Brave New World is a novel written by Aldous Huxley in 1931, which extrapolates his views on society in a futuristic, dystopian

setting. A social commentary on the direction in which Huxley thought the world was headed at the time, it is now known as one of the more defining examples of dystopian fiction. In Brave New World, there is only one state governing all the people on Earth, know n as the World State. Now that mankind has stopped being separated by nationality and has no more use for war, society has changed to reflect this state of eternal peace. Technological advancement also managed to change some of societys priorities. By the time the events in Brave New World take place, concepts such as social classes, life expectancies, politics, family and other pillars of the society we live in have changed fundamentally and to the point where most of them are relics of the old world, that is, if they are even to be remembered in the first place. Current issues such as natural resource conservation, overpopulation, pollution, etc. have also been dealt with. In many ways, the society of Brave New World is indeed an idealistic society, its citizens living in what many would believe to be an utopia. The main intrigue of the novel consists in the discrepancy between this apparent utopia and the issues that lie beneath it, as well as the manner in which the average Joe chooses to live in this world; not to mention the idea of him having a choice in the first place. Brave New World starts out by giving the reader the basics of this world by offering him a tour of some of its facilities. Quickly, we learn that natural reproduction has long been extinct, and that humans are bread artificially. Given the artificial creation of all humans, racism has been abolished, at least in appearance. However, not all the humans created in this manner are equal; rather, they are split into different castes, each with its own characteristics and functions. The castes are as following: Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Alphas are allowed to develop fully, whereas the other castes are given special treatment which stumps their growth, both physical and intellectual, each up to a certain point. Furthermore, the lower castes are subjected to a process from whence one single ovary can produce up to 1000 new members. Thus, while the Alphas are intelligent, healthy and good looking, the Epsilons will usually be ultimately sub-human. After their birth, each member is subjugated to a process not unlike repeated hypnotism, which teaches each child the values he or she must hold, their self-image, their idea of society, and so on. Slogans which are meant to strengthen the government are told to these children thousands of times until they can think of certain ideas in no other way. Thus, each member of each caste should be completely self-fulfilled with his or her position and standing, getting rid of any cause for rebellion or disapproval one might have. Citizens do not believe the separation between castes to be wrong but rather that the separation between castes is a necessary part of life. The lower castes rarely have enough intelligence to even realize the fact that they are in the low part of society. Thanks to the way in which humans come to be, they rarely have any health issues and live their entire life in full health. Life

expectancy ends at 60, when each person willingly dies in order for society to move on; the population of the world is restricted to 2 million at any given time. Since natural procreation is extinct, so is the concept of family. To further increase emotional independence, recreational sex and drugs are considered a vital part of society, so that humans may satisfy their sexual needs without forming any emotional bonds; of course, having the same sex partner multiple times in a row is heavily frowned upon. Consumerism is encouraged, the citizens all faithfully reciting slogans such as more stitches less riches and ending is better than mending. By continuing to consume, the government is always making a profit and society is always prosperous. The main character of this novel is an Alpha , Bernard, with a slight inferiority complex. His friends believe him to have been accidentally switched with a Beta because he is slightly shorter than the average Alpha, a feature most Betas tend to have. Even worse, Bernard is a psychologist and has studied the methods which indoctrinate the citizens of the state, and thus has started to doubt his own beliefs. Aside from this, Bernard seems to have developed feelings for one of his lady-friends, Lenina, a highly taboo thing to do in Huxleys universe. Berna rd finds solace in discussing his problems with his friend, Helmholtz, who also has a few questions regarding society. However, Helmholtzs issues are a polar opposite of Bernards, his issue being with the fact that he is too perfect. However, in this world, having doubts and uncommon desires is rare, so their common status as an outcast brings them together. The novels main storyline starts when Bernard takes Lenina to a savage preservation, a habitat which is much like todays Indian reservations. Though not a popular vacation resort, the savage reservations pose a curiosity to the World citizens. Lenina is at first excited about the idea, though she is unsurprisingly disgusted by the bad teeth and primitive habits of the savages. What makes the visit truly note-worthy is a woman in the reservation who was unlike the others; she was clearly an Alpha. She had gotten lost during a previous visit, 18 years ago, and had been living in the reservation ever since. She did not blend in with the locals however, as her indoctrinated mind could not abandon her ideals. She was an outcast in the savage community due to her promiscuity and ideals; while they still had families she could not understand why the women would mind her having orgies with their husbands; while others continued procreating naturally, she ended up pregnant and was not allowed to abort the baby, ending up disgusted with herself and being too ashamed to go back to civilization. However, she was now tired of living in the reservation and wanted to go back home. Her son, John, desperately tried to fit in with the savage community, but failed to do so due to his outsider status. At the same time, his mother could not accept him as she has never fathomed the idea of giving birth. Isolated all his life, his one companion was a collection of

