Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Review by Aditi Namputhiripad, 10

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"Brave New World," by Aldous Huxley, is a book written in 1932, depicting a dystopian future in which all of humanity, save one "savage tribe," seems to live in complete happiness and satisfaction. This world is called the "World State," where there is no human birth, rather, people are "produced" in factories that separate human beings into classes, the top class being the strongest and most intelligent, while the bottom class being restricted to menial work within their life. Within this factory, children are taught to hate books and flowers, and rather only partake in activities that please them. The basis of this world is built of the indoctrination of people from birth to believe that they can have whatever they want, but through the same indoctrination, brainwash people into not wanting that which they cannot have. The first character that we meet in the story is Bernard Marx. He is a member of the top class of society, working in the factory for human growth. His specialty within this factory is sleep-learning, where human beings are subconsciously taught how to think from whispers in their sleep. Bernard, being unhappy with his life, decides to take a trip to the savage reservation with a woman named Lenina Crowe. The Director of the factory warns against this trip, stating that he once took a woman to the reservation, and never saw her again. Here he meets John, a fair-skinned man that who clearly does not hail from the reservation. John is the son of a woman named Linda, who is from the World State. Bernard and Lenina bring John back to the World State, where John becomes something of a celebrity, as the people of this state had never seen someone from the reservation before. The Director of the Factory, meanwhile, is looking for a reason to fire Bernard, but decides against it, and quits his job when Bernard publicly confronts him with the idea that if Linda is the woman he brought to the reservation, then John must be their son. The Director, ashamed and ridiculed at the idea of having a son, steps down from his position. Bernard too becomes something of a celebrity, being known as the "owner" of the savage. However, John, realizing that this world is devoid of meaningful human connection, art, and expression, finds that he cannot be happy here. He leaves for a lighthouse, where he punishes himself for ever having taken part in this terrible world. The people of the World State, however, find him, and John becomes caught in the intensity of the situation, thereby going against his resolution to join the society that he condemned.  Ashamed that he partook in the ignorant pursuit of pleasure by the citizens of the World State society, he hangs himself. 

"Brave New World," rather than showing human nature itself, shows the suppression of all other human nature for the pursuit of one specific human instinct: happiness. This pursuit is shown to be excessive, where people live to please themselves, and do not think of anything else. John, being raised on the "savage" reservation, represents the more "human" form of humanity, showcasing and pursuing all forms of human nature, and in moderation. Huxley uses this book to satirize the excessive pursuit of happiness. In this world, people are ignorant, and if they are ever to feel unhappy, they must simply take soma, a drug of the future that allows its users to enter dream-like states, without the downfalls of the drugs of the modern-day. People simply follow their first and foremost instinct for happiness and selfishness, disregarding others, and focusing simply on themselves. They do not stimulate their minds in meaningful ways, such as reading or art, and simply follow their desires. The book, through satire, then shows how this is inhuman, and that humanity within people does not lie simply within their most primal instincts and wants, but through everything that they can achieve through life. The people of the World State are inhuman, perhaps being the actual "savages" of the tale. When John's mother dies, he laments at the hospital, then observes that no one else feels this way about dead people. As there are no concepts of family, due to everyone being produced, and everyone solely acting for themselves, no one can form meaningful connections, once again, showing the inhumanity of their actions, as opposed to John, who is in deep sorrow as to the death of his mother. Because of this lack of connection, people can be detached and happy, but this makes them utterly inhuman. John is the representation that within human nature, we are privy to a vast variety of emotions, thoughts, and feelings, and to take those away is to take away our humanity. This can be contrasted to when the Director of the factory is ashamed that he could ever have a son, as the concept of family not only does not exist in this society but is even ridiculed. Meaningful human connection is then shown by Huxley to be another trait that makes utterly humans, yet is once again stifled by the World State. Yet another example of this is when John seeks to form a meaningful relationship with Lenina Crowe, a woman that he finds himself attracted to, but Lenina herself, a citizen of the World State, wonders why his feelings are not simply limited to lust. The reason for this stifling of simple human nature is summarized by one of the controllers of the World State; Mustapha Mond. He states life is a choice between humanity or happiness, and that in this case, happiness is much more important than humanity. This happiness provides stability and joy to the populations, whereas things such as humanity and truth will just get in the way of the consumerist society that they have built. This is a satirical way for Huxley to point out to the audience that simply indulging ourselves all the time and giving in to mass consumerism drives us away from our humanity, and that we should be wary of these things. In the end, this book is a warning for what mankind could become if we were to slowly lose our humanity to an instinctual search for immediate gratification. 

Overall, Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" shows a society that we could very well become if we were to lose out own humanity. It presents a world in which humanity has been lost, thereby showing us what key traits make us human beings. Without all the parts of our inherent human nature, we may all very well become like this dystopian world, imprisoned and caged by society, but ignorantly happy about it.