At their core, all civilizations are formed with the idea of maintaining peace. The question of how best to attain long lasting peace is explored in depth with Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World. On the surface Brave New World appears to be a perfect society in which sorrow and pain have been extinguished, but these achievements have come at a cost. For the sake of having a society without pain, meaningful emotional connections must be sacrificed. While that may seem like an unthinkable cost to pay for anything, by the end of the novel it is clear that the cost is worth it.
The defining difference from the society in Brave New World and the civilizations of the real world are that there are no significant emotional connections to people or institutions. The best example of the societal apathy that this civilization is built upon is the absence of families. A family is normal the basic unit in a society, but in a world that thrives on immediate gratification and mass consumption a family only serves as a distraction from keeping people happy.
Mustapha Mond, the resident controller for Western Europe, is well aware of the importance of indifference for his society and works to perpetuate it, “they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve got no wives, or children” (Huxley, 220). Everything in this world is the result of deliberate planning with society in mind. There are no religions, marriages, poetry, or fiction books because all of those things inspire love and romanticism which both inevitably lead to sorrow.
This society purposely drove away any idea that a person should bind themselves emotionally in any way in order to make sure people would instead be happy being a part of the larger group. And while that is a high price, the results may actually be worth it.
When it comes to the sacrifices made to achieve and maintain peace in Brave New World, they actually seem to be worth the price. Yes, in the world outlined in the novel, people are unable to understand the beauty of love, the enriching power of religion, or payoff attaining after restraining one’s self. But, the very same world ensures people will never be exposed to the pain of losing a loved one, the restraints of religion, or the torture of never having something.Although some of the practices may seem cruel, it is undeniable that the people in the novel are indeed happy and content.
The lower-class workers never aspire for more so they never feel sadness over their lot in life, disease is almost completely eliminated, and everyone has everything they need and everything they want all the time. Allowing people the freedom to form significant emotional bonds does have benefits, but Mustapha Mond attests that that way of life includes “the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid” (Huxley, 240). A world without suffering is something real world civilizations constantly strive for and while the methods aren’t ideal, the world state’s results speak for themselves.
It is clear that the world state employs practices that are, at best, morally questionable to ensure the continuation of the world as they see fit. But, this world is beautiful in its absence of pain and suffering. If the cost is emotional ties to other people, world peace seems well worth it.
