Analysis of Conflicts in Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' and Lois Lowry's 'The Giver'.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ................................................................................ 1
Statement of the Problem................................................................................. 3
Purpose of the Study........................................................................................ 3
Method of Research......................................................................................... 3
Organization of the Thesis............................................................................... 4
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL AND INNER CONFLICTS IN
ALDOUS HUXLEY’S BRAVE NEW WORLD ........................................ 5
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL AND INNER CONFLICTS IN
LOIS LOWRY’S THE GIVER ................................................................. 15
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION...................................................................... 25
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................... 29
APPENDICES
Synopsis of Brave New World ..................................................................... 30
Synopsis of The Giver .................................................................................. 31
Biography of Aldous Huxley......................................................................... 32
Biography of Lois Lowry .............................................................................. 33
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Maranatha Christian University
ABSTRACT
Di dalam penulisan tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis konflik psikologis dan
konflik sosial yang dialami oleh tokoh utama dalam novel Brave New World karya
Aldous Huxley dan The Giver karya Lois Lowry. Analisis konflik-konflik tersebut
memperlihatkan
bagaimana
kedua
pengarang
menggunakan
konflik
untuk
mengangkat suatu tema mengenai kebebasan, yaitu adanya pembatasan kebebasan
dalam suatu masyarakat atau kelompok yang dilakukan oleh pemerintah.
Konflik sosial dan konflik psikologis di dalam Brave New World ini berkisar
pada bagaimana Bernard Marx sebagai tokoh utama memiliki perbedaan cara
pandang mengenai kebebasan dengan tokoh-tokoh lainnya. Di dalam The Giver,
konflik terjadi di antara tokoh utama Jonas dengan the Giver sebagai perwakilan
pemerintah karena mereka memiliki cara pandang yang berbeda tentang kebebasan.
Konflik dan keadaan dalam novel ini lebih mengarah pada fiksi sains yang
menggambarkan sesuatu yang terjadi di masa depan.
Kebebasan sebagai tema yang diangkat dalam kedua novel ini mungkin
merupakan hal sepele tapi sangatlah berperan dalam kehidupan seseorang. Disadari
ataupun tidak, pembatasan kebebasan terhadap seseorang ataupun kelompok tertentu,
baik dalam sebuah negara, kelompok maupun keluarga sering terjadi. Jadi melalui
tema tersebut, pembaca diharapkan dapat menyadari pentingnya kebebasan
seseorang.
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Maranatha Christian University
APPENDICES
Synopsis of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World
Brave New World is a story about people who live in future London of year
2495. All people in this world are divided into five castes, which are Alphas, Betas,
Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Each caste is used as a measure of each member‟s
intelligence and physical growth. Everyone in this world is forced to consume soma,
a kind of drugs which can make the users enjoy sexual activity.
Bernard Max, the protagonist, has an inferiority complex Alpha Plus. He
wants to go against the social norm in his society, because he knows that it is bad for
the community. Bernard dislikes soma because it is different from his principles.
Thomas Ford as the leader of society punishes Bernard by reassigning him to Iceland
as a result of Bernard‟s disobedience about antisocial beliefs.
When Bernard and Lenina are in New Mexico, they meet John, who is known
as Savage Reservation. They finally find out that John is Thomas‟ son. Bernard
realises that New Mexico is the real proof of the bad condition of the society.
Bernard and John decide go back to London and take revenge to Thomas with their
anti social beliefs. They have philosophical arguments, which results in John‟s
suicide.
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Synopsis of Lois Lowry’s The Giver
The Giver is a story about Jonas, who lives in a futuristic society that has
eliminated all pain, fear, war, and hatred. In that place there is no competition and
everyone looks and acts basically the same, because the society is the one who
establishes all the choices. Everything has been arranged by the society from infancy
until in the end the people will be “released” from the society. In the community,
release is the same as death, but most people think that after release there is another
life. Citizens who break the rules or fail to adapt properly to the society's codes of
behavior will also be released.
