Gavin House

2/24/14

2nd Period

Governments and Societies

Brave New World does not have a objective ideology present, however I will try my best to mix and match to the best of my ability. The most prominent ideology present in BNW is most likely that of the Indian Caste System. This system was used throughout the Indian sub-continent and remained intact for thousands of years. There are five primary castes: The Priests, The Warriors, The Merchants and Land Owners, The Peasants, and The Untouchables. If you were born in India, you were born into one of these classes. Everything you did and could do depended completely upon whatever caste you were apart of. While there was a structured caste system, the government in BNW still seemed somewhat Communist. The citizens do seem to have capital, having the ability to buy luxuries that they want. However, they dont seem to use money to buy housing or healthcare. However, the book takes place in what is known as a Post-Scarcity economy. A Post-Scarcity economy is not and has not ever been practiced in the world. It is a state in which there is no scarcity of any resource, everything is recycled and reused. This is mostly used as a literary tool throughout the Science-Fiction genre, allowing the author to focus more on social idealisms than economic strife. The social structure of the book is also a display of Freudian psychology. Many of his theories and ideas are tenants of this society. For example, Freud was a user and advocate for the use of cocaine to cure mental and physical illness. This is represented through the societys use of soma, a drug that almost instantly makes them happy, taking them to a vacation of sorts. This

Gavin House

2/24/14

2nd Period

may also be used to show humanitys need for instant gratification. We also can observe some of Freuds ideas about family through the setting of the book. Freud believed that families caused stress and strife in societies. He attributed this to ego and the process of coming to maturity. The citizens of BNW often use the name Ford in place of Lord in many exclamations. This could easily show a past or present use of hyper-industrialization, a worshipping of industry. Most likely, in the timeline of Brave New World, Fords invention of the automobile and assembly line created a second industrial revolution, causing humanity to lose all sense of art and beauty to contribute to society.