Number of pages: 195 (actual book excluding foreword (1946))
First year of publication: 1932

Outline of the story (background information: setting)

The Brave New World begins with a tour of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne, two employees at the Centre, take a trip to the reservation in New Mexico, the only place where modern civilization isn’t a fact of life. When they go back to the ‘civilized’ world they take Linda and her son John with them. Linda had been left there after becoming pregnant (which in modern civilization wasn’t done). During the book John starts hating the so-called civilization of the New World, which eventually leads to John hanging himself.

Main characters

Bernard Marx: Bernard is an outcast in the Fordian civilization. He’s an alpha plus, but he’s too short for an alpha plus. He’s more individually minded then other people in the New World. He loves one woman with passion, Lenina, which goes against basic principals of the World Society (“everyone belongs to everyone”). Passion is a term unfamiliar to the people of the New World. Bernard isn’t very popular with women,due to his height and strange (individualistic) behavior. He likes being alone, which is another thing that is disapproved of. Rumors travel around that they put too much alcohol in Bernard’s test tube in the Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. This is given as an explanation of Bernard’s shortness and ‘strange’ behavior’

Lenina Crowne: Lenina is a well conditioned member of the World Society. She knows all the hypnopaedic (conditioning while sleeping) messages by heart. She is a perfectly normal beta woman except for the fact that she falls in love with John Savage, which is quite unusual (falling in love). But her love for him is of a purely physical nature. She’s also a bit attracted to Bernard.

John Savage: John is Linda’s and the Director of Hatchery’s son. Linda is a woman who was brought up in the World Society but was left in the reservation after getting pregnant with John. The Director of Hatchery is the father, but he leaves Linda stranded in the reservation. He does this because natural birth and parenthood are unaccepted in the World Society, because “they cause love and love undermines stability” (The World Society’s motto is Community, Identity, Stability). So John has been brought up on the reservation, which is totally different from ‘normal’ society. John thinks love, individuality, passion, knowledge, heroism etc. are important. In the World Society these things are despised because they undermine stability. John can’t handle the change from his world to the Brave New World.

Helmotz Watson: Helmotz Watson is an alpha. Alpha’s are conditioned to be the smartest people. He’s the only one who really understands John’s hatred against modern civilization. Helmotz is Bernard’s friend and also becomes friends with John. In the end he too condemns modern civilization.

Linda: Linda’s John’s mother. She was brought up in modern civilization, but she spent part of her life in the reservation where she had John. She had always wanted to return to the civilization that she was conditioned to like. Her enthusiastic stories also made John enthusiastic for going there. That’s why John called it “Brave New World” (a quote from Shakespeare’s The Tempest).

Setting
The book is set in 632 After Ford (A.F. 632) in the World Society. Ford is thought of as the founder of the World Society.
Henry Ford made the first cars meant for everybody (the Model-T ford) The year A.F. 632 is 632 years after Ford released the first Model-T Ford. The World Society is a society in which people are being mass-produced and conditioned. Five types of people (alphas through epsilons) are being produced, differing in intelligence. The people are conditioned in such a way that they will not cause instability. All factors of instability have been eliminated. Among these factors are love, passion, individualism and unhappiness. People just do their job and get their soma (soma is a drug which makes people take a happy holiday). Because of their conditioning and because of soma the people are happy. They don’t have a need for change. They are content with this stable society.
The story is set in London and the reservation in New Mexico.


Style and structure
Structure: The book is written chronologically. The author makes use of flashbacks here and there but not too often. The book consists of eighteen chapters. The author sometimes switches from one story-line to another within a chapter.
Style: The style of writing used is quite complicated and hard to follow at some points, but it is also very enjoyable to read. It’s a great literary piece of work.

Theme
The theme of the book is scientific progress. More specifically that scientific progress does not always lead to a better society. The book shows a society which is not very appealing. It can also be considered a warning.

Selected passage

Page 174:
“The Savage shook his head.’It all seems to me quite horrible.’ ‘Of course it does. Actual happiness always look pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And of course, stability isn’t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.’”
I’ve chosen this passage because it shows whereupon the New Society is built. It’s one of the first rational explanations of the way the World Society works. The passage really made me think about the good sides of the World Society. That’s what I liked about this passage. It made me think.


Things I like in the story
The author has created a whole new society:
I like books that are futuristic and take place in a world unlike ours. This preference doesn’t only apply to books but also to movies and videogames (this doesn’t mean that I don’t like other books).
Brave New World has these aspects in it.

