How can we understand darkness if we had not also known light? If evil did not exist, would good have any meaning? Contradictions create substance, and without one end of the spectrum it is impossible to understand the other. Like yin and yang, opposites derive meaning from their differences. Juxtaposition is necessary for an extreme to make sense; therefore, the lack of alternatives nullifies the meaning. This is well illustrated by the absence of dichotomy in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. The novel takes place some time in the future, after the life of Henry Ford. The very fact that the year is determined this way shows the assembly line aspect of the culture: throughout the book, the concept of factory production and uniformity is presented repeatedly. Diversity and contradictions (other than those that are specifically created, like making people Alphas, Betas, etc.) are not allowed, even within the population. Lack of individualism diminishes the value of human life. In the society created by Huxley, the invariable good of humanity takes precedence over the value of the single person. This is a distinctive example of how similarity removes all meaning. Because people are all the same, they themselves don't matter. This dystopian world revolves around sexual debauchery, strictly defined class systems, and the enjoyment of senseless pleasures. Conditioned from birth by a mixture of genetic modification and brainwashing, citizens of this society do not question their circumstances or seek alternatives to their given way of life. Instead, they settle for apathetic complacency. There is no juxtaposition of good and evil because anything considered “bad” is ignored or suppressed. A drug distributed free of charge... middle of paper ...... capable of diversity and originality. Does this create a utopia or destroy any hope of having one? The outcome of each story provides the answer. Dichotomy creates substance, and substance gives meaning. If every principle and every idea lacks depth, if everything a society is built on lacks meaning, if every choice we make really isn't a choice... then life itself ceases to have meaning. importance. Works Cited Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 1981. Huxley, Aldous. Appendix. Brave New World. New York, NY: Perennial Classics, 1998.Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York, NY: Perennial Classics, 1998. Orwell, George. 1984, a novel. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1949. Seed, David. “Escape from the Good Life: Fahrenheit 451 in the Context of Postwar American Dystopias.” Journal of American Studies Vol. 28, no. 2 (1994): 227.