Brave New World

“‘I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.’

‘Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat; the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind.’ There was a long silence.

‘I claim them all,’ said the Savage at last.” Page 215

In this passage, John is annoyed and frustrated that he is being treated like an animal or a pet. He is being put on display for people to come look at. This passage proves vital in illustrating the importance of unhappiness, pain or struggle in the average human life. In order to truly know what it means to be happy, one has to experience unhappiness, struggle or pain. If one is always handed happiness, then he or she cannot truly understand what happiness is.

John is verbally claiming his right to be unhappy but really what he is claiming is his right to live without interference from society and the government. In Brave New World, every aspect of a person’s life is controlled in some way by the government. People don’t have the freedom to choose the outcome of their lives. Their choices and the control they have over their own lives are extremely limited. After being raised in the “savage” society, John has the critical thinking skills that the people in the “civilized” society do not possess. He can see that there is something terribly wrong with this society, which further illustrates the negative effects of this dystopia. People don’t get to make important choices that govern their lives. The government constructs their happiness. They don’t get to learn from their own mistakes and they don’t know that success is better when one truly earns it. John would rather live on his own or die than live in the society where every aspect of his life is controlled and he doesn't ever get to feel pain. He'd rather feel pain than feel fake or constructed happiness.

Was John's decision to live in seclusion a better alternative to living in civilization?

Molly Cook