When Jonas celebrates his 12th birthday, he is given an assignment of
receiving memory at the Ceremony of Twelve. The Receiver is the sole keeper of the
community‟s collective memory. Jonas receives all the memories of the past, good
and bad, and also learns about color, feeling hurt and happy from the current
Receiver, who is called the Giver. Jonas does not take the „pills‟, which enable
people to repress their feeling, and also the reason why he is different from the
others.
Meanwhile, Gabriel, who has trouble sleeping through the night is about to be
released by the society. Jonas wants to change the condition in the community so he
runs away from that place, taking Gabriel with him in order to give back the
memories to the people in the community. They run away from their place until they
arrive at the hills where they can hear music coming from houses.
31
Maranatha Christian University
Biography of Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was born on July 26, 1894 in Godalming, Surrey,
England. He was an English writer. In 1911, Huxley almost went blind because of
the illness of keratitis punctata.
Huxley graduated from Balliol College, Oxford in 1916 with first class
honors. He completed his first (unpublished) novel at the age of seventeen and
started writing seriously at early twenty. His earlier works Brave New World (1932)
and Eyeless in Gaza were strongly influenced by F. Matthias Alexander, an
Australian actor who developed educational technique, and included him as a
character in Eyeless in Gaza.
In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, California together with his family. In
Hollywood Huxley wrote several novels like After Many a Summer Dies the Swan
(1939) and The Perennial Philosophy (1945). He also became a Hollywood writer,
which put him in touch with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
In 1960 Huxley was diagnosed with cancer and in his deteriorating health, he
wrote the Utopian novel Island. In early 1939 he had an extensive association with
the Vedanta Society of Southern California, founded and headed by Swami
Prabhavananda. Aldous Huxley died in 1963.
Source : “Aldous Huxley”
32
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Biography of Lois Lowry
Lois Ann Hammersburg, known as Lois Lowry, was born on March 20, 1937
in Honolulu, Hawaii. The death of Helen, her older sister in 1962 made Lois write
her first book A Summer to Die, which was published in 1977. Lowry needs to move
to several places because of her father‟s job as an army dentist.
In 1950 Lois attended Curtis High School and in 1952 she entered Packer
Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, New York to finish her high school. In
1954 she entered Brown University. In 1956 she got married with Donald Lowry, a
U.S. Navy officer. They had four children, 2 daughters and 2 sons. She completed
her degree in English literature from the University of Maine in Portland in 1972.
In 1977 Lois and her husband decided to divorce. In 1979 she began her
Anastasia series of books with Anastasia Krupnik. She wrote several more books,
including Number the Stars in 1989 and The Giver in 1993. Many of her works deal
with somber topics, but she managed to mix the comic and tragic elements skillfully
in a way that made them enticing to readers both young and old. Her son Grey was
killed in the crash of his fighter plane in 1995. It was the most difficult day of her life
and gave her some pressures.
Today Lois Lowry remains active by not only continuing to write and speak
at appearances, but also enjoying her time with her companion Martin Small at her
homes in Massachusetts and Maine.
Source : “Lois Lowry”
33
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Freedom is an important part of human life and it is always related to
happiness. People need freedom to achieve happiness. Aldous Huxley in Brave New
World and Lois Lowry in The Giver deal with this issue. In the two novels, freedom
is something that the protagonists try to achieve as freedom is being limited by the
government.
In Brave New World and The Giver, the protagonists are directly involved in
the government so that they know how the government limits and controls the
people. Both governments in the novels want to make a perfect world although in
reality a perfect world is an impossibility. Drugs are also used in both novels to
control people. Although both novels seem pessimistic, actually the novels teach
people to be watchful and they reveal how important freedom is.
The author of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, is famous for works of
utopian and dystopian genre and Brave New World is his most famous work. “In
Brave New World Huxley portrays a society operating on the principles of mass
production and Pavlovian conditioning” (“Aldous Huxley”). His literary goal is to
make the public think by “shocking’’ them, and it makes his works interesting to
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analyse (Bakke). I agree with Bakke that “in his most popular of novels, Brave
New World, Huxley shows a grim and bleak view of a future utopia, most likely
reflecting his personal interpretation of where the world was going in 1932.”
Huxley’s work is an illustration of what may happen in the future and to warn
people about it.
The second novel that I am going to discuss is The Giver by Lois Lowry.
