The scene in “Brave New World” in which the Director gives a tour to a group of students from the Hatchery and Conditioning Centre is one passage that can be analyzed using Solzhenitsyn’s ideas. The Director demonstrates the conditioning process that babies go through before becoming members of the World State. Electric shocks and sirens condition the babies to fear books and nature and prefer consumer goods and promiscuity, “We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies
as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future …” (Huxley 13). This passage can be analyzed using Solzhenitsyn’s concept of “survival at any cost.” Survival in the World State is a psychological necessity rather than a physical one. Citizens of the World State have been taught that their happiness and well-being depend on their ability to consume and conform. Individuals are taught to prioritize pleasure and consumption in order to avoid feelings of loneliness and dissatisfaction during the conditioning process. For example, Lenina is the prime citizen of the World State: enjoys her work as a hatchery worker, but also enjoys spending her free time engaging in recreational activities, such as playing Electromagnetic golf and engaging in casual sex with multiple partners.
Solzhenitsyn also discusses the central ethic of modern totalitarianism, “only the material result counts.” The World State’s obsession with consumer goods and superficial markers of success exemplifies this idea. Books and nature are conditioned to be feared by babies as unnecessary distractions from pursuing pleasure and consumption. The Director proudly displays the conditioning process as proof of the World State’s ability to produce obedient and productive citizens who will contribute to the economy and consume goods and services.
Solzhenitsyn’s ideas can thus be used to analyze the conditioning process in “Brave New World.” Babies are socialized to value consumption and conformity over individuality and free will. They are taught to fear books and nature as threats to the World State’s stability and efficiency. Conditioning can be viewed as a form of psychological survival in which individuals are taught to prioritize pleasure and consumption in order to avoid feelings of loneliness and dissatisfaction. Solzhenitsyn’s ideas help to contextualize the conditioning process in “Brave New World,” revealing how modern totalitarian societies prioritize material gain and survival over human dignity and individuality. A conditioning process is a tool used by the World State to create obedient and productive citizens who will contribute to the economy and consume goods and services at the expense of their own personal freedom and autonomy.