Research Paper on Feminism and Marxism in the Brave New World

Research Question

Research question: How are the theory of Marxism and feminism reflected in the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley?

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Introduction

Aldous Huxley was born in the year 1894 in England and died in the 1960s during which the society was struggling with issues of class and sexism, where the peasants and women were marginalized or discriminated by the system (Huxley 2). Hence, he lived during the period when the Marxism and feminism theories were started to spread in the effort to create a balanced society where all individuals were treated with equality both socially and economically. Hence, his novel Brave New world was created in a futurist idea where people were divided into classes such as Alpha and Beta, where the Alphas were viewed as superior to the rest of the population. Moreover, women were always placed at the bottom of the social order.

Marxism

Marxism is was a theory by Karl Max who lived in the 1800s, where he proposed a scientific way of socialization. He proposed ideas that could be emulated by the struggling working class to achieved nobility in the society and coined that through the concept of socialism (Parkin 4). The historical context of the novel is when the great depression had stricken the globe and most people had not economic security. Most people were working in low paying factory job and were languishing in poverty, as the topic on the economic chain continued to grow rich. Hence, Huxley decided to write a novel on the dystopian system where people were placed into classes and not allowed to be shift to another. In the novel, the various means used to control the masses such as technology and attack of the subconscious mind has been profoundly depicted in Huxley's work. The social classes and the castes of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, and Delta in the Brave New World, are used to maintain social order as people are encouraged to cherish their caste since it is better than the other. The Marxist theory states that the society has proletariat and bourgeoisie and each have to play their roles of dominating and working without complaining respectively (Parkin 7). From the novel, the non-thinking Epsilon caste has been shown to be poisoned through alcohol during their fetus stage of development, in the effort of keeping them compliant while performing their duties. The Marxism theory states that the society is more important than an individual, which has been echoed by the novel where the world's motto is community, identity stability (Parkin 14). Hence, community is valuable than individuality which requires the members of the society to show their support to the ideas that are meant to benefit many. Unfortunately, the many being referred in the context are those at the highest class in the society while the rest suffer to sustain them. As shown in Huxley (16), the members of the society are also encouraged to love their jobs as a way of sustain their community which their additionally should love and show loyalty. Since the people are manufacture through conditioning in their tubes, they are designed to embrace their social places such that nobody can escape their future or destiny. All people are prepared to serve their respective places in the society. This situation is suitable for the progress of the proletariat where the society is less chaotic and hence economic prosperity. This conditioning is meant to take always their human thoughts which forces them to only focus on their destiny which is, maintaining their caste and supporting the society. Moreover, (148) individuality has been downplayed once more which is even extreme for the Marxists, as it is indicated that if one person loses life, another could be created with ease. However, it is a disaster when the society has been threatened; therefore, individual people should not worry about themselves as it is their duty to die which they view as a negligible price to pay in sustaining the society. The theory of Marxism portrays the leaders are the as the people on top then the middle, and the working class. The leaders are the most prominent are the ones who controls the government and maintains the social order, which has been shown in the novel by the Alphas and the middle-class Gamma and beta people while the poor deltas and Epsilon are at the bottom of the social ladder. Since each member has been trained to love their caste and see the rest as less fortunate the society is running as expected by the Alphas. For instance, the Beta says that they are not working as hard as other members of the group but still they have a decent life. Despite the alphas working as hard as they are perceived to be the smartest in the group, since they have all they need and more, they consider themselves privileged than the rest of the group. This acceptance and compliance to what those on top prescribes is what the Marxism describes as social stability. People are encouraged to serve the need of another person and rest assured their needs will also be covered by someone else. Moreover, Marxism states that people prefer a comfortable happy life which is stable and predictable. From the novel, the same idea has been proved Mustapha Mond tells John that he did not go to Intellectual Island where people have to study science and do research so that he could have a simple and happy life in the modern world (Huxley, 243). He viewed this life as stable and would not have to confront the uncertainties in the field of science, which requires people to use their intelligences in doing the discoveries. That is why the authority has created a system that places people into their respective classes to enhance confront which will cloud their judgement.

