Brave New World: Journal Entry #3

Topic A

““Because our world is not the same as Othello's world. You can't make flivvers without steel–and you can't make tragedies without social instability. The world's stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get. They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill; they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they're plagued with no mothers or fathers; they've got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they're so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there's soma. Which you go and chuck out of the window in the name of liberty, Mr. Savage. Liberty!" He laughed. "Expecting Deltas to know what liberty is! And now expecting them to understand Othello! My good boy!"

The Savage was silent for a little. "All the same," he insisted obstinately, "Othello's good, Othello's better than those feelies."

"Of course it is," the Controller agreed. "But that's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We've sacrificed the high art. We have the feelies and the scent organ instead."” (Huxley 220)

This passage reveals that the controllers are only concerned about the world’s stability as a whole. Since this society is conditioned to be the way they are, they have everything they want fulfilled thus creating harmony. If one were to put things such as tragedies in the world they would bring social instability and since social stability is the goal of society they are outlawed. The people in the novel can do whatever they want without being unhappy because of their conditioning of their particular class (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, elipson). This happiness comes from the ignorance of greater things such as freedom which they have been conditioned to not pursue. The lack of knowledge of the people is why they are cooperating in society. Even if they are unhappy they can make themselves forget by consuming soma the perfect drug in this society which controls the behavior of the people when they get out of control. Previous to this scene John is tossing the soma out the window creating violence among the Deltas and the police come and spray soma in the air which changes everyone’s behavior to love, and happiness as opposed to violence.