A Slightly Cowardly New Essay

In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who conforms outwardly while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Via Rebecca Aldrich Via the 2005 AP Question.


      Lenina, from A Brave New World, generally conforms to what society dictates, however, She has trouble fully conforming to what she displays outwardly. Lenina questions her lack of hesitation when complying to societies regulations and tradition, however She does not hold back in participation in all the common activities. In fact Lenina seemed to be created to show that if  you did have a dissenting opinion, you had to bury the negativity and conform to what is viewed as normal. This type of internal distress makes Lenina a dynamic character that epitomizes the struggle of repressing expression in a world made to be uniform and precise.

     The metropolitan area that once was called England went through a vast regime change in A Brave New World. What once was considered sacrosanct is now integrated into a molded assembly line styled society. The new government forcefully makes its denizens adopt it's views, which leads people, like Lenina, to be driven by fear to conform while still containing internal doubt. Lenina conforms mostly due to the process of hypnopeadia, or sleep learning, which reinforces the Government's values. After the hypnopeadia, however, Lenina is still confronted with dreams on non-conformation. For example, she stays with the same man for a long while, which is considered vulgar and inappropriate for the era. On the other hand, when Bernard directly confronts her about society in the helicopter ride, she gets scared and looses all motivation to express herself. Instead,  She actually denies all association with the feelings and buries herself in soma, the popular drug of the time.

     Aldus Huxley wrote this book as a satyric warning about a possible future where individuality is rejected for the concept of efficiency with assembly line precision. A character as inwardly torn as Lenina showed Huxley meant to demonstrate the creativity and originality of humans can never be truly shut down.

     The internal conflict that occurs within Lenina gives her depth and loosely describes the theme of A Brave New World. Huxley created Lenina to describe the fear that keeps those with deeper intellectual ambitions conforming to the general societal beliefs. Lenina had the capability to break free of the mold, but Huxley needed a character to show the stress associated with delusion of freedom.