Brave New World
Book Response
written by
Arjun Banker
1. The title of this book is Brave New World. The original date of publication was in 1932.
2. The author of this book is Aldous Huxley. He was born in Surrey, England, on July 26, 1894. He was the grandson of T.H. Huxley, the well-renowned scientist. Though he wanted become a doctor, Aldous Huxley was temporarily blinded when he was in college. Going on to be a journalist, he earned his degree in English literature at Oxford. In addition to journalism, he also was a critic of art and music. He also wrote articles on architecture and house decoration, in addition to book reviews. During these years, he began to write poems, essays, and historical pieces, which he continued to write throughout his career. It was, however, as a satirical novelist, when he was truly recognized for his works. In fact, Huxley established his reputation before he was thirty and became a prolific writer. Huxley has lived in Italy, New Mexico, and California. One significant moment in his life was in 1959, when he received the “Award of Merit for the Novel” from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. As a great writer of truly amazing works of art, Huxley passed away on November 22, 1963.
3. The protagonist in this book was Jonathan, or the ‘Savage,’ as he was referred to in this book. Jonathan was only slightly educated, but was eager to learn. In the beginning, his home was on a ‘Savage’ reservation, where people lived in old-fashioned ways. People there had old huts, they lacked heated water, and they ‘mended their clothes when they were torn.’ The people in the outside world, or the society, had new technology, and were far more advanced, in technology, than the reservation. Jonathan was not very clean, and was not as attractive as people of the society. His personality, however, was quite different. The society was in some ways a ‘Utopia’. People were always supposed to be happy. They enjoyed everything they did. Moreover, if someone was not happy, he or she simply took some soma, which was like a drug that made him or her feel better. Jonathan, on the other hand, bore the pain when he was said, and enjoyed the moments when he was happy. He worked hard, and didn’t always enjoy everything he had to do. Those qualities separated Jonathan out of everyone else.
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Jonathan’s archetype was that of the ‘Young Man from the Provinces.’ He could see that the people lived in a communistic-like community. He saw what was happening in this society, something nobody else could see. Not only that, but he dared to oppose the laws that were in place, something nobody else would even think of doing. Jonathan saw that the people in this world did not have a real freedom, a real life, or a real soul. He was the only one who saw these unethical and immoral actions that occurred.
Jonathan’s main goal was to find a place where he would be at ‘rest’, mentally, physically, and spiritually. He needs to think and be alone. Another objective was to convince the society to become free.
“The Savage is offered only two alternatives, an insane life in Utopia, or the life of a primitive in an Indian village, a life more human in some respects, but in others hardly less queer and abnormal.”
4. The antagonist in this book was the society. The society was the world outside of the ‘Savage’ reservation. Many unethical and unfair principles were in this society, and there was nothing that could be done to remove them.
What was going on in this society was horrendous. The creators of this society, of this new world, were trying to make a ‘stable’ society, in which there would be no riots, no wars, no famines, and no problems. A stable society was needed because in the previous years, there had been great wars where millions of people had died. Everyone wanted to get rid of these problems. But of course, every solution came at a cost. And although people may have actually seemed to like their world, they could only see their world skin deep.
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Another problem with the society was that it had different social classes. The whole society was broken up into classes: Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Epsilons, and so on. The lower class people, like the Gammas and Epsilons, were given jobs like working in the sewers, or as servants. The upper classes, like the Alphas and Betas, were given better jobs, like doing research or engineering. Moreover, there were no mothers and fathers. Parents did not exist. People were raised and born in factories, called ‘Hatcheries’. Children lived there from birth almost until they were adults, along with thousands of other children. Gammas were kept separate from Epsilons, who were separated from Betas, who were separated from Alphas, and so forth. In addition, lower caste children were brought up to like the job they would eventually have. The Gammas, for example, were raised only to like cleaning sewers. In fact, if they were given more freedom, and better jobs, they would not be ‘happy’. People were ‘engineered’ so they would like the job they would eventually be forced to have.
People in Brave New World were mindless and soulless. They had no minds of their own. Throughout their childhood, they were essentially brainwashed. Everything they knew was copied into their brains from somewhere else, almost like robots. Each social class thought that they were the best, but this was all due to the brainwashing. The society actually treated themselves unethically and unfairly, so it was they were really only hurting themselves. Nevertheless, due to these reasons, they were the antagonists in this book.
5.
The conflict in this book is man vs. society. It is external because Jonathan was against the society by doing what he felt was right, and not what the society felt.
Jonathan felt so passionately about this matter that he began to tell the people about real freedom was:
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” ‘But do you like being slaves?’ the Savage was saying as they entered the Hospital”… “‘Don’t you want to be free and men? Don’t you even understand what manhood and freedom are?’ Rage was making him fluent: the words came easily, in a rush.”… ” ‘Very well then,’ he went on grimly, ‘I’ll teach you; I’ll make you be free whether you want to or not!'”
He felt so strongly about this that he actually tried and forced them to become free. He started a riot, by throwing rations of soma out of the window, but was caught, and arrested for starting a riot.
