A Brave New World critiques the psychological implications of modern society's reliance on technology. In the World State, human truths, such as love and friendship, are repressed because individuality is not valued by the state. In fact, individuality is not only undervalued, it is almost completely eradicated as a form of social control. This social control is maintained through state-controlled technology, such as the "feelies," a meaningless form of entertainment meant to distract the citizens of the World State, and "soma," a drug which induces a state of oblivious contentment. From a psychological perspective, Huxley is critiquing the superficiality of consumerist culture. In a society where production and consumption are valued more than "human truths," humans are psychologically degraded to the commodities which they consume. Huxley is advancing the notion that this degradation results in a society of mindless, soulless, and purposeless individuals with no real psychologies at all, and the character John represents an attempt to regain human psychology, as represented through his discovery of the works of Shakespeare.
No comments:
Post a Comment