Marxist work often focus on the struggles between social classes and the Free Essay Example

Marxist work, often focus on the struggles between social classes and the struggles between those who are oppressed and between those who have power and those who do not. Brave new world displays the conflict frequently seen between the different classes through the characters within the prose. The idea that most of the characters are born into various different classes ranging from Alpha being the highest class to Epsilons who are bread to be menial workers. Huxley intelligently uses the characters in Brave New World to scrutinize alternative governmental systems in order to show the huge contrast it bears with that of a Marxist society.

In the early stage of Brave New World much of the focus is set on the character Bernard Marx. Bernard is ridiculed for his short stature which is in contradiction to his Alpha plus status and is often undermined because of it. Bernard is portrayed by Huxley to brag about his antisocial behaviour and the feelings he has towards the ideal society leaving him as much of an outcast.

Huxley uses Bernard as an agent in exploring the longing for people to break free of this restrictive society and to explore the ideas of the old savage society where imperfect life still continues. Evaluating Bernard’s character in a Marxist lens, he is used to display the negative impacts of a restrictive society based on different classes, and his characters status of an Alpha plus is in huge disparity to the way in which he is engaged and believes in the society he is currently in.

What would it be like if I could, if I were free- not enslaved by my conditioning. For Bernard freedom is the opportunity to express his feelings of being unhappy, something that is not accepted as all members are expected to all be happy, other characters in Brave New World such as Lenina struggle to grasp this, as she has been told she is free and happy, but doesn’t realise language is corrupted and controlled by the state. I want to know what passion is, she heard him saying. I want to feel something strongly. This is another example of how Bernard feels about the impeding society he lives in, and provides further evidence to support how Huxley uses Bernard as an active agent in order to explore and in a way object to the Brave New World society. In addition to Bernard another character that demonstrates a challenge against the civilisation is John the Savage. John is rejected by both the Savage and Civilised world state cultures, therefore making John to be seen as a meaningless outsider, because of this, John essentially takes on the role of a protagonist in Brave New World due to his extensive contrasting beliefs to the societies he is rejected by. All right then said the Savage defiantly, I’m claiming the right to be unhappy. As frequently seen, John possesses comparable views as Bernard, in that they both have a desire to be able to feel emotions stronger, furthermore as a protest to society and to show the restrictions the Brave New World civilisation puts upon its members. Overall, Huxley uses the character of Bernard and John both of Alpha status to show the effects of the impeding and dismal society they are both part of. They are both used as agents to expose the limitations on the world state civilisation. And the repercussions of being perceived as outsiders who long for a sense of freedom and the opportunity to think freely and distinctively.On the contrary, Huxley uses Lenina to show a character who is submissive to the ideology and objectives of the World state, she is unable to understand Bernard and John’s dissatisfaction as she is so engrossed by the manipulation of the state. Have a gramme, suggested Lenina. He refused preferring his anger. Here is a prime example of how Lenina submits to the state’s perceptions, the idea that every member should invariably be happy and not feel any other emotion therefore a contradiction to Bernard and John as they feel they should express their emotions. Lenina is the epitome of a World state female, the name Lenina could appear as simply a feminine name, it’s rather more than that. The primary name comes from a Russian revolutionary communist, who believed in upper power and vital individuals which in comparison is exact in the way Lenina perceives the Brave new state. Lenina is also used to show how the emptiness that Marxist views hold of that of the Brave New State (capitalism), she is defined as being pneumatic at many times in the Prose, which is often perceived to have two meanings. The word pneumatic describes Linda as both sexy and curvy but can also display a different meaning, as empty and worthless and full of air. Huxley uses this word repeatedly in order to describe Lenina as it shows how submissive she is to the delusional culture she lives in, and again how she epitomizes the Brave New State. Huxley supports this theory in the use of another character called Helmholtz who again is very submissive to the culture. Helmholtz rose from his pneumatic chair, this quote repeatedly presenting the word pneumatic to depict that everything and everyone who is accommodating to the Brave New state has little meaning or purpose

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