Theme of Artificial Happiness in Brave New World, a Novel by Aldous Huxley

When happiness is achieved by artificial and technological means, morals are destroyed, and there is a lost in the real value of life, which consists of individuality and deep passion. In the novel, Brave New World, Huxley attempts to warn the future about the dangers of technological advancements that could possibly put an end to humanity and morality.

In the novel, the world is set up in a perfectly balanced caste system that serves to bring happiness to everyone. Additionally, each individual is genetically modified to suit their role in society and made to be content with being in their own caste.

For instance, the director purposely traumatizes Delta babies by shocking them when they crawl towards books and flowers, so that they will grow up to hate these things that are unbeneficial for their caste. As a result, everyone within their own caste are conditioned the same way and lack individuality. This conformity defeats the purpose of a meaningful life, where people have ability to decide their own fates and have individual thoughts about their likes and dislikes.

Happiness is also achieved through immoral acts such as taking soma and promiscuous sex, which is highly encouraged in this utopia. People are guaranteed to maintain their happiness as long as they have soma, a drug that lets one forget about anything unpleasant or unhappy. As a consequence of this artificial happiness, people are robbed of passionate feelings that make up the beauty and appreciative touches of life. In the first half of the novel, Bernard constantly expresses his eagerness to experience the feeling of passion by waiting before getting what he desires so he can find out how it is like to “feel something strongly”.

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Intense emotions like passions are all gotten rid of through this system of genetic engineering and through the drug that prevents these feelings from occurring.

Ultimately, artificial happiness comes with the cost of the diversity and freedom of life. In this world, people are so satisfied with being happy all the time that they ignore the importance of morality, which results in the loss of human values.