While the futuristic society portrayed in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World commonly serves as a counterexample to its readers, it may be arguable that our modern society has already begun to take a turn towards a dystopian society. For instance, in our society, members of higher social status and wealth are becoming more disconnected from the masses. As a consequence, these few in power are beginning to lose their empathy for the common people and focus solely on self-gain.
Throughout history, multiple wars have led to countless losses of combatant lives and innocents labeled as “collateral damage”. Although I would assume that those in power would try their utmost best to avoid such conflicts, I cannot help but realize that oftentimes so many lives are lost as a result of the political conflict of the few. With this in mind, in Brave New World, the director of the Central London Hatchery has begun to treat members of the lower caste more like commodities, and has lost every trace of empathy for these human beings. The director himself has become so distanced from the concept of a quality of life for the masses, mentioning that if it were possible he would speed up the physical development of the epsilons, and this would surmount to an “enormous saving to the community” (15).
Additionally, leaders of multiple pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies have become so fixated on making profits, that the prices of drugs have continued to skyrocket. As a consequence, those in need of these treatments must pay outrageous costs to regain their quality of life. This further supports my point that those in power have begun prioritizing their own self-gain while disregarding the many people around them.
Alice Oum
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ReplyDeleteIn this book, it is so easy to notice how the value of human life differs from the majority of reality. As of now, I'm about three-fourths of the way done with the book, and I just finished chapter fourteen. John, or The Savage as the "civilized" people of Society call him, is experiencing the death of his mother. He was not born, raised, or conditioned the way the people of Society are; consequently, watching his mother die is a traumatic occurrence for him. While sitting next to her, twins are brought in to have their time of "death conditioning". The kids from the Hatchery are taught to see death as something that is not terrible, and the Society mitigates the severity of death. It is conditioned in them to think of death lightly, and that people's lives aren't something to be treasured. This fictional way of life seems absurd to readers, but it brings up perplexing thoughts. Alice, you make a good point at the end of your post in saying the greed of people has lead them to charge an excessive amount of money for drugs and medical attention that could save people's lives. It's sickening to see that some people value self-gain over helping others, but we aren't yet to the point of complete disregard for human life as characters of Brave New World are. However, it's plausible to recognize a slight resemblance between the fictional plot and the real world.
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