Competing Political Perspectives
The texts ‘Brave New World’ and ‘The Ides of March’ share the theme of exploring competing political perspectives of control and the differing methods to gain it. Mond's individual perspective is a reflection of the dominant political perspectives of the World State, he argues society cannot have the high art, freedom and expression at the same time as stability. Huxley explores this political ideology through Mond’s dialogue, "That's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art", this is reflective of the communist ideology that was prevalent during Huxley’s time. Towards the end of the novel, John sums up his political perspective on freedom, "But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin". Huxley’s characterisation of John as the antithesis to the political ideology of the World State and representative of the Reservations dominant values and morals is more closely aligned with the West’s capitalist influence ideology of individual freedom.
In ‘The Ides of March’ Stephen is the mastermind behind Morris’s campaign who values success over everything, the audience sees the impact of his motives to gain control through the death of Molly, gaining control even if it means the loss of an individual. Whereas, Paul, the campaign manager, believes that success should be gained through loyalty, even it means sacrifice. His dialogue, "In politics it's (loyalty) the only currency you can rely on", contrasts Paul’s and Stephen’s competing political perspectives on political success. The path to ultimate control is based on the ambiguous political motivations which are self-servingly unsympathetic of repressed individuality.
Huxley isn't just exploring the evils of communism but he is commenting on two competing political governments; the control and lifestyle of the ‘World State’ vs the values and lifestyle of the ‘Savage Reservation’. Huxley has combined the worst of the ideologies into a society under a totalitarian government with no individual freedom or autonomy that is divided into social classes and based around mass consumption of goods and services. The ‘Wold State’ values ‘…COMMUNITY, IDENTITY AND STABILITY’, the capitalisation in the novel emphasises its significance, which is reflected through many aspects of the novel. The drug soma is symbolic as it serves to keep individuals from experiencing the stressful negative effects of conflicts that society cannot prevent. The society, therefore, encourages everyone to take soma as a means of social control and stability by eliminating the effects of conflict. John's plea to the Deltas to throw away their soma, gives the audience of the State Reservations, which is a communistic, dominant’s conflicting values towards dealing with everyday situations.
