Without a Risk, There Can Be No Reward

As I reflect back on Brave New World, I began to realize that the lifestyles of the people in the London are strikingly similar to the concepts of a low interest investment. In the utopia the people, despite their appearance of freedom and delight, have their lives controlled by a tight set of principles. This can be seen in their caste system, brainwashing conditioning system, and their “go with the flow” attitude. The World Rulers have also done away with anything that stirs emotion, passion, or troubles such as the works of Shakespeare and the Bible. They have also done away with advanced science and technology.

The people in Brave New World are in fact so conservative about their actions that in many cases they are just going through the motions. This is brought up in chapter 16 when Mustapha Mond tells The Savage that the work of the deltas can be completed in the time and that their work can easily be replaced by machines or technology.

The Utopian people are emotionless and respond only to things which positively stimulate them. They are practically robots or, according to the savage, babies. These utopian babes do not care, they have their soma and sex lives.

This type of lifestyle, with very little risks, has no rewards because their society can not advance due to its restrictions on thought, science, technology, and passion. This society is a society frozen in time, similar to a low interest investment which practically never gains additional value or progress. This is the price of stability.