“Brave New World” serves as another archetype for the social dystopian ideas we as a people design that could become extreme in the future. It is fairly common that the future is to be seen as driven by technological advances, as well as diminishing in natural actions and components of life (i.e. reproducing). There is always one person (becoming the main character) who becomes skeptical of the day-to-day life that everyone lives and wonders what the meaning is behind it, or if there even is one. Their path to finding answers create many results, depending on the character in context to the conflict.
The setting of the story takes place in what is meant to be the future. The book was written about eight years ago, so the future in this sense somewhat revolves around the newest innovations in technology of this time period. In the 1900s, the latest phenomenon was the assembly line created by Henry Ford, which is revolved around in the story since it is the basis of human development in this german world. Its setting in Germany calls for irony, since that is where the Voltzwagons, a car that technically competed with the cars of American descent, emanated from. The time is 632 A.F. (After Ford) when the story begins.
The characters each undergo some sort of change in understanding their environment. John’s biggest change was his juxtaposition between the “savage” reservations he was from, and The World State that sees him as a specimen of interest since he is the last human to be born of biological reproduction. Lenina takes interest in John, but also may have developed in attraction to him because of the attention that being associated with him gives her. Bernard is an alpha that is the most in the system, but also is very skeptical of the system over time. Each of these characters represent the part of a person that creates balance. Bernard’s good-guy persona, and Lenina’s pleasure-seeking ideals, serve as consciences to the John in people that has to chose a side in morals.
The main theme around the story is the excess distraction that man bestows upon himself. The science of the time period is far too advanced and complex to escape the flaws of the nature vs. nurture conundrum. The drug and sex collaboration of constant pleasure-seeking proves the flaws and apathy developed by the extremely intricate world they live in. The exaggeration of the use of sex and drugs also reflects on present day customs of carefree practices that seem harmless until it is too late. The comparison between the reservation and the state prove the loss of nature further in the people, comparing the savages’ freedom to the caste system’s custodial demeanor. The book serves as a warning towards the possibility of losing touch with the natural world and our innate drives as a people to live as intended.
Brave New World altogether is a book of irony since the advanced nature of the world of the future is less peaceful than former times, in theory. There is a great deal of symbolism, such as in the soma that constantly controls people, making them think that it is necessary for them to be happy. This serves as a representation of the media’s influence on the people and its potential control emanating from the higher power of the government, making them the cause of addiction in place of management. John’s death at the end of the book is an allusion to the death of Okonkwo in “Things Fall Apart,” when he couldn’t handle the changes around him altering the beliefs that he had developed about how the world is meant to be. John portray this same form of helplessness as he is surrounded by what he would consider to be a savage world differing from his innate mindset and worldly perspective, later leading to his resignation to even trying to adapt.
The imagery in the book rely on the reflection of irony in the comparison to animals. The lack of human nature made people more relatable to animals. As the story progresses, Huxley begins to use imagery to his advantage in an attempt to use it to change the feel of the happenings. Towards the middle of the novel, The World State is referred to as a beehive in reference to the chaos and cacophony that seems to function under pressure somehow. It is a tool to depict the change in the atmosphere as conflicts begin to unravel.
There was more of an eerie mood throughout the telling of the story. The point of John’s suicide proves the effect that the perished world bestows upon the earth. It is angering how the people have no morals to the point of being savages themselves. Careless violence that is thought to cultivate some bit of meaning and purpose in a broad sense only tearing the people apart more. Perhaps it is easier to identify the flaws of this world because of the outside perspective the readers have on their world, because the use of conformity is prevalent in all time periods, and our criticism may be hypocritical since groupthink would cause us all to act the same way as the people in this time.
The story of “Brave New World” is a story based on the perspective of the reader in terms of their opinions of the changes around them. This book was written many years ago, and we already see some of the predicted changes in technology sprouting from our abilities. We have already managed to make people in laboratories, have plenty of drugs used to make people feel happy for a certain amount of time, and also refer to indigenous people as savages to the point of shaming them for existing without feeling the need to conform. At the very least, this book is a reading requirement to expose young minds to contemplate the practices of today’s world and think about whether or not they are leading to the destruction of mankind as we know it, even if it is a gradual declivity to complete anthropogenic destruction of mother nature. It is brave to attempt to advance, but the new world being reached is not necessarily a better one.
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