Brave New World Revisited CONTEXT

The Essays Aldous Huxley published Brave New World in 1931 He wrote “Brave New World Revisited” in 1958 “Brave New World Revisited” is a series of essays concerned with the major social problems of Huxley’s time These same problems were apparent to him in the late 1920’s when he wrote the novel The essays revisit the problems of the novel to see if they had gotten better or worse

The Concepts Huxley’s essays were focused on major social issues that all stem from a world that is quickly becoming overpopulated The KEY concept for Huxley was overpopulation

Overpopulation Leads To… Control Organize the people : Decide for the people : Educate the people :

Organize The People With so many people on earth, they must be organized in order for the world to function (creating a STATE) Organizing the people logically means governing them There are 4 main types of government with which Huxley is concerned: Democracy Autocracy Dictatorship Communist leadership

Organize The People Government (the State) has to set and enforce the social rules for its people: social customs social hierarchy economic system food supply resources safety of family and individual religious tolerance or intolerance social programs BACK

Decide For The People The State must make decisions for its people (even in a democracy, some decisions must be made by the leader of the ruling party) The State must make decisions about: Health and safety Social structures

Decide For The People Governments have to morally and ethically control birth, death, and resources: birth control death control define the ethics of the state define the morality of the state consider religions BACK

Educate The People The State must educate the people about the policies and procedures In most cases, this ‘education’ means selling the people the ideas of the State (making the general public buy into what the State wants for them) This happens even in a democracy

Educate The People Governments have to ‘sell’ their ideas to the citizens: propaganda state controlled media: TV Radio Newspapers brainwashing art of selling chemical persuasion subconscious persuasion

Into The Future These are the main concepts that Huxley discusses in his essays He relates these essays to how his world was when he wrote the novel As you read the essays, ask yourself: How much better or worse has the world become since Huxley’s time? Should Huxley’s warnings have been acted upon? Would the world be different if they had?