Compare and Contrast Essay: Brave New World vs. By the Waters of Babylon

The novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, and the short story, “By the Waters of Babylon”, written by Stephen Vincent Benét, both portray different ideas of peace. Brave New World represents a convincingly utopian society in which valuable items and interests, now considered important and enjoyable to many people, are somewhat ruthlessly taken away for the greater purpose of blind happiness. Meanwhile, “By the Waters of Babylon”, depicts a challenging and draining journey which results in the personal and internal balance of a determined man whose curiosity and thirst is gratified. Both stories explore how this peace that is wished to be achieved is not within reach if personal comforts aren’t sacrificed and that these sacrifices are necessary because they serve the greater good.

In “By the Waters of Babylon”, Benét builds characterization of the main character by showing his strive for knowledge and determination to obtain answers, and builds imagery by illustrating the details of his physical and mental hardships as he searches for them. The world the main character and his people live in is that of the present world, but crippled by some sort of catastrophic nuclear event. They live in a world of destruction that is run through a hierarchical-like system. Men called “priests” are sent to seek out metal in what they call, “Dead Places”, which are really just destroyed homes and buildings. These priests are the only people that can do this and they hold the most power or honor in this society. The main character’s father is a priest, making him the son of a priest, so that one day he will hold the same position as his father. He speaks of what his father teaches him, such as chants, spells, and how to heal wounds. He’s taught to read old books and writings, which he found difficult and time consuming, but he enjoyed having this knowledge, it made him happy. Even with all this knowledge, he had many questions and he wanted answers. His solution to this was to go on a journey. Before going on the journey, he asks his father for “purification”, where an important vision is revealed. This vision is of “gods” walking beyond a river, he says he sees them as if they were before him. His father tells him this is a strong and dangerous dream, but he tells his father he is not afraid. His father understands and tells him, “‘It is forbidden to travel east. It is forbidden to cross the river. It is forbidden to go to the Place of the Gods. All these things are forbidden.’” (Benét 2). And he repeats the last phrase back to his father, “‘All these things are forbidden.’..but it was [his] voice that spoke and not [his] spirit.” (Benét 2). He already knew he would have to disobey his father and the rules in order to gain the answers he seeked. He would have to travel east. He would have to cross the river. He would go to the Place of the Gods. In the end, if he hadn’t done these things, things he did at one point regret, he wouldn’t have discovered the truth about the “gods” and how they were really just remnants of a normal, present-day society. He sacrificed defying his father and their ways of life, and traveling to dangerous places to release their society from living blinded lives. The journey, though, proves itself to be full of difficult decisions and tricky environments. In the beginning, he encounters different signs that point him in the eastern direction, which he knows is forbidden but follows them anyway. He then risks traveling through an area belonging to the “Forest People”, which his people are in conflict with and who he is not fond of. And eventually, possibly his most challenging task, is crossing the river to get to the Place of the Gods. “The current of the great river [was] strong..it gripped [his] raft…[and he] was swept down the stream…[he was] alone upon the great river…[he was sure he would] die, but if [he] did not go, [he] could never be at peace with [his] spirit again.” (Benét 3,4). On this journey he is absolutely petrified, sure he’s going to die. But still, he sacrifices his own life to get his answers, to quench his burning for knowledge, to understand his vision. This terrifying ride across the river ultimately gets him to the Place of the Gods where he continues to run into trouble. He finally reaches the apartment building where he finds an old, decomposed body which leads him to the life-changing realization that the gods he has learned about are just normal people who once lived in a normal world. His determination and decisions along his passage which led him to a truth that will set him and his world free of a falsehood certainly prove that sacrifices were necessary whether it be physical risk or abandonment of morals.

In contrast to Benét’s short story, Brave New World characterizes a controlling, unfeeling body that controls the masses, and creates imagery by detailing the functions of a strictly commanded and extremely uniform society. Perhaps one of the most disturbing parts of this society is how they condition people starting from infant ages. One of the “Directors” of the World State shows a group of students a specific conditioning method where babies are first attracted to something that is appealing and then deceived by loud sirens, alarms, and electric shocks in order to condition their brains to be less or more attracted to something. In this specific session they use books, the Director, “curtly [tells nurses to,] ‘Set out the books’ [and,] In silence the nurses [obey] his command.” (Huxley 20). This is characterization of the people responsible for raising these children and establishing the foundation of this society. They seem emotionless about the horrible methods they’re using on these children, with the Director “curtly”, meaning rude and brief, ordering the nurses to set out the objects and the nurses just silently complying, knowing that these helpless children are going to be exposed to something horrifying. This is not only a sacrifice of the objects they’re going to be conditioned not to like but a sacrifice of morals and empathy. But it serves the purpose of their world running uniformly and everyone having the same psychological makeup, beliefs, and mindsets. The specifics of this practice are what build imagery. “..the babies fell silent, then began to crawl towards [the books]...As they approached, the sun came out of a momentary eclipse behind a cloud…a new and profound significance seemed to suffuse the shining pages of the books…[there were] squeals of excitement, gurgles and twitterings of pleasure…The Head Nurse…pressed down a little lever. There was a violent explosion. Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded…the Head Nurse pressed a second lever. The screaming of the babies suddenly changes its tone…Their little bodies twitched and stiffened; their limbs moved jerkily as if to the tug of unseen wires.” (Huxley 20,21). A scene is created of cute babies, interested and curious about these objects in front of them. The sun is coming out from behind a dark cloud, which would usually symbolize some final moment or sliver of happiness. They love and are entertained by the books, giggling and gurgling. And right when they pick up the books and view them for themselves, the alarms blare deafeningly in their ears. They wail, obviously terrified by the noise and are not provided relief but something even worse. They are shocked by strips of electrical currents in the floor. The fact that this obscene routine was even thought to be created shows complete disposal of principles and morality. To do something so horrible to such innocent and defenseless babies, just for the sake of creating an organized and utopian society is an honest reflection of current society and how people sacrifice something as important as morality for something they think is what should be.

Both these stories have an excellent way of showing peace and desirable outcomes cannot be achieved without difficult sacrifices. This is a hard realization for anybody. As much as the world might want to judge someone like the main character in “By the Waters of Babylon” for disobeying strict societal rules, or Directors in “Brave New World” for the brutal way they shape their people from a young age, these sacrifices that no one else is willing to make are the only reason they were able to reach a beneficial outcome for everyone. Sometimes, if the only way to have a perfect conclusion is to make some tough choices, so be it, you have to sacrifice the few to save the many.