“Some of Lowry's works have been controversial because they tackle difficult
subject matter” (“Lois Lowry”). The Giver is one of her most famous works. The
novel is known as “rich in levels of meaning, so daring in complexity of symbol
and metaphor, so challenging in the ambiguity of its conclusion, that we are left
with all of our neat little everyday categories and judgments hanging useless”
(Lord). The Giver is also criticized as “the book was a real eye opener and really
made you think of the possibilities for tomorrow” (“A Critique of The Giver”).
In my major thesis, I am going to analyse the social and inner conflicts in
Brave New World and The Giver using formalism. Conflict itself is defined as
“the opposition of persons or forces upon which the action depends in drama and
fiction” (Shaw 91) and Stewart states that “Conflict is not limited to physical
altercation, but involves any plot twist, turn or ploy that causes emotional,
spiritual or physical distress” (Chaze). There are three kinds of conflict which are
elemental or physical, social, and internal or psychological conflicts. Elemental or
physical conflict is defined as “a struggle between man and the physical world”
(Shaw 91); social conflict is defined as “a struggle between man and man” (Shaw
91); and internal or psychological conflict is defined as “a struggle between
desires within a person” (Shaw 92). The reason for analyzing social and inner
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conflicts in these novels are I personally think that analysing conflict is something
interesting for me and I would like to analyse it deeper in order to find out how
social and inner conflicts of the protagonist could emphasize the issue of the
author in both of the novels. On top of that, I would analyse the conflicts that have
happened to the protagonists, the cause of the conflicts, and the resolution of the
conflicts.
Statement of the Problem
The statements of the problem are as follows:
1. What are the social and inner conflicts found in each novel?
2. What are the causes of the conflicts?
3. How are the conflicts resolved?
Purpose of the Study
The purposes of the study are as follows:
1. To show the social and inner conflicts found in each novel.
2. To show the causes of the conflicts.
3. To show how the conflicts are resolved.
Method of Research
The method of research that I use in my thesis is library research. First of
all, I read the two novels which are going to be analysed. Then, I browse some
information from the Internet to support my analysis. I also read text books and
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search for literary criticism. Finally, I draw some conclusion of what has been
discussed.
Organization of the Thesis
The thesis consists of four chapters, preceded by the Acknowledgments,
the Table of Contents, and the Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the
Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter Two is the Analysis of Social and Inner Conflicts in Brave New World,
followed by Chapter Three, which is the Analysis of Social and Inner Conflicts in
The Giver. Chapter Four is the conclusion of the two previous chapters, followed
by the Bibliography and the Appendices, which contain the synopsis of each
novel and the biography of the two authors.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
Having analysed The Giver by Lois Lowry and Brave New World by
Aldous Huxley, I conclude that all conflicts are related to freedom. There are
three social conflicts and two inner conflicts in both of the novels that involve the
protagonists. All conflicts concern about freedom and are related to the
government or the society. Both novels reveal that freedom is an important thing
in people’s life. Without freedom, people’s life will be restricted and yet to get
freedom, one sometimes need to make sacrifices, as to what happens to Jonas. He
gets his freedom but he cannot meet his family and friends again.
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the social conflicts show that it is
difficult to have freedom. Later, some social conflicts are resolved because the
protagonist agrees with the other party but some others are not resolved because
both parties hold on to their beliefs. An example of a resolved social conflict is
when Bernard Marx and Lenina Crown are having a social conflict concerning
soma, and it is resolved because Marx gives in to Lenina and finally takes soma.
An example of an unresolved conflict is when Bernard Marx and Thomas Ford
are having a social conflict concerning their social beliefs.
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The inner conflicts show that the protagonist experiences dilemmas in achieving
freedom but finally all inner conflicts are resolved. An example of an inner conflict is
when Bernard Marx experiences a dilemma concerning his obedience towards
Thomas Ford. However, in the end he decides to disobey Thomas Ford.
