| , Research Paper
Religion in the Brave New World
At the turn of the century, great minds like Carl Marx and Sigmund Freud were
regarding religion as an unnecessary nuisance to humanity. Marx called it the opiate of
the masses , and Freud : the neurosis of mankind . They were making the view that
religion is not of divine nature, but a conception of the human mind, a very popular and
acceptable belief. They believed that a religion should reflect the needs of the people and
even the culture itself.
Aldus Huxley subscribed to these views of religion, but nonetheless realized that it
is a part of human nature. He saw it as something that can t just be thrown away
altogether, but can be changed and manipulated to suit the cultures needs. This comes
through strongly in Brave New World. He anticipates how the people in this world would
no longer need to celebrate religion the way we do today, but would still practice rituals of
their own right. He portrays contemporary religion as largely superstitious, and believes
that future civilizations will regard it as being savage. Nonetheless, their religion may be
different, but it s in no way better. It takes it s shape from the culture in which it was
conceived, and reflects how ridiculously childish this culture really is. They may have a
negative opinion of our religions, but so do we of theirs. Keeping this in mind, we find that
their religion contributes to the novel s dystopian vision, but this is only because we have
been conditioned in such a way that we find it quite immature and simpleminded compared
to our own. We could turn this on it s head and say that the savage s religion, which
represents our own, contributes to the Brave New World s view that the savage s society
is dystopian.
Through the world of the savage at the reservation, we can see what the people of
the Brave New World think of our religion and how they would react to it. Once on the
reservation we are presented with a painted image of an eagle, [and] a man, naked, and
nailed to a cross (Huxley 114). Here Huxley combines Paganism and Christianity, two
pre-Fordian religions that differ very much from each other, in order to give it a wider
scope. This way he is able to criticize and ridicule more aspects of our religious natures.
This religion is superstitious. They believe the snake to be a divine creature, and that they
must whip the boy to make the rain come and the corn grow. And to please Pookong and
Jesus (Huxley 117). A sacrifice to the Gods for the good of the tribe is not uncommon in
the history of humanity. Lenina simply can t stand it. She averts her eyes and pleads them
to stop. She even wishes she had a gramme of soma so that she wouldn t have to endure
this savage ritual.
The ritualistic side of religion is not lost in the Brave New World. Sunday mass is
replaced by Solidarity Service days, which Bernard must attend every alternate thursday.
The golden trumpets sounding the hour, reminding him that he s going to be late; are like
the church bells that sound, announcing the start of mass. There are twelve people, just
like there were twelve apostles; and they re sitting around a circular table, which signifies
eternity in many religions. Throughout this ceremony, they stand up and make the sing of
the T, just as we would make the sing of the cross. This is to pay homage to their lord
Ford, who invented the model T. They also pass around the loving cup of strawberry
ice-cream soma. After drinking from the cup, they say I drink to my annihilation . This is
no doubt presented as the equivalent of communion. The mass continues and finishes with
a climactic orgy. These people can t sit through anything unless there s sex and drugs in it
for them. This may be fine and good for them, but looking at it from our point of view,
with our morals and social interests, we perceive it to be immature and a very unappealing
part of their world. This could never be accepted in our society, which discourages
polygamy.
The most important thing in the Brave New World is stability. Without it, the
civilization would fall apart. There has been little if any change to social life in this culture
since it began. They use many techniques that work to maintain this stability and keep the
people happily ignorant, like hypnopaedia and soma for example. They distract the people
and give them a false sense of security. Huxley is saying that religion does exactly the
same thing. Hypnopaedia is like a set of commandments that everyone must follow in
order to be happy. These commandments are drilled into them from birth, and come to
mind unconsciously in an anxiety provoking situation. When you feel upset about
something and you could just go mad with rage, remember, a gramme is better than a
damn . Which brings me to the next religious metaphor that I mentioned : soma. The
gramme that the little rhyming proverb is referring to, is a gramme of soma. Marx
believed religion to be the opiate of the masses, well soma is the opiate of these masses.
What you need is a gramme of soma. All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none
of their defects….Take a holiday from reality whenever you like, and come back without
so much as a headache or a mythology (Huxley 54). Here the assistant predestinator,
Henry Foster, is telling Bernard that he looks glum and that soma is the answer to his
problems. By relating Christianity to alcohol and soma, Huxley presents it as just another
happiness preserving drug. The only difference in the three, is that soma doesn t leave you
with a hangover. He equates the pounding headache after a night of binge drinking with
the mythologies of religions, specifically Christianity.
Huxley may have meant for us to perceive the religious rituals of the Brave New
World in a negative way, but he means for us to perceive our own religious rituals this
way as well. In no way does he attempt to say that our religions are better than they could
be. A culture that drinks the blood and eats the body of another human being should be
considered savage, but yet doesn t this sound familiar? If a culture s religion makes it look
savage or immature, it s because the culture is just that. This is what Huxley is saying. If a
childish society makes use of a childish religion; and our religion is savage, then what does
this say about our society?
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