Brave New World Chapter 4- Individuality in Society?

 Individuality is/is not harmful to society 

"Yes, a little too able; they were right. A mental excess had produced in Helmholtz Watson effects very similar to those which, in Bernard Marx, were the result of a physical defect. Too little bone and brawn had isolated Bernard from his fellow men, and the sense of this apartness, being, by all the current standards, a mental excess, became in its turn a cause of wider separation. That which had made Helmholtz so uncomfortably aware of being himself and all alone was too much ability. What the two men shared was the knowledge that they were individuals. But whereas the physically defective Bernard had suffered all his life from the consciousness of being separate, it was only quite recently that, grown aware of his mental excess, Helmholtz Watson had also become aware of his difference from the people who surrounded him. This Escalator-Squash champion, this indefatigable lover (it was said that he had had six hundred and forty different girls in under four years), this admirable committee man and best mixer had realized quite suddenly that sport, women, communal activities were only, so far as he was concerned, second bests" (Huxley 67).



In Chapter 4 of Brave New World, Bernard and Helmholtz, who are Alphas, are aware of their individuality within this society. Its not encouraged in the society to be an individual however they are not conforming to simply fit into a "stable society". In this case it isn't a bad thing for them to be different and rebel. In their society's eyes it is a bad thing for them to think on their own and have personal opinions. In certain instances it may be helpful if the people in a society did think alike when it pertains to engineering or in structural action. Although to think different and outside the box can be of so much benefit to make a society grow and flourish to an even larger extent, like for instance Helmholtz, he knows he is smart and a good writer but he is ordered to simply write hypnopaedic phrases, which only restrains him from growing and fulfilling his full potential. He can contribute so much more to help his society than what he is lead to do. A Stable society is not built on the basis of like minded individuals, it is built on the foundation of learning and growing.