Brave New World

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley

"What man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder."

This past weekend I read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.  It was on my list of books to read, but I had never actually heard anything about it. It is about a new society based on Ford's assembly line. It reminded me a lot of Orwell's 1984, which was my first distopian novel. Huxley clearly sets the stage for his novel and establishes the rules for this community. I completely understood the setting and became acquainted with the society.  In Brave New World, humans do not love, get married, or have children.  Babies are made in factories and raised in group homes.  They are created by caste, with a certain purpose, role, and even general personality or lifestyle associated with each caste. They purposefully create the Alphas to be superior to the other castes, which reach as low as Epsilons, who they create at a disadvantage, so as they will be content with their lives and their work. The people are not identified by themselves individually, but as members of their caste.

The problem with this society, which Huxley was obviously addressing,is that they are creating people to be content in their distinct situations, but they cannot be content because there is no opposition in their lives. They can never be truly happy because they have never truly known sorrow. The government attempts to circumvent this as they promote promiscuity, "everyone belongs to everyone else," and drug use, the soma, which places the user in an alternate state of being. There is no love, and although the society is conditioned to not need it, they still feel an emptiness.  They try to fill this with sexual relations and the soma, but it is not enough. I feel that Brave New World is a reflection of Huxley's time (written in '31), and the fears of the changes by society, but also the need to create a stable society.  With a stable society based around Ford's assembly line, we lose what makes us human and I believe that is the point Huxley is trying to make.

I was frustrated with the ending, however, because I felt as though nothing had changed despite the efforts of the characters in the novel.  But perhaps the change comes afterwards? This is why I look forward to reading The Island, the third alternative Huxley would have chosen to offer the savage, so I can see a proposed alternative, which is also the option offered to those for whom the traditional society does not work.

Brave New World was well written and has a nice storyline, and I do enjoy distopian novels, but because of the purposeful flatness of the characters, I did not create a real bond with the characters and, hence, the story. But I do feel Huxley's point was achieved, an that is the most important thing.