Manipulation In Brave New World

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The minds of individuals can be easily manipulated by outside sources. Manipulation is the ability of someone or something to change the way an individual sees or feel about something. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, is a dystopian novel that tells the story of a flawed “utopian” futuristic society and the characters within it. These characters are different than everyone else. Throughout the novel, the minds of the people living in the New World State are manipulated by the media, government, and their peers and acquaintances.
The media outlets in the New World State manipulate the minds of those living there. The media uses false information or over-dramatizes the information which they project to the people. The media attempts to discourage …show more content…
The government starts manipulating the minds of their people from a very young age. They do this in order to have the people think and feel a certain way. This allows the government to maintain stability. They also do this to take away any individuality of their people. The government feels as that this allows for a more productive way of life. The government uses hypnopedia to control the young. Hypnopedia is a sleep technology that uses a speaker to play messages to the children while they are sleeping. The children there generally repeat what they heard. The government practices hypnopedia so many times that the messages are engraved in the children's minds. The children repeat things such as, “Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfully glad I’m a Beta, because I don't have to work so hard, And then we are much better than the Gammas of Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with the Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able to…” (Huxley 27-28). Hypnopedia shows how the government can influence the minds of their youth. They use hypnopedia to teach the kids what to like, what not to like, how to like and what they want to do. They control how the children think and feel. This control factor is present for …show more content…
Peers and acquaintances encourage each other to do things promoted by the government. They usually do this to help their friends fit into the society and be just like everyone else. They do this out of the kindness of their hearts, but they do not realize that what they are doing really is not helping their friend, but hurting them. Bernard Marx is having an argument with Henry Foster. Henry sees how upset Bernard is and says, “What you need is a gramme of soma” (Huxley 54). Soma is a drug that is meant to bring happiness to the user rapidly. The people are supposed to take this whenever they feel sad to cheer them up. The last thing they are supposed to feel is sad. Henry is trying to help Bernard, and also to manipulate him into doing something he does not want to. Initially, this does not work; but because of growing pressure, Bernard does take soma, which he refused to take all this time. This peer pressure is something that can and does manipulate people into doing things that they do not want to. Having a monogamous relationship is looked down upon in the New World State. When Lenina Crowne tells her friend, Fanny, about her plans for that night and how she is going to go out with Henry Foster, she responds, “Do you mean to tell me you’re still going out with Henry Foster” (Huxley 40). Going out with one person for so long is not accepted in this society. Fanny’s persistence to
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