Ismeray Gonzalez

Summer Work 2009

AP English Lit. & Comp.

Literary Review

Title: Brave New World

Author: Aldous Huxley
Setting: A detailed description of the Central London Hatchery and
Conditioning Centre, a factory that manufactures test-tube
babies in the year 2495 is how Huxley begins Brave New World.
It is a technology-based, futuristic dystopia, a world where
society has gone mad for pleasure, and conformity. It’s A.F. 632,
A.F.-After Ford- this of course being based on the birthday of
Henry Ford (1863), the popular car manufacturer and innovator
who is venerated like a god in Huxley’s dystopian society. Pretty
much everything is figured out, from the birth to death, to
sex. The setting shows the difference between the Utopian
society and the savage reservation, and the way each control its
residents
Time Period: Brave New World was written after the First World War
and before World War II. The social effects of the Great War were
becoming apparent to the socially peaceful British society. Some
of Huxley’s writings were about national feelings, questioning
traditional social and moral beliefs, and the move toward more
equality between the sexes. Concern about the world of the
1920s and 1930s is expressed through the vision of the fast-
paced but meaningless routine of Brave New World. Although
originally set in the future, Huxley’s Brave New World has certain
characteristics of its’ own time. Movement toward socialism in
the 1920s, equals Huxley’s totalitarian World State. Questioning
religious beliefs and the growth of materialism becomes the
religion of consumerism with Henry Ford as its god. Just like
Model T’s were mass-made, humans will be mass-produced, too.
Huxley’s futuristic, witty, and disturbing vision, imagines the end
of a habitual, usual life and the triumph of all that is new and
strange in the modern world.
Author’s Background: Born in Surrey, England, on July 26, 1894, to
an illustrious literary and well-informed family. Huxley received
an excellent education. He was an avid student, and a renowned
as a generalist. When he was a teen, Huxley got an eye disease
that left him nearly blind. Blindness and vision are some of the
motifs that appear on some of Huxley’s writing. Much of Huxley’s
works deal with the conflict between the individual and society.
 Huxley explored this theme most successfully in Brave New
World (1932). The novel combines Huxley’s skill for satire with
his scientific genius to create a dystopian world in which a
totalitarian government controls society with science and
technology.
Main Characters: Lenina Crowne A vaccination worker at the Central
London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. Sometimes Lenina
acts in intriguingly unorthodox ways, but ultimately her values
are of those conventional World State citizens.
The Director The administrator of the Central London Hatchery
and Conditioning Centre. The Director is a threatening figure who
has the power to exile people. He is secretly vulnerable because
he fathered a child- a scandalous, obscene act in the World
State.
John (The Savage) The son of the Director and Linda. John is the
only major character to have grown up outside the World State.
After a life lived on the New Mexico Savage Reservation, he can’t
fit in to the World Sate society.
Bernard Marx An alpha male and one of the novel’s protagonists.
Unlike most Alpha males, Bernard is short. He has unorthodox
views and can’t fit into society, which makes him unhappy.
Bernard’s surname recalls Karl Marx. When threatened, Bernard
can be petty and cruel.
Mustapha Mond The Resident World Controller of Western
Europe, one of only ten World Controllers. Mond was once an
ambitious scientist, but the State gave him the choice of going
into exile or becoming a World Controller. He chose to give up
science, and now he censors scientific discoveries and exiles
people who have unorthodox beliefs. Mond keeps a collection of
forbidden literature in his safe, including Shakespeare and
religious writings.
Helmholtz Watson An Alpha lecturer at the College of Emotional
Engineering. Helmholtz dislikes his meaningless work. Like
Bernard, Helmholtz dislikes the World State, but whereas
Bernard’s complaints are petty, Helmholtz’s are philosophical
and intellectual. Helmholtz is often bothered by Bernard’s
boastfulness and cowardice.
Minor Characters: Fanny Crown Lenina Crowne’s friend. Fanny voices
the conventional values of her caste and society.
Henry Foster One of many of Lenina’s lovers. Foster, a
conventional Alpha male, casually discusses Lenina’s body with
his coworkers.
 Linda John’s mother. After getting pregnant with the Director’s
son, Linda, a Beta, could not get an abortion on the Reservation
and was too ashamed to return to the World State with a baby.
Her promiscuity, normal in the World State, was a scandal on the
Reservation. Linda desperately wants to return to the World
State and to soma.
Popé Linda’s lover on the New Mexico Savage Reservation. Popé
gave Linda a copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare.
The Arch-Community-Songster The secular equivalent of an
archbishop.
The Warden The talkative chief administrator for the New Mexico
Savage Reservation. He is an Alpha.

