Brave New World
Brave New World- �Brave New World� -
By: Aldous Huxley
Author: Aldous Huxley was born in 1894, and died in 1963. He first went to Eton, and
then to Oxford. He was a brilliant man, and became a succesful writer of short stories in
the twenties and thirties. He also wrote essays and novels, like 'Brave New World'. The
first novels he wrote were comments on the young generation, with no goal whatsoever,
that lived after WW I. Before he became the writer as we know him, he worked as a
journalist and a critic of drama. In his books, especially the later ones, he sometimes
presents himself as a teacher or a philosopher, to literate us as readers. Next to novels,
essays and short stories he also wrote poems, biographies, plays, political/sci-fi books,
travel books and even a record of his experiments with drugs. 'Brave New World' was
first published in 1932, and has been reprinted many times after that.
Main Characters: Bernard Marx Lenina Crowne John Savage (Son of Tomakin, Bernard's
boss) Helmholtz Watson
Huxley tries to make a statement with this book, he tries to make something clear to the
reader. To do this he uses characters, but they're insignificant to what his real intentions
are, he merely uses them to express his ideas, therefor their characteristics and ideas are
not important in the whole picture. There is hardly any charaterisation in the book to
illustrate the individuals.
Theme: In the foreword Huxley states: "The theme of 'Brave New World' is not the
advancement of science as such; it is the advancement of science as it affects human
individuals." The picture of the world given in the book describes the condition of the
human individual in a western civilization in a 'near' future. The society has turned into a
well oiled machine, in which everything is controlled, even the future profession of the
individual is determined before birth. It's a society in which the human being only serves
a sociological and scientifical purpose, the individual thought is overruled by one big
totalitarian state, likewise emotion and initiative are ruled out. Giving birth is forbidden,
sex is the most normal thing on earth, and even drugs is taken with the routine and
amount of normal meals. Only a small group of the real man exists, be it's far outside the
'civilized' world. John Savage is one of them, representitive of individual freedom and
thought, torn between two societies. Huxley warns for material and technical
dependence, that will eventually bring destruction upon mankind. Characteristics: The
story is set in our world, in the future (some 600 years from now). It is in the year 632
after Ford. Society has turned into a controlled state, individual thought is bannished, and
the human being is only on this earth to serve a sociological and scientifical purpose.
There's no space for free speech, emotion or even literature that reminds of the free spirit.
The narrator is omniscient, as said before, Huxley expresses his political and scientifical
ideas through the characters, therefor he sometimes 'steps' in to their heads, but mostly
tells the story as he was telling their history. There is symbolism in the book, once again
Huxley...
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