Shakespeare plays; quoting one of these plays when talking about the outside world is the name-giver of the novel: O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't. However, life back in the brave new world was not as he had expected; his mother quickly ran to feed her addiction to soma, the states drug, where she overdosed and remained in a drug-induced coma before dying. The people quickly started treating him as a curiosity, and their attempts to befriend him further widened the gap between them. Well-meaning individuals would offer him drugs, or call him to an orgy, and when he refused he was soon deemed mad and became an outcast. He was reunited with his father, and gleefully yelled his name whilst crying of joy, but his father felt nothing but shame and ridicule. John the Savage was disgusted by the civilized world, and the civilized world did not know how to react to John the Savage. He felt grief towards his mothers death, and ang er towards the indifference with which people treated it. He felt embarrassment when Lenina offered him sex, and repulsed that she was doing it because she thought it was normal. He felt angered by the leisure in the civilized world, by their ignorance and by their lack of emotions. The one time he felt accepted during his stay was when he met Helmholtz, one of the few people in the World State who could discuss Shakespeare, a banned author, with him. Caught in the middle was Bernard. Bernard initially thought that John the Savage was the best thing to happen to him, since now he was the center of attention; but once John became disgusted by the parties and stopped attending so did all Bernards newly-found admirers. He felt even more alone when John and Helmholtz befriended one another, and realized that now that Helmholtz found another to share the outcast status with, he would rather spend time with the outcast with which he actually had something in common. Bernard, always thinking of himself as an outcast, was confronted by an even greater outcast and realized that he might not be so different from the rest of the citizens after all. Rather than embrace John the Savage as he was he kept trying to help him integrate, fearful of the strike to his image tha t Johns actions could have. Once John got into fights, he was too afraid to help; he did not want to be a complete outcast after all. To the very end, Bernard kept being a true member of the World State, not wanting to face any repercussions for the sake of his new friend. John is at the center of the novels climax, as he realizes that the brave new world is nothing that he himself can fit it, nor would he desire to do so. Realizing that he has nowhere to call home, and nowhere where he can be accepted for being himself, he proceeds to perform a

religious ritual of the savages; a brutal self-mutilation to help strengthen the character and repent ones mistakes. He had never been allowed to perform this ritual in the reservation, and as expected, he could not carry on with it in the midst of civilization either. Onlookers started gathering around him, not knowing how to react. Strong emotions were something that were no longer felt in that world. Having to face such an incredible sight, they did the only thing they were conditioned to do: they started having an orgy around him. Drugs and sex filled the place where John was to perform his religious ceremony, and John realized that nothing he could do could free him from this trap. The very next day, John realized that there was but one way to escape the world; to kill himself. The real main story of this novel is the inner struggle of the 2 characters John and Bernard, the relief that Helmholtz feels when he is cast out from the world, and the unified response that the members of the World State have to outside factors. Bernard is a middle man, too different to fit in, to desperate to do so despite his previous claims. John is the outside factor, the one that the reader should choose to sympathize with given how he means to represent our current social values. In the end, Brave New World does not outright state that it is a dystopia, nor does it go to length to describe the negative aspects of its world. The reader is left to make his own decision. Perhaps some would enjoy living in this world, concepts we regard as human nature be damned. What makes it stand out as a dystopia is the mere fact that such a world is not hard to imagine. Is it a try of imagination to perceive a world where people are too busy enjoying themselves to notice others suffering? Is it hard to grasp that some prefer being in a drug -induced euphoria than caring for their peers? Is it a stretch to assume that just because people dont have to go through strenuous tasks, that they would stop feeling the need to make any effort? In the end, that is the true question that Huxleys novel poses: arent we prone to becoming what John the Savage despises? Sure, we can be appalled by the indifference with which the hospital staff treats Johns grief, but at the same time ignore the cries for help of the people around us. We can pretend to care, whilst bathing in luxury without so much as a thought given to the poor. Maybe what makes us human isnt the fact that we choose to be human, bu t the fact that we have no other choice. We might not be indoctrinated with slogans and ideals ever since our conception, yet we repeat our own slogans and commonly accepted ideas. We are not artificially separated into castes, yet we treat other ethnicities and races as being inferior. We are not given sub-human Epsilons to take our trash out, but we have poorer members of society do it. If we were given eternal peace and the freedom to do what we want, would we behave differently?