Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
"Brave New World," written by Aldous Huxley, is a dystopian novel set in a future society governed by technological advancements and strict social conditioning. The story begins in a world where human beings are artificially created and categorized into castes, ranging from Alphas to Epsilons, through a process known as the Bokanovsky Process. This society prioritizes stability and conformity over individuality, encapsulated in their motto: "Community, Identity, Stability."
As the narrative unfolds, we follow Bernard Marx, an outcast in this utopia due to his physical and emotional differences, and Lenina Crowne, a worker who embodies the societal ideals. Their journey to the Savage Reservation introduces them to John, the "Savage," who was raised in a primitive environment and has been exposed to the works of Shakespeare. John's contrasting values and beliefs challenge the principles of the Brave New World, leading to a profound exploration of human emotions, morality, and the consequences of a technologically controlled society.
The novel ultimately critiques the cost of sacrificing individuality and emotional depth for societal stability, revealing the inherent struggles between personal freedom and collective conformity. Through John's tragic fate, Huxley highlights the complexities of human experience in a world devoid of authentic connections and true cultural richness.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
First published: 1932
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Dystopian
Time of plot: 632 years After Ford
Locale: London and New Mexico
Principal characters
Bernard Marx , an Alpha Plus citizenLenina Crowne , a workerJohn , the SavageMustapha Mond , a World Controller
The Story
One day in the year 632 After Ford (a.f.), as time is reckoned in the brave new world, the director of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre takes a group of new students on a tour of the plant where human beings are turned out by mass production. The entire process, from the fertilization of the egg to the birth of the baby, is carried out by trained workers and machines. Each fertilized egg is placed in solution in a large bottle for scientific development into whatever class in society the human is intended. The students are told that scientists of the period developed the Bokanovsky Process, by means of which a fertilized egg is arrested in its growth. The egg responds by budding, and instead of one human being resulting, there will be from eight to ninety-six identical humans.
These Bokanovsky Groups are employed whenever large numbers of people are needed to perform identical tasks. Individuality is a thing of the past. The new society makes every effort to fulfill its motto—Community, Identity, Stability. After birth, the babies are further conditioned during their childhood for their predestined class in society. Alpha Plus Intellectuals and Epsilon Minus Morons are the two extremes of the scientific utopia.
Mustapha Mond, one of the World Controllers, joins the inspection party and lectures to the new students on the horrors and disgusting features of old-fashioned family life. To the great embarrassment of the students, he, in his position of authority, dares to use the forbidden words “mother” and “father.” He reminds the students that in 632 a.f., everyone belongs to everyone else.
Lenina Crowne, one of the workers in the Hatchery, takes an interest in Bernard Marx. Bernard is different—too much alcohol was put into his blood surrogate during his period in the prenatal bottle, and he has sensibilities similar to those possessed by people in the time of Henry Ford.
Lenina and Bernard go by rocket ship to New Mexico and visit the Savage Reservation, a wild tract where primitive forms of human life are preserved for scientific study. At the pueblo of Malpais, the couple see an Indian ceremonial dance in which a young man is whipped to propitiate the gods. Lenina is shocked and disgusted by the filth of the place and by the primitive aspects of all she sees.
The pair meet a white youth named John. The young man discloses to them that his mother, Linda, came to the reservation many years before on vacation with a man called Thomakin. The vacationers separated, and Thomakin returned alone to the brave new world. Linda, marooned in New Mexico, gave birth to a son and was slowly assimilated into the primitive society of the reservation. The boy educated himself with an old copy of William Shakespeare’s plays that he found. Bernard is convinced that the boy is the son of the director of Hatcheries, who in his youth took a companion to New Mexico on vacation and returned without her. Bernard has enough human curiosity to wonder how this young savage would react to the scientific world. He invites John and his mother to return to London with him. John, attracted to Lenina and anxious to see the outside world, goes eagerly.
Upon Bernard’s return, the director of Hatcheries publicly proposes to dismiss him from the Hatchery because of his unorthodoxy. Bernard produces Linda and John, the director’s son. At the family reunion, during which such words as “mother” and “father” are used more than once, the director is shamed out of the plant. He later resigns his position.
Linda goes on a soma holiday, soma being a drug that induces euphoria and forgetfulness. John becomes the curiosity of London. He is appalled by all he sees—by the utter lack of any humanistic culture and by the scientific mass production of everything, including humans. Lenina tries to seduce him, but he is held back by his primitive morality.
John is called to attend the death of Linda, who took too much soma drug. Maddened by the callousness of people conditioned toward death, he instigates a mutiny of workers as they are being given their soma ration. He is arrested and taken by the police to Mond, with whom he has a long talk on the new civilization. Mond explains that beauty causes unhappiness and thus instability; therefore, humanistic endeavor is checked. Science is dominant. Art is stifled completely; science, even, is stifled at a certain point, and religion is restrained so that it cannot cause instability. With a genial sort of cynicism, Mond explains the reasons underlying all of the features of the brave new world. Despite Mond’s persuasiveness, the Savage continues to champion tears, inconvenience, God, and poetry.
John moves into the country outside London to take up his old way of life. Sightseers come by the thousands to see him; he is pestered by reporters and television men. At the thought of Lenina, whom he still desires, John mortifies his flesh by whipping himself. Lenina visits John and is whipped by him in a frenzy of passion. When he realizes that he, too, has been caught up in the “orgyporgy,” he hangs himself. Bernard’s experiment fails. Human emotions can end only in tragedy in the brave new world.
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