The same as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Lois Lowry’s The Giver
shows that it is difficult to have freedom. Later, some social conflicts are resolved
because the protagonist and the other parties can reach an agreement, but some
others are not resolved because both parties hold on to their own beliefs. An example
of a resolved social conflict is when Jonas and the Giver are having a social conflict
concerning memory. In the end, the social conflict is resolved because the Giver
finally gives in to Jonas. An example of an unresolved conflict is when Jonas and his
father are having a social conflict concerning Gabriel’s release. This social conflict is
not resolved because they cannot reach an agreement. The inner conflicts show that
the protagonist experiences dilemmas in achieving freedom, but finally all inner
conflicts are resolved because the protagonist decides to go against the other parties.
An example of an inner conflict is when Jonas experiences a dilemma concerning his
decision to keep his job as a memory receiver or not. The inner conflict is resolved
because Jonas finally decides to keep his job.
Other than similarities, there are also differences between Brave New World
and The Giver. In Brave New World, in fighting for freedom, the protagonist,
Bernard Marx depends much on a friend, John, which results in the defeat of the
protagonist by the government. However, in The Giver, the protagonist, Jonas fights
for freedom by himself, which results in his success in obtaining freedom. Another
difference is shown as the protagonist in The Giver shows more consistency in his
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ideas about freedom. It is shown in all social conflicts, in which Jonas, the
protagonist never gives in to other parties, whereas Bernard Marx in Brave New
World sometimes gives in to the other parties, for example when he finally gives in
to Lenina Crown and decides to take soma. The differences show that the
protagonists’ actions have a great impact on the result of what they fight for.
Another difference between Brave New World and The Giver is that Brave
New World is categorized as a dystopian novel, in which the society might seem to
be perfect because all the inhabitants are well fed or healthy or seemingly happy, yet
they are revealed to be profoundly flawed because they limit the intellectual or
emotional freedom of the individual, which then trigger the social and inner conflicts
among the characters. The novel features characters that awaken to the richness of
experience possible outside the confines of the society, but they are either destroyed
by the society before they can make any significant changes. I believe that this novel
functions as a warning to the reader: do not let this happen to your society.
On the other hand, The Giver is categorized as a utopian novel, in which the
society Lowry depicts in the novel is a perfect world as envisioned by its creators. It
has eliminated fear, pain, hunger, illness, conflict, and hatred, and all things that most
of us would like to eliminate in our own society. But, in order to maintain the peace
and order of their society, the citizens of the community in the novel have to submit
to strict rules governing their behavior, their relationships, and even their language.
Individual freedom and human passions add a chaotic element to society and even
the memory of freedom and passion, along with the pain and conflict that human
choice and emotion often cause, must be suppressed. In effect, the inhabitants of the
society, though they are happy and peaceful, also lack the basic freedoms and
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pleasures that our own society values, which trigger the social and inner conflicts
among the characters.
Finally, I am of the opinion that it is better to depend on oneself than
depending on others, just like what Jonas does in achieving freedom. I also believe
that anything is going to be possible when one has strong principles and holds firmly
to what one believes in. Finally, I conclude that any conflicts regarding freedom
might take place anywhere: at work, among friends and even in the level of
government. Resolutions may happen only when the parties finally agree with each
other, even though there are times when there are no resolutions to conflicts.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Cobuild, Collins. Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. Glasgow:
HarperCollins. 2006
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literature Terms. New York: Mc.Graw-Hill: Inc. 1972.
Internet Websites
“A Critique of The Giver.” 123 help me!. 2009. 22 Aug. 2009
< http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=16440>
“Aldous Huxley.” Wikipedia. 2009. 9 Oct. 2009
Bakke, Brock. “Themes in Aldous Huxley’s Life and Literature.” Somaweb. 2009.
