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Brave New World

Brave New World . Who is H uxley?. Born on July 26, 1894 in England Part of the “intellectually” elite class of society During college, Huxley began to rebel (i.e.: began writing about consumer capitalism and sexual behaviours of upper-class)

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Brave New World

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  1. Brave New World

  2. Who is Huxley? • Born on July 26, 1894 in England • Part of the “intellectually” elite class of society • During college, Huxley began to rebel (i.e.: began writing about consumer capitalism and sexual behaviours of upper-class) • Huxley’s belief: uniqueness of the individual is essential to freedom

  3. The 1930’s • Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1931 • 1920’s: decade of entertainment and fun • Pre-1920’s: war had consumed society – people want to enjoy this new decade • 1930’s: decade of depression • Societies collapse economically – leads countries to elect leaders who propose radical changes • These contrasting lifestyles are explored in Huxley’s text

  4. Dystopia • Definition: a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding; the antonym of utopia • Dystopian literature attempts to predict the future of humanity– generally, authors do not predict a happy, bright future • Examples of dystopian literature: 1984 by George Orwell; Fahrenheit 451by Ray Bradbury • Both texts deal with the idea of controlling freewill within humans

  5. Utopia • Definition: an imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) as enjoying perfection in law, politics, etc; an ideal place or state; any visionary system of political or social perfection • Utopian societies are generally based on religious beliefs, particularly Mormon and Amish ideals • Throughout history, authors, painters, artists, etc., have tried to imagine and/or create utopian societies

  6. Satire • Definition: a literary device holding up human or individual vices, folly, abuses or shortcomings to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, sometimes with the intent to bring about improvement • One of the satirical devices that Huxley uses in Brave New Worldare his characters: Bernard Marx, Benito Hoover , Henry Foster

  7. Satire Cont’d • “Our Ford – or Our Freud, as, for some inscrutable reason, he chose to call himself whenever he spoke of psychological matters…” (Huxley, 33) • “The discoveries of Pfitzner…were at last made use of. An intensive propaganda against viviparous reproduction…” (Huxley, 43)

  8. Prophetic Novel • Brain-numbing advances in technology/internet • Tendency to waste time on meaningless diversions (TV, videogames) • Consumerism surpassing religion (i.e.: Christmas) • Promiscuity surpassing Morality • Issues of eugenic, cloning, stem-cell research, genetic engineering • Overly-prescribed and overly-used medications (i.e.: sleeping pills, anti-depressants, etc.)

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