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Brave New World. Aldous Huxley. The Novel. Written in 1931 Dystopian – or anti-utopian
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Brave New World Aldous Huxley
The Novel • Written in 1931 • Dystopian – or anti-utopian • Huxley uses satire (holding up human folly to ridicule) and irony (meaning different from intention; expectation different from result) to portray a futuristic world where many contemporary trends are taken to extremes
Utopia vs. Dystopia • Utopia • Ideal society • Perfect socio-politico-legal system • Dystopia • Opposite of Utopia • Human misery, poverty, oppression, violence, disease, and/or pollution • Anti-utopian – appears to be a utopia, but something is FATALLY wrong
Setting • London – 600 YEARS in the future • Totalitarian state • Private and public lives are regulated by the state • Free from war, hatred, poverty, disease, pain • Enjoy leisure time, material wealth, physical pleasures
Sounds good, right? • BUT, the Controllers (10 people in charge) eliminate freedoms and twist values • Standardization and progress are valued • Humans are created in factories and conditioned for specific functions • Children are raised together – mind control, sleep teaching, fulfilling destinies • as
The Five Classes • People are “bred” to fall into one of 5 classes and people are content to live out their pre-determined lives • Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, Epsilon • Alphas run the factories, Epsilons do menial work
A Wrench in the Works • The Savage • A man from the uncontrolled area of the world (Indian reservation) comes to London and begins to question this society • He has freedoms that this society does not allow – free thinker • Conform or DIE
Historical Context • Post World War I • Disillusioned - futility • Years of unemployment • 1908 – Henry Ford introduces the Model-T • High demands of workers • Technology “boom” • Science making life easier, but also new means of destruction • Huxley saw this scientific progress as a vein deceit which would produce a world with no JOY
Themes • Free Will vs. Enslavement • Class Conflict • Sex • Science and Technology • Knowledge and Ignorance
Shakespeare • The novel’s title comes from The Tempest • John the Savage is drawn to Romeo and Juliet and Othello