Literature Analysis: Brave New World

1.      Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, is a dystopian novel.  It details a world in the future where the government (centered in London) has complete control over the willing population, allowing the creation of a “perfect” society.  People are no longer born; they are cloned.  During the decanting process, a variety of chemicals and procedures are applied to the developing clone vials that influence the social role they are “predestined” to have in society.  From most the least intelligent, clones can be Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, or Epsilons, with a plus or minus further indicating intelligence gradation.  Each of these social classes have different jobs to do, and are conditioned to enjoy it.  The key aspect of the dystopia in Brave New World is that the inhabitants are not oppressed.  They very willingly abide by what they perceive as the social norm.  The core of the plot surrounds Bernard, an Alpha plus who, due to some defect in decanting, has the physique and looks of a lower class.  Eventually, he befriends John, the Savage, while visiting the “savages” (lands deemed useless for development, and so given to Native Americans).  Bringing the Savage back to London, he sparks a craze.  Over time, John’s upbringing in a more traditional family environment as well as Shakespearean education make him disgusted with the abject hedonism of this “brave new world” (used sarcastically).  By the end of the novel, John leaves civilization, living as an ascetic in an abandoned lighthouse.  However, his isolation only serves to pique the public’s interest, and he once again becomes the subject of mass-marketed entertainment.  Sickened after a moment of personal failure, John hangs himself.

2.      The theme of the novel is that adversity is more desirable than complacent pleasure.  In the story, characters frequently consume tablets of soma, a drug that can cause anything from a slightly increased mood to a full on drug-induced coma depending on the amount taken.  Anytime citizens encounter a stressful situation, they simply step out and take soma, avoiding the problem altogether.  Through this, they sacrifice presence of mind and individual will for blissful oblivion.  The Savage most succinctly states the theme during the novel’s climax: “All right then.  I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.”  Huxley suggests free will does not just mean the freedom to do what is satisfying—the entire idea of independent thought is obsolete if it is one-sided.

3.      For much of the book, Huxley’s tone is one of detached disappointment.  He obviously views the happiness-obsessed society poorly, but shares his views from a step away, due to the contradictory nature of a dystopia.  His criticisms of society are always delivered in a deadpan fashion.  “But in Epsilons, we don’t need human intelligence.”  However, at very specific points, the tone switches suddenly to heroic and frenzied (usually only when referring to the Savage, however).  For example, “’But I don’t want comfort.  I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness.  I want sin.’”  Or, “’Free, free!’ the Savage shouted, and with one hand continued to throw the soma into the area while, with the other, he punched the indistinguishable faces of his assailants. ‘Free...Men at last!’”

4.      Satire:  Satire is doubtlessly the most prominent literary element in the novel.  The entire premise for the plot is a criticism of values that Huxley observed society of his time was heading towards.  An example of this is the obsession with efficiency, represented by the society’s idolization of Henry Ford, creator of the assembly line.  “Cleanliness is next to fordliness,” is one of the essential lessons of hygiene.  Similarly, Huxley sarcastically addresses consumerism.  “Imagine the folly of allowing people to play elaborate games which do nothing whatever to increase consumption.  It’s madness.  Nowadays the Controllers won’t approve of any new game unless it can be shown that it requires at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games.”  Scattered throughout are slogans that characters spout to justify actions—ludicrous to an outsider, but normal to them.  “A gramme [of soma] is better than a damn,” “Mending is better the more stitches, the less riches.”

Allusion:  There are a few examples of allusion in the novel.  As previously mentioned, many of the slogans implanted on the citizens minds are corrupted versions of things said in society today.  More examples are: “A gramme in time saves nine,” or, “A doctor a day keeps the jim-jams away.”  The Savage makes numerous references to Shakespeare.  “Outliving beauty’s outward with a mind that doth renew swifter than blood decays.”  The title itself is an allusion to Shakespeare.  “O brave new world that has such people in it.  Let’s start at once.”

Dark Humor: Going hand in hand with Huxley’s satire is his use of dark humor to carry it across.  Situations in the book are humorous because of the social implications, not because of inherent comedy.  One character, who is among the more open-minded in the story, cannot help but laugh when told of Tybalt’s death in Romeo and Juliet.  After all, “the reference to Tybalt dead, but evidently uncremated and wasting his phosphorous on a dim monument, were too much for him.”  Early in the story, a character responds to hearing a comment during a helicopter ride about a switchback.  “Do you know what that switchback was?  It was some human being finally and definitely disappearing.  Going up in a squirt of hot gas.”  At the story’s climax, Huxley does not drop his attack on consumerism.  With tension mounting, man exclaims, “Have a few magnesium-salted almonds.  They’re really very good, you know.  And the magnesium slats will help keep you young.”  At the height of the story, with violence about to break out, the man’s salesmanship is both hilarious and depression.

Repetition:  Repetition is an important part of both the story and the literature itself.  In the novel’s universe, developing youths undergo sleep learning, in which a phrase is repeated multiple times, imprinted onto their brain.  “They’ll have that repeated forty or fifty times more before they wake; then again on Thursday, and again on Saturday.  A hundred and twenty times three times a week for thirty months.  After which they go on to a more advanced lesson.”  Huxley uses repetition in his own writing, typically to drive home the importance of a phrase or emphasize distortion of time.  “Drop, drop, drop.  To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow…”  The most significant instance of repetition is found in the last few pages, as the mob gathering outside of the Savage’s lighthouse chant, “We—want—the whip!” over and over again.  The painfully ironic aspect of this is that the whip, to the Savage represents self cleansing, purification from the corruption of society.

Symbolism:  Brave New World is ripe with symbolism.  Soma represents the will to live for present happiness alone: “Was and will make me ill, I take a gramme [of soma] and only am.”  Even Romeo and Juliet is used to symbolize a normal society.  “The Savage was reading Romeo and Juliet aloud—reading (for a all the time he was seeing himself as Romeo and Lenina as Juliet)…”  Most striking is the symbolism of the whip—the “right to be unhappy.”  This is seen evidently in “’Strumpet!  Strumpet!” he shouted at every blow as though it were Lenina (and how frantically, without knowing it, he wished it were).”