Josh+N

Throughout history satire has been used as a method to improve through scorn. Satire is a composition in which human frailty, and vices are held up to ridicule. There have been many great satirists, one of them being Aldous Huxley. __Brave New World__, one of Huxley’s greatest works, is also one of the greatest satires of all time. Huxley’s novel is a political and literary satire through which he mocked his society and expressed his views about the world’s future. One quote in particular in a conversation between John the Savage and Mustapha Mond is a great example of how Huxley used satire in his work. The quote is as follows: "But I don’t want comfort. I want God. I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin." Through this quote and other text references Huxley made __Brave New World__ into a satire in the hopes of convincing people to change their ways by warning them about the dangers of the brave new world.
 * __Prompt 1 Essay__**

Before the reader can understand why the quote is satirical, the reader must first understand the meaning behind the quote and why Huxley wanted his story to be satirical. The quote is not to be taken completely literally. John did not really want to be afflicted with sin and danger all the time, he just wanted the possibility of having them in his life because he believed that only exposure to both good and evil allowed a person to live a true life and achieve true happiness. He believed that fulfillment in life could only be achieved by having to overcome conflicts such as sin. Personal freedom is also part of the meaning behind the quote. John wanted the freedom to make his own choices about believing in God and about the path he travels in life. He did not want his life to be determined for him by the government. The idea of freedom is why Huxley wanted the story to be satirical. He was ridiculing human follies and warning people that if they continued down the path they were following then they would eventually live in this brave new world where they have no freedom and control over their lives belongs to the government. His intention was to scare people into changing their ways by showing them the bleak future that lay before them. The main idea Huxley wanted to get across in this quote was to not take freedom for granted. After all, freedom leads to happiness, not slavery.

Huxley used many satirical techniques in his work, which tips off the reader that the novel is a satire. In the time that has passed since Huxley wrote the novel, parts of his brave new world have become reality and can be seen in modern day society, indicating that some of his ideas are to be taken literally. These ideas include communism, conditioning, and dividing people among the different levels of the social order. Although not all of these things are seen in America, they have occurred and still are occurring in other countries of the world. However, one of the satirical techniques that Huxley used is exaggeration, and those ideas that he exaggerated are to be interpreted figuratively. He definitely exaggerated how much he thought the world would be transformed. Ideas such as babies being born in test tubes and being completely independent from God were absurd to Huxley’s generation and are still considered absurd to today’s generation. Even John’s quote is exaggerated. He did not really want all of those bad things in his life; he just wanted the possibility of having them. Huxley also uses the satirical technique of reductio ad absurdum in the story. Many ideas such as the Bokanovsky Process and God manifesting himself as an absence are carried to the extreme. But it can be logically concluded that with enough conditioning and loss of individuality to a powerful, controlling government, society is on its way to becoming similar to this corrupt utopia. Another satirical technique that is seen is paradox, which appears in John’s quote. In the quote, John says he wants both goodness and sin. Although these two are contradictory, John’s statement is well founded in that he believes both are needed in order to truly live. It is the process of overcoming the bad times that make the good times so much better and makes life more fulfilling. Although Huxley wants some of his ideas to be taken literally, overall, his use of satirical techniques shows that the novel is to be taken as a figurative perception of his theories about the future.

Although __Brave New World__ is a satire, Huxley does prove through the story that it is almost impossible to say what is right and what is wrong. According to the people of his time and the people of modern day society, the actions and views of the brave new worldians are immoral and illogical. But that is only because the people of his generation and today’s generation have been conditioned to believe that those types of customs are wrong. The brave new worldians were brought up and conditioned to believe that that type of behavior is accepted and normal. If they were to read a story about today’s society, they would probably think that the people of this world are perverse. No matter how one looks at it, perception cannot really be based off what is considered right or wrong but on how people are raised and what they are conditioned to believe.