The book makes you think:
Brave New World is a book that you will remember because the story invites you to think about the writer’s message. I believe in the importance of scientific progress but the book also makes you think about the drawbacks of that same scientific progress. So the book really has an effect on you, which is one of the things I really liked about the book.

The story is written sarcastically at some points:
This is something that you notice throughout the book. Huxley ridicules things that in our society are thought of as normal by making them thought of as barbaric in a future society. A good example is when Helmhotz Watson made fun of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” after John had read it to him, even though Helmotz agrees with John that there are many flaws in the “Brave New World’s” society.
This is even to ‘primitive’ for him. This use of sarcasm is very amusing.


I liked the controller character Mustapha Mond (not one of the main characters):
Mustapha Mond is one of the most important men in the ‘World Society’. He’s one of the controllers.
Although he considered himself a scientist once, he has made the choice of living by the standards that are upheld by the ‘World Society’. In that society science is only used to keep society running and for short-term projects that are absolutely necessary for the survival of the ‘World Society’. The Mustapha Mond character is so interesting because he’s an intellectual who has analyzed society thoroughly and he is aware of all the drawbacks but he’s still willing to serve this society. He understands John’s problems with society, but he is still able to defend society. Mustapha Mond makes the reader understand the ‘World Society’ a lot better and that’s what I liked about the character.

The great way the contrast between the two civilizations is presented:
The book begins with daily life in London A.F. 632 (Brave New World). Bernard and Lenina then go on holiday to the reservation in New-Mexico (small society in which aspects of our society but mostly older societies are combined). This change of scenery shows a dramatic contrast. That contrast plays a big part in “Brave New World”,  so it’s important that you are aware of this contrast. That is done in a great way by the change of scenery.

The scientific part of the story:
I like science and the book features a society which would not have been possible without the use of science. Also because I like science I also find it very interesting to see what the world could be like in the future. Another nice detail is that Huxley writes about techniques that weren’t yet possible at the time that he wrote the book. A lot of those techniques are possible today, which makes the society featured in the book look a lot closer.

Things I dislike in the story
A lot of Shakespeare quotes are used:
the book is not easy to read and the use of many Shakespeare quotes doesn’t make it any easier. The quotes probably mean a lot more to people who have read the actual Shakespeare plays from which they are taken.
A happy end would have been nice...:
Happy ends leave you with a good feeling after reading a book. That’s why I think a happy end would have been nice instead of the most important character killing himself. More info: The ending.

My opinion of the book

I think “Brave New World” is a great book. The English used is quite hard to follow at times, but that didn’t lessen the pleasure I had in reading the book. The book really makes you think and the story is unlike any other story. That’s why this book really stands out. The situations featured in the book are totally different from reality in our society and that’s something that interests me very much and that I miss in a lot of other books. There are books in which nothing happens except for someone dealing with a psychological problem of some sort. I don’t mind thinking about a book, but some action is required to keep me from dozing off. “Brave New World” has both aspects. “Brave New World” is probably the best book I have ever read. I found it a lot more entertaining then other (Dutch) books that I’ve read.

The ending
The ending is pretty dramatic. John wants to live outside of modern ‘civilization’ but he isn’t left alone by the members of that civilization that he’s trying to avoid. He is made a celebrity,but this attention is unwanted. In the end John can’t take it anymore and he commits suicide. Although I like happy endings I don’t think this book could have had a more suitable end. So I wouldn’t have written a different end. The last paragraph is written in a brilliant way:
“‘Mr Savage!’
Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right: north, north-east, east, south-east, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east...”
I wouldn’t change a word of the last paragraph. I think one purpose of this end is making you think. A happy end wouldn’t have had that effect.

What have I discovered or learned from this story?
I’ve learned that scientific progress is something we should be very careful with. We shouldn’t avoid it, but we do have to seriously think about the way we use science. Science is such a powerful thing that misuse can have dramatic consequences (like in the book). That’s why I don’t think you can have enough ethical discussions about certain ways of using certain technologies (like cloning). However these discussions shouldn’t hold back scientific progress.
I’ve also learned a few things about the way societies can be built up, because the book is mainly about someone who is confronted with another society which is totally different from his own.

Another thing that I’ve learned is to appreciate literature more. I had no problem with motivating myself to read this book because it’s just a great book. This was the best experience that I’ve had with literature so far.