Imaginary World, Illusory Happiness

The hidden danger in the modern society influences the living conditions of human beings and changes people's traditional belief and ideology. Huxley through his Brave New World in the thirties of last century presented to the readers today the horrible picture of the possible human world in the future: the sick, alienated and technology-oriented world. The story of Brave New World happens in the future but it is a novel about the present. Both Herbert Marcuse and Erich Fromm of the Frankfurt School focus their attention on the serious problems of Western society and the human conditions under it. Their critical theories explain and expose the latent danger and serious disease of the capitalist society, whose trace can just be found in Huxley's Brave New World. With the analysis of the novel Brave New World and the research on the present living conditions of human beings, the major aim of this dissertation is to prove that in order to obtain the real happiness rather than the illusory one given to the citizens in the novel, people living in the modern society need to seek their real identity and the essence of living.