22 Oct. 2009
Chaze, Theresa. “Writing Tip: Creating Conflict by Theresa Chaze.” A. F. Stewart's
Blog. 2008. 24 Oct. 2009
< http://afstewartblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/writing-tip-creating-conflictby.html >
“Lois Lowry.” Wikipedia. 2009. 9 Oct. 2009
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_Lowry>
Lord, Elyse. “The Giver (Criticism).”Answers. 2009. 22 Oct. 2009
< http://www.answers.com/topic/the-giver-novel-7>
Primary Texts
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Essex: Longman, 1932.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1993.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ................................................................................ 1
Statement of the Problem................................................................................. 3
Purpose of the Study........................................................................................ 3
Method of Research......................................................................................... 3
Organization of the Thesis............................................................................... 4
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL AND INNER CONFLICTS IN
ALDOUS HUXLEY’S BRAVE NEW WORLD ........................................ 5
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL AND INNER CONFLICTS IN
LOIS LOWRY’S THE GIVER ................................................................. 15
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION...................................................................... 25
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................... 29
APPENDICES
Synopsis of Brave New World ..................................................................... 30
Synopsis of The Giver .................................................................................. 31
Biography of Aldous Huxley......................................................................... 32
Biography of Lois Lowry .............................................................................. 33
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Maranatha Christian University
ABSTRACT
Di dalam penulisan tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis konflik psikologis dan
konflik sosial yang dialami oleh tokoh utama dalam novel Brave New World karya
Aldous Huxley dan The Giver karya Lois Lowry. Analisis konflik-konflik tersebut
memperlihatkan
bagaimana
kedua
pengarang
menggunakan
konflik
untuk
mengangkat suatu tema mengenai kebebasan, yaitu adanya pembatasan kebebasan
dalam suatu masyarakat atau kelompok yang dilakukan oleh pemerintah.
Konflik sosial dan konflik psikologis di dalam Brave New World ini berkisar
pada bagaimana Bernard Marx sebagai tokoh utama memiliki perbedaan cara
pandang mengenai kebebasan dengan tokoh-tokoh lainnya. Di dalam The Giver,
konflik terjadi di antara tokoh utama Jonas dengan the Giver sebagai perwakilan
pemerintah karena mereka memiliki cara pandang yang berbeda tentang kebebasan.
Konflik dan keadaan dalam novel ini lebih mengarah pada fiksi sains yang
menggambarkan sesuatu yang terjadi di masa depan.
Kebebasan sebagai tema yang diangkat dalam kedua novel ini mungkin
merupakan hal sepele tapi sangatlah berperan dalam kehidupan seseorang. Disadari
ataupun tidak, pembatasan kebebasan terhadap seseorang ataupun kelompok tertentu,
baik dalam sebuah negara, kelompok maupun keluarga sering terjadi. Jadi melalui
tema tersebut, pembaca diharapkan dapat menyadari pentingnya kebebasan
seseorang.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
APPENDICES
Synopsis of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World
Brave New World is a story about people who live in future London of year
2495. All people in this world are divided into five castes, which are Alphas, Betas,
Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Each caste is used as a measure of each member‟s
intelligence and physical growth. Everyone in this world is forced to consume soma,
a kind of drugs which can make the users enjoy sexual activity.
Bernard Max, the protagonist, has an inferiority complex Alpha Plus. He
wants to go against the social norm in his society, because he knows that it is bad for
the community. Bernard dislikes soma because it is different from his principles.
Thomas Ford as the leader of society punishes Bernard by reassigning him to Iceland
as a result of Bernard‟s disobedience about antisocial beliefs.
When Bernard and Lenina are in New Mexico, they meet John, who is known
as Savage Reservation. They finally find out that John is Thomas‟ son. Bernard
realises that New Mexico is the real proof of the bad condition of the society.
Bernard and John decide go back to London and take revenge to Thomas with their
anti social beliefs. They have philosophical arguments, which results in John‟s
suicide.
30
Maranatha Christian University
Synopsis of Lois Lowry’s The Giver
The Giver is a story about Jonas, who lives in a futuristic society that has
eliminated all pain, fear, war, and hatred. In that place there is no competition and
everyone looks and acts basically the same, because the society is the one who
establishes all the choices. Everything has been arranged by the society from infancy
until in the end the people will be “released” from the society. In the community,
release is the same as death, but most people think that after release there is another
life. Citizens who break the rules or fail to adapt properly to the society's codes of
behavior will also be released.
When Jonas celebrates his 12th birthday, he is given an assignment of
receiving memory at the Ceremony of Twelve. The Receiver is the sole keeper of the
community‟s collective memory. Jonas receives all the memories of the past, good
and bad, and also learns about color, feeling hurt and happy from the current
Receiver, who is called the Giver. Jonas does not take the „pills‟, which enable
people to repress their feeling, and also the reason why he is different from the
others.
