| “In the latter half of the twentieth century, two visionary books cast their shadows over our futures. One was George Orwell’s 1949 novel, 1984, with its horrific vision of a brutal, mind-controlling totalitarian state—a book that gave us Big Brother, and thoughtcrime and Newspeak and the memory hole and the torture palace called the Ministry of Love, and the spectacle of a book grinding into the human face forever. The other was Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, (1932), which proposed a different and softer form of totalitarianism—one of conformity achieved through engineered, bottle-grown babies and hypnotic persuasion rather than through brutality; of boundless consumption that keeps the wheels of production turning and of officially endorsed promiscuity that does away with sexual frustration; of a pre-ordained caste system ranging from a highly intelligent managerial class to a subgroup of dim-witted serfs programmed to love their menial work; and of soma, a drug that confers instant bliss with no side effects.” |
“Community. Identity. Stability.”
The story opens in a futuristic London circa 630 AF (After Ford). Henry Foster, the Director of the Hatchery, gives a tour of the Hatchery to fawning students. Within the buildings's thirty-four stories, humans are "decanted" in labs via the "Bokanovsky process." — hundreds, thousands, sometimes tens-of-thousands of clones from a single egg. Moreover, these human embryos are engineered genetically and socially: their physical looks, intelligence, sterility, and even maturation rates are all predetermined. Once born, infants then endure a daily regimen of behavioral conditioning: electric shocks to avoid the outdoors, loud noises to fear books, all to reinforce their pre-determined societal roles.
Hypnopaedia, or sleep-teaching, ensures these young citizens internalize axioms like: "Everyone belongs to everyone else." These slogans block and replace many thoughts with reflexes to guide their behavior along the tracks granted to their caste. “Our Fordship” and “Our Freudship” replace God in citizens' language, a reference to the industrial efficiency and behavioral psychology at the heart of this great new society.
| “The students nodded, empathically agreeing with a statement which upward of sixty-two thousand repetitions in the dark had made them accept, not merely as true, but as axiomatic, self-evident, utterly indisputable.” |
Genetic Engineering
The society’s rigid caste system, backed by genetic engineering and behavioral condition, imprisons all:
Perhaps worst of all, children, even as young as six or eight, practice “elementary sex". Henry Foster, the Hatchery's Director and tour guide, laughs at the past notion of families, mothers, fathers, and making children wait until adulthood to experience sex. Sex is no longer about reproduction, but purely recreational, and should be given easily without thought.
Soma
Soma—a bliss-inducing drug—is a societal mainstay. It's revered as essentially happiness in a pill. During heavily-encouraged solidarity services, citizens chant and sing in circles, drink soma, and dance provocatively together; sometimes, depending on the amount of soma consumed, the singing devolves into an orgy.
The society’s rigid caste system, backed by genetic engineering and behavioral condition, imprisons all:
- Alphas: serve as the leaders and intellectuals
- Betas: are developed as competent workers
- Gammas and Deltas: subjugated to menial laborers
- Epsilons: are the lowest-class; dim-witted workers
Perhaps worst of all, children, even as young as six or eight, practice “elementary sex". Henry Foster, the Hatchery's Director and tour guide, laughs at the past notion of families, mothers, fathers, and making children wait until adulthood to experience sex. Sex is no longer about reproduction, but purely recreational, and should be given easily without thought.
Soma
Soma—a bliss-inducing drug—is a societal mainstay. It's revered as essentially happiness in a pill. During heavily-encouraged solidarity services, citizens chant and sing in circles, drink soma, and dance provocatively together; sometimes, depending on the amount of soma consumed, the singing devolves into an orgy.
| “Yes, I thought [the solidarity service] was wonderful,” [Bernard] lied and looked away; the sight of her transfigured face was at once an accusation and an ironical reminder of his own separateness…" |
The Main Characters
The story centers around three citizens and one 'savage':
The Savage Reservation
Bernard travels with Linda to a 'savage' reservation in New Mexico. There they experience an unmediated reality: breastfeeding women, cornfields, and ritual sacrifices of religious importance. Disturbing yet alluring to Bernard, the rebellious Alpha invites an Indian boy named John to the city to sow discord.
