Happiness In Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World

In life it is said that happiness is the key, but is there such thing as too much happiness? In the Brave New World, author Aldous Huxley writes of a world designed with stability and functionality as the main objective. This new world referred to as the World States, people are born from test tubes and programmed into groups, known as, Alphas, Betas, the higher caste members , and Delta, Gammas, and Epsilons, the lower caste members. The society is run by the good looking, intelligent, and advanced Alphas, and is supported by the consumer habits of the idiotic, ugly caste known as the Epsilons. The World States run on the principle that “...every one belongs to everyone else,” breeding a society fueled by sex and hypnotized by drugs (Huxley …show more content…
He has it all more women then he can count, a great job, but he is bored with the simpleness of his life, and wants to seek a deeper philosophical meaning. Helmholtz abstains from soma taking and sex, not only as rebellion, but in hope it would break his conditioning. “Did you ever feel... though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out? Sort of an extra power you aren’t using,” Helmholtz has a love for literature, but due to his programming, he cannot comprehend love, or jealousy, normal emotions, but when he reads he feels a strange curiosity towards literature and the desire to overcome his conditioning (Huxley 69). Helmholtz wants mental freedom so he can write about things he is conditioned to shut out. He wants the same intensity, violence, and emotional connection to his work as Shakespeare does, but he needs to be freed from his mental bondage before he can finally, relieve his “writer 's …show more content…
Unlike John, Watson and Bernard continue to live a life of mental conditioning, and work with what they have, because they never knew total mental freedom. Helmholtz pursues writing even though he has limitation, and seeks out his freedom on a island where he use the weather to illustrate emotions he could not comprehend. Bernard forgets about gaining freedom after receiving social acceptance. After bringing John the Savage to the World States he gains much wanted attention and popularity distracting his longing for freedom. But, once his popularity seises Bernard is left wasted to nothing, Bernard has one more chance for freedom by being sent to an island. But he panics and cares more about not getting in trouble then fighting for freedom and blames all rebellion on Helmholtz and John. He may avoid exile, but loses all chance of freedom when he becomes sentenced to sedation. John on the other hand never loses sight of his main goal, maintaining his individuality and freedom. Even if this means purging himself of filth, choosing isolation, and torturing himself. In order to secure total freedom John must make the ultimate sacrifice, but even death is far better than mental