That quote most definitely applies to Brave New World; however, the quote could be applied to other future, dystopian novels as well.
In Brave New World, the society has been designed around hedonistic tendencies. Everybody is encouraged to always do what feels good and do it immediately. That is why everybody seems to be rampantly promiscuous in their sexual habits. Huxley writes, “Every one belongs to every one else.”
Orgies are common and...
That quote most definitely applies to Brave New World; however, the quote could be applied to other future, dystopian novels as well.
In Brave New World, the society has been designed around hedonistic tendencies. Everybody is encouraged to always do what feels good and do it immediately. That is why everybody seems to be rampantly promiscuous in their sexual habits. Huxley writes, “Every one belongs to every one else.”
Orgies are common and basically mandated. The idea of a relationship with emotional attachments is completely foreign. Bernard even tries to explain his desire for more than just a physical relationship with Lenina, and she just cannot understand it.
Part of the reason that Lenina and other characters can’t understand the purpose for doing anything other than seeking out fun is because the entire society has been bred, conditioned, and brainwashed to pursue pleasure at all costs. Through the process of “hypnopaedia” and “sleep-teaching” people in Brave New World are conditioned to seek pleasure and work for the good of the community. If those two conditioning devices aren’t enough, a person can always get high on “soma” in order to reduce inhibitions. Mustapha tells readers it is "euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly hallucinant.” The drug ensures that people are always distracted from seeing that anything is wrong with the state of the world. The people are essentially amusing themselves to death on a day-to-day basis. Outside of work, to ensure a stable economy, the people are encouraged to have fun by spending money. That’s all life is to people in the book. It’s one big pursuit of trivial pleasures. Take the promiscuity of the people as an example. Sex is no longer something to be shared between two people in love. It’s been reduced to a trivial activity that carries no meaning at all. Presumably, the people will live this kind of life until they die. They are essentially a population of people that have become preoccupied with amusing themselves to death through trivial pursuits. A society that only participates in the trivial has let itself become an entirely trivial society as a consequence. There is no purpose, direction, or meaning to existence.
Bradbury briefly explores this same concept through the character of Mildred Montag in Fahrenheit 451. She’s obsessed with watching the book’s version of television. She is more interested in the fictional families and events that she sees on television than she is in real life. When she is not watching those shows, she takes drugs to help her sleep and avoid spending too much conscious time in the real world. In fact, without Montag calling in medical help, Mildred would have overdosed and died early in the book. She really was amusing herself to death with trivial pursuits. That is one big reason Montag no longer felt much of an emotional attachment to her.
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