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Ciaran Conneely
Mrs. Cramer
College Comp I Pd. 6b
15 November 2019
The Dystopia of Utopias
It’s common to think that utopias are flawless, and that they are the ideal societies to live

in. Unfortunately, some utopias don’t show their flaws, making them mysterious. Utopias often

come at a high price to pay. In the book, everyone only is happy, and they are always told what

to do by the leaders. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World has multiple points of view, which

shows the characters’ feeling towards society, and why the society was created.

To begin with, there is a common occurrence of switching the point of view between

different characters. The switching of the POV shakes up the book a bit, meaning it’s not just

one character who is followed the whole time. One common POV in the book is through the

perspective of John, or “Savage,” who despises the society in London. A good example of this is

when John is talking to Mustapha Mond and the Creator, two people who helped make the

society in London. John criticizes the society in London when he’s speaking to Mond and the

Creator. He talks about how life in London is too easy, and that if there’s something they don't

like, the people just get rid of it. John’s view is that people should have to deal with problems

they don’t like. However, John isn’t used to the type of life in London, as he’s from a Native

American reservation in New Mexico. The reservation is where John’s ideas about the hardships

of life are. The people there deal with situations they don’t like, and life is far from being perfect

like in London (Huxley, pg. 238). So, having different POV shows the characters’ feelings

towards the society in London, as well as in other places.

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On the contrary, there are other characters in the book whose POV is different than that

of John’s. These characters express about how much they love the society in London, and how

they think it’s perfect. Linda is a good example of a POV that loves London. She was John’s

mom, and in fact lived in London. Unfortunately, from Linda’s point of view, she got injured at

the New Mexico Native American reservation while taking a trip there and got left there. Life at

the reservation was not for Linda, especially how they weren’t just happy, as they felt other

emotions. Linda would often drink her sorrows away at the Indian reservation, making her

unsocial. When Linda wasn’t drinking, she would often talk to John about London, how much

she loved and missed it. Not to mention, she also raves about how she missed the perfect society

in London, and how they didn’t have to deal with anything they didn’t like. All these stories that

Linda told John about London makes him like London at first, but he eventually hates it when he

starts living there (Huxley, pg. 127-128). To sum it up, the book having multiple POV shows

characters’ feelings towards the society in London, as well as the positives and negatives of it.

Moving on, Brave New World having multiple points of view also shows why the society

in London was created. London is an advanced and futuristic; it is more of a utopia. A good

example is when the Controller tells John, “You can have girls without hoeing for them; and

there aren’t any flies or mosquitoes to sting you. We got rid of them all centuries ago,” (Huxley,

pg.238). That quote gives a glimpse of why the society was created, by getting rid of everything

that the people didn’t like. When the Creator is talking about the killing of mosquitoes and flies,

he shows one of the pests that the people in London got rid of centuries ago. The big picture of

this society is that nothing is there to bother them, and if there is, the Creator and others simply

get rid of it. This POV from the Creator shows a big reason of creating the society in London,

which helps make the book more understandable. Also, when the Creator basically says that it’s
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easy to be with people, he references to the society not having emotions like anger, love, sadness,

etc., and how there aren’t families. Due to the lack of emotions besides happiness in London, it

helps contribute towards people always being with each other and being able to get together

without becoming depressed or sad about it. So, Huxley having multiple POV allows the book to

show why the society was created.

Finally, Mustapha Mond says, “There isn’t any need for a civilized man to bear anything

that’s seriously unpleasant. And as for doing things-Ford forbid that he should get the idea into

his head. It would upset the whole social order if men started doing things on their own,”

(Huxley, pg.236). Here, Mond is arguing with John about the benefits of the way the society in

London was made. The basis of it is that people are simulated and programmed to have a certain

role. People don’t have to think for themselves, as they are told what to do. Their tasks that they

do don’t require much thought and are relatively easy to do. The people in charge like Mustapha

Mond and the Creator use that as a main point for supporting the society in London. They love

the fact that the citizens there don’t deal with anything they don’t like and do easy tasks. Those

are some of the reasons why the society in London was created.

In conclusion, Brave New World having multiple POV helps show the characters’

feelings towards society, and why the society was created. Different characters talking about the

society shows the positives and negatives of it. Also, having the POV from the creators of the

society helps explain why the society was created. Being able to understand the characters’

feelings towards society is key in the book. So, Huxley having multiple POV makes the book

more clear.
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Works Cited

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. London: Chatto & Windus, 1932