Document Type
Freshman Seminar Essay
Publication Date
1983
Excerpt
Aldous Huxley, in his novel Brave New World, presents two opposing attitudes towards the body and the spirit. On the one hand, he creates a highly technological society in which the spiritual and the emotional needs of man are deliberately denied or subverted. This is deemed necessary in order to maintain a stable, structured society. Happiness is equated with physical well-being and easily achieved through technological innovations like genetic manipulation, conditioning, soma and forms of entertainment such as the feelies. On the other hand, Huxley also creates John Savage, a character who places supreme value on the spiritual and completely denies the physical being of man. He refuses to acknowledge that his body and its needs are an integral part of his existence. Huxley presents these two extremes to show how a balance betweerl them is necessary for man to maintain a harmonious existence.
Recommended Citation
Vranicar, Matthew, "The Senselessness of the Extremes Presented in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1983)" (1983). The Valpo Core Reader. 562.
http://scholar.valpo.edu/core_reader/562