Lupack points out that conventional male and female roles are "comically reversed" (Lupack 96), emphasizing the "underlying principle of ironic contrast and the reason for the novel's universal appeal... madness is sanity and sanity is madness" (96). In addition, we come to grasp the notion that the patents are more "sane" (96) than their caretakers are but they only become aware of this after they check themselves into the asylum. Lupack observes, "The Combine's order is actually chaos, and the random natural elements of the world outside provide the only real meaning and order in life" (96). While life appears to be orderly, it is actually empty. In Brave New World, the irony exists in the premise of what defines happiness. The Savage touches on it briefly when he realizes that without pain, there can be no real, measurable pleasure. In a sense, everything is equal and while this may keep individuals from lashing out against authority, it also keeps them from seeking and attaining happiness and fulfillment. Hochman observes, life is "so controlled and safe that there is neither need nor opportunity for bravery" (Hochman) and "From birth to death, the life Huxley describes in Brave New World is a fully engineered existence in which both people and their environment are remade to society's specifications" (Hochman). Here we see that while our differences might create a little dissension, that is actually a good thing because it demonstrates that we are living, thinking beings.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Brave New World capture the essence of authority gone wrong. While all forms of authority want to make...
While individuals needs certain rules in order to maintain s sense of stability, individuals do not need to feel subservient to those who establish the rules. The men in the ward in Kesey's novel demonstrate what happens to people when their individuality is stripped from them. Huxley points out how weak individuals can becomes when Soma reduces citizens to numb addicts that are not even aware of what is happening to them even though they take their pills every day. These authors emphasize the importance of individuality regardless of the minor clashes that might occur upon occasion.
Works Cited
Hochman, Jhan. "An overview of Brave New World." Exploring Novels. 1998. Gale Resource Database. Information Retrieved February 01, 2005. www.infotrac.galegroup.com
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper and Row Publishers. 1960.
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Signet Books. 1962.
Lupack, Barbara. Insanity as Redemption in Contemporary American Fiction. Gainsville: University Press Florida. 1995.
Vitkus, Daniel J. "Madness and Misogyny in Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest." Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics. 1994. JSTOR Resource Database. Information Retrieved February 01, 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1347186.
Woodcock, George. "Aldous Huxley: Overview." Reference Guide to English Literature. 1991. GALE Resource Database. Information Retrieved February 01, 2005. www.infotrac.galegroup.com
