Critical Analysis Essay of Novel

A large amount of culture in the sixties “counter-culture” movement period was derived from the piece of literature “The Doors to Perception” written by Aldus Huxley. His book recounts his experiences with the chemical substance of mescaline. His recordings influenced the culture of the sixties in the sense that along with many other authors of the time period he supported and described the use of psychedelic drugs. This book was bound to make a serious impact on the readers when it was first published considering the radicalized culture.

“He feels that previous investigators of mescaline have stopped at a point 'well this side of idolatry'. Whether he himself has, is open to question. It is not enough” was a written review of the Huxley essay posted on the web posted by H.E.W. Hardenberg. This comment if read by the readers of the birth generation of the essay could easily relate to the idea of opening one’s mind to alternative answers for meaning to everyday activities. This type of mindset to controlled substances is not as negative as government may consider it to be. The idea of opening ones mind to alternative ways of life with or without the use of mescaline or any drug. Unfortunately this book was promoting this mindset with the use of drugs, one of the reasons it was not highly accepted among main stream authors and literature critics.

This book in some ways was a predecessor to the style of literature that developed in the sixties called “gonzo” journalism. This was mainly made famous by Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe. This style incorporates authors first person perspectives on their life experiences and the affect they have on the environment around them. It is very much a first person based perspective of writing that was a highly effective for users of drugs such as Huxley, Thompson, and Wolfe. The style of “gonzo” was not deemed a style until Thompson was suggested nick naming his style of writing. Despite this later actually development of a style Huxley had written in this style almost twelve years before Thompson’s books began to be published. In a sense Huxley was a predecessor to the birth of “gonzo.” This shows his impact on the culture by experimenting with literature styles that became popular at his time of being highly noted as an author.

Huxley’s ideas and writings about the use of mind altering substances were not without a reason. “Huxley sometimes publicly claimed that LSD, for some people, is a drug that can bring out the creativity in people.” This quote is derived from a biography of Huxley posted by an anonymous entity on the internet. He was just not a hippie burn out product of the era, he was merely a novelist in this certain time period with the opportunity to study life from a new perspective. He felt as though the use of mescaline and lysergic acid could actually open a person’s mind to more of a creative instinct that was naturally there and just waiting to be untapped. He was of the opinion that a person would not have a change or burst of creativity while under the influence of the substance but instead after the effects have dwelled away and a new sense of perception is laid onto the world viewed by an individual. These feelings of creativity were probably a very easily related to topic by the love generation who were seeking to open doors to new ways of life.

The Renaissance

King Henry the eighth was a very self indulgient man. He believed that he should be able to rule in whatever way was possible, even if contradicting the word of God. He was so self trusting that he felt he had the right to change the word of God so that it may further suit his ruling time of England. This was his most outstanding feature of his rule, he created an entirely new church for his nation so that the Pope in Rome who was a puppet for Austria at the time had less political sway on his rule. This dramatic historical event was mostly spawned by Henry's unability to produce a male heir other than a few sons who died at young ages, the oldest being sixteen.
The reign of Henry the eighth was filled with turmoil and conflict in all ranks of soceity. He dispensed six wives before dying, non of which produced a male heir good enough to make it to reign as a true king. One of his sons was crowned when he was nine but his older sisters were ruling for him, and he died at a young age. His eldest sister Mary became known as "Bloody Mary" due to her persecution of protestants which involved public executions in the form of burning protestants alive. When she died her younger sister Elizabeth took over and reigned for forty five years. She gave further power to the church of England her farther had started.