2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

Preceding the novel’s publication, the 1928 presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover intertwined the idea of rugged individualism – the idea that individuals are completely self-reliant – with traditional American values of personal freedom, capitalism and a laissez-faire government. Hoover’s success in the presidential race made the philosophy of rugged individuality common-place in American society, with the British ambassador to the United States, James Bryce, stating “individualism, the love of enterprise, and the pride in personal freedom have been deemed by Americans not only their choicest, but their peculiar and exclusive possession” (Lukes, n.d.). Huxley was a strong supporter of the ideals expressed by Hoover, incorporating him into the novel as the character Benito Hoover, the last name, derived from the president’s. Interestingly, Benito stems from the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini who first came into power in 1922. Mussolini aspired to create a totalitarian state which exercises an extremely high degree of control over its citizens and supressed their individual freedoms. The reference to Mussolini may be used as an allegory to show what happens when individuality and individual rights are lost. The dichotomy between the name of this character is used to contrast between the opposing ends of individual freedom: full freedom (demonstrated by Hoover) versus complete control (represented through Benito). In extreme measures, the World State prevents individuality and the formation of personal identity, achieved through hypnopædic conditioning and a rigid caste system. Conditioning lessons teach individuals how to behave and think, and is used “till at last the child’s mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child’s mind. And not the child’s mind only. The adult’s mind too – all his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides – made up of those suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions!” (p. 23). This quote demonstrates that the citizens of Brave New World are devoid of the ability to have independent thought. The imposed caste system extends beyond the genetic alterations made in embryonic phases to caste-specific conditioning. The “conditioning aims to make people like their unescapable social destiny” (p.12), evident in the hypnopædic lesson to a group of Beta children: “Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfully glad I’m Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children

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