Changing Perfectly

The small society created in my novel is referred to as "Edan." Edan is a symbolic name that takes after the first pure place on earth "Eden" in genesis. Eden means perfection. By calling the new country this, the government is creating their own beginning, the reign of man and this society. The city of Edan is the base for human perfection and the beginning of all things perfect in general. With this in mind there is no longer a need for religion as man controls everything themselves. They believe there is no longer a need for God and the beliefs in him as long as they can supply to themselves whatever they need and their own happiness. This is similarly demonstrated in the "Brave New World" novel where they have replaced God with their own machinery and artificial happiness. Edan is a city where perfection is happiness and happiness is perfection. They have mastered this and their social structures are a key part in maintaining this.

In my 'Changing Perfectly' novel, i have used a concept in which to gain ultimate control, the people of Edan have been granted the ability to trade in their traits for something else. Similarly like our reality now, we earn money by working for someone and completing jobs, we then go tot he shops and trade our money for objects or things that we either need or desire, these things we buy can often reflect who we are. Similarly to this, in the society of Edan, people earn 'grading points' for how well they do in their assigned jobs. the more grading points they earn the better role they may achieve in their area of work. An example may be an engineer being promoted from engineer, to site supervisor. He will be rewarded with more 'grading points.' Grading points is Edan's economy, used instead of money. Once equipped with grading points, instead of going to a shopping complex to buy things, you travel to a Grade centre where you can trade in physical traits for better once. An example may be trading in brown eyes for blue eyes, or anger for peace. You can trade in any of the traits that are available to you. The available traits to you vary on what job you have and where you are positioned on the social structure. For those that are the lowly servants, only brown or green eyes may be available. If you are a state manager, blue, orange and violet may be colours that are available to you. The advantage of having such a system as this is that each citizen has the ability to control exactly what he or she looks like within the respectable boundaries of their personalities and their jobs. If everyone is happy with the way they view themselves and the way others are viewing them, then most problems are eliminated as the way you look is one of the biggest parts of society and one of the biggest points of judgement.

In the Brave new World novel, the citizens use drugs, more specifically soma, to give their artificial happiness, they live my the motto, 'everyone belongs to everyone else' and they all work for each other. There is no selfishness. Much is the same in Changing Perfectly as the characters are given a sense of harmony with themselves by having complete control over how they look and feel, but they are also given a place and a role to serve the community, giving a sense of place and identity. Identity is vital to every person and feeling happy. Having created a way in both society's to feel these needs, they have effectively each created a version of a Utopia in which everyone is happy. Happiness and Perfection of course, are the definition of a Utopia. These two novels join in to form an underlying message of which projects, if this is what society wants, happiness and utter perfection, then is this quite possibly what society would end up looking like? Huxley has really managed to capture some strong themes that i hope to in this novel further express with a fresh and unique edge.

Behind the plot is an intense and thorough combination of thoughts and themes. The novel will aspire to capture the attention of publishers and of its audience as it suggests several ideas designed to intrigue and cause disturbance through imposing literature. The utopian society is based off the concept of perfection. If a Utopia is place where everything is perfect and stable, then why not a society where every person creates their own perfect? Then perfection cannot be mistaken as something else as it is perfect to everyone in their own eyes. "Community, Identity, Stability." Is one of the core sayings in the Brave new World novel. Similarly, the Edan society in the Changing Perfectly novel features in everyone working as one. Everyone has their own role that has been designated to them. It is stable this way as everyone is happy. No one questions their place or what they wish to achieve.

The social segregation in this novel is a vital part of the themes beneath the surface of the story. The classes of people are an important part of controlling people's perceptions of themselves. They are split into categories before birth and are given an area of which they must work. Stability is then created as there is no need for stress about where to go in life and no one trying to breach the rules or become something they should not be. The economy is even and prosperous as the money is divided equivalently to to the recourses in such a way that there is no lacking or overspending in areas that it shouldn't be. The social classes also help to keep in control the people a person may socialise with and help them to be more asserted about who they are and what their place is. This kind of society leaves no room for mistakes or misinterpretation, therefore everything is easy to grasp and understand. Clarity minimises the chance of slip ups.