Crome Yellow (1921) is a satirical novel by author Aldous Huxley, depicting events taking place at a plush country manor in England, a place where members from the upper echelons of society congregate during the course of one summer. In this novel, the reader is presented with topics relating to social class, identity and the changing post- World War I society. This essay will briefly discuss elements of interpellation in the novel, and how the novel offers critique against the concept of interpellation and ideologies in general. These ideas will be contrasted with the book Beginning Theory (2017), by Peter Barry.
According to Barry in Beginning Theory, Louis Althusser introduced the term interpellation to explain a process whereby individuals internalise beliefs or values to an extent that these beliefs or values appear as natural, and we believe these values are our own when in reality, we have no choice (Barry 167). Althusser suggests that ideologies, such as capitalism, ‘thrive’ on interpellation by presenting these values or beliefs to individuals, and offering or encouraging individuals to accept certain roles, and getting them to believe this choice is one’s own (Althusser qtd in Barry 167). Barry further suggests that this ‘subtle trick’, whereby an individual is made to believe that values from an ideology has been chosen by free will contributes to upholding ‘hidden social structures’ and perpetuates ‘a social set-up, where power is concentrated in the hands of the wealthy few’ (Barry 167).
In Aldous Huxley’s novel Crome Yellow, the author offers subtle critique of ideologies and interpellation, and how certain roles in a society have been accepted by the characters in the novel, willingly and without a question, thus perpetuating the status quo. In a passage relating to the annual Bank Holiday fair held at Crome’s grounds, a charity event which started 20 years ago, Lady Wimbush states that every guest should participate by performing tasks or duties, which will ensure that the fair operates smoothly: ‘There’s no escape. You’ll all have to do something. As a favour, you are allowed to choose your slavery’ (Huxley 138). This remark by Lady Wimbush illustrates satirically how an authority, who wields power in a given society presents an idea relating to ideology, and then forces individuals to accept a role which benefits the ideology and those in positions of power, all the while hinting that there is an element of ‘free will’ in accepting the submissive role, when there is in fact none.
In the novel, the character of Mr. Scogan is not too keen to participate in the Bank Holiday charity fair and offers scathing critique of how individuals go about blindly accepting and internalising ideological values and offers himself as an example of such an individual. He remarks that ‘we are tied down by our human faculties, by the notions which society imposes on us through fatal suggestibility, by our own personalities’ (Huxley 141). He also admits that he himself is a ‘useful idiot’ in the eyes of an ideology and very much guilty of interpellation, by stating that ‘having been brought up in a society, I am impregnated with its laws’ (Huxley 141). In other words, he too has been brainwashed into blindly accepting and perpetuating his assigned role and place in society, thus supporting the prevailing power structure.
Mr. Scogan goes further in his critical assessment of the dangers of ideology by pointing out that he had initially accepted his assigned role as something natural, before realising that it was indeed interpellation and ideology that contributed to his way of thinking and acting in a society. ‘I have looked at all the right works of art…There was a time when, I venture to believe, that I knew more about Taddeo..than Henry does. I must have gone looking at pictures for ten years before I would honestly admit to myself that they bored me’ (Huxley 142). Mr. Scogan’s anecdote further suggests that he recognises how he has internalised society’s values and beliefs as something ‘natural’ and how he has contributed to upholding that ideology. He was under the impression that studying the great works of art was the right thing to do for a man of his stature, but in reality, he found art dull and without a substance: In essence, he discovered that free will is an illusion, and ideology lacks meaning.
Mr. Scogan concludes his monologue on the dangers of ideology and interpellation rather cryptically by stating that since having given up on art he has ‘given up all attempts to take a holiday’ (Huxley 142). In the context of the passage, this utterance seems to suggest that Mr Scogan understands the power of ideology, and that behind every ideology there are the figures of authority who benefit from individuals internalising the beliefs of the said ideology, but that he has abandoned the attempt to challenge the ideology’s values and those in power and he now accepts the status quo. The character of Mr. Gombauld comments on Scogan’s remark by stating that he felt that the First World War was ‘a holiday from all the ordinary decencies and sanities, all the common emotions and preoccupations, as I ever wanted to have’ (Huxley 143). Mr. Scogan’s reply is that ‘the war was certainly something of a holiday. It was a step beyond Southend.’ (Huxley 143). This exchange between Mr. Scogan and Mr. Gombauld would suggest that the author wishes to make a final remark on the overall detrimental effect of ideologies: it is not only the capitalistic, or ‘the ruling class’ ideology that steers the society. Nationalism and imperialism (two ideologies featuring as causes for the First World War) are also ideologies which, if interpellated and left unchecked, are equally dangerous and even fatal to the members of the society.
In conclusion, the novel Crome Yellow raises subtle questions on the mechanisms of ideology and offers critique on how individuals are ‘groomed’ to accept their assigned roles. The novel suggests that an authority, who wields power in a given society always aims to perpetuate an ideology that benefits only those wielding the power, under the guise of ‘free will’. Furthermore, individuals who blindly accept and internalise these ideological values offered by those in power contribute to upholding the status quo. Lastly, the novel suggests that indeed all internalised ideologies could be considered to be harmful and that ideologies always rely on the process of interpellation in order to thrive and flourish.
Works Cited
Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory. 4th ed., Manchester University Press, 2017.
Huxley, Aldous. Crome Yellow. Vintage Classics, 2004.
Notes on Literature 