The Failure of Utopias

[djtru]

I think that Huxley's greatest message is that human happiness cannot be manufactured. Mustapha Mond, the World Controller, complains that happiness is hard work, especially creating it for others. As exhibited by Helmholtz and Bernard Marx, even the brainwashed may eventually discover that they are not truly happy with their lives, and as displayed by John the Savage, the closest thing to a normal human being in the entire book, human nature is not designed to be made happy by the things of the world. And so earthly Utopias cannot exist, they are impossible to achieve, without the entire foundation of the society being evil. And an evil Utopia is not a Utopia after all, is it? John the Savage shows the unwillingness of the human spirit to be satisfied to be mired in sin. I am of the belief that no amount of hypnosis could possibly change the minds of people so completely. The destruction of the consciense... I believe that as long as the evil in question only effected the sinner's soul, the government would be more than happy to kill morality, for the sake of such an easily manipulated populace. But I believe that the consciense is invincible, if it is present at all. Clearly, there are exceptions to the rule that people feel remorse, the BTK killer for example, but humanity is not meant to be content. We are a restless people, dead in sin, and sin is rampant in Brave New World. But John the Savage displays the kind of behavior typical of a Greggorian monk, hurting himself in the hopes that he could atone for sins. And suicide is not a good choice, for it is commanded that we not kill, not even ourselves. But besides that, I feel that this book speaks with good philosiphy for life, that God is not a thing to be shoved into a corner, and that men and women should strive always for perfection, not happiness. And, by the by, someone (I can't remember the username) asked why John didn't sleep with Lenina. It should be obvious, it's because John the Savage had religion, Christian and Native American, and he felt it was morally wrong to fornicate. Maybe someone was just a little too anxious for some erotic reading?

[Eufrosyne]

I agree about hypnotizing away everything we see as human, as the search of truths and love, isn´t possible. And a Utopia is never achievable, otherwise it wouldn´t be a Utopia. But, to me, it seemed that the brainwashed people actually were happier than John the savage or Bernhard Marx. To me the question of the book is what happiness is worth. Everyone wants to be happy, but most of us would rather be ourselves. Would you rather be perfect than happy? We simply can´t achieve perfection, that´s at least my opinion.

[carpenoctem]

If I were to choose between "happiness" and "perfection", I would go for HAPPINESS, it would mean that I should have done something right or close to perfection to reach certain "happiness"

[Remarkable]

Utopias cannot succed because the human nature is not such as to live in happines and simbiose without being overly egoist.And then,seen in another angle,wouldn't perfection be boring?What would there be then,to achieve?
However,Huxley's message is probably that we all seek for freedom because we all feel freedom in us,no matter of what kind it is.