Brave New World begins with the introduction of a futuristic scientific lab. It’s a
what they call a “hatchery,” which shows that they have lost the significance of birth and
that it has taken on a less ceremonial and important role. The workers in the building are
the ones overseeing the creation of life but the description of the surrounding only
implies death. The word wintriness is used and winter is generally associated with the
end of life and activity. Also the gloves of the workers are described as “corpse colored
rubber.” The lights are like the dead. So for a room and building that gives birth to so
many people, it is surrounded by the implications of death. The boys that come to the
centre fiercely examine the words of the director as if everything that comes out of his
mouth is holy. The embryo that our culture considers so precious completely loses its
value in this centre. It is merely an ingredient for laboratory work. This is kind of
connected to our use of stem cells and fetuses. Maybe it could lead to the same loss of
significance. They believe that the mass production of people is good for “social
stability.” They think that if everyone is basically the same that society will be more
uniform and better. They stress the creation of twins because they are obsessed with the
idea of uniformity and a single identity. They are basically applying the principals of
mass production to the creation of humans. Each individual therefore losses their value
and identity. With this mass production they are creating a cheaper labor force. This part
of the story somewhat foreshadows the modern study of cloning. The infants are taught to
avoid certain things. Depending on their place in the social structure, the babies are
allowed to like things and hate other. They are predetermining what the baby’s
preferences are to further improve the efficiency of their work. Because those things might become distractions in the future, they are making sure to avoid those problems.
They are willing to sacrifice the individual for the good of the society. They are all
mindless and created. The only people with thoughts to their own are the original
scientists who are creating these humans. They are basically playing god with the
scientific advances that they had discovered. They decide the future of millions and
create life in their own labs. They chose which person will live to be high class and which
will be the laboring lower class citizens. The caste system that they build is well defined
and their roles and liberties are also set. The lower class does all the work while the upper
class contains more of the intellectuals. But the fact is that as babies the upper class was
allowed more freedom than the lower class. The upper class must have received less
shock treatment. The scare tactics that they use are to discourage the development of the
inquisitive minds. They start using sleep teaching. They teach things to the children while
they are sleeping because they brutally memorize the materials. The only problem they
faced with this is that they know the words but not the ideas. So complex things such as
science cannot be taught this way because they are all conceptual and require the
connecting of ideas. They are just told things that they will remember, but do not require
a deep knowledge. They are convinced that their caste is the best caste to be in. Therefore
in the future there cannot be any revolts. Since they are all comfortable with there
positions in the society they will not feel the need to change. Even the workers are taught
to believe that they would rather do manual labor than actually think. They are told these
sentences over and over again in their sleep so that it can be imprinted in their brains
forever. Somehow in this world, English has become the most dominant language in the
world. Languages like polish have died and are no longer important. This could be because the English people have developed the science of human creation faster. Thus,
there productivity has increased exponentially putting them way ahead of other countries.
The polish people probably fell behind in the development of manufacturing human
labor. Either that or the entire world decided to bond as a harmonious society. They then
decided that it would increase the efficiency if they all spoke one language. It would also
be the most logical choice for unifying such a large area. Even with so many people, they
cannot become powerful together if they have communication problems. Only the most
educated know about the old languages like polish. Some of the students there have not
studies history and do not know some of the languages existed before this extreme
revolution.
Soma is used very often in this story. The characters use it for orgies, for holidays,
and on a regular basis. It makes them feel happy and reduces their senses. The free
thinkers of the society have not been taking soma though. An example is Bernard who
refused to take soma while he was unhappy with the world. At the time he, was
concerned with reforming the society. When he found John and became famous, he
started taking soma, signifying his conformity. Soma is dangerous for John because he is
a person who advocates strict personal discipline. He would lose control with the
consumption of soma. Soma is also an escape from reality. Many of the characters take
soma to escape what is happening around them. Linda took it to get away from the world
that was shunning her because of her looks. It is needed to do activities that are normally
obscene such as orgies.
