Shelby's Post #2

Huxley satirizes the worlds view toward conformity through the Director’s attempt to exile Bernard to Iceland. By pointing out Bernard’s differences from society, such as “his heretical views on sport and soma” and “the scandalous unorthodoxy of his sexlife” (149), and how these differences lead to the disapproval of him as a whole, Huxley points out the way that society tends to exile those who are different from the mainstream. Huxley’s use of the word “unorthodoxy” only intensifies the point that his banning is due to his refusal to conform. By the director calling him “an enemy of Society” due to his nonconformity (149), Huxley portrays how a unique person is ultimately labeled as working against everyone else solely because he chooses to act different. Although in most of the industrialized nations one’s differences don’t lead to as large of a punishment as deportation, it does lead to one being treated as an outcast. Huxley’s exaggeration of the situation (Bernard’s large expulsion due to small actions) pokes fun at the way society takes an extreme disliking and comfort to those different, thus through the use of satire he portrays his point. The fact that Huxley even uses Bernard’s differences as such an important piece of the story paints a picture of dystopia, because his differences are what cause the attempt at a utopia to fail. His acts of independence make the difference between the utopia and the dystopia, and those differences prove that a true utopia cannot exist, for everyone is not the same.