Conflict: When John the Savage, the symbolical figure of the old world
order and the novel’s protagonist is taken from the Savage
Reservation to London, he denies the supposed virtues of the
"brave, new world" and instead points out its downfalls. The
polar opposite, and therefore, the antagonist, has to be
Mustapha Mond and the biggest symbol of the brave new world.
One of select few Controllers of the innovative civilization, he
stands for the sophisticated, scientific society of the new world
order, where security and solidity are more valued than feelings
and personal liberties. He successfully responds to John's attack
on his beloved utopian society, obligating the Savage to
acknowledge that the old and new world orders can not once live
together at peace. There are obviously numerous points of crisis
throughout the story, but the climax happens during the
elongated debate between the Savage and Mustapha Mond. The
debate focuses on the core of the novel, humankind’s debate
between the old and the new, between science and feelings,
between individual freedom and social stability, and between
materialism and spiritualism/religion. The debate never comes to
a solution for the problem, meaning that the two opposing forces
will never be able to compromise and co-exist in peace.

Themes: How Technology Dominates Society In Brave New World,

Huxley warns that it is dangerous to give the state control over
new and powerful technologies. In the novel’s dystopia, the State
uses technology to force people to become consumers. It also
uses technology to control reproduction, sterilizing two-thirds of
the female population, forcing the rest to use contraceptives,
and surgically removing ovaries when it needs to produce new
humans. The State uses technology to produce soma, an
addictive drug useful for pacifying the masses. The State censors
and limits science because the fundamental project of science is
 the search for truth, which threatens the State’s control. The
State uses science solely in the service of technology. The State
turns technology into a religion. Instead of referring to “Lord,” as
in the Christian God, people refer to “Ford,” as in Henry Ford, the
early twentieth-century industrialist and founder of the Ford
Motor Company. They talk about “the year of our Ford” and
exclaim “my Ford.”
The Conflict of Happiness and Truth Many characters in Brave
New World, actively avoid reality. Almost everyone uses soma, a
drug that replaces reality with happy hallucinations. But even
Shakespeare can be used to avoid facing the truth, as John
demonstrates by his insistence on viewing Lenina through the
lens of Shakespeare’s world, first as Juliet and later as an
“impudent strumpet.” According to Mustapha Mond, the World
State believes that happiness is much more important than truth.
When Mond speaks of happiness, he means food, sex, drugs,
nice clothes, and other consumer items. When he speaks of
truth, he means scientific or empirical truth. He also means
emotional truth such as love, friendship, and personal affection,
all of which the government attempts to destroy. The search for
truth, both scientific and emotional, involves a great deal of
individual effort, of striving and fighting against odds.
The Dangers of an All-Powerful State Brave New World depicts a
dystopia in which an all-powerful state controls the people in
order to preserve its own power. In Brave New World, the State
maintains control by actually changing what people want, rooting
out their desires before they are even born. Thus, the people of
Brave New World are so happy and superficially fulfilled that no
longer care about their personal freedom. They have lost their
dignity, morals, values, and emotions- in short, their humanity.
Symbolism: Soma The potent drug soma stands for the instant
gratification the State uses to control the people. It also
symbolizes the powerful influence that both science and
technology have on society. Soma replaces religion in the World
State as a type of rite.
Ford Technically, the dystopian soiety doesn’t have a religion,
but it does posess an adored father figure: Henry T. Ford. The
perfect “god” Henry Ford is to the World State society he
practically created mass production through his assembly line
assigning specific jobs to all his workers. The World State
borrows Ford’s ideas and uses them to benefit their themselves
by creating these “assembly line” people, with a designated
social class and job.
 Shakespeare In Brave New World, Shakespeare stands in mainly
for two purposes. All the rejected and valuable art (including his
plays,) destroyed by the World State in order for them to
maintain control and stability. And also the strong emotions
(love, passion, etc.) that are seen throughout his works,
represent the kind side of society that has been slaughtered by
the State to control their citizens.
Imagery: Zippers Everyone’s garments in the State has zippers on it.
There’s the constant repetitive, rhythmic sound of the "zip,"
"zip," "zip," often followed by "zip," and even occasionally, "ZIP!"
It’s actually quite simple: zippers equal easy access. In this fast-
paced dystopia, a few precious lost seconds of the people’s lives
caused by buttons would cause them to loose instant pleasure.
Now, can you imagine that?
Weather The World State pretty much owns and controls
everything about everyone, but, alas, something they’ve not yet
somehow figured out how to control is the unpredictable and wild
weather. The weather clearly presents a challenge to them. The
World Controllers haven't discovered how to dominate the
environment, thus instead they try to control the environment
through the controlling drug soma. For example, the calming,
controlling song that appears to be perpetually playing : "Skies
are blue inside of you, The weather's always fine."
Quotations: 1. “Kiss the girls and make them One. Boys at one with
girls at peace; Orgy-porgy gives release.”
Government uses sex as a unifying force. Modern married
couples use sex to unite them in marriage much in the same way
the World Government uses orgies to unite multiple individuals in
Brave New World.
2. “Every one works for every one else. We can't do without any
one. Even Epsilons are useful. We couldn't do without Epsilons.
Every one works for every one else...”
This scene near the beginning of the novel portrays the social
conditioning that helps maintain social and economic stability.
The conditioning that everyone belongs to everyone else
prevents the desire for individualism later in life.
3. “And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant
should somehow happen, why, there's always soma to give you
a holiday from the facts.”
Drugs are used as an escape from reality, comparable to illegal
drug use today, and an even largery correlatory relationship with
the legal disbursement of drugs by psychologists and doctors.
Think about soma the next time you see a pharmaceutical
commercial.
4. “Nodding, "He patted me on the behind this afternoon," said
Lenina. "There, you see!" Fanny was triumphant. "That shows
what he stands for. The strictest conventionality.”
This is irony. The reader is shocked that patting girls on the
behind in the workplace is the morally correct thing to do. This is
one of many examples that hint at the subjectivity of morality
and the effects of social conditioning.
5. “The lift was crowded with men from the Alpha changing
rooms, and Lenina's entry was greeted by many friendly nods
and smiles. She was a popular girl and, at one time or another,
had spent a night with almost all of them.”
Lenina's popularity is a result of her physical appearance, not a
far-fetched concept for today's readers. The fact that she is
commended for her behavior and is considered proper because
of it differs largely from how society views female promiscuity
today. It is clear that Lenina's identity is interwined with her
sexual appeal, a stumbling block as she attempts to win John the
Savage.
6. “The Savage stood looking on. "O brave new world, O brave
new world…" In his mind the singing words seemed to change
their tone. They had mocked him through his misery and
remorse, mocked him with how hideous a note of cynical
derision!”
John the Savage quotes from The Tempest. Initially, O brave new
world is uttered in anticipation of seeing civilization. Once he
sees how mindless civilization is, he uses the phrase mockingly.
7. “He was a philosopher, if you know what that was." "A man
who dreams of fewer things than there are in heaven and earth,"
said the Savage promptly.”
John's overreliance on Shakespeare becomes comical at times.
It's apparent that John does not understand what a philosopher is
and probably understands little of what he quotes.
8. “It was John, then, they were all after. And as it was only
through Bernard, his accredited guardian, that John could be
seen, Bernard now found himself, for the first time in his life,
treated not merely normally, but as a person of outstanding
importance.”
Bernard shows his true colors. His disenchantment with society
has little to do with philosophical thought and more to do with his
 desire to fit in. Now that he has achieved status--through the
exploitation of John--he is content to remain in society.

