Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963)

Background -Aldous Leonard Huxley was born in 1894 in Surrey, England -He came from a family of distinguished scientists and writers. -His grandfather was Thomas Henry Huxley, the great proponent of evolution known as “Darwin’s bulldog” and his mother was the niece of Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (Victorian poet and critic) Charles Darwin (19 th century naturalist)

Growing Up -1910, he developed a serious eye disease that left him temporarily blind -1913, he partially regained his sight and entered Oxford University , he developed relationships with T.S. Eliot and Bertrand Russell , he was denied military service by the British army and began teaching at Eton. -Huxley was not a successful teacher and decided to become a journalist.

1920s: Writing and Travelling -In the 1920s, Huxley wrote multiple novels including: Crome Yellow (1921) Antic Hay (1923) Those Barren Leaves (1925) Point Counter Point (1928) -In 1923, Huxley and his wife and son moved to Europe, where they traveled widely in France, Spain, and Italy.

1930s: Brave New World and California -1930, Huxley and his family moved to southern France and Huxley writes Brave New World (1932). -During the 1930s, Huxley became increasingly concerned about the state of European civilization as fascism rose in Italy, Spain, and Germany, he openly expressed himself as a pacifist and became increasingly interested in mysticism and Eastern philosophy , Huxley moved to California and during WWII worked in Hollywood.

1940s and 1950s: Eastern Religion and LSD -Huxley pursued his religious and mystical interests in California and associated with Buddhist and Hindu groups. -In the 1950s, Huxley experimented with hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD and mescaline, which he wrote about in The Doors of Perception (1954)

Huxley died of cancer on November 22, 1963, the same day as John F. Kennedy and C.S. Lewis. You’ll be free child once you have died From the shackles of language and measurable time. Bright Eyes

Brave New World

William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Miranda cries out, "O wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! / O brave new world, / That has such people in't!"

The novel was written in the early 1930s, a time of massive industrialization, coupled with severe economic depression and the rise of fascism. The novel is a vision of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, of a world without authentic belief and spiritual values. The novel was a dystopia that depicted a nightmarish vision of the future in which science and technology are used to suppress human freedom. The ability of Brave New World to become more relevant as time passes accounts for its continual popularity.

Utopia Plato’s Republic (380 B.C.) Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516 A.D.) Utopia: A fictional or theoretical society with an ideal social and political system. The English word utopia is a pun on the Greek outopia meaning “no place” and eutopia meaning “good place.” A utopia is a hypothetical place that does NOT actually exist. The concept of “utopia” can be used as a model or standard to compare present society to.

Dystopia A dystopia is the opposite of a utopia; it is often a utopia gone sour, an imaginary place or state where everything is as bad as it could possibly be. Dystopian novels usually resemble contemporary society and are seen as a warning against what society could become. Writers use them as cautionary tales, in which humankind is put into a society that may look inviting on the surface, but in reality is a nightmare.

Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion, too Imagine all the people Living life in peace You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you will join us And the world will be as one Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you will join us And the world will live as one In 2004, A Perfect Circle recorded their version of John Lennon’s “Imagine” to coincide with the presidential election. Ironically, Lennon’s vision is very similar to the society of Huxley’s Brave New World (a dystopia).

At first, the society of Brave New World seems like a utopia: humanity is carefree, healthy, and technologically advanced. Warfare and poverty have been eliminated, and everyone is permanently happy. However, all of these things have been achieved by eliminating family, cultural diversity, art, literature, science, religion, and philosophy.

Cultural Background Huxley traveled to America and was outraged by how commercial the society was and how selfish many of the people were. His sentiments were shared and there was a strong fear in Europe of worldwide “Americanization.”

Historical Background Industrial Revolution gives birth to “modern industrial society.” Technological innovation enables unprecedented destruction of life and property during WWI. Great Depression creates conditions ripe for fascism in Western Europe. Totalitarianism was on the rise in both communist and capitalist countries.

Some political scientists have proposed that democracy can gradually change to an authoritarian if not totalitarian state. This can occur when the state and corporate decision makers have come to work together so closely that the interests of the two are almost indistinguishable. This can only happen if the population shows disinterest, is distracted from the changes or is voluntarily obedient.

Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s 1984 Goals Methods Theme 1984 Everyone thinks the same Force, spying, Totalitarian control and is united against an surveillance, of the individual. external enemy. and secret police. Repression of personal desires is channeled into support of the State. Brave New World Happiness. No war, Dictate what people Totalitarian production no poverty, and no want by pre- of the “individual.” repression of sexual determining their and material desires. options for happiness. Instant gratification. Consumerism.

Brave New World In Brave New World human beings are produced by technological and psychological interventions that start before birth and last until death, and actually determine an individual’s identity and desires.

How is an individual’s identity and desires determined? Huxley was influenced by the previously established caste system in Hinduism, which was abolished in The caste system in Brave New World includes 5 major castes named after Greek letters Alphas (Α)– highest, grey Betas (Β)- bottle green/mulberry Gammas (Γ)- leaf green Deltas (Δ)- khaki Epsilons (Ε)– lowest, black There are differences between the castes, which include physical appearance, intelligence, type of employment, standard of living, and specific prejudices. In Brave New World, everyone is socialized according to their caste and “individuals” do NOT desire to be in a different caste.

How are the castes created? Based on Henry Ford’s “assembly line,” human beings are made in laboratories to increase efficiency. “Bokanovsky’s Process” is the fertilization process used to create Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. The process divides fertilized eggs to produce identical twins. The process produces up to 96 embryos, but 72 is the average. “Bokanovsky’s Process” is the primary instrument of social stability in Brave New World.

Caste Identity Formation Ivan Pavlov: Russian physiologist and psychologist who developed classical conditioning. Conditioning: A process of behavior modification by which a subject comes to associate a desired behavior with a previously unrelated stimulus. Socialize: To convert or adapt to the needs of society. Ideology: The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of a class or culture. Individuals are conditioned and socialized to form their identity within an ideology.

Hypnopaedia “The greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time” (Huxley 28). -Sleep teaching -Moral education -Class conditioning “The child’s mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child’s mind” (Huxley 28-29).

In Brave New World, people are encouraged to take SOMA if they are feeling dissatisfied, bored, or unhappy. Soma is a hallucinogenic anti-depressant that people take regularly to avoid negative feelings and doubts.