Reece+P.

Prompt #1 - Brave New World (Quote #8) Thesis: Aldous Huxley's novel, __Brave New World,__ mocks the downward spiral of mankind's values. The anti-utopian novel is a satire because it ridicules society while demonstrating a need for it to turn away from the dangerous path it is traveling down.

The chapter containing John and Mustapha Mond's conversation about God possesses several indicators of the novel's satirical nature. Mond begins the passage by stating that God, in addition to art and science, is absent from present day society. The insinuation that a figure of such importance to our society could be so nearly forgotten, that God could merely be a footnote or an afterthought to the few knowledgeable citizens, is an example of understatement and the first indicator that we ought not to take the passage literally. Mustapha Mond then continues to explain that the existence of God is kept from society because God is old. John's bafflement that society could suddenly forsake its God of several thousand years for a more "modern" yet, to the audience, unremarkable individual like Henry Ford, resonates with the reader; the quote exemplifies the satirical technique of bathos, shifting from the serious concept of God's erasure from society to the ludicrous reasoning as to why the erasure was necessary. The two aforementioned instances of satire allow the reader to know that Huxley is mocking society in a satirical, rather than literal, manner.

Mond next states that due to the youth and prosperity the modern world grants its citizens, independence from God is not only desirable, but possible too. Mond reasons that while individuals are young, healthy, and content, there is no need for a God for there are no troubles which might necessitate his existence; were any troubles to arise the citizens have their instant fix of soma or they may consult a Community Songster. The technique used in this instance is reductio ad absurdum since Mond has logically theorized a conclusion the reader deems extremist, if not impossible (from a religious perspective) due to the inexorable presence of God in the afterlife; independence from an omnipotent and omnipresent being is an impossibility. This quote additionally carries an innuendo as it insinuates that independence from God is something to be desired, thereby insulting our modern world's most prominent religious figure. Bathos may also be applied to the entire passage as throughout it Mond attempts to calmly educate John/the reader while the reader's reaction contrasts sharply with Mond's attitude, turning more to outrage and incomprehension of the society's blasphemous ways, not at all the reaction Mond desired for such a simple and necessary fact.

In addition to the satire emanating from Mond, Huxley himself uses satire through Mond's reasoning; the reader must ask him/herself what conclusions or connections Huxley wishes for the audience to make with their society. The idea that youth and prosperity may "emancipate" an individual from God hits home with the reader as he/she realizes that those are two of the most sought after qualities today. Additionally the reader cannot deny that as time has passed man's relationship with God has grown more and more distant with religion; faith continues to play a shrinking role in a growing number of lives, even hope dwindles as suicide rates, such as John was driven to do, escalate across the globe. Aldous Huxley uses the techniques of mockery and paradox to ridicule modern day society and point out how close it is to realizing the __Brave New World__ he writes about.

While Mond speaks with a Horatian style of satire, the reader can infer that Huxley, were he narrating, would use a Juvenalian style. The reason Huxley may be more Juvenalian is that the reader can sense his moral indignation with how man's values are evolving, espcially in the passage concerning the elimination of God. As mentioned before, many parallels exist between __Brave New World__ and present day society, such as suicide, desire for youth, or a growing trend to live without God. It is mankind's sinful nature that leads to the creation of a brave new world where lies and immorality serve as the only sources of contentment and ethics have no place.