The book says that there is no longer any religion in the new world, but people
seem to have replaced God with “Ford.” They say things like “thank Ford!” and “Oh Ford.” They society reveres him because he started an industrial revolution. They ditched
religion and replaced it with a worship of technological advancement. There is a division
in the new world for class predestination. This is very similar to John Calvin’s teachings
that God, from the beginning of time, already decided who would be saved and damned.
The scientific studies have a very similar effect. In the lab, the scientists ultimately
predestine the rest of your life. This is a symbol that the new world scientists are playing
god. In taking God from their lives, they have established themselves as the highest
authority on human lives. The only person who does not say Ford is John. This shows a
deep clash in civilizations and between old and new. John represents a society that was
once deeply religious he encounters a world that has lost its religion. John is somewhat of
a Christ like figure in this novel. Starting from his birth he is different from the others. He
had a preposterous birth from a normal mother. In the new world this would be as
miraculous as a virgin birth. It also describes him trying the crucifix upon himself to see
what it felt like. He is also the only pure person in a society that has been changed by
technological advancement. He fights his material and sexual urges while the others do
not. His death is also the result of persecution from the masses. His suicide can be
interpreted in different ways. During his stay at the lighthouse, he tries his hardest to be
as pure as possible. He starts to whip himself and throws himself into thorns for wanting
Lenina. He killed himself because he momentarily fell into the world he tried so hard to
stay away from. His purity was broken at the orgy and he gave into the lust he had for
Lenina.
Bernard from the start of the novel seems to be the protagonist and hero but he
starts to have a major fallout. Up until he went to the savage reservation, Bernard was focused on the possible reforms of the new world. He seemed like the person to bring
about change because he was so different than the others. But after his discovery of John,
and the threat of a demotion, Bernard began to change. With his fame, people started to
accept Bernard. He was a person that in the beginning, believed that he did not need the
others and was content y himself. Now that he was accepted, he found he loved it. He
started taking soma and used women frequently. He used John as a tool for fame and
acceptance. This also shows how strong the masses are and the human tendency to group
together. Bernard becomes a foil to John. Bernard could not resist the women, soma, and
limelight. But, John resisted Lenina, the soma, and tried to stay away from the media
hordes. When he lost his power, he was not the same person. He did not blame himself
but his friends. In the end, he did nothing to save John and instead tried to leave him
when the police came.
The story focuses a lot on the banning of Shakespeare and religion. These are
both things that make up the character of John. Although Mustapha Mond has those texts
banned, he can read them himself. In the case of Shakespeare, Mond cannot let the people
read it because, they would not understand and because it is old. In order to produce
stability, he needs a dumber class of people. He is saying that they would not be able to
understand. It also seemed to influence the thoughts of John and Helmholtz. Helmholtz is
inspired by the writings, and realizes that the propaganda techniques do not come close to
the skill of Shakespeare. It is also now evident that there was a great drop in the
intelligence of the average person. Even if Helmholtz is considered, “too qualified,” he
can only write useless, childlike rhymes. They government banned Shakespeare because
it could touch the emotions of people. If intelligent writers could do that, then a revolt could ensue. The stories of Shakespeare have conflict with the society in the new world.
Where Shakespeare writes about love, passion, and longing, those ideas do not exist any
more. If you want someone, you can just take them. There is no real emotional
connection or long term relationships. Bernard and John both wanted to love Lenina, but
she always just thought of herself,” as a piece of meat.” Because John was not
conditioned, he felt a strong bond with his mother. The people of the Death hospital
could not understand why he was so distressed about the death of another person. They
think of it as a good thing because their body will be reused to benefit the earth. Each
individual has almost no value. Every living person is there to benefit the society as a
whole. Their main concern is efficiency. They are not even careful about the process of
birth. When Lenina messed up, in twenty-two years that person will die. But it does not
matter because they can just make more people to replace him. All the people are taught
that everyone lives for everyone else. Because John was not brainwashed as a child, he
could have an unbiased view on the new world. He quickly was the corruption of a small
group of people who were controlling the masses. In this world biology and psychology
seem to be the most important things. Without religion, people never contemplated why
they lived and their individual value. They are so blinded by their material happiness