Meanwhile, Gabriel, who has trouble sleeping through the night is about to be
released by the society. Jonas wants to change the condition in the community so he
runs away from that place, taking Gabriel with him in order to give back the
memories to the people in the community. They run away from their place until they
arrive at the hills where they can hear music coming from houses.
31
Maranatha Christian University
Biography of Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was born on July 26, 1894 in Godalming, Surrey,
England. He was an English writer. In 1911, Huxley almost went blind because of
the illness of keratitis punctata.
Huxley graduated from Balliol College, Oxford in 1916 with first class
honors. He completed his first (unpublished) novel at the age of seventeen and
started writing seriously at early twenty. His earlier works Brave New World (1932)
and Eyeless in Gaza were strongly influenced by F. Matthias Alexander, an
Australian actor who developed educational technique, and included him as a
character in Eyeless in Gaza.
In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, California together with his family. In
Hollywood Huxley wrote several novels like After Many a Summer Dies the Swan
(1939) and The Perennial Philosophy (1945). He also became a Hollywood writer,
which put him in touch with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
In 1960 Huxley was diagnosed with cancer and in his deteriorating health, he
wrote the Utopian novel Island. In early 1939 he had an extensive association with
the Vedanta Society of Southern California, founded and headed by Swami
Prabhavananda. Aldous Huxley died in 1963.
Source : “Aldous Huxley”
32
Maranatha Christian University
Biography of Lois Lowry
Lois Ann Hammersburg, known as Lois Lowry, was born on March 20, 1937
in Honolulu, Hawaii. The death of Helen, her older sister in 1962 made Lois write
her first book A Summer to Die, which was published in 1977. Lowry needs to move
to several places because of her father‟s job as an army dentist.
In 1950 Lois attended Curtis High School and in 1952 she entered Packer
Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, New York to finish her high school. In
1954 she entered Brown University. In 1956 she got married with Donald Lowry, a
U.S. Navy officer. They had four children, 2 daughters and 2 sons. She completed
her degree in English literature from the University of Maine in Portland in 1972.
In 1977 Lois and her husband decided to divorce. In 1979 she began her
Anastasia series of books with Anastasia Krupnik. She wrote several more books,
including Number the Stars in 1989 and The Giver in 1993. Many of her works deal
with somber topics, but she managed to mix the comic and tragic elements skillfully
in a way that made them enticing to readers both young and old. Her son Grey was
killed in the crash of his fighter plane in 1995. It was the most difficult day of her life
and gave her some pressures.
Today Lois Lowry remains active by not only continuing to write and speak
at appearances, but also enjoying her time with her companion Martin Small at her
homes in Massachusetts and Maine.
Source : “Lois Lowry”
33
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Freedom is an important part of human life and it is always related to
happiness. People need freedom to achieve happiness. Aldous Huxley in Brave New
World and Lois Lowry in The Giver deal with this issue. In the two novels, freedom
is something that the protagonists try to achieve as freedom is being limited by the
government.
In Brave New World and The Giver, the protagonists are directly involved in
the government so that they know how the government limits and controls the
people. Both governments in the novels want to make a perfect world although in
reality a perfect world is an impossibility. Drugs are also used in both novels to
control people. Although both novels seem pessimistic, actually the novels teach
people to be watchful and they reveal how important freedom is.
The author of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, is famous for works of
utopian and dystopian genre and Brave New World is his most famous work. “In
Brave New World Huxley portrays a society operating on the principles of mass
production and Pavlovian conditioning” (“Aldous Huxley”). His literary goal is to
make the public think by “shocking’’ them, and it makes his works interesting to
1
Maranatha Christian University
analyse (Bakke). I agree with Bakke that “in his most popular of novels, Brave
New World, Huxley shows a grim and bleak view of a future utopia, most likely
reflecting his personal interpretation of where the world was going in 1932.”
Huxley’s work is an illustration of what may happen in the future and to warn
people about it.
The second novel that I am going to discuss is The Giver by Lois Lowry.
