A Book Review of Brave New World

John utters the title of the book, Brave New World, several times throughout the book, such as on pages 151 and 175 in reference to Shakespeare's work, The Tempest, in order to express the change from awe to disgust of the new world John experiences more poignantly. When John is presented with the opportunity to visit the utopia his mother described to him ever since he was a child, he exclaims, "O brave new world" in awe and anticipation of experiencing the World State (151). Huxley alludes to Shakespeare in this instance to parallel the naïve admiration Miranda felt in the final scene of The Tempest.

The second time John repeats the quote (175) he had just viewed the factory and its groups of identical workers, after which he "violently [retches]" in disgust and horror. This allusion begins to develop the irony of the title; this new world is revealing itself to be more and more appalling underneath its civilized image, but only John, who was not conditioned by the World State, realizes this. Finally, after Linda dies, John once again repeats "O brave new world, O brave new world ..." (233). This final time, the words seem to mock him and his original trusting hopes in this new world, motivating him to dump the soma in an attempt to show everyone else what he sees the World State as: a perfect nightmare.

Huxley utilizes London and the reservation as two settings that foil one another, representing the falsified happiness and totalitarian control science has taken and the simplistic yet primitive lives of the savages. Although London is the primary setting, the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center is where Huxley opens the book, a "bleakly" sterile and extremely "cold" place where the workers "bent over their instruments...in the scarcely breathing silence" perform robotic work and grow children in test tubes (1-2).

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People here are conditioned to only enjoy one type of work, and given drugs when any sort of difficulty develops. Although the Controller, Mustapha Mond, claims they have finally harnessed science, the rigid hierarchy created by these technological advances only serves to trap and dehumanize society.

On the other hand, the Malpais reservation is not the perfect society either. The practices of the savages are primal, and they exalt sacrifice through the "whip", sending young boys through the painful process and leaving them with "blood... streaming" (123). The savages have their own culture, but are still restrained by their lack of adaptation. London and the reservation lie on two extreme sides: one restrained by too much ambition towards the future, and one with too much devotion to the past.

John is disillusioned, the ultimate outsider, rejected by his fellow savages and seen as a circus animal to the civilized people of London. He was born different and to a mother who was not accustomed to the traditions of the savages, and longed for something better. The high hopes he once had from listening to Linda's stories about the "Other Place" (138) were crushed when he saw the severe pyramid of status, artificial birth, mediocre and hazy life stimulated by soma. He still values beauty, individualism, culture, and real human connections, passionately "claiming the right to be unhappy" (268). He wants genuine and organic life, not the conformity of the World State.

However, his own self- loathing and self-inflicted violence inhibit his abilities to challenge the World State and bring back humanity. His eventual suicide symbolizes the danger of a world where individualism does not exist.

Bernard is hypocritical and extremely insecure, nursing an inferiority complex and hiding behind an inflated ego and superior manner. He is also seen as different due to an error in decanting that altered his physique to be smaller than normal. Bernard has vague desires of wanting to be an individual, questioning what it would be like if he were "not enslaved by...conditioning", but lacks the courage and conviction to act upon these desires (96). When he encounters John and Linda and brings them back to civilization, he uses the social success that follows to participate in activities he once scorned, revealing his true nature of a hypocrite. However, any thought of individualism is a threat to the World State, and the Controller eventually sends him to a rebel island.

Lenina is described several times in the book as pneumatic, which can be interpreted in a few ways. In the context of the story, “pneumatic" appears to mean sexy and curvy, but the official definition is filled with air (47). The double meaning of this word could refer to Lenina's physique, and also her airy- headedness, and lack of thought regarding the World State and its conventions. However, she does have lapses of non-conformity, which she immediately dismisses by consciously altering her behavior.

She sometimes does not feel "keen on promiscuity", but when Fanny reprimands her for only seeing Henry for the past four months, Lenina instantly yields, recalling "every one belongs to everyone else" (46). Although she has the occasional unconventional thought, she has been conditioned to see casual sex as normal and emotional connections as useless and cannot escape this mindset; this may be commentary on females being weak-willed and primal.

