Brave New World Conformity Analysis

Conformity is defined as, “behavior that is the same as the behavior of most other people in a society, group; the fact or state of agreeing with or obeying something,” (“Conformity”). Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, is a novel featuring a dystopia with a society that makes its members conform to its standards. Conformity is seen within this novel in ways of how you act, how you look, what you wear, and ultimately how you live. Social media relates to this sort of conformity in the way that it shapes how you perceive something and ultimately sways you in one direction or another. In a study, one-fifth of the girls indicated social media pressure was a contributing factor to their dislike for their bodies (Johnson). Body image is

Huxley shows the effect of society on body image in Brave New World through Lenina: “But you don’t think I’m too pneumatic do you?”(Huxley 93). Lenina is shown to care about her image so vastly that at one point, Bernard believes her to be thinking of herself as meat. This is a common thing in today’s society with girls believing their bodies are not right if they are not exactly like the image the media provides. The media’s painting of thinness as an aesthetic ideal is still quoted by researchers as a contributing factor to body malaise among teens today (Johnson). Teenagers change the way they feel about themselves based on society’s construct of perfection. “Many teenagers feel that the best way to gain social acceptance and avoid being ridiculed by their peers is to achieve society’s ideal body,” (“Introduction to Dieting”). By having such presumptions about their self-image, teenagers change the way they see themselves and in turn, cause problems for themselves. In an interview, forty-seven percent of girls wanted to lose weight because of media influences while only twenty-nine percent of them were overweight (“Introduction to Dieting”). By creating these unrealistic expectations, social media gives teens false hope about their body image, which reflects how the women in Brave New World see