Brave New World By: Aldous Huxley

1. Brave New WorldBy: Aldous Huxley A satirical piece of fiction; a warning to future generations

2. ALDOUS HUXLEY • Born in England, July 1894 • Had poor vision for most of his life from an eye disease • Family consisted of scientists, writers, and teachers • Received an excellent education with access to numerous fields of study • Huxley was especially interested in science and the English language; therefore, he combined the two in his writings • His writings put him ahead of his time

3. SATIRE • A piece of literature designed to ridicule the subject of the work • While satire is usually meant to be humorous (it isn’t always), it aims to shed light on the problems in society and shame it into improvement • Ridicule, irony, exaggeration, and sarcasm are just a few techniques that are almost always present in satire • Aims to shed light on a number of different issues: political, religious, or social • Can you think of some examples of satirizing material in today’s culture?

5. What is the Brave New World ? • Published 1932, just before the break out of WWII • Deals with the conflict between the interests of an individual and what’s best for society – can one be true to oneself and still be socially responsible? • Brave New World is a dystopian society where things go badly awry in which a totalitarian government controls society through the use of science and technology • Supposed to be a perfect world but it is not – flaws should be expected because humans are imperfect • Unsettling, loveless, and even sinister place • Everyone has a specific place/job in society - castes

6. Mustapha Mond, Resident Controller of Western Europe, governs a society where all aspects of an individual's life are determined by the state, beginning with conception and conveyor-belt reproduction – genetic engineering • A government bureau, the Predestinators, decides all roles in the hierarchy. • Children are raised and conditioned by the state bureaucracy, not brought up by natural families. • There are only 10,000 surnames • Citizens must not fall in love, marry, or have their own children • Centered around control and manipulation • Individualism is the root of all evil • Propaganda is spread to hate others

7. settings (place): England, Savage Reservation in New Mexico • settings (time): 2540 AD; referred to in the novel as 632 years AF (“After Ford”), meaning 632 years after production of the first Model T car • point of view: Narrated in the third person from the point of view of Bernard or John, but also from the point of view of Lenina, Helmholtz Watson, and Mustapha Mond

8. This novel is more applicable today than it was in 1932. This is a time of: • propaganda, censorship, conformity, genetic engineering, social conditioning, and mindless entertainment • This was what Huxley saw in our future. His book is a warning. • Do you think he was right?

9. So what is “soma”? • A hallucinogenic drug given to the citizens of the World State in order to subdue them • The government describes it as “the perfect drug” with all of the benefits including a ten-hour high and none of the guilt or hangover • Citizens are conditioned to love the drug and they use it to escape any bouts of dissatisfaction • One character in the novel starts to see that the citizens are enslaved by the drug and it turns them into mindless drones • Discussion: Is our society still dependent on drugs?

10. Major Characters • John – only major character to grow up outside of the World State and hard to fit into the World State society; his entire worldview is based on what he knows from Shakespeare’s plays • Bernard Marx – Alpha male who fails to fit in because of his inferior physical stature leading to his discontentment with the World State; has unorthodox beliefs about sexual relationships, sports, and community events; can be petty and cruel when threatened • Helmholtz Watson – prime example of the Alpha male, but feels his work at the College of Emotional Engineering is empty and meaningless; he is friends with Bernard because they both are discontent with the World State; Helmholtz’s complaints are more philosophical and intellectual than Bernard’s petty complaints

11. LeninaCrowne – vaccination worker at the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre; she is an object of desire for many characters including John and Bernard; her values are those of a conventional World State citizens and relates to others primarily through sex • Mustapha Mond – one of only ten World Controllers; given the choice to live in exile or become a World Controller when some illicit research of his was discovered; gave up science and now censors scientific discoveries and exiles people for unorthodox beliefs; keeps a collection of forbidden literature including Shakespeare; Mond is the most powerful character in the novel • Discussion: do any of these characters truly sound happy?

12. Brave New World Activity • Individually write down all of the qualities you think a “perfect” society should have – 5 minutes • Then, as a class, we will compile a list of all, if not most, of the qualities that you came up with • We will then decide the top 5 most important qualities a society should have as a class • As you read, think about if the class’s perception of the “perfect” society coincides with the society of the World State