s mother. On a trip with the young director to the ‘Wild Reserve’ she had a mishap and remained there apparently for life. Thanks to the exploration of Bernard and Lenina to the reservation, she could find her, yes, much older and careless; And she took her back to civilized society, where she, later, she dies from an overdose of Soma.

Helmoholtz Watson

He is Bernard’s best friend and highlighted by exceling in any activity. He belongs to his society and his physicist is very attractive, so he attracts attention to many women. With the passage of time and the arrival of John to civilization, she narrows ties with him.

Mustafá Mond

This character was presented as one of the rulers of the happy world and already, at the end of the novel, reveals that in his youth he was scientist.

Fanny

She is Lenina’s best friend but she is not so lucky with men. She tries to advise her in her talks but does not get great results.

Henry Ford

Aldous Huxley uses the creator of the assembly system as the god of his happy world.

Bibliography

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