“Some of Lowry's works have been controversial because they tackle difficult
subject matter” (“Lois Lowry”). The Giver is one of her most famous works. The
novel is known as “rich in levels of meaning, so daring in complexity of symbol
and metaphor, so challenging in the ambiguity of its conclusion, that we are left
with all of our neat little everyday categories and judgments hanging useless”
(Lord). The Giver is also criticized as “the book was a real eye opener and really
made you think of the possibilities for tomorrow” (“A Critique of The Giver”).
In my major thesis, I am going to analyse the social and inner conflicts in
Brave New World and The Giver using formalism. Conflict itself is defined as
“the opposition of persons or forces upon which the action depends in drama and
fiction” (Shaw 91) and Stewart states that “Conflict is not limited to physical
altercation, but involves any plot twist, turn or ploy that causes emotional,
spiritual or physical distress” (Chaze). There are three kinds of conflict which are
elemental or physical, social, and internal or psychological conflicts. Elemental or
physical conflict is defined as “a struggle between man and the physical world”
(Shaw 91); social conflict is defined as “a struggle between man and man” (Shaw
91); and internal or psychological conflict is defined as “a struggle between
desires within a person” (Shaw 92). The reason for analyzing social and inner
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conflicts in these novels are I personally think that analysing conflict is something
interesting for me and I would like to analyse it deeper in order to find out how
social and inner conflicts of the protagonist could emphasize the issue of the
author in both of the novels. On top of that, I would analyse the conflicts that have
happened to the protagonists, the cause of the conflicts, and the resolution of the
conflicts.
Statement of the Problem
The statements of the problem are as follows:
1. What are the social and inner conflicts found in each novel?
2. What are the causes of the conflicts?
3. How are the conflicts resolved?
Purpose of the Study
The purposes of the study are as follows:
1. To show the social and inner conflicts found in each novel.
2. To show the causes of the conflicts.
3. To show how the conflicts are resolved.
Method of Research
The method of research that I use in my thesis is library research. First of
all, I read the two novels which are going to be analysed. Then, I browse some
information from the Internet to support my analysis. I also read text books and
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search for literary criticism. Finally, I draw some conclusion of what has been
discussed.
Organization of the Thesis
The thesis consists of four chapters, preceded by the Acknowledgments,
the Table of Contents, and the Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the
Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter Two is the Analysis of Social and Inner Conflicts in Brave New World,
followed by Chapter Three, which is the Analysis of Social and Inner Conflicts in
The Giver. Chapter Four is the conclusion of the two previous chapters, followed
by the Bibliography and the Appendices, which contain the synopsis of each
novel and the biography of the two authors.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
Having analysed The Giver by Lois Lowry and Brave New World by
Aldous Huxley, I conclude that all conflicts are related to freedom. There are
three social conflicts and two inner conflicts in both of the novels that involve the
protagonists. All conflicts concern about freedom and are related to the
government or the society. Both novels reveal that freedom is an important thing
in people’s life. Without freedom, people’s life will be restricted and yet to get
freedom, one sometimes need to make sacrifices, as to what happens to Jonas. He
gets his freedom but he cannot meet his family and friends again.
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the social conflicts show that it is
difficult to have freedom. Later, some social conflicts are resolved because the
protagonist agrees with the other party but some others are not resolved because
both parties hold on to their beliefs. An example of a resolved social conflict is
when Bernard Marx and Lenina Crown are having a social conflict concerning
soma, and it is resolved because Marx gives in to Lenina and finally takes soma.
An example of an unresolved conflict is when Bernard Marx and Thomas Ford
are having a social conflict concerning their social beliefs.
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The inner conflicts show that the protagonist experiences dilemmas in achieving
freedom but finally all inner conflicts are resolved. An example of an inner conflict is
when Bernard Marx experiences a dilemma concerning his obedience towards
Thomas Ford. However, in the end he decides to disobey Thomas Ford.
