1. Intro to Brave New World
English B1A
Intro to Brave New World

2. Background Aldous Huxley was born in 1894 in southern England.
His father, Leonard Huxley, was a school teacher and author.
Two of his three brothers were scientists, and his grandfather, Thomas Huxley, was a famous scientist linked to Charles Darwin.
Background

3. When he was a teenager, Huxley lost most of his eyesight as a result of illness.
This limited his ability to do the scientific research he preferred, but ultimately led him to literature, where he excelled.
Early Life

4. As a young journalist, art critic, and author of poetry, Huxley travelled quite frequently.
He became concerned about changes he observed in Western culture related to power and technical progress.
Early Career

5. When Huxley wrote Brave New World, 1932, Adolf Hitler was not yet in power in Germany and the Stalinist purges had not yet begun.
His novel, then, gives us a premonition of things to come in history.
Brave New World

6. Brave New World imagines a society that uses genetics and cloning to control the population.
All children are conceived in test tubes and raised by the government; the concept of family is considered obscene.
Children are genetically altered to fit into one of five populations ranging in intelligence level (Alpha is the smartest, etc.)
The World of the Novel

7. The World of the Novel The novel portrays a complete dictatorship.
It works so well because it has the appearance of a democracy; thus, the people are complacent.
It is “a prison without walls in which the prisoners would not even dream of escaping. It would essentially be…a system of slavery where, through entertainment and consumption, the slaves ‘would love their servitude’”
The World of the Novel

8. Huxley warns against materialism—items lose value when they are easily replaced.
“Soma,” a drug that is often used by the characters within the novel, takes away any hint of unhappiness, much like we would expect modern day anti-depressants to do
People within the novel rely on sensory stimulation to keep themselves entertained.
They go to “feelies” (movies where they experience the same sensations the characters on screen do)
They enjoy colors and smells along with their entertainment.
They are promiscuous and deny themselves no pleasure.
Themes in the novel

9. The title of the novel, Brave New World, is a line from Shakespeare’s The Tempest— it becomes prominent in the second half of the novel as we get to see an outsider’s reaction to the world of the novel.
There are many other references to Shakespeare in the novel. Think about why that might be and how he would connect to some of the themes of the novel.
The Title