I really like being happy. In fact, it is my life goal to be truly happy. However, I tend to overlook the importance of sadness in achieving happiness. Most, if not all, people do not like being sad, but if we were never sad, we could never be happy either. Our emotions lie on a spectrum ranging from deep sorrow and grief to joy and bliss, but imagine if all negative emotions were removed? All that would be left is happiness, and that would be horrible. Now, I will attempt to explain why this is.
I’ll start with a brief synapsis and interpretation of the final portion of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. John lives in a world in which all people are genetically engineered and strictly contained to a predetermined path in society. Emotions are controlled by a substance referred to as “soma,” which induces a state of hallucinogenic bliss and disillusionment. It seems to be truly ubiquitous, as all people use it and are exposed to it as a substitute for negative emotions. John comes from a “savage reserve,” which contains people who were born naturally and live in a technologically more basic society from the outside world. He leaves the reserve and takes the world by storm. After observing how the “brave new world” around him operates, he is appalled at the apparent lack of humanity. Although he lusts after a woman, Lenina Crowne, he refuses to be with her so as not to contribute to the superficial nature of the world he observes. After attempting and essentially failing to find any scrap of genuine, natural human emotion, John hangs himself, symbolizing the death of true humanity in a superficial world. The ending quote from the novel remains one of the most powerful conclusions I have read:
“Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east. …”
I interpret John’s death as a reminder that emotional contrast is essential to living a meaningful life. Most of the characters in Brave New World cope with negative emotions by merely using “soma” to forget their problems. Thus everyone lives in a perpetual state of artificial happiness. John is unable to cope with artificial happiness because he realizes that it is meaningless. If we are not sad ever, how can we be truly happy? People who experience only good things have no negative experiences with which to compare them. Therefore, their “happiness” becomes the normal, median emotion, which is synonymous to apathy, essentially. The more sorrow we feel, the greater capacity we have for feeling joy.
Here lies the brutal reality of life: We must go through heartbreak, grief, and disappointment if we want to feel positive emotions to the same degree. It is up to us to find a healthy medium between our emotions. We certainly do not want to be sad enough to the point of depression or suicide, but we really shouldn’t discount our tough experiences in life as pointless. The point of negativity is to make way for positivity. Tell me what you think!
Dan again great post! I think this is something most people forget! Without having gone through the sad times, we cant truly appreciate the happy times! Its so true though! I’ve read A Brave New World, but never thought of what you mentioned. Great connection there! All semester your blogs have let me come away with something new to think about! Thanks for that!!
This is a great post, Dan, and a great conclusion to your passion blog through the semester. Brave New World is a wonderful book, and I personally prefer it to 1984 as my favorite flagship dystopian novel (even though 1984 is of course also a beautiful and powerful work). Huxley really touches on what being human means in a fundamental sense, and John the savage embodies his vision perfectly. You should check out another novel by Huxley, Time Must Have A Stop, for more on his perspective of humanity and life!
Dan this is such a great post! I was actually having this conversation yesterday, and came to the same conclusion you did. While the dark areas are hard and we don’t always like them, we come out on the other side hopefully having grown, but also appreciating the things we do have in life. We have to learn how to deal with the hard times and the good times and not come complacent and just let life push us forward, we have to take steps forward. While I think there is beauty found in hard times, I want to end with a quote from Dumbledore, “Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.” So even in the hard times, we can choose to be happy by pushing through and pursuing happiness. Great posts all semester, Thanks!