Destruction+of+Family,+Denial+of+Death

Huxley poses the theory that without family, death is meaningless and thus ones passing will not affect others. // Mustapha Mond leaned forward, shook a finger at them. "Just try to realize it," he said, and his voice sent a strange thrill quivering along their diaphragms. "Try to realize what it was like to have a viviparous mother." // // That smutty word again. But none of them dreamed, this time, of smiling. // // "Try to imagine what 'living with one's family' meant." // // They tried; but obviously without the smallest success. // // "And do you know what a 'home' was?" // // They shook their heads. // The boys that Mustapha Mond communicated with had never experienced the joy and comfort of a family. Since they had never had a family, they couldn’t relate to Mond when he asked them to imagine a family and a home. Brave New World tears away the emotional bond between a mother and her children, and family in itself. ‘Mother’ was a terrible word. It was 'smutty' and offensive. A woman didn't bear a child; she didn't raise it from birth. It was unthinkable for a child to be born; children were made in the hatchery. Everybody belonged to everybody- that was the thinking in the novel. People were alone, yet practically forced to socialize. Family didn’t exist; sure everyone was related, but there were no families and there were no homes. The boys couldn’t possibly visualize the love a family could consume them with or the comfort found in their own home because they had never had and never would have one. Brave New World destroys the concept of a family, a home, and love. Huxley wants his readers to believe that the world can turn without the dependence on others. In his eyes, there is no need for family because without family, there is no depression that comes with the death of family members. At the end of the day, everyone only has themselves.
 * Chapter 3: Bryanna **

// He came in at once, paused for a moment just inside the door, looked round, then soft on his moccasined feet strode quickly across the room, fell on his knees in front of the Director, and said in a clear voice: "My father!" // // The word (for "father" was not so much obscene as–with its connotation of something at one remove from the loathsomeness and moral obliquity of child-bearing–merely gross, a scatological rather than a pornographic impropriety); the comically smutty word relieved what had become a quite intolerable tension. Laughter broke out, enormous, almost hysterical, peal after peal, as though it would never stop. My father–and it was the Director! My father! Oh Ford, oh Ford! That was really too good. The whooping and the roaring renewed themselves, faces seemed on the point of disintegration, tears were streaming. Six more test-tubes of spermatozoa were upset. My father! // // Pale, wild-eyed, the Director glared about him in an agony of bewildered humiliation. // // My father! The laughter, which had shown signs of dying away, broke out again more loudly than ever. He put his hands over his ears and rushed out of the room. // Huxley’s word choice within this quote consists of the use of scatological, gross, and smutty. Along with these words, he also makes use of the rhetorical device of a loose sentence. By choosing such degrading and embarrassing words, Huxley helps reader recognize that the people thought of the word “father” as a swear word, something obscene and dirty. The loose sentence helps describe the actions of the people after hearing the word shouted from john the Savage’s mouth. (Hence, their actions of being childish and ridiculing and laughing uncontrollably) Huxley’s purpose is to show how the idea of a family has completely vanished from this technologically advanced society to such an extent that words associated with family are perceived with disgust. Like the word “father” is seen as what we would think of a curse word or means of profanity. The actions of the people, including shock and ridicule, after hearing it support the assumption.
 * Chapter 7: Amirah**


 * Chapter 10: Andrew **

// "Well, here," the other went on, "nobody's supposed to belong to more than one person. And if you have people in the ordinary way, the others think you're wicked and anti-social. They hate and despise you. Once a lot of women came and made a scene because their men came to see me. Well, why not? And then they rushed at me … No, it was too awful. I can't tell you about it." Linda covered her face with her hands and shuddered. // Linda, the mother of John the Savage, was created and raised in the (Brave) New World, but became trapped in the reservation where they maintain the customs of the old world. In the reservation, people are born, and - as evident in this particular passage - remain exclusive to their respective romantic partners. The idea of sexual exclusivity is a long forgotten one in the New World, a fact that causes Linda to not see any harm in sleeping around with the husbands of the women in the reservation. Linda’s abstaining from detailing the horrors inflicted upon her by the local wives was a highly effective strategy than explicitly explaining what happened to her, in that it leaves the severity of her punishment to the imagination of the reader. With this passage, Huxley intended to juxtapose the differing moralities of the new and old worlds, and the reckless insensitivity to which rampant promiscuity leads.


 * Chapter 14: Emily **

// “Oh, God, God, God …" the Savage kept repeating to himself. In the chaos of grief and remorse that filled his mind it was the one articulate word. "God!" he whispered it aloud. "God …" // // "Whatever is he saying?" said a voice, very near, distinct and shrill through the warblings of the Super-Wurlitzer. // // The Savage violently started and, uncovering his face, looked round. Five khaki twins, each with the stump of a long éclair in his right hand, and their identical faces variously smeared with liquid chocolate, were standing in a row, puggily goggling at him. // // They met his eyes and simultaneously grinned. One of them pointed with his éclair butt. // // "Is she dead?" he asked. // // The Savage stared at them for a moment in silence. Then in silence he rose to his feet, in silence slowly walked towards the door. // // "Is she dead?" repeated the inquisitive twin trotting at his side. // // The Savage looked down at him and still without speaking pushed him away. The twin fell on the floor and at once began to howl. The Savage did not even look round. // The repetition of this passage, including John continual chant of “God”, the 5 identical brothers, and the reoccurring question “Is she dead?” emphasize John’s frustration. Through order and conformity highlighted by the repetition, Huxley intends to offer two perspectives on relationships. First, with no intimate relationships death is no burden. Love may be sacrificed, but life is stable and happiness is constant. The second perspective represents John’s life. He grew up in a spiritual society where family relations are valued. The uniformity Johns experiences and the extreme culture clash peaks at this point.

The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, once during a speech addressed the importance of good fatherhood in a family. The fact that he felt the need to emphasize this previously universally recognized truth indicates that perhaps Huxley’s predictions about the destruction of the family unit may be becoming truer as time passes. The media’s attempt to promote the importance of family bonding in the //Family Table Program// also recognizes the importance of family by stressing the significance of family dinners with the slogan, “share more than meals." However, considering the hefty funding on technology to increase the longevity of human life, a Brave New World has not come to pass. Although relationships and family are not as tightly knit as depression era families, who were drawn close together by adversity, family bonds and personal relationships remain an important part of society today.
 * Brave New World Today? **