Brave New World Essay: Technology Has the Capacity to Both Enslave and Free Mankind

Alduous Huxley’s Brave New World is one of the most popular dystopian novels ever written. Perhaps one of the reasons 
for its success is Huxley’s use of contrast between the society of Central London and the Savage Reservation. Projected 
six hundred years into the future, the society of Central London is far different from our own, where promiscuity and drug 
use are encouraged and art and religion are virtually nonexistent. Life on the Savage Reservation, however, is quite similar 
to own, although the people of Central London regard its residents as ignorant and uncivilized. 

By comparing the two societies, Huxley utilizes many universal themes, including the power of technology. Huxley demonstrates that technology has the capacity to both enslave and free mankind. The reader is first introduced to the 
people of the Brave New World, particularly Central London. Huxley paints a society that is both imprisoned and helped by
technology, where technology governs all aspects of life, from birth to death. The people here are not truly happy because
they are not encouraged to explore anything beyond what technology has to offer. 

They do not understand their own emotions and use their technology to stifle them. Instead of thinking for themselves, they rely on technology as a distraction. Technology conditions them to believe that they are content, but that same conditioning has prevented from knowing sadness. Without a comparison, they can not really say that they are happy because happiness is relative. However, technology has also eased their lives, allowing them to relax mentally and physically.