"O brave new world..." By some malice of his memory the Savage found himself repeating Miranda's words. "O brave new world that has such people in it."
-Aldous Huxley
In this modern classic, Huxley plays on social hot buttons like stability and collectivism.
(Be careful if you wish to read on; many spoilers await you)
In Brave New World, the reader is introduced to the future in which there is no such thing as "mothers" and "fathers" and "marriage" and commitment". This brave new world shames these ideas plus others including "solitude".
We often hear activists argue for "a more stable world" or "a more productive workforce", and they often pitch their methods of attaining those qualities. But after reading Brave New World, one starts to wonder, "Is it really worth it?".
The first chapter of this novel describes the fundamentals of this new world, where people are not born, but decanted. The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning leads a tour group of boys through the fertilizing room, the predestination room, the embryo store, and the conditioning room. It is terrifying to see how inhuman the whole process of bringing a human to life is in this novel. The reader learns of the Bokanovsky process, which produces several identical embryos that will later serve identical jobs.
Of course, stability doesn't just call for uniformity; there are various niches that must be filled (not everyone can work in a hatchery- who will man the golf courses and planes?). To predetermine those who fill these various niches, a caste system composed of Alphas, Betas, Deltas, Gammas, and Epsilons exists. Alphas and Betas fill the most prominent positions working in the hatcheries or as heads of other important departments. The rest serve other dutiful jobs that "create the core of civilization". But it is absolutely despicable how the hatcheries create individuals of each caste. Creating individuals of a lower caste involves decreasing the amount of oxygen their bottle receives while developing. In a way, this is a process of purposefully injuring an unborn (undecanted) individual all to maintain stability.
Throughout the novel, you meet the character Bernard, who is quite "odd" in this new world simply because his enjoys solitude and has a shorter stature than most of his peers of his caste. He takes great interest in exploring the Savage Reservation in New Mexico. He takes along Lenina, who is frightened and disgusted by the savages while Bernard enjoys their free will and social life.
At the Reservation, Bernard and Lenina meet John, the Savage who happens to be the son of Linda (a "civilized" woman who was left behind at the Savage Reservation) and the DHC. Upon John's arrival in England, the DHC (and the general population of the new world) is humiliated at the fact that he has a son.
John's growth at the Reservation with his once "civilized" mother explains a lot of the disadvantages with striving for stability. For example, John would often question Linda about subjects of science, but Linda knew nothing but her one task at the hatchery.
In parts of the novel, Mustapha Mond, the great World Controller, revises all the new literature being submitted for his approval. Oftentimes, he'll find a piece of work that is delightful, or insightful, or plain wonderful, but he cannot have it published because of the wild emotions it would bring to the readers.
He picked his pen again, and under the words "Not to be published" drew a second line, thicker and blacker than the first; then sighed, "What fun it would be," he thought, "if one didn't have to think about happiness!"
-Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) page 177
The above quote made by Mustapha Mond describes how machine like and senseless this stable world was. In the last part of the novel, Mustapha Mond explains to John, Helmholtz (an emotional-engineering expert), and Bernard why emotions were such a ruckus. Emotions allowed the population to believe that their life was not perfect as it is. John stated that he enjoyed things like passion and faith rather than impulse and demand. But, creating desire was not appropriate in this world, for then it would also decrease their work productivity.
Also, Bernard is constantly haunted by the threat of being sent to Iceland for his next post, but he fails to recognize that this is an honor; those sent to Iceland (or any far away island) meet others who also had curiosity and did not enjoy the same things as the majority.
After reading this novel, one realizes that striving for stability can lead to sacrifices in individuality, emotion, and diversity. The tragic end of the novel (and of John) depicts the stress and ignorance built up in this work-oriented society. All of John's sacrifice and work was being mocked by those who have never experienced true struggle or patience themselves.
So, at the end, is it worth it?
I recommend this novel to anyone who wants more of a reason to put faith in today's society or to simply discover an alternate world that will change their way of thinking forever.
Throughout the novel, you meet the character Bernard, who is quite "odd" in this new world simply because his enjoys solitude and has a shorter stature than most of his peers of his caste. He takes great interest in exploring the Savage Reservation in New Mexico. He takes along Lenina, who is frightened and disgusted by the savages while Bernard enjoys their free will and social life.
At the Reservation, Bernard and Lenina meet John, the Savage who happens to be the son of Linda (a "civilized" woman who was left behind at the Savage Reservation) and the DHC. Upon John's arrival in England, the DHC (and the general population of the new world) is humiliated at the fact that he has a son.
John's growth at the Reservation with his once "civilized" mother explains a lot of the disadvantages with striving for stability. For example, John would often question Linda about subjects of science, but Linda knew nothing but her one task at the hatchery.
In parts of the novel, Mustapha Mond, the great World Controller, revises all the new literature being submitted for his approval. Oftentimes, he'll find a piece of work that is delightful, or insightful, or plain wonderful, but he cannot have it published because of the wild emotions it would bring to the readers.
He picked his pen again, and under the words "Not to be published" drew a second line, thicker and blacker than the first; then sighed, "What fun it would be," he thought, "if one didn't have to think about happiness!"
-Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) page 177
The above quote made by Mustapha Mond describes how machine like and senseless this stable world was. In the last part of the novel, Mustapha Mond explains to John, Helmholtz (an emotional-engineering expert), and Bernard why emotions were such a ruckus. Emotions allowed the population to believe that their life was not perfect as it is. John stated that he enjoyed things like passion and faith rather than impulse and demand. But, creating desire was not appropriate in this world, for then it would also decrease their work productivity.
Also, Bernard is constantly haunted by the threat of being sent to Iceland for his next post, but he fails to recognize that this is an honor; those sent to Iceland (or any far away island) meet others who also had curiosity and did not enjoy the same things as the majority.
After reading this novel, one realizes that striving for stability can lead to sacrifices in individuality, emotion, and diversity. The tragic end of the novel (and of John) depicts the stress and ignorance built up in this work-oriented society. All of John's sacrifice and work was being mocked by those who have never experienced true struggle or patience themselves.
So, at the end, is it worth it?
