Brave New World is a novel by Aldous Huxley that depicts a dystopian society where individuals are through reproductive technology and then engineered to play a certain role for the social class they were born into. Though the novel poses the question of whether happiness or freedom should be valued, the ideas of power, privilege, and others are prevalent throughout Brave New World.
To start off, the idea of othering is at the core of Brave New World. Individuals are born into social classes which determine every aspect of their lives. Individuals are given certain characteristics depending on their class. For example, more socially desired characteristics are given to individuals in upper class standing. This automatically creates an idea of othering, since individuals are put into groups the moment they are conceived through the reproductive technology. Whereas everyone could be given the same features as the upper class, lower and middle class individuals are purposefully not given such characteristics. This then leads to people having different power and privilege based on their social class. However, it is also important to note that individuals that are not a part of this dystopian lifestyle but live their lives in a description like that of people indigenous to the Americas. These indigenous people are refereed to as savages and seen as celebrities when they arrive to society. This is similar to the idea of poverty porn, when individuals enjoy helping others because of the social awareness around it, not because they are helping someone. Furthermore, the individuals not a part of society are referred to as savages. This is like the unethical practice of some western societies who think of individuals who do not conform to their ideals and values as savages.
The class system is utilized in every aspect of life in Brave New World. I would say the main impact of this is on economics, since individuals who are not born into the upper class are not given the opportunity to earn high wages. This also goes into the privilege that individuals in upper class receive, since they are given jobs that are not laborious and thus not damaging to their bodies. Overall, Brave New World shows the problems relating to othering that exist in a society that is obsessed with social structure. I am interested to see how the novel is displayed through becoming a television show and what points in the story will change to make it more entertaining.