The same as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Lois Lowry’s The Giver
shows that it is difficult to have freedom. Later, some social conflicts are resolved
because the protagonist and the other parties can reach an agreement, but some
others are not resolved because both parties hold on to their own beliefs. An example
of a resolved social conflict is when Jonas and the Giver are having a social conflict
concerning memory. In the end, the social conflict is resolved because the Giver
finally gives in to Jonas. An example of an unresolved conflict is when Jonas and his
father are having a social conflict concerning Gabriel’s release. This social conflict is
not resolved because they cannot reach an agreement. The inner conflicts show that
the protagonist experiences dilemmas in achieving freedom, but finally all inner
conflicts are resolved because the protagonist decides to go against the other parties.
An example of an inner conflict is when Jonas experiences a dilemma concerning his
decision to keep his job as a memory receiver or not. The inner conflict is resolved
because Jonas finally decides to keep his job.
Other than similarities, there are also differences between Brave New World
and The Giver. In Brave New World, in fighting for freedom, the protagonist,
Bernard Marx depends much on a friend, John, which results in the defeat of the
protagonist by the government. However, in The Giver, the protagonist, Jonas fights
for freedom by himself, which results in his success in obtaining freedom. Another
difference is shown as the protagonist in The Giver shows more consistency in his
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ideas about freedom. It is shown in all social conflicts, in which Jonas, the
protagonist never gives in to other parties, whereas Bernard Marx in Brave New
World sometimes gives in to the other parties, for example when he finally gives in
to Lenina Crown and decides to take soma. The differences show that the
protagonists’ actions have a great impact on the result of what they fight for.
Another difference between Brave New World and The Giver is that Brave
New World is categorized as a dystopian novel, in which the society might seem to
be perfect because all the inhabitants are well fed or healthy or seemingly happy, yet
they are revealed to be profoundly flawed because they limit the intellectual or
emotional freedom of the individual, which then trigger the social and inner conflicts
among the characters. The novel features characters that awaken to the richness of
experience possible outside the confines of the society, but they are either destroyed
by the society before they can make any significant changes. I believe that this novel
functions as a warning to the reader: do not let this happen to your society.
On the other hand, The Giver is categorized as a utopian novel, in which the
society Lowry depicts in the novel is a perfect world as envisioned by its creators. It
has eliminated fear, pain, hunger, illness, conflict, and hatred, and all things that most
of us would like to eliminate in our own society. But, in order to maintain the peace
and order of their society, the citizens of the community in the novel have to submit
to strict rules governing their behavior, their relationships, and even their language.
Individual freedom and human passions add a chaotic element to society and even
the memory of freedom and passion, along with the pain and conflict that human
choice and emotion often cause, must be suppressed. In effect, the inhabitants of the
society, though they are happy and peaceful, also lack the basic freedoms and
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pleasures that our own society values, which trigger the social and inner conflicts
among the characters.
Finally, I am of the opinion that it is better to depend on oneself than
depending on others, just like what Jonas does in achieving freedom. I also believe
that anything is going to be possible when one has strong principles and holds firmly
to what one believes in. Finally, I conclude that any conflicts regarding freedom
might take place anywhere: at work, among friends and even in the level of
government. Resolutions may happen only when the parties finally agree with each
other, even though there are times when there are no resolutions to conflicts.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Cobuild, Collins. Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. Glasgow:
HarperCollins. 2006
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literature Terms. New York: Mc.Graw-Hill: Inc. 1972.
Internet Websites
“A Critique of The Giver.” 123 help me!. 2009. 22 Aug. 2009
< http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=16440>
“Aldous Huxley.” Wikipedia. 2009. 9 Oct. 2009
Bakke, Brock. “Themes in Aldous Huxley’s Life and Literature.” Somaweb. 2009.
22 Oct. 2009
Chaze, Theresa. “Writing Tip: Creating Conflict by Theresa Chaze.” A. F. Stewart's
Blog. 2008. 24 Oct. 2009
< http://afstewartblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/writing-tip-creating-conflictby.html >
“Lois Lowry.” Wikipedia. 2009. 9 Oct. 2009
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_Lowry>
Lord, Elyse. “The Giver (Criticism).”Answers. 2009. 22 Oct. 2009
< http://www.answers.com/topic/the-giver-novel-7>
Primary Texts
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Essex: Longman, 1932.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1993.
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