Kuznitz 1

Alison Kuznitz
Mark Morrisson and Dan Sykes
CHEM/ENGL 233
21 April 2016
The failures of shaping individuals for the sake of stability
In the vast freedom that is prevalent in the United States of
America, citizens are able to act on their accord, crafting decisions that
serve their best interests. People are permitted to choose everything
from their consumer habits to the modes in which they express their
love for others. Aldous Huxley juxtaposes this cornerstone of societal
functioning in his dystopian novel Brave New World. From the very
instant babies are decanted from their bottles, they are inundated with
subliminal messages. They are primitively taught to believe, for
example, that every one belongs to every one else. These citizens
are essentially pigeonholed into a stiff caste system where the right to
make choices is simply nonexistent. However, emotional engineers
have failed to mold higher-functioning individuals to predetermined
expectations and desires. Characters including Lenina and Helmholtz,
in spite of conditioning, manage to repel their untenable social
upbringing. By clinging to deep and persistent yearnings, they are able
to expose the weaknesses of the inherent rigidity imposed upon them.
Even though these desires prove to be insufficient in crumbling

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Huxleys dystopia, they show people have a level of variability that
cannot be controlled through behavioral techniques.
Leninas desire for companionship stands in direct opposition to
the overly sexualized ideals perpetuated by society. As a child, Lenina
regularly engaged in socially acceptable erotic play, as illustrated by
the opening scenes of the novel. At the hatchery, with the exception of
one boy, the youth happily indulge in their underlying sexual impulses.
It is important to note, however, that playing find the zipper is their
only option; they are devoid of all alternatives, namely the ability to
carry out a prudish childhood reminiscent of the savage reservation.
Even in adulthood, the compulsory sexual climate has barely changed,
causing an initial surge of disdain with Lenina: SomehowI hadnt
been feeling very keen on promiscuity lately. There are times when one
doesnt (Huxley 43). Lenina has been seeing the same man for four
months, a deviant action that suggests she can no longer tolerate
being boxed in by societal expectations. As much as the scientists
would like to believe Lenina is just the human embodiment of a
Pavlovian dog, she indeed has deep-rooted yearnings that have
withstood her rigorous emotional engineering. Although Lenina knows
her independent decision to pursue monogamous behavior is
reprehensible for the sake of stability, she repels this domineering
social construct when Henry Foster is factored into the equation. Their
seemingly intense and long-drawn relationship has allowed Lenina to

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attain a sense of contentment that promiscuity never could (41). Even
her friend Fanny admits her waning inclination for promiscuity, further
highlighting that society has failed in eradicating these complicated
wants.
Emotional engineers have further failed to recognize people like
Lenina, equipped with an innate drive to act independently and satiate
higher-order needs, are bound to emerge. They assumed that after
countless hypnopaedic repetitions, Lenina would indeed wish to lead a
promiscuous lifestyle just like everyone else. This assumption, targeted
at the outcome of societal stability, did not take into account Leninas
unyielding variability. Behavioral tactics can never fully erase her core
human nature and pave the way for a viable utopia. Nevertheless,
Lenina lacks the strength to break free from her predetermined fate
entrenched in social mores. Fanny reminds her: Ones got to play the
game. After all, every one belongs to every one else (43). With those
words, Leninas resistance fades away instantly, and she rejoins the
pattern of having multiple sexual partners. Hence, although Lenina
shows promise in defying the totalitarian government, her intellectual
imprisonment and stunted emotional development have made it
impossible to truly carve out her own path filled with personal choices.
Helmholtz Watson, fully aware of the fact that society has
stripped him of the liberty to generate decisions, strives to counteract
this fate by realizing his full potential. In a way, Watson still lives in the

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confines of his amniotic bottle considering his every source of pleasure
thus far has been derived from an external power. Even in the face of
such forcible manipulation, Helmholtz cannot purge himself of
meaningful, albeit radical desires: This admirable committee man and
best mixer had realized quite suddenly that sport, women, communal
activities were only, so far as he was concerned, second bests. Really,
and at the bottom, he was interested in something else. But in what?
(67). As an Alpha-Plus with superior cognitive abilities, Helmholtz is
ready to take control of his life and no longer squirm under the
influence of society. Similar to Leninas predicament, emotional
engineers cannot succeed in crushing the durability and resiliency of
his human nature. They falsely presuppose they can quell all
differences and that everyone will automatically exude ample
satisfaction for being recognized as an Escalator-Squash champion or
indefatigable lover (67). Yet, Helmholtzs high degree of variability,
regardless of such assumptions and psychological manipulation, will
always be incapable of yielding to conformity. By longing to discover
his own passions, he prevents himself from latching onto the emotional
engineers futile attempts to ensure stability. Helmholtz has found his
seemingly envious social position to be utterly untenable and
purposeless. This epiphany in and of itself underscores the
shortcomings of societys underpinnings. Yet, society is no way in
jeopardy as a result of this mindset. Helmholtz is spurred on by

