Morals of Then and Now Brave New World, a novel written by Aldous Huxley, displays a society where pain and suffering are all but abolished, where pleasure is everlasting, and where the world is absorbed in stability and order. The novel portrays a futuristic society where individualism is sacrificed for the community, all history and arts are forbidden and where science and cloning is used to control inhabitants. In the World State, humans are genetically engineered to fit certain social classes. Promiscuity is key to life inside the World State and the drug soma. As life continues in the World State, so does life on the outside. John, the Savage, is introduced into the novel and reveals the reality of life outside of the World State. By noticing the vast difference between the World State and the Reservation where the savages are, readers can infer that life in futuristic societies differ in morals and opinions. Although the morals of the World State and the Reservation are very different, both resemble parts of modern day societies. Even though religion, sex, and drugs have different morals in different time periods, there are distinct differences between Brave New World morals and the ones of modern day that give warning that today’s society may be heading towards Brave New World’s. No matter how old one is, where they come from, or what they believe in, everyone has different opinions of sex. Aldous Huxley writes, “After all, every one belongs to every one else” (31). Huxley reveals that in Brave New World, the World State makes every inhabitant aware that they share themselves with everyone else. People in the World State cannot have individualism because they are conditioned into being one with every person in the society. By sharing themselves intimately, the world leaders believe that the society will be more of a community. Hebrews 13:4 states, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” In the Bible, sex is described as an immoral subject, unless done in monogamy. In Brave New World however, having sex outside of marriage is as simple and as frequent as breathing. In fact, the World State does not suggest monogamy because being intimate with only one person and not the whole society will simply disrupt the conduct and social standing of the society. International Business Times reports, “Forty-one percent of teenage girls and 31 percent of teenage boys reported not having sex because doing so would be against religion or morals.” Although International Business Times posted an article on teenagers saying no to sex in 2001, modern day lives with the same morals. Even though not every person is disregarding and saying no to sex, there are people out in the world who are having sex, whether they are being monogamous or not. The fact is, is that modern day society is becoming similar to the sex morals of those of the World State. Although people may have “not found the right person,” societies both in Brave New World and modern day are getting close to becoming the same standards and morals for sex (International Business Times). One can determine that sex in today’s world is similar to those of the World State, to an extent. Even Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World had his fair share of affairs when he was married. Although he had many affairs, he “shar[ed] the same lover, the novelist Mary Hutchinson” (Brian Murray 35). By Huxley having numerous affairs, life in modern day and life in the World State can be seen as similar when it comes to sex, but only to an extent. Modern day is a time period where people live knowing that there is a God, which is completely the opposite thought of what people in Brave New World believe. Huxley writes, “Well, he manifests himself as an absence; as though he weren’t there at all” (237). Huxley expresses that all the people within the World State are absentminded about God
