Three Eras, Three Novels Essay -- Literary Analysis, Shelly, Well, Hu

Progress is a distinctive venture of man. The constant need to predict and control, instrumented by science and technology, has led to astonishing possibilities for which the long term consequences are unpredictable. There is, however, no ultimate goal of progress; and as limits continue to be broken, the boundaries of human interference in nature are expanding indefinitely. Everywhere, there is a sense of the unconquerable forces unwittingly evoked to serve the project of progress, bringing the project itself into question. This idea has produced three novels that suggest the improvidence of man's quest for authority from natural law; they are: Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, H.G. Well's The Time Machine, and Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. The purpose of progress is to attain greater control over the environment, allowing man a sense of certainty and security. With more and more conveniences and enlightenments given by science and technology, man hopes to reign in the natural forces that affect him. Aldous Huxley imagines the state of these ideals several centuries into the future: A society in which everything is contained and regulated, down to free will itself. The very motto of the state is "community, identity, stability" (1). Their Science has advanced on our current remedies insofar that humans fall into a mental state or condition in which the varieties of expression and behavior of that individual become restricted; total human inhibition. The idea of a one world government seems ridiculous, because humans over the course of history have rejected such totalitarian governments over and over in the past. In Huxley's world, however, the people have completely submitted to the order. The people of this ad... ...kind meddles in nature's affairs to create a world of his own design, the effects of his actions are monumental. Man would do better to understand his place as a species with no control, and without the ability to predict or to understand the effects of experimentation on the natural world. No matter the era, man’s push towards progression happens on a daily basis. Whether it be not asking for directions and failed attempts to find a location, spending hours on craigslist for parts to their â€Å"projects†, or creating machines, even creating humans to better prove progression—man will not stop. These novels throughout the centuries have become clear methods of the wrong doings that led from excessive progression, but no matter the date man will continue to look for answers but with the help of Wells, Shelley and Huxley, perhaps they won’t overstep their boundaries.