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inexplicable desires, and as a consequence, lacks the means to clearly
articulate how he will leave an impact on those around him: Im
thinking of a queer feeling I sometimes get, a feeling that Ive got
something important to say and the power to say it only I dont know
what it is, and I cant make any use of the power (69). After being
incessantly pigeonholed his entire life, Helmholtz cannot move beyond
the initial breakthrough and capitalize on his true uniqueness. As much
as he would like to achieve a position in life that lends itself to selfactualization, it is infeasible to predict he will come out victorious while
currently living in this dictatorial society. Perhaps, following his exile to
the island that encourages all varieties of human idiosyncrasies,
Helmholtz can develop his desires in a fashion that would actually pose
a threat to the ineffectual emotional engineers.
In light of his disparate upbringing, Johns repulsion to the faulty
social experiment, coupled with his subsequent combative behavior, is
markedly more pronounced than that of the other characters. On the
savage reservation, no higher power ruled over John, dictating the only
way to love someone was through short-lived relationships hinged
upon basic sexual instincts. He freely retained his own conceptions of
love, stemming from an unrestrained human nature. As a result, his
every unique action, whether on the reservation or in the brave new
world, is designed to deliver maximum relief to his inner yearnings.
This unmitigated passion is evident while John professes his love to

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Lenina: Ill do anythingAnything you tell me. There be some sports
are painful you know. But their labour delight in them sets off. Thats
what I feel. I mean Id sweep the floor if you wanted (190). It is
important to emphasize that John is not only acutely aware of his
rebellious needs, but he is also fully able to articulate a plan for
satiating them. This distinction becomes painfully clear when Lenina
begins to protest. After being stripped of all semblance of choice
throughout her entire life, Lenina cannot fathom Johns logic. Although
she herself has unmet needs for companionship as previously
discussed, her attack on the integrity of the decided social system will
falter. Lenina misses the opportunity to break free of a promiscuous
lifestyle and other rigid confines in the face of Johns ideological
differences. She cannot understand why John would want to sweep the
floor, for instance, when there are vacuum cleaners. Likewise, she
cannot grasp that passion and love, according to John, are not
synonymous with sex. Moreover, the marked discrepancies between
John and Lenina demonstrate why the social engineers have failed in
their efforts to achieve widespread control and subsequent social
order. The two individuals alone diverge significantly in respect to their
thought processes and personalities; to conceive of any form of
brainwashing powerful enough to negate their nuances, even in the
context of Huxleys fictional world, seems like an impossible
undertaking. Ultimately, John is unable to enlist the conspiratorial aid

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of Lenina as he deliberately defies forcible social constructs pertaining
to love. Nonetheless, he does succeed in showcasing the fragility of
society. He refuses to mold to overbearing conformity and pervasive
predetermined social expectations, even if that means sacrificing
Lenina in the process. However, considering John is the only true
deviant, society will continue to thrive, thereby preventing individuals
from fully accessing their personal freedom and desires.
Emotional engineers, in permitting the resurgence of festering
desires that will never be remedied, have propagated a failed social
experiment. It is toxic enough to box people in, ridding them of all
potential in exerting the slightest trace of control over their lives. At
least for the lower castes, members carry out their lives in a state of
ignorance. They fully believe in their contentedness derived from the
supposed utopian structure, as acknowledged by Mustapha Mond:
Those three and a half hours of extra leisure were so far from being a
source of happiness, that people felt constrained to take a holiday from
themFor the sake of the labourers; it would be sheer cruelty to afflict
them with excessive leisure (224). Hence, society has taken measures
to ensure maximum stability within the structure of Epsilons and other
lesser individuals. They are not even conscious of this pigeonholing
maneuver and consequently never experience dissonance with the
faint stirrings of emotions. Such thorough safeguards cannot be
enacted within the higher-functioning Alpha class. Emotional engineers

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will never fully conquer the persistent variability found within human
beings. It is not feasible to hamper innate individualism, instead
redefining a persons inner self within the context of an unadulterated
vision of conformity. Yet, in a problematic and misguided attempt to
remove all unhappiness, emotional engineers endeavor to do so
nevertheless. For Lenina and Helmholtz, this act of sheer cruelty
allows their social boxes to grow stiffer and more claustrophobic,
thereby deteriorating their psychological wellbeing. Unlike an Epsilon,
Lenina will most likely never achieve the adequate form of happiness
and companionship required to satiate her desires. Thus, uniform
societal expectations laden in basic sexual instincts have failed Lenina.
She cannot deny her awareness of inherent impulses as she is forced
to mechanically move from one man to the next. Likewise, behavioral
techniques have cruelly failed Helmholtz since he maintains the
mental capacity to see past his untenable social position and grasp its
inherent deficiencies. Perhaps, the most devastating effects on ones
psyche are illustrated through the savage. John grew up with grandiose
visions of this brave new world, but was instead greeted by an
unnatural lifestyle in which people are inhumanely and irrevocably
governed by behavioral manipulation. He grows extremely disgusted
by himself and the persona society thrusts upon him: Im damned if
Ill go on being experimented with (243). His ultimate suicide
epitomizes people are not able to withstand overt suppression of their

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deep-rooted desires, as it indeed counteracts any futile attempts at joy
and fulfillment. Furthermore, John is representative of the major
disservice society has done for its people. In the face of psychological
imprisonment, emotional engineers should abandon their efforts that
have and will continue to instigate a dystopia overridden with pain,
rather than an intended perfect world operating on the basis of
stability.