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Mother, monogamy, romance. High spurts the fountain; fierce and foamy the wild jet. The urge has but a single outlet. My love, my baby. No wonder those poor pre-moderns were mad and wicked and miserable. Their world didn’t allow them to take things easily, didn’t allow them to be sane, virtuous, happy.
In his first appearance Mond sets out the philosophy of the World State: intense emotions make it impossible for people to be happy. However, Mond’s language suggests that he sees beyond the limitations of this philosophy. Other than John and Helmholtz, Mond is the only character to speak in poetic images: “High spurts the fountain; fierce and foamy the wild jet.” This image suggests that Mond is attracted by the power of intense feelings.
“[…]Our Ford himself did a great deal to shift the emphasis from truth and beauty to comfort and happiness. Mass production demanded the shift. Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily turning; truth and beauty can’t. And, of course, whenever the masses seized political power, then it was happiness rather than truth and beauty that mattered.”
Although Mond believes in the value of human happiness, he also admits that happiness serves a purpose: it “keeps the wheels steadily turning.” In other words, it promotes stability and productivity. Here, Mond also reveals that the World State’s philosophy has its roots in the politics of Huxley’s own time. The World State’s pursuit of happiness serves Ford-era “mass production.” Happiness first became a priority, according to Mond, under the (twentieth-century) capitalist and communist systems in which “the masses seized political power.”
“[…]One can’t have something for nothing. Happiness has got to be paid for. You’re paying for it, Mr Watson—paying because you happen to be too much interested in beauty. I was too much interested in truth; I paid too.”
Before he banishes Helmholtz, Mond explains why doing so is necessary. He admits there is value to the truth and beauty which Helmholtz seeks in his writing. However, he says, giving up truth and beauty is the price for human happiness. Furthermore, happiness is for everyone, while it is only the rare people who are interested in truth and beauty who have to pay the price for it. Brave New World suggests that the pursuit of truth and beauty is elitist.
