The Insoluble Conflicts

Aldous Huxley(1894-1963)is a famous British novelist and social observer.He has written more than 50 novels,poems,philosophical works and travel notes,the most famous of which is the novel Brave New World.It is the representative work of negative Utopian literature in the 20 th century like George Orwell’s 1984 and Zamyatin’s We.Brave New World,as an Anti-Utopian novel,contains the mutual impact between natural science and social science in the 20 th century.By telling people’s doubts about rationality,science and belief in the old and new world,it arouses people’s concerns over social system and the reflection of individual rights.Scholars at home and abroad mainly focus on the perspective of deconstruction,the comparison of Utopian,Anti-Utopian social systems,and totalitarian politics.However,few writers interpret this novel from the perspective of the conflict between collectivism and individualism.Therefore,this paper aims at the interpretation of Brave New World based on collectivism and individualism theories of Carl Marx and Tocqueville,specifically the interpretation of the conflicts in emotion,blood relationship,social class and identity between collectivism and individualism in Utopian society.Through the interpretation of the behavior of the protagonists like John,Bernard and Lenina,the paper find out there are some insoluble conflicts between collectivism and individualism in terms of emotion,blood relationship,social class and identity.In terms of emotion,collectivist believes that life has rich emotions and the right to pursue love and happiness.Individualist believes that rich emotion will affect the stability of society.In term of blood relationship,collectivist holds that blood relationship and family are the foundation of social stability,which is irreplaceable.Individualism breaks the blood ties to maintain the independence of individuals and prohibit the emergence of family.For they have different interests,the conflict would not be solved.In term of social class,collectivism holds that all men are equal,while individualism holds that the most effective way to maintain social stability is to establish strict hierarchical order.The insoluble conflict between the two is mainly about whether the establishment of unequal social classes is conducive to social stability.In the aspect of identity,collectivist holds that everyone’s identity always changed with the change of social environment.Individualist holds that everyone has a fixed identity from birth.That leads to the contradiction between the two is difficult to solve.In Brave New World,the whole new world is actually a Utopian society with highly developed scientific and technological civilization.The rulers of society repress human nature in order to maintain their own rule.But Bernard and John are willing to give up the rich material enjoyment in order to get freedom.Through this work,Aldous Huxley enlightens people that spiritual freedom and material satisfaction are equally important.If we want to live meaningfully,we need to achieve a certain balance between spirit and material,soul and body.If there is no way to achieve a balance between the two,then humans need to follow their own heart to make the right choice.