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Solitude in Brave New World

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What does it mean to be alone? Aldous Huxley's, "Brave New World" is set in the not too distant future society, where people are created and conditioned in giant labs. This results in the abolition of pain and human choice. In these labs humans are categorized based upon their intelligence and ability; sex is no longer for reproduction, but solely for pleasure. They are conditioned into a false happiness induced by the consumption of, "soma," a drug taken as an escape from reality. In, "Brave New World," solitude is very opposed by the government. In our world, and Huxley's world, there is the continual encouragement to be social with others. Avoidance of spending too much time by oneself, and to constantly be surrounded with technology and social networking. This makes it nearly impossible to be completely in solitude. For these reasons, our world's views on isolation are becoming increasingly similar to those views in, "Brave New World." In both worlds, it is continually encouraged to go out and socialize with others. In America, there are events such as concerts, movies, or sports games that promote socialization. In the book they created, "the feelies," which is their comparable version of a movie, but it indulges all the senses while watching. Dr. Gaffney, explains to John that young people go to the feelies for entertainment. "Our library, contains only books of reference. If our young people need distraction, they can get it at the feelies. We don't encourage them to indulge in any solitary amusements." These public and social events are primarily to redirect the attention from the people's solitary amusements, to their social amusements. This not only prevents independent thinking, ­but also makes it so the desire to spend time alone is less desirable compared to going out and socializing. Spending too much time on one's own is avoided or frowned upon in both worlds. If you spend most of your time in solitude, you're different

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