Helmholtz is a rebellious Alpha with near perfect traits: strong, handsome, and intelligent. He is the only friend of Bernard, who cannot help but envy Helmholtz for his abilities. However, Helmholtz feels empty and lacking in his career, and desires to write something of real artistic value; to find passion in his endeavor. However, he still struggles to overcome his conditioning, but is still limited by it, breaking into "uncontrollable guffawing" when hearing about mothers and fathers in Shakespeare's writing (203). Helmholtz recognizes the power and beauty of Shakespeare's writing, but his conditioning prevents him from taking all of it seriously and truly appreciating the art.

The World State has turned society into superficial and pleasure-seeking, evident in their rituals of "orgy-porgy" and taking soma regularly and in large dosages as a way to escape from any difficulties to an artificial and short-lived pleasure. Soma, drug that is widely used in the World State, creates a false happiness in order to hide the fact that true happiness is nonexistent. The rules of being happy are "half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a weekend, two grammes for..." (57). People in the World State do not try to find happiness through their work or passions; instead they have regular casual sex, and abuse drugs given to them by their government, which uses soma as another way to control its citizens. Helmholtz, Bernard, and John are the only ones who seem to have any objection to and see the absurdity of such a practice.

The economy the World State has created is extremely consumerist and efficient, shown in their customs of buying and replacing any items that show wear or that are outdated. Conditioned since their birth, the citizens this dystopian society have a mindset of “ending is better than mending" (52). They see no use in older and worn items, and instead of trying to fix anything by themselves, they choose to dispose of them and buy newer and better versions. Their materialistic mentality is artificially developed by the government to regulate and maintain the economy and keep spending at a regular rate. Much like the products they consume and throw away mindlessly, the citizens of the World State are also dispensable and easily replaced.

Although there are different hierarchical levels in the World State, the people are produced in mass quantities of identical genetics, and then conditioned with the same therapy as the other members of their caste in order to keep them under control. They are essentially test tube babies: "identical twins" created with "Bokanovsky's Process" (6). Alphas are conditioned to be the leaders of society, while Epsilons are conditioned to remain at a low intelligence level in order for them to enjoy their mundane physical labor. Every caste is specially designed and also trained to remain that way, eliminating any diversity and individuality. Due to the rigid walls of society, anybody who does not conform is seen as an outsider and spurned for being different.

The strict regulations dictate the norms of society, and when people like John, Bernard, and Helmholtz threaten these norms, they are alienated and even sent away to prevent rebellion. Not only do their peers shun them, they themselves feel a sort of emptiness. John was different and isolated from both his peers in the reservation and the citizens of the World State, and after realizing that the new world was in reality a nightmare, he rebels against the ridiculous standards of their society, "[throwing] the...soma tablets in handfuls" out the window (236). John is one of the few who lack conditioning and can see past the haze of soma. He takes this knowledge and officially broke away from the World State and named himself as a rebel, generating shock and further alienating himself from his peers.

Soma is a drug widely abused in the World State and used as an escape from reality into a temporary and artificial sense of mindless happiness. The government manipulates its citizens through soma, keeping them under its thumb and hiding the fact that their lives lack the genuine values that make up humanity. Soma is described as a “euphoric, narcotic.......hallucinant” (55). Mustapha Mond advocates the drug as an effective method to create an artificial sense of contentment around a community. As a hallucinant, the drug distorts images the user sees, diverting them from any difficulties and thoughts of rebellion they may have. The citizens have become reliant on the drug, and this keeps them trapped in their fabricated paradise.

Huxely utilizes distortion and exaggeration in his writing to emphasize the irony, horror, and lack of humanity in this dystopian society. The citizens of the World State have been altered to enjoy and adhere to the customs of their society. They take drugs to create false emotions, and no individual thoughts or passions; they are reduced to mere shadows of humanity. Society has been twisted to the point where children are engaged in erotic play, and if they do not do so, they are seen as abnormal.

When the Director told his students that before the time of Ford children did not engage in such play until they were "twenty years old", and students protested in "loud disbelief" (34). The blatantly sexual nature of this dystopia seems eerily similar to the primitive practices from long ago, and Huxely exaggerates these terrors to emphasize the dangers of an oppressive and mindless society.

The citizens of the World State lack human values to the point where they find pleasure in explicit pain of others. Their indifference and amusement towards the pain of John as he whips himself only makes their loss of humanity more evident. The crowds gather to watch John, and chant "we want the whip" as if his self- inflicted abuse was an interesting extravaganza (286). Their satisfaction and joy at seeing another human being suffer only accentuates how empty society has become.

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