Style: The style of Brave New World is complex, highly crafted,

but still readable. Huxley punctuates the novel with sophisticated
dialogue, irony and witty humor. Ingenuity adds sparkle to the
novel that is already saturated with satire. Scientific exactitude is
everything: eighty-eight cubic meters of index cards, 267 days
for the bottles to travel along the conveyor belt at 33
centimeters per hour, etc. The language has as much control
over displays of emotion, thoughts, and opinions as the World
Controllers have over centimeters, days, and grams. Huxley's
ideas and attitudes emerge throughout the novel, in both the
characters of the Savage and the Controller. He clearly sees
good and bad in both of them. He is most troubled, however, that
the two of them can find no common meeting ground or
acceptance of the other's ideas. As a result, Huxley sees no light
at the end of the tunnel for the old order; thus, John commits
suicide and the final picture seems to be a choice between the
devil and the deep, dark sea.

Websites:
http://www.huxley.net/
A deep and explanatory analysis of the book and a breakdown of
its social themes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World
Thorough background information on the author, a three-part
synopsis, character explanations, current references, and a
helpful list of bibliography and external links.
http://www.online-
literature.com/aldous_huxley/brave_new_world/
Huxley’s background information, plus an in-depth chapter-by
chapter analysis.
http://somaweb.org/
Comprehensive information on Aldous Huxley and Brave New
World. Including: biography, quotes, bibliography, discussion
forum, and a helpful page-long of external links.
http://www.gradesaver.com/brave-new-world/
Brave New World study guide contains a biography of Aldous
Huxley, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes,
characters, and a full summary of the novel.
http://www.bookrags.com/notes/bnw/
The most thorough study aid website featuring author’s
information, plot summary, major characters, “topic tracking,”
and an analysis of every chapter.