We have created an industrial order geared to automatism, where feeble-mindedness, native or acquired, is necessary for docile productivity in the factory; and where a pervasive neurosis is the final gift of the meaningless life that issues forth at the other end(Lewis -Mumford). Lewis Mumford describes a world where technology and industry has enabled men to manipulate mans way of thinking by gearing people toward feeble-mindedness. In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, men have taken advantage of technology and have turned Mumfords description into their reality. Huxleys novel portrays a world where humans are pre-destined at birth and their minds are programmed to adjust to the path chosen for them. Everyone belongs to everyone else in Huxleys society and their roles in life are to solely benefit the community. However all they gain, as explained in Mumfords quote, is pervasive neurosis in their meaningless lives. The people lack insight and the ability to explore the meaning of true happiness due to their pre-destined minds. Mumfords quote summarizes how the people in Huxleys society are brought up as well as the life of one of Huxleys characters, Linda.
The people of Huxleys society have their lives mapped out for them before they are even born and in order to make sure they are content with their plan, they must be conditioned or brainwashed throughout their lives. The minds of children are young and undeveloped, a factor that is taken advantage of by the pre-designators of Brave New World. As a group of kids are taken on a tour of the fertilizing facility, the director explains to them the process in which people are created, and whenever the great man spoke, [the children] desperately scribbled. Straight from the horses mouth. Little do the children know that the director or the horse is leading them down a already chosen path they have no choice but to follow. As the director proceeds to explain more of the facilitys inner workings, he gives his group a general idea of the purpose of the facility since he believes some sort of general idea they must have, if they were to do their work intelligently but as little as one, if they were to be good and happy members of a society. As a human, one needs a general idea in order understand ones task. However in this society each person is assigned a task that is related to the general idea and they know solely about that specific task. They lack the full understanding of how their world operates and are blind in a knowledgeable sense. The director reasons with himself that particulars, as everyone knows, make for virtue and happiness, generalities are intellectually necessary evils. Specifics are the epitome of simplicity; when given detailed instructions, critical thinking is not needed whereas generalities leave room for thought and reasoning, which are the evils of this mechanical society. Automatism and feeble-mindedness are the backbone of Huxleys community where people just do their jobs and lack the mental capacity to question the way things are. In order to achieve docile productivity, men manipulated technology to control the will of others.
An example of one of Huxleys brainwashed beings is his character, Linda, whose life and behavior are vivid demonstrations of Mumfords quote. Unfortunately, Linda was separated from the other place and thrown into the real world. She has no knowledge of how the outside world works and when asked why she does not know, she responds Im a Beta; I worked in the fertilizing room; nobody ever taught me to do anything like that. She does not know how to complete any task besides the task given to her in the other place. Also, when questioned by her son, John, he found that it was the same thing with everything else he asked about. Linda never seemed to know. As a child, John desired to expand his knowledge and therefore turned to his mother for explanations of how the world works. However Linda has been conditioned to only know how to do her task and is closed minded to anything beyond that. When upset or feeling any emotion besides happiness, the people of Huxleys society eat soma, a drug that induces its taker temporary bliss but shortens the takers lifespan. Eventually Linda was able to return to her original home where the return to civilization was for her return to soma. All she craved for was a place where pain did not exist anymore. She wanted happiness and she wanted the simple solution in order to get it. Once back to civilization, Linda often went on a soma holiday where she would continually take soma and there she remained and yet [she] wasnt there at all. Physically, her body remains in the room but her mental self goes away from reality and into a place of happiness. Linda is a living example of one that possesses pervasive neurosis as a result of her conditioning from birth and that is all she has to her meaningless life. Technological advances have provided the humans of Brave New World a simple solution to many situations but the solutions only lead toward an insignificant life.
Mumfords quote summarizes the lives of the people in Huxleys society. Simple mindedness is the key to a functioning society where no one questions anything. Linda demonstrates how meaningless her life is when she can not think about the meaning of true happiness. All she knows is her own pursuit of easily obtained and hollow happiness. The backbone of Huxleys society consists of an industrial order geared to automatism consisting of feeble minded people. The people of Brave New World tried to create a foolproof society, an idealistic and perfect place, a place that does not exist.
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