Another masterpiece that I read in high school for the first time was Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It was recommended to me by a friend, and to be honest with you, I probably wouldn't have read if not for the fact that he had leant it to me, and I had nothing better to day for an entire weekend. Since then, I've read it five (and a half) times, and I've fallen asleep listening to the audiobook twice.
Huxley and Orwell have very much in common. (For those of you who have no yet read my post about George Orwell's 1984: I highly recommend that you do before proceeding). They were both written in the mid-20th century, and grew to be renowned works of literature during the time of the Cold War. The reason for their being so popular at this particular time is because each story tells the tale of life under autocratic rule.
In Orwell's dystopian Oceania, individuals are controlled with hate and fear. They are taught to despise their enemy, and the allegiance to the state is won by default, as it is born from utter hatred for everything else. Waves of mass panic in the capitalistic west suggested that this is what would happen if the USSR won the Cold War and the world became solely communistic.
Huxley takes a capitalistic approach this same topic. He uses happiness to keep his citizens nationalistic and in par with the ideologies perpetuated by the state. Each person is bred in a lab that works similarly to an assembly line (and Ford is therefore seen as a god-like figure), though rather than cars being built, it is human beings. These individuals are then divided into the appropriate social class, and they will grow up learning to love their duty as this is what they were born to do. Promiscuity is encouraged so love can never be lost, as it can never be found in the first place. And if, by some terrific stroke of bad luck, if a person still feels any negative emotion, they may ingest Soma, a "happy pill". People, being as happy as they are, therefore have nothing to complain about.
This brings up two noticeable parallels with contemporary society. Those that are satisfied with their lot in life are ignorant to the suffering that happens just three kilometres away. Not for a lack of kindness necessarily, but because they personally have nothing to complain about. But is it possible for us to "Claim the right to be unhappy?" (Huxley). Can we gain some empathy, or is happiness a drug to which we are all addicted?
Furthermore, Consumerist Culture's basic form is the omnipresence of media and advertising, shoving promotional content down consumers' throats until they can no longer breathe. Its final and most grotesque form is its perpetuating ideals that claim that a person can only truly be happy if we live in a certain way. Profit and marketing is driven to keep us hypnotized by the Consumer God. "You'll only be happy if you buy these products." And as the customer reaches for his wallet, the Consumer God chuckles, because he knows he has tricked this man out of his money once again.
Soma is a drug used throughout the novel that takes away any negative emotion, and that certainly does exist today. Contemporary society has prescribed modes of escape to its entirety. We are humans, and we are fundamentally different from any other species in existence because of our intellect. Yet, for some reason, our main goal is to flip a switch and turn them off. We find beauty in numbness, and to some, this numbness is a synonym for happiness.
Allow me to explain to you what happiness truly is:
Happiness is a lying under a billion blankets, with cold feet, and a hot cup of tea between your palms.
Happiness is writing at a desk near the window, when the curtains are drawn back and flecks of grey rain are visible they flick against the glass in tune to the rolling thunder.
Happiness is having cold feet and a hot bath.
Happiness is listening to a baby burst into fits of hysterical laughter.
Happiness is when a puppy licks your face, and its breath smells like... well, puppy I guess.
Numbness is typically associated with depression, and I am in no way attempting to suggest that negative emotions do not create a sense of nothingness under the umbrella term of mental illness. But what we do not expect is to be blinded by all that we are indulged with in this modern era.
This Brave New World is the school's sexy new bad boy, who takes you out on a date and you believe you are falling in love. But it is not love -- he is manipulating you. You are a pawn in his egotistical strategy for power in control. And by the time you realise it, it is already too late.
(Disclaimer: I do not own any these images)