John is entirely unprogrammed, and a free-thinking individual. Yet, on the reservation, he had only one book, Pope's complete collection of William Shakespeare. And so, he often thinks, feels, and speaks in a Shakespearean manner. Plays like Romeo and Juliet, emphasizing monogamy and familial loyalty, are alien to the city dwellers but profoundly moving to John. John’s fascination with art, pain, and love highlights the city’s moral and emotional sterility. John insists on experiencing the full spectrum of life: happiness, toil, suffering, religious awe, romantic love, and personal freedom.
Rebellion
Bernard, John, and Helmholtz are arrested by Mustapha Mond, the World Controller, for sedition. Mond explains the historical context: a nine-year war decimated Alphas; humanity chose soma, sterility, and control over sobriety, monogramy, and free expression. And now the citizens are captured by the illusion of contentment—porn of the senses, not genuine experiences.
John retreats to a lighthouse in a rural part of England. There reporters stalk him; they force him into public spectacle, recording and commodifying his life. The book ends with his attempt to escape from the city dwellers in a tragic, yet quasi-redemptive final scene.
Overall
Brave New World is a powerful dystopia. The vivid world-building with linguistic and technological details, the insightful commentary on conformity, pleasure, and human psychology, and the complex characters wrestling with authentic experience put the story in good company with Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, and The Handmaid's Tale. [JG]
The story centers around three citizens and one 'savage':
- Lenina Crowne: an Alpha and employee at the Hatchery; enjoys luxury and indulgence, visiting public baths for automated massages, colognes, and talcum powder. She is well-loved by most Alpha men, having spend a night with many of them. Lenina’s casual popularity contrasts sharply with the deeper, often isolating inner lives of Bernard and Helmholtz.
- Helmholtz Watson: an Alpha and intellectual; physically imposing and intellectually brilliant, has bedding 640 women in four years, and excells as a committee man and athlete, yet privately he feels completely empty.
- Bernard Marx: An Alpha; less physically endowed but similarly discontented as Helmholz his best friend; Bernard though is more actively rebellious and outspoken.
- John the Savage: a young man born on an Indian Reservation outside London; he is the bastard child of Henry Foster and his mother Linda, an Alpha woman, conceived while on vacation; he loves the freedom he has to hunt, read, pursue happiness, struggle, and seek literary and religious experiences; he is accepted by neither the other 'savages' nor the Alphas of London.
The Savage Reservation
Bernard travels with Linda to a 'savage' reservation in New Mexico. There they experience an unmediated reality: breastfeeding women, cornfields, and ritual sacrifices of religious importance. Disturbing yet alluring to Bernard, the rebellious Alpha invites an Indian boy named John to the city to sow discord.
John is entirely unprogrammed, and a free-thinking individual. Yet, on the reservation, he had only one book, Pope's complete collection of William Shakespeare. And so, he often thinks, feels, and speaks in a Shakespearean manner. Plays like Romeo and Juliet, emphasizing monogamy and familial loyalty, are alien to the city dwellers but profoundly moving to John. John’s fascination with art, pain, and love highlights the city’s moral and emotional sterility. John insists on experiencing the full spectrum of life: happiness, toil, suffering, religious awe, romantic love, and personal freedom.
Rebellion
Bernard, John, and Helmholtz are arrested by Mustapha Mond, the World Controller, for sedition. Mond explains the historical context: a nine-year war decimated Alphas; humanity chose soma, sterility, and control over sobriety, monogramy, and free expression. And now the citizens are captured by the illusion of contentment—porn of the senses, not genuine experiences.
John retreats to a lighthouse in a rural part of England. There reporters stalk him; they force him into public spectacle, recording and commodifying his life. The book ends with his attempt to escape from the city dwellers in a tragic, yet quasi-redemptive final scene.
Overall
Brave New World is a powerful dystopia. The vivid world-building with linguistic and technological details, the insightful commentary on conformity, pleasure, and human psychology, and the complex characters wrestling with authentic experience put the story in good company with Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, and The Handmaid's Tale. [JG]
| ‘Oh wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! Oh brave new world, That has such people in’t.’ — Miranda, The Tempest |
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