Identical Groups In Brave New World

In Huxley’s Brave New World the world state breeds identical groups through Bokanovsky’s Process for jobs and does not allow the individual to choose their job. This idea shows up right at the start of the book in chapter one when he writes, “On Rack 10 rows of next generation’s chemical workers were being trained in the toleration of lead, caustic soda, tar, chlorine,” (Huxley, 14). This quote shows an example of a Bokanovsky group being grown for a specific job. Even before they are capable of conscious thought they are assigned a job. This removes the basic freedom of choice. Mustapha Mond discovers that they are not free to do what job they please in the brave new world as shown in this conversation, “‘I was a pretty good physicist in my

Mustapha Mond comes to understand that the world state cannot allow the public to learn the truth because they have created a system where if the people found out they could have a choice of job it would destabilize the society. In addition to making Mustapha Mond unhappy, it demonstrates a key problem in Brave New World because the general happiness of the people comes at the loss of the freedom to choose what they do with their life. Helmholtz has realized that the world state does not allow him the freedom he could have in his job if the people knew the truth. In Brave New World to hide the truth and keep the people happy they can not have the freedom to choose their job. This demonstrates a problem created as a result of the conflict between truth and happiness in Brave New World because if everyone was happy and knew the truth the world state might be able to let them choose their job without the fear of it destabilizing the

Mustapha Mond demonstrates that the people could have more freedom when he says, “Technically, it would be perfectly simple to reduce all lower-caste working hours to three or four a day. But would they be any the happier for that? No, they wouldn’t. The experiment was tried, more than a century and a half ago. The whole of Ireland was put on to the four-hour day,” (Huxley, 153). In this quote Mustapha Mond shows how they could allow the people more free time or reduce their workload, however, this would not benefit the society as a whole. Additionally, it demonstrates the idea that the world state has total control over the lives of its citizens. Bernard is a critic of the lack of freedom in the brave new world when he says, “‘Don’t you wish you were free, Lenina?’” (Huxley, 61). In this conversation between Bernard and Lenina, Bernard wants freedom to do what he wants, however, the world state does not allow this to happen. If the world state allowed the people freedom they wouldn’t be able to hide the truth from then. This demonstrates a problem with the brave new world and is a reoccurring problem with totalitarian states because people will never be as happy as they could be without freedom. This dissatisfaction is demonstrated by Helmholtz when he says,