I’m far from calling Brave New World a utopia, but I also couldn’t easily describe it as a dystopia. People are happy with their lives for the most part, but there’s no drive to push average levels of happiness up, and death still exists. The best dystopian argument I can see is that there’s no upward trend of good associated with scientific advancement, but even this needn’t necessarilybe true, because of the islands where only the most unorthodox thinkers are sent presumably without having to worry about their actions there. I think something approximating a utopia by our standards would likely involve mass genetic equalization (but you know, in an upward direction), controlled environments, and easy access to hedons.
Thanks for your thoughts! I think you’ve put your finger on an important difference between how an individual experiences a society and what a society is capable of accomplishing. It’s the stunting in the second category that makes Brave New World a clear dystopia for me. As for the islands, their influence on the remainder of society is clearly told to be carefully limited and controlled. I think Huxley’s inclusion of the islands as havens for the dissatisfied greatly increases the ambiguity in how the society appears to a modern reader.
Thanks for the pointer to your blog post. You’ve clearly thought a lot about this. As you predicted, I find your conclusion repugnant and dystopian, but I don’t have a knock-down argument against your train of thought.
I’m far from calling Brave New World a utopia, but I also couldn’t easily describe it as a dystopia. People are happy with their lives for the most part, but there’s no drive to push average levels of happiness up, and death still exists. The best dystopian argument I can see is that there’s no upward trend of good associated with scientific advancement, but even this needn’t necessarily be true, because of the islands where only the most unorthodox thinkers are sent presumably without having to worry about their actions there. I think something approximating a utopia by our standards would likely involve mass genetic equalization (but you know, in an upward direction), controlled environments, and easy access to hedons.
Thanks for your thoughts! I think you’ve put your finger on an important difference between how an individual experiences a society and what a society is capable of accomplishing. It’s the stunting in the second category that makes Brave New World a clear dystopia for me. As for the islands, their influence on the remainder of society is clearly told to be carefully limited and controlled. I think Huxley’s inclusion of the islands as havens for the dissatisfied greatly increases the ambiguity in how the society appears to a modern reader.
Thanks for the pointer to your blog post. You’ve clearly thought a lot about this. As you predicted, I find your conclusion repugnant and dystopian, but I don’t have a knock-down argument against your train of thought.