Technology as a blessing or curse in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". The importance of individuality and freedom (eBook)

Pre-University Paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 14, , language: English, abstract: This scientific research paper evaluates the importance of freedom and individuality by reference to Aldous Huxley’s novel “Brave New World” (1932). I chose this topic, because of its high complexity and the fact that technological progress plays a continuously rising role in our daily routine to make our lives easier or more comfortable.

By writing about the inhumane circumstances, the inhabitants of the Brave New World live in, without realizing their loss of individuality or freedom; I want to point out that technological progress should always be only a human’s tool instead of his suppressor. The topic itself is very topical, because there are numerous controversies concerning technology, especially in the field of agricultural genetic engineering or, even more controversial, the use of technology in relation to human beings such as cloning and stem cell research. The novel contains a great deal of hidden messages and allusions, which is the reason why I would like to analyse the novel profoundly and convince the reader of the following pages of my hypothesis that humanity is more crucial for progress than technology. This research paper was a challenge, since it has been the first scientific work I have written and the fact that I have chosen a complex and demanding topic.

Aldous Huxley’s dystopian science-fiction novel “Brave New World”, which was published in 1932 in London, covers the issue of a dehumanized society, in which individuality, freedom and contiguous, for us self-evident morals are taken in exchange for “Community, Identity [and], Stability". It takes place in the future, in the year A.F. (Annum Ford) 632, which equals the year 2540 in our calendar.