The Pursuit of Happyness in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Ray Bra

Would one rather have a life with no control over what happens; or would one want to have a life with some power, but a limited pursuit of happiness? The Government in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 let the citizens do whatever they want to do. The only exception is that they are not to be left alone to think about life and the enjoyments that are involved; they are supposed to live and forget. Illegal activities are considered normal in these novels. America’s society compared to these two Utopias is completely different. Things that make one happy might be illegal in America’s society, but are considered normal in the novels. With society today, people say that things are socially or politically incorrect. There is no law stating that it is unlawful to do these things. In today’s society, if one had meaningless sex with another person, they would be considered a whore, or a man-whore. If a person took a pill and overdosed on it, they would be considered an addict. In these two novels anyone can do whatever they want and nothing is considered politically incorrect . Drugs are offered at free will to anybody that wants them. In Huxley’s Brave New World, â€Å"there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday† (Huxley 55). This is the citizen’s way of escaping reality. Most crowds in this book take soma just before an orgy-porgy and everybody has sex with one another. In Bradbury’s novel, people overdose on sleeping pills frequently. People truly are not happy if they are trying to commit suicide time after time. According to the handymen, â€Å"We get these cases nine or ten a night. Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had the special machines built† (Bradbury 15). Th... ...nge at the thought of having a mother and a father because they think that having a child is repulsive. These futuristic societies show what can happen if we follow governmental rule without questions. Huxley shows us that this can be a â€Å"possible shape for things to come† in America’s society if we keep doing what we are doing (Schmerl 38). This can even occur if people stop thinking critically and just follow along. Instead of people choosing their own pursuit of happiness and freedoms, they have the governments choose it for them. Works Cited Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine Books, 1953. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Pernnial Classics, 1998. Matter, Wiliam W. "The Utopian Tradition and Aldous Huxley." SF-TH Inc (1975): 146-151. Schmerl, Rudolf B. "Aldous Huxley's Social Criticism." Chicago Review (1959): 37-58.