Brave New World Day 2

Significant Scenes John and Lenina go to the “feelies” (p. 166-171) Helmholtz shares his poetry and hears John read Shakespeare (p. 179-185) John and Lenina’s confrontation p. 190-197 Linda’s death (starts on p. 198) The Savage throws out the soma (p. 210) Conversation with The Controller (Ch. 16, p. 218 and Ch. 17, p. 230) The Savage runs away from Civilization (p. 243 onward.)

Brave New World: Satire, or Suggestion? Though most critics agree that Huxley was not championing the World State and its policies, what exactly about the World State he is critiquing is a matter of debate. At the time that he wrote the novel, Huxley was an advocate of eugenics (in Huxley’s case, he was mostly interested in selective breeding for intellectual ability and encouraging the “best” people to reproduce at higher rates), and the society of Brave New World, with its hierarchy of co-existing classes where everyone is happy with his/her place, and the “best” people are in charge looks a lot like what Huxley considered to be an ideal society at the time of the novel’s composition.

Brave New World: Satire, or Suggestion? So… what might Huxley have been critiquing? The use of technological advances for the purpose of pure consumerism. (Remember “ending is better than mending”?) The vapid, empty nature of the “entertainment of the masses” and the fact that no one, not even the “best” people (the Alphas) engage in any sort of intellectual activity. The use (or misuse) of science to control the many for the benefit of the few. What do you think the novel is critiquing? In other words, which part of the World State did you feel the novel was most critical of?

Some Questions to Wrap Up Was John’s fate sealed the moment he came off the reservation and into “civilization”? Is there any way he could have been happy in the “civilized” world? (And what do you think of The Controller’s solution for people of intelligence?) Though this novel was written in 1932, do you find it to be relevant now? How?

What is it about the World State that so disillusions John What is it about the World State that so disillusions John? WHY does he want to leave and be alone? False sense of happiness – p. 178-9 P. 240 the RIGHT to be unhappy P. 221 – “actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensation for misery”