Social Conditioning in Aldous Huxley’s Island

In Aldous Huxley’s Island, the reader is presented with a society that seeks to merge all that is best in Eastern culture with a more sensible expression of Western culture. The manner in which the inhabitants of Pala seek to temper a desire for industrialized forms through considering these are a necessity reflects a kind of Buddhist ideal typical of Eastern philosophical tropes. Through this brand of compromise or tempering, Huxley seems to suggest that a kind of dystopian society is attainable as a social ideal and alternative to pure dystopia as seen in Forster's The Machine Stops. This ideal is only threatened by those who would alienate their humanity in the technological conveniences that threaten to destroy civilized social order.

Overwhelmingly, the manner in which socio-cultural decisions are made on Pala reflect the dueling ideals of Western and Eastern thought. This is readily apparent in Huxley’s treatment of birth control, a consideration that has been undertaken differently in Western thought from its Eastern counterpart: “…for a village community of rice growers, it makes social and economic sense. There must be enough young people to work the fields and support the aged and the little ones. But not too many of them; for then neither the old nor the workers nor their children will have enough to eat” (Huxley 98). This kind of practical thought, put toward the best interest of societal perpetuation, is emblematic of what Huxley seems to present as his dystopian compromise; there cannot be technological engagement in excess of that which is necessary in order to survive comfortably. Engagement of modern conveniences beyond this reflects a kind of primitive humanity that tends to the insanity, albeit in a paradoxical sense.

This same blending of modernity with a kind of pastoral antiquity is at the heart of the Palanese treatment of technological innovation. Farnaby’s visual recollections of London in all its industrial majesty are juxtaposed with the Palanese engagement with technology only for the most practical of purposes, such as refrigeration of food (Huxley 231). This form of selective industrialism is what drives the social impetus of Palanese society to a careful consideration of that which is absolutely necessary to survive in civilized fashion and that which amounts to technological gratuity, which threatens to disturb social order for those who are unwilling to subjugate a taste for convenience to the sane functioning of society are a threat to that society.

This disruption of the social order developed on Pala is threatened by Murugan in that he is readily unable or unwilling to subjugate his own thirst for the gratuitously modern to the value of civilized sanity. This is evident from the outset, as Murugan first insists on driving the Mercedes and then is unable to contain his excitement in attempting to properly drive it (Huxley 16). This kind of technological impulsiveness is manifested relative to preservation of a more natural order of things, as Huxley makes a point of indicating that as Muragan “swerved to avoid yet another buffalo, he opened his gold cigarette case” (Huxley 16). As such, Murugan not only literally threatens to healthful existence of the island’s natural inhabitants, but also threatens his human counterparts with the modern gratuity of cigarettes, the second-hand smoke from which directly impacts the natural order of things into which he is thrust.

The irresponsible and unnecessary manner in which Murugan operates this Mercedes is touched upon several times throughout the novel as an indication of his thirst for all that is anathema to the existence of Pala. As Murugan is described with a modern wrist-watch, he is also assessed as a primitively selfish being with lack of any self-reliance: “Another visitor would have asked him how he was feeling; but Murugan was too wholeheartedly concerned with himself to be able even to simulate the slightest interest in anyone else” (Huxley 43). As such, Murugan exists for himself and himself alone, without regard for or interest in others. It is not that Pala is to be a socio-communist utopia, but that an engagement with the technological is to be commensurate with the extent to which it is required for purposes of survival. Any engagement of modernity beyond this is suggested by Huxley as selfish, and thus destructive to any social order. For Murugan, these modern resources are to be exploited for personal purposes and promoted by simply virtue of their being somehow fashionable. Little consideration is given to whether these technological structures suit the socio-cultural foundations of Pala and, indeed, Murugan seldom considers an object’s utility relative to the utilizing party.

In Huxley’s Island, modernity and technology are not so much enemies of civilized order as they are potential threats to it. There is nothing inherently evil in or about the conveniences of technological innovation and industrialism, but those who would privilege these resources over practical thought and human engagement of a genuine kind are presented by Huxley as capable of fundamentally altering a fulfilling social order. On Pala, Western and Eastern thought is blended to the point at which the practical is merged with the fantastical, but only insofar as it is necessary to achieve this balance in order to cultivate a civilized and fulfilled society in a modern age of industrialized considerations. For Murugan, however, the industrialized age exists as a kind of plaything with which he might achieve some personal fulfillment, thinking little of others, whether human or otherwise. Murugan is thus presented as a human who has alienated his existence within modern industrialized forms, having ceded his humanity to this structures on which his survival depends. For Huxley, human practicality and ingenuity is the lifeblood of civilization and once these modes of existence are denied to humans, sanity begins to wane and dystopia begins to reign.

Work Cited

Huxley, Aldous. Island. New York: Harper Collins, 2010.