Literature Analysis #2 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

1.       Plot Summery

Efficiency, progress, happiness, and control.
This is the kind of future Huxley has created for us and it’s not as great as it sounds. The story takes place in the future London. Life there is completely regulated by the government. The world is controlled by 10 “World Controllers” whose goal is to make this world perfect, at least their idea of perfect. People aren't born in this world they are created. There are 5 caste ranks; Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons.  Alphas being the most intellectually and physically attractive and Epsilons the least.   “Kids” if you want to call them that, listen to radio loops of certain “morals” the controllers want them to know. These loops teach them to love their cast ranking, their work, and being controlled. Happiness is very important to the controllers. Kids are encouraged to play sex games and use this drug called “soma”. It’s used like candy and helps keep people “happy”. Emotions, literature, religion, and anything that wouldn’t be inefficient are Taboo. Ford replaces God because of his great contribution to efficiency and progress. People sleep with everyone because everyone “belongs” to everyone. Sticking with someone longer than a few months is very rare and can even cause trouble with the government because it’s bad behavior. I know I haven’t mentioned any characters but I think the main point of this book is to show a world where life is dead and empty and it’s a warning to what we might become if lose sight of what true happiness is.

2.       Theme

Can we be truly happy if we can never be unhappy? Because if were never unhappy how do we know what happiness is? I think this is the main theme of the book. To show a world that has lost all sense of emotion, God, and love. Suffering is a part of life and there’s no way we can avoid that. They tried to in this book but where these people really living?

3.       Tone

The author is very dramatic but humorous in his tone. “As they approached, the sun came out of a momentary eclipse behind a cloud. The roses flamed up as though with a sudden passion from within; a new and profound significance seemed to suffuse the shining pages of the books”, in context this is just an image of a group of babies crawling towards some books and roses. Huxley puts in a few funny puns through the book like “orgy-porgy” (what it sounds like) and “thank Ford” (remember he’s basically God).  “Talking? But what about?”… that seemed a very odd way of spending an afternoon.”, this is another example of his humor because it’s hard to not laugh or think how ridiculous the people are in this book.

4.       Literary elements

Setting: The book is placed in the future in “A.F 632” and according to them zero is when the first Ford Model-T was made.  This brings us to about 2540 (thank you internet). The main point of the book is to create realistic future so Huxley gives us a lot of details. He describes technology throughout the book like “vibro-vacuum massages “and” scent organs” or the kinds of entertainment people had like “Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy” and “Obstacle Golf”.

Characters: The people in the book are used to show us this scary world and show us how society could actually function with this kind of setting. “Bernard Marx” is an Alpha that is small (very unusual for an Alpha) and is socially awkward (even worse).  He shows how ironic life is in his world. There he is an outcast but his want for privacy (for example) is very normal in our time. “Lenina Crowne” is a very beautiful women (but most where) and fits in to society quite right. She is an example of a person fully brainwashed by the government and shows how “normal” people thought. “John the Savage” is an Indian basically that was brought into the Brave New World and is at first aw-shocked by the wonderful technology. But after seeing all the immorality and non-emotional life people in this world he becomes very distress (to keep it short). And after a moment of weakness he joins the people in there “immoral” ways and commits suicide out of shame.

Dialogue: We can truly see how people lived in this future by reading their talks. “And in exceptional cases we can make one ovary yield us over fifteen thousand adult individuals”, this is how people were created. “Nothing much, “she answered. “It’s just that little boy seems rather reluctant to join in the ordinary erotic play…”, this is an example of “usual” behavior. “I suppose Epsilons don’t really mind being Epsilons, “she said aloud, people were trained to be happy in their caste.

Irony: This is throughout the novel. “But why do you want to keep the embryo below par?” asked…student. “Ass!” said the Director”, the student is asking a logical question for the audience but this kind of question is not very logical apparently. “Human beings used to be…” he hesitated…”born”, this is Taboo in their time.  “My word,” said Lenina, “I’m glad I’m not Gamma”, she says this but she doesn’t even know why, she was just trained to think this way. 

Foil: The biggest foil is the “Savage Reservation”. It’s the complete opposite of the World State where people are free to be unhappy live life with religion, literature, and families. “John the Savage” is a foil to Lenina because their idea of what’s right and wrong is completely different. “Bernard and his friend Helmholtz Watson” because Watson is extremely popular where Bernard isn’t and Watson is secure where Bernard is very insecure.