We live in a world where we are different and that is normal, but what would happen if we were all pushed to act the same? And what if someone wasn’t like the rest? In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, each human is bred to do a task and they are expected to do that task and act in a certain manner that will benefit mankind. No one goes against it and no one questions it. Except a few like Bernard for example. He was meant to be taller for his “class” but wasn’t. He was meant to enjoy the erotic play, but he all and all really wasn’t. He felt alienated to the world because he was different than all the rest of society and had ideas that were looked down upon because they were taught to believe that they weren’t normal. But by being alienated from society its true assumptions and moral values are shown.
Bernard is smart like any other Alpha human in the society except for the fact that he is a little bit shorter than the rest of ALL the other Alphas. Because of this he feels different because in a world where everyone is made the same being different makes you stand out. So Bernard with his short stature and brilliance questions life in a different manner than everyone else. He isn’t interested in most of the other things that all the other humans are and because of this he is alienated from society. From this the readers begin to understand the moral values because they are expressed through Bernard’s alienation.
From the very beginning in the teenage years of life the genetically engineered humans are taught to like erotic play, but Bernard isn’t as interested as everyone else. This shows the society’s interest and its push toward erotic play and sexual behavior because Bernard’s ideology toward it amplifies it. Bernard is also alone because he is alienated from society and because he is also exceptionally smart for even an Alpha he begins to question his society and its teachings. Because of this he is casted away. Society’s ideology about perception of new ideas is brought forth here because it shows that they don’t want the Alphas, Betas or anyone to have an outside influence that could possible “corrupt” the way of life that has been so carefully molded into a routine into work, sex, and Obstacle Golf.
In conclusion it is apparent that through Bernard’s perception of the society he lives in us as readers get an understanding of the society’s morals and values through the comparison between Bernard’s ideology and the ideology of society’s larger figures in the grand scheme of things. Society wants everything to be perfect without outside influence and children Epsilon and Deltas are taught from the start to dislike books to keep them from reading. But Bernard questions the society as he isn’t born like a normal Alpha and questions its values.
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