2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

Conditioning and cloning effectively remove many aspects that define a person on an individual level, such as personal identity and thought. The concept of dehumanisation is conveyed through the rampant use of animalistic imagery. World State citizens are referred to in animalistic terms: “the embryos still have gills. We immunise the fish against the future man’s diseases” (p.13). This quote demonstrates that their identity, from conception, is reduced to below human status. Dehumanisation is consistent through-out the novel, most notable through John’s observations of society and his open condemnation of the ‘civilised folk’ for being animals, especially when his mother is hospitalised, describing how the “hordes of identical bokanovskified twins” seem like “maggots” that stare at his mother with “the stupid curiosity of an animal” (p. 177 – 184). Through the use of this language, Huxley’s message is clear: this society has dehumanised all aspects of the individual that they now resemble nothing more than animals. However, this conclusion is ironic as a civilisation aims to make man less primitive and serves as a structure to elevate man’s status from other animals, yet this society has achieved the opposite by erasing the human identity. As John observes the World State citizens as animals, they too observe him in the same way. Not only is he regarded as the “savage,” but when he begins whipping himself as a form of penance for his impure thoughts that mimic the accepted values of the New World, crowds come in droves to watch, throwing foods at him, as if he is an animal – made evident by Huxley with the phrase “throwing (as to an ape) peanuts” (p. 225). Being nothing more than animalistic entertainment and unable to see him as a person, the crowd takes pleasure in his suffering. This raises an interesting question: between savages and World State citizens, who is more human? Essentially, which group are more devoid of the features that define an individual? The notion of suffering aids in the answering of this question. John attempts to assert his human identity as an individual through inflicting self-harm as no animal would willingly prioritise the soul over the physical being. Thus, becoming evident that John’s suicide is the only sure way to permanently establish his identity as a human rather than as an animal. The use of this plot element as the dramatic climax emphasises this.

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