Reflections on Brave New World I

Trey Smith

I just completed reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932). I'm guessing that, over the next few days, I will discuss some of the themes from this dystopian novel that speak to me. If you are unfamiliar with the book, you might wish to a) Skip these posts and read the book for yourself or b) If you're not interested in reading the book, then I would suggest you utilize the link above to read the summary of the plot.

I think it will surprise no one who has read the book that I strongly identify with the main protagonist, John the Savage. John was alienated by the society he grew up in (white boy in an Indian community) and he felt alienated from the brave new world of a futuristic London. In the end, his alienation was so overwhelming that he hanged himself.

While I don't plan to follow that course, I certainly understand the feelings of alienation. As an autistic individual, I felt alienated in childhood and I still feel the same way in adulthood. As has been expressed by many autistic people, I feel as if I was dropped on this planet by mistake!

This feeling of alienation caused me tremendous angst in my youth and young adult years. I was imprisoned by a loneliness and isolation that I wholly was unable to escape from. What made it all the worse was that I was cognizant of the fact there was no escape and this only made the loneliness and isolation almost too much to bear.

I find it most ironic that we live in a society that values rugged individualism and yet pushes us to conform, all at the same time. What this means is that we are encouraged to be unique, but only unique enough within prescribed parameters. If an individual defies convention to express his/her uniqueness outside of these narrow parameters, then pressure is applied to move back within the bounds and, if this fails, the person is ostracized.

By our very nature -- some believe it is due to the physical wiring in the brain itself -- autistic individuals do not recognize these parameters and so it is very likely that we will defy convention as we go about our routine lives. Society then pressures us to get back in line, but this is near too impossible to accomplish when you can't see the lines in the first place!

And so, suffering from alienation is part of our makeup. Try as we might, we always seem out-of-step and off balance. Even when we make conscious efforts to try to get with the program, it seems that we come at it from -- what others would consider -- an odd angle.

My outlook has changed greatly from my younger years. My alienation and isolation no longer cause me angst. I now accept them for what they are. I have learned to embrace them both. I suppose it's a good thing that I don't live in Huxley's Brave New World (though, in many ways, I actually think we do -- a teaser for a subsequent post?). In Huxley's World State, wanting or accepting of the notion of being alone is frowned upon. It is considered to be the epitome of abnormal.

Since I spend most of each day alone (even worse, in contemplation!), I would prove to be about as abnormal as a person could be!!