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Definition of Satire
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of satire, but satirists can take... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians... read full definition
Satire
Explanation and Analysis:
Brave New World is a satire, in that it dramatizes elements of modern life in order to point out the absurdity and potential dangers of progress taken too far. The drug soma, for instance, is a satirical version of real mind-altering drugs that readers are surely familiar with. The way soma is used in the book is over-the-top to the point of being absurd and almost darkly humorous: the totalitarian state forces people to consume the drug and, in doing so, become too happy and can't enjoy the full richness and complexity of life. In this way, Brave New World is playing with an idea that may sound appealing on the surface: using a modern scientific advancement to eliminate negative emotion. But it takes that idea to the extreme in order to caution the reader against blindly accepting new scientific or technological developments in their own societies, lest they end up anesthetized like the people living under the totalitarian World State.
Huxley's imagined future society shares many similarities with contemporary society, but it is simultaneously quite distinct. One important distinction lies in cultural attitudes regarding sex and procreation. In Huxley's dystopian London, sex is considered purely recreational: its only purpose is pleasure. To suggest otherwise, or imply procreative function, is considered as obscene as the suggestion of extramarital sex is in some contemporary societies. Many people, when they think of dystopian fiction or totalitarian regimes, envision a conservative ethos that would involve the restriction and oppression of sexual appetites. But Brave New World instead satirizes modern attitudes toward sexuality by imagining a progressive dystopia, extending the concept of sexual liberation well beyond its intended scope. In this society, sexual liberation is mandatory—a person must have sex with other people, because "everyone belongs to everyone else." This is no less oppressive than a conservative dystopia, which would mandate that no one have sex outside the confines of marriage. By choosing to structure his dystopian society around extreme progressivism, Huxley uses satire to demonstrate that any ideology can become oppressive if one completely restricts people from making individual choices, no matter how "beneficial" aspects of that ideology might be in other contexts.
Related Themes:
