Brave New World Aldous Huxley

Introduction  Genre  This is a novel of dystopia - an imaginary place of the most horrific environment; in this case, it is a savage criticism of the scientific future; it is the worst possible place to live.  Theme  Scientific development will lead to a perfect world, in which there is no freedom. The people of Brave New World have lost their right to be unhappy.

Utopia vs Dystopia  Utopias and Dystopias  Utopia- society organized to create ideal conditions for human beings, eliminating hatred, pain, neglect, and all of the other evils of the world.  Sometimes the societies described are meant to represent the perfect society, but sometimes utopias are created to satirize existing societies, or simply to speculate about what life might be like under different conditions.  Either term, utopia or dystopia, could correctly be used to describe Brave New World.

Introduction  Year: 632 A.F.  Place: London  A.F.: after Ford, the deity of Utopia  Civilization as we know it has gone through a devastating war.  The use of anthrax bombs and poison gases exhausted both sides, leaving the people that remained a choice between World Control and devastation.  Stability is maintained by rigid control of the number and type of people.  Human beings are now born artificially; marriage is forbidden; family life is unknown; children are created and cared for by the State.  There are five castes – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon  Peace is safeguarded through a conditioning of all the young to think alike and in “ soma ”  Motto of the state-Community, Identity, Stability

Vocabulary  Bokanovsky's Process  Mass production of human embryos, which are deliberately predestined to a certain level of intelligence.  It is the basis for producing identical human beings.  Human egg has its normal development arrested, whereupon it proceeds to bud, producing many identical eggs. These are produced as lower-caste citizens. They will feel both their kinship and their sameness of thought as they grow to adulthood.

Caste Systems  Highest Caste  Alphas - able to have "some" independent thinking. In reality, they have been programmed to believe that they are thinking independently.  Lowest Caste  Epsilons – numerous; Are given other determinants of inheritance, such as a decrease in available oxygen or overexposure to heat. They are slaves and they like it, because they know nothing else.

Characters  Bernard Marx An Alpha-Plus psychologist, is shorter than most Alphas. Identifying himself as a true individual, Bernard dislikes the social pressures for conformity but lacks the ability to be a rebel.  Lenina Crowne A conventional young woman who is drawn unconsciously toward danger.  Helmholtz Watson Bernard ’ s friend. An Emotional Engineer, he longs to become a poet. He represents a more courageous and intellectual character than Bernard.

Characters  John the Savage Born of parents from the brave new world but raised in the Savage Reservation. John represents a challenge to the dystopia. He is the character closest to being the hero of the novel.  Linda John ’ s mother. An upper-caste Londoner, she commits the ultimate social sin by bearing a child. She is deeply ashamed and longs for escape, finding it in sex, and soma.

Historical Context  In the U.K., the expansion of transportation and communication—the cars, telephones, and radios made affordable through mass production— brought revolutionary changes to daily life. With the new technology, distances grew suddenly shorter and true privacy rarer.

Questions to Consider  What negative effects on society can you think of in regards to current technology?