Feminism

Feminism refer to the pursuit for gender equality activities especially those that are meant to offer women equal status as men in the society. In the Brave New World, despite the presence of different classes they are used to segregate people, women have been disadvantaged. The highest rank that a woman in this dystopian society could achieve was the beta. Alphas was purely for male. At the beginning of the novel boys are presented differently to girls. For instance, the classes where boys are taught on various subjects such as science are seen by girls are only taught how to be sexual without getting pregnant. In a world with strong feminist activities, issues of sexism where women are seen as merely the objects of pleasure for men and less intelligent are common (Gerodetti 67). It is the same case in the novel, as girl are only taught how to become better sex objects. Women are not respected in such societies and their contributions are seen as less important as compared to men. They are treated as second-class citizens. For example, in the novel, Lenina is responsible for administering vaccine in the growing embryos which should be a critical job in that dystopian society where they create and condition people to be what the government desires, but after her job she is supposed to go and pleasure any man who has chosen her. In that society women have less right and as shown any man who selects any women can have her as long her makes the first bidding. However, this is not the case for women who have to wait for their fate to be determined and it is mandatory to take part in such activities. According to Freedman (24), the unbreakable social hierarchies which are created by perceptions or representation are the main reason are the main reason women are treated differently despite the social awakening that is meant to set women at the same level as men. Some women tend to feel comfortable at the position that the society has prescribed for them and not willing to seek for an alternative (Motta 12). For instance, the Beta women feels privileged that other women in the lower castes as they have to work less but still enjoy their lives. They are not bothered by the fact that men have to choose them for sexual activities without their consent. They have to attend the weekly orgies without asking questions. Such attitude of being satisfied by little is what keep women suffering under the male-dominated society. The term minimizers and maximizers have been used by feminist theorist to describe the above situation. The minimizers are those women who minimize the differences between men and women which undermines feminism, while maximizers are those who seek to reclaim the value of women so that they could be equated to men (Perumal 7). That is where radical and cultural feminists have been described to prove that a segment of women aim to liberate the female gender while another seems to enjoy the status quo. Huxley shows how the eggs of women are taken as a way of enhancing social stability. However, men are left with their fertility as it is assumed that is not a risk to social order that has been planned by the government, which is entirely dominated by men. Women were not allowed to take any leadership roles in the society. Hence, there was nobody at the top to articulate for their plight. Women are considered to be the same, and this labeling automatically robs them of their individuality that is why men can choose any women they want each day and the same cannot be done on men. The science experiments that are promoted by the government to generate extra-uterine babies are meant to undermine the role of women during pregnancy. Soon their duties will obsolete as the machines will be taking their job and that could be the reason in the novel their eggs are taken to ensure they do not become pregnant from the regular sexual activities. This situation could be explained by the feminist ideas which suppose that women should be given a chance to make decisions about their reproductive health and not politicize the idea (Gerodetti 150). For instance, when it comes to abortion and contraception, women should have the upper hand in determining what their need to do with their condition. However, some societies which impose their ideas on women believe that women should not have abortion despite their condition as way of maintain social order through moral decision. Such positions through legislation are sponsored by government, which is the same case that occurs in the novel where women eggs have to be taken to promote social stability.

Conclusion

The novel Brave New World by Huxley was created with a futuristic perspective, where human beings will be organized into social classes as a way of maintaining social order. For instance, the Alphas who are entirely male rule the nation while the working class, epsilon, continue to suffer in poverty without complaining. Also, women are suffering in the society but have been socially conditioned to feel comfortable that way as they are viewed and treated as second-class citizens and sexual objects. On the other end, men are exalted despite the classes they hold and have a potential and society has created a chance for them to rise to any level they want. Women on the other side have so far reached the beta level. They are ideas reflected in the Marxism and feminists theories that explain such social orders.

Work Cited

Gerodetti, Natalia, and Veronique Mottier. "Feminism (s) and the politics of reproduction: Introduction to Special Issue onFeminist Politics of Reproduction'." Feminist Theory 10.2 (2009): 147-152.

Freedman, Jane. "Concepts in the social sciences: Feminism." Open UniversityPress, Philadelphia (2001).

Huxley, Aldous. "Brave new world. 1932." London: Vintage (1998).

Motta, Sara, et al. "Feminism, women's movements and women in the movement." Interface: a journal for and about so...