Manipulation In Brave New World

In 1932, Aldous Huxley wrote a book entitled Brave New World. It was a novel of a dystopian future where persuasion and science were effectively combined to control the population. Huxley warns his readers about the problems associated with the advancements of subconscious persuasion techniques because he saw people becoming susceptible to them during the Age of Television Addiction. He critiques this by setting a character contest between John the Savage and Mustapha Mond, which reveals the characters opposing values between freedom and social stability. The novel argues that stability can be achieved through subconscious manipulation, but is not morally suitable. Huxley uses his literature to convey his argument to the public because subconscious …show more content…
Yet, when this is put into practice in order to influence how people will behave, government organizations can take advantage of its effectiveness in order to control their citizens. This can be seen in the setting of Brave New World, The World State. The World State consists of an oligarchy that controls all aspects of society from reproduction to production. The oligarchy includes Mustapha Mond, who is one of the world controllers, who uses his power to condition the people they make in test tubes through various trials such as electrotherapy. The World State also implants hypnopaedic sayings during their sleep such as, "every one belongs to every one else”(Huxley 31). This saying reflects the Brave New World’s prioritization of the community over the individual. Mottos like this and their implications that were being taught to the World State’s inhabitants becomes the topic of the character contest between John the Savage and Mustapha Mond where they dispute whether there should be a stable society or a free society. John the Savage was born and raised on the Savage Reservation, Malpais. After his mother Linda was left behind by her errant lover, John the Savage became an outsider both on the Reservation where the natives still practice marriage, natural birth, family life and religion as well as the Brave New World he is taken to. He is also intensely …show more content…
In a society where people are taught that science is important through hypnopaedic platitude, Mustapha reveals that people are being subconsciously persuaded into thinking that they are making contributions to the field, when in reality they are not allowed to really understand or study science. He learned this because he used to be a physicist who was, “‘Too good—good enough to realize that all our science is just a cookery book, with an orthodox theory of cooking that nobody’s allowed to question, and a list of recipes that mustn’t be added to except by special permission from the head cook’” (Huxley 203). He explains that society needs to be conformed into thinking that they are studying and searching for improvements when in reality they are just given problems that have been previously solved. Mustapha explains that because he saw past this, he was going to be sent to an island but was offered the opportunity to enforce the rules of the dystopia by serving as a World Leader. Likewise, John and his accomplices were going to be sent to an island where, “All the people who, for one reason or another, have got too self-consciously individual to fit into community-life” (Huxley 204). The World Leader explained that the punishment would be more like a reward because they would be surrounded by like-minded people but the main reason for removing John and his accomplices