Connective Essay

          Brave New World can be compared to Ray Bradbury's The Pedestrian by the theme of Social conformity and control. This is evident due to both books' dystopian nature and governmental presence with forms of control.

          First of all, the conformity of each society is enforced by the governmental powers in the books; The one police car as a symbol of society as a whole in the Pedestrian, and the World Controllers in BNW. Through the conformity of each of the citizens, the societies have thus gained control. Whether it be by dumbing down certain people and keeping them from any emotion-producing artwork or literature, or putting everything they need to be happy inside a television set for them to watch for all eternity.

          Brave New World keeps its people in line through the caste system. Each person predesigned and predestined to fulfill their role in life. The conformity of everyone is further reinforced by the hypnopaedic teachings that the citizens are conditioned with from their childhood. In the Pedestrian, the people are controlled by the television sets (viewing screens) in their houses that give them all the information, adventure, and fun they need in their life.

          The benefits of both of these societies, is that there is relatively no crime, outbreaks, or notable health problems. The one police car in the whole city that captures Leonard and the only form of guards in Brave New World are the one's guarding the Savage Reservation. Both stories' societies achieve this through keeping the people happy and not giving them the ability of knowing what crime is. Due to conditioning and hypnopaedic teachings as a child, in theory this is much easier in the Brave New World, although the Pedestrian gives a less high-tech method that keeps its people inside, making sure everyone owns a viewing screen and keeping that on most of the day. Granted, both ways are successful, allowing many would-be individuals to be doing the same thing, therefore being controlled.

          An example of happiness being an outlet for control in Brave New World would be soma. Soma is your break away whenever the rare occasion of a bad time or unpleasant experience occurs. It's an instant escape from anything that interferes with happiness. (The truth in some cases.) In the Pedestrian the TV's are the producers of happiness and are always on where the citizens are expected to be watching. Any form of entertainment exists in TV, no other activities exist outside of the household other than walking around and enjoying the scenery. (Which is condemned as we see when Leonard gets arrested.)

          

          The social quest for a perfect, happy maintainable citizenship out of their society is never perfect. There is always someone who has to screw everything up, break away from the norm, and in the eyes of a reader, someone who can act and think as one of their own. Both societies share such characters who appear as outsiders, characters with the intelligence to think for themselves. Characters who don't agree with the status quo, and might be what you would call rebels. Bernard Marx and Leonard Mead, both fit this description in their dislike for the workings of the social status.

          Leonard is unaware of what he is doing unlike Bernard. However, he is aware of the external and internal freedom given to him, which he assumes everyone has, yet most, if not all the people choose not to use. He takes it for granted until he is confronted by the only police car that tells him what he is doing is against the law. Bernard on the other hand, isn't conditioned to know what freedoms he is missing out on, but he has a noticeable dislike for the society and how it works. He has the internal freedom to think for himself, something very rare to find in the BNW society, yet a false-sense of external freedom. Bernard wishes to go against the system as evident in his joyous rebellion against the Director when told of his attitude outside of work. The same can be said about Leonard Mead, who after he is told what he has done wrong wants good reasons to justify his arrest.