Since he was a ‘Savage’, he was not allowed to be held in the society. He was supposed to be sent back to the reservation. Yet now that his mother was dead, he didn’t want to go back to the reservation. As the only alternative, he ran away, searching for a place to be alone. He ran as far as he could from the society. When he came to a small uninhabited house in the middle of the forest, he finally thought he found his peace. He worked hard, day and night, purposely doing everything in a primitive way. He did this so he could get as far away, mentally, from the civilization as he could.
5. The theme of this book is that you cannot improve the society using the science.
“It is only by means of the sciences of life that the quality of life can be radically changed. The sciences of matter can be applied in such a way that they will destroy life or make the living of it impossibly complex and uncomfortable; but, unless used as instruments by the biologists and psychologists, they can do nothing to modify the natural forms and expressions of life itself. ”
I fully agree with what Mr. Huxley is trying to convey to the reader. As shown in this book, the society was virtually lifeless, soulless, and mindless. The creators of this society tried to change the society through science, and wound up with a stable, yet lifeless, society. Jonathan, on the other hand, though normal, had much more life and soul in him. He did not think how he was told to think, but rather how he wanted to think, and that makes all the difference in life.
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(Jonathan is at the Death Center where is mom has just died.)
” ‘Oh, God, God, God…” the Savage kept repeating to himself. In the chaos of grief and remorse that filled his mind it was the one articulate word. ‘God!’ he whispered aloud. ‘God…’
” ‘Whatever is he saying?’ said a voice, very near, distinct and shrill through the warblings of the Super-Wurlitzer. … “Five khaki twins, each with the stump of a long eclair in his right hand, and their identical faces variously smeared with liquid chocolate, were standing in a row, puggily goggling at him.”
The quote above illustrates how the society did not even know who God was. It also shows that while Jonathan’s mom had just died, these children were eating, and did not even care. In fact, they were laughing.
” “But how do you make chemicals, Linda? Where do they come from?”
“Well, I don’t know. You get them out of bottles. And when the bottles are empty, you send up to the Chemical Store for more. It’s the Chemical Store people who make them, I suppose. Or else they send to the factory for them. I don’t know. I never did any chemistry. My job was always with the embryos.”
It was the same thing with everything else he asked about. Linda never seemed to know. The old men of the pueblo had much more definite answers.
This quote is an excellent example showing how the people from the society, without religion, had no beliefs. If they didn’t know something, they said they didn’t know. Though it may be the right thing to say, the essence of religion and belief is when you provide explanations to the things you do not know about. These explanations, these myths, epics, and so on, are a fundamental part of religion and belief. And, by using science, or any other tool, to take away religion, you are taking away a big part of human life.
On a ranking of one to ten, I would give this book an eight. It is an eight, because, some parts of the story were unnecessary. For example, a scene occurring at the ‘Savage’ reservation was too long and unneeded. At the reservation, Jonathan was just talking to his mom and the other savages. None of the activity at the reservation had much to do with the story. Of course, though some parts in that scene had important meaning, much of it was just day-to-day activities.
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My favorite part from this book is most definitely the scene in which Jonathan though that he had actually found a place to be alone and think. It was amazing that he would go through such harsh circumstances so he could forgive himself. But even more astonishing was that he really was not alone. When people came and swarmed his house, it made a definite impact on me. It signified that in this society, there were no exceptions. If you wanted to live in a place alone, you would soon be found. Not only was this society the cause of Jonathan’s problems, but they did not even let him try to solve them. And though Jonathan may have tried to run away again, he most certainly would have been found, also.
(This is at the end of the book, when Jonathan, the Savage, is bombarded with hundreds of people, and cannot escape. He will never find his peace.)
That evening the swarm of helicopters that came buzzing across the Hog’s Back was a dark cloud ten kilometres long. The description of last night’s orgy of atonement had been in all the papers.
“Savage!” called the first arrivals, as they alighted from their machine. “Mr. Savage!”
There was no answer.
The door of [his home] was ajar. They pushed it open and walked into a shuttered twilight. Through an archway on the further side of the room they could see the bottom of the staircase that led up to the higher floors. Just under the crown of the arch dangled a pair of feet.
“Mr. Savage!”
Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east…
That is the end of the book, and it provides such excellent detail. Though he seems to have left the reader stranded, it is quite probable that Mr. Savage will never escape, and always be a victim of this society.
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A good part about this book is the beginning of the story. It was very well written and certainly hooked me in. Mr. Huxley introduces these new, seemingly radical inventions, yet only gives some information about them. These inventions sound so great that they almost fool you into thinking that it is a fantasy world. But so quickly, Mr. Huxley can change your mind from a fantastic society to a horrendous one.
Another positive quality about this book was the conclusion. It was extremely well written, and Mr. Huxley did an excellent job of explaining what was happening and what was wrong with the society. His conclusion really wraps the book up nicely. His ideas are truly phenomenal, and everybody can learn something from this book.
