Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World

Brave New World

Author

Aldous Huxley was born in Godalming near London, Surrey (England), on July 26, 1894. He was the third son of Dr. Leonard Huxley and Julia Arnold. His grandfather was a scientist. He was educated at Eton and later he was at Oxford University. After his studies he worked for different papers. Brave New World was written in 1932, this book gave him international fame because of the negative Utopian World. He wrote this book during the Second World War, he wanted to warn all the people who were in a dangerous society, like the German people (Hitler time). During the height of his fame in 1937, Aldous Huxley went to Hollywood with his wife Maria, he worked there for some time as a screenwriter (Filmschreiber). He died of cancer on November 22, 1963, in Hollywood (California).

Plot of the story

In the Brave New World of 632 A. F. (After Ford, now it’s the 26 century), the year of stability, people are produced and hatched in bottles. The embryos are predestinated and conditioned to do their jobs later. There are five castes: Alphas, Bethas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons. Alphas are very intelligent, like sports, are very attractive and they wear gray. Bethas are intelligent too, but not like Alphas and they wear mulberry. Alphas and Bethas have all helicopters. Gammas (wear green) and Deltas (wear khaki) have to do low work, who aren’t very clever. Epsilon (wear black) is the deepest caste, they’re stupid, can’t write or read, but they don’t feel like the loser group. Everyone is happy with his caste, his job and his place in society, because of the hypnosis and sleep-teaching. All people are not more than cells in the social body, but they’re always happy. That’s because of their drug soma, which’s got no side-effects. People always get the drug after work and they can have it for free! In this world, people never have long relationships, they’ve got just dates to have sex! While sex is universal, love, marriage, and parenthood are viewed as obscene. The state’s slogan is: Community, Identity, Stability.

The story concerns Bernard, an alpha plus man, who looks like a gamma person and desires to spend time alone just thinking or looking at the stars. He is an outsider like his friend Helmholtz Watson, who is an alpha person too, but too intelligent for this world, because he has got his own thoughts. Both are not normal in this civilized world! Bernard’s boss, director Thomas, wants to send him to Iceland, if he doesn’t change his opinion about society. At one point Bernard takes Lenina, an betha girl, on a vacation to the Savage Reservation in New Mexico. There he discovers John the Savage, son of Linda who had visited the reservation more than 20 years ago and was accidentally left behind. When she discovered she was pregnant (the ultimate shock!), she had to stay among the savages. John’s an outsider like Bernard, because his mother had sex with other savages. In the Reservation this is not normal, because every woman has got just one man. Bernard makes an offer to John and Linda to take them to the Brave New World. They agree and are very happy about that.

When Bernard shows Thomas his son, he is very shocked and gives up his job. As a result Bernard needn’t go to Iceland. Linda is never accepted in the new world, because she’s fat and old. Caste people never see old people and because of that they don’t like her. Linda takes more and more soma to be happy. John gets to know Lenina and like her very much. She falls in love with him.

One day Bernard says, Lenina should take John to the feelies. She does it, but John doesn’t like it very much. Some days after Lenina went to John to have sex with him, John wants to tell her that he loves her. At this moment Lenina begins to take off her clothes. John is shocked and beats her. She flees into the bathroom and at the same moment the phone rings. It is the hospital. Linda (his mother) is near death, says the voice. John gets out and runs to the hospital. He talks to his mother, but Linda is in an other world. The world of soma. Linda dies and John loses his nerves. He takes a package of soma and put it out of the window. Many people get angry and want to kill him. At this moment Helmholtz Watson (he understands the opinion of John very well and they are good friends now) and Bernard are coming in to help John. But the police is also very fast, they take these three friends and send them to Mustapha Mond (World State Controller).

Mustapha and John talk about Shakespeare and the Bible. Mustapha’s a very intelligent man and knows very much about the whole history, which is normally forbidden. Mustapha sends Bernard Marx to Iceland and Helmoltz Watson to the Falkland Islands after this incident. John wants to go with them, but he can’t. He goes to a lighthouse and wants to live there alone. A few days later the reporters find him and want to photograph him. Many people come to watch him. He doesn’t like it. One day lot of people come to watch like he slashes his body, Lenina is under these people, too. John sees her and runs to Lenina. He slashes his whip over her till she is lying on the ground. Deep in the night the last helicopter flies home and he is still alone. He realizes, that he slashed Lenina. The next morning some reporters come to speak with John, they don’t find him outside. They goes into the lighthouse and see a pair of feet dangling.

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CHARACTERS

Bernard Marx:

An Alpha plus member of the Central London Hatchery. He’s very intelligent, specialist in sleep-teaching. He’s shorter than normal Alpha people, he doesn’t like sport and he’s not very attractive (he looks like a gamma person). Bernard is isolated, because of his small body and he likes to be alone ? Outsider. He hasn’t got so many girls as other men. The other people say, they accidentally put some alcohol in his blood, when he was still in the bottle, because they confounded him. Bernard hates Ford and because of that, he’s an enemy of Society. He is sent to Iceland.

John the Savage:

He born in New Mexico in a Savage Reservation. He’s the son of two members of Utopia: Linda and Thomas (the director). He’s brought into the civilization by Bernard. He grew up with 3 cultures: 1. Utopian culture, told by his mother. 2. Indian culture he lived in it, but he was an outsider. 3. culture of Shakespeare, he had a book by him. He expects the new world to be wonderful. He believes in religion, family and other human things, but people in Utopia don’t do that. Because of that, he doesn’t feel happy in the new world. ? suicide

Lenina Crowne:

A typical Betha girl (young and pretty), she’s a nurse, who’s injecting the embryos immunizations against diseases. She’s not normal, because she wants to go out more than once with Henry Foster (alpha plus worker). She had him for 4 months without having another man! She believes in having sex whenever she wants it; so she can’t understand that John avoids sex with her. She falls in love with John, but they can’t be together because of their difference.

Henry Foster:

Alpha plus man, who works in the London Hatchery. He’ an Ex- Boyfriend of Lenina, they were 4 months together. That’s not normal in the Brave New World!

Thomas (D.H.C.):

The director of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre (Brut- und Normcenter). He was in New Mexico more than 20 years ago and there he lost his girlfriend Linda. He’s Bernard’s boss and the one, who wants to send him to Iceland. When he learns, that John is his son, he gives up his job and goes away.

Linda:

She was a Betha minus in the civilized world, who slept with the director. They were together in the Savage Reservation, where she was left. She was pregnant and gave birth to John in the Savage Reservation. She came back with John and Bernard, but between these 20 years she got fat and old. The people don’t like her and because of that, she takes a lot of soma (drug with no side-effects). At the end, she dies of soma

Mustapha Mond:

He’s one of the ten World State Controllers (Alpha plus plus). He’s extremely intelligent, because he reads a lot of forbidden books as the bible and books by Shakespeare. He knows history and philosophy very well. At last he sends Bernard to Iceland and Helmholtz Watson to the Falkland Islands.

Helmholtz Watson:

He’s an alpha plus like his friend Bernard. He’s too intelligent, because of that he’s an outsider too. He was professor of emotional engineering (feelies = Fühlkino). He is sent to the Falkland Islands.

Short Interpretation

Brave New World is a warning for the whole world of uncontrolled scientific advance where people can be produced. It’s not good, when people can demand what their babies should look like.