FREE ESSAY ON BRAVE NEW WORLD

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Book Report of 'Brave New World'
By Michael Tillman
Theme:
The theme of Brave New World is freedom and how people want it. The people want poetry,
danger, good and bad things. This novel shows that when you must give up religion, high
art, true science, family, love and other foundations of modern life in place of a sort
of unending happiness, it is not worth the sacrifice. These are all also distinguishing
marks between humans and animals that were abolished here. In exchange, they received
stability with no wars, social unrest, no poverty or disease or any other infirmities or
discomforts. However, they only live with an artificial happiness, which they have been
brainwashed to love since infancy. There is no marriage, no violence or no sadness which
may result in an unstable society which would threaten the totalitarian government. But
the majority of the people don't realize what they are missing as it's never been there.
It's a society in which the human being only serves a sociological and scientifical
purpose; the individual thought is overruled by one big autocratic state. Huxley is also
telling us to be careful with our science, or we may end up like the Utopians, mass
producing identical citizens, then brainwashing them to think alike and to think exactly
what the government mandates. 
Exposition: 
In the first scene we are introduced to the futuristic world of London and how the babies
are conditioned and categorized from birth. Then we meet some of the main characters,
Bernard and Lenina who are both Alpha Plus status. It is foreshadowed that the two are
going to make a trip to a Savage Reservation in New Mexico for vacation.
Complications:
Before Bernard and Lenina leave for the savage camp Bernard is warned by the D.H.C. that
if he misbehaves outside of working hours again he would be sent to exile in Iceland.
Bernard quickly develops feelings for Lenina and wants to have her for himself but in
their society everyone is everybody's and therefore love cannot exist. Once in the savage
reservation Lenina is disgusted with how the people act and look. They meet Linda Savage
and her son John. They discover that John is the son of the Director and convinces him
and John's mother to return to the civilized world with them. John also falls in love
with the beautiful Lenina but is ashamed to admit it. Once back in London, Bernard is
faced with disgrace, for the director publicly accused him of unorthodox behavior, which
is a great crime. Bernard introduces Linda and John as a counteract and the truth of the
Director's baby is announced. The director immediately resigns and disappears, as this
was very embarrassing. As a result, Bernard is saved from being exiled. John soon becomes
an attraction, with which Bernard lures popular people to meet his discovery. The people
come eagerly, although they didn't exactly come to meet Bernard, who they still consider
a strange 'mistake'. Bernard's friend Helmholtz becomes a good friend with John and they
share literature with each other. The ideas John had about civilization are shattered by
the lack of culture and humanity, all of which Shakespeare had taught him the value. His
love for Lenina mostly disappears when she rudely offers herself to him. He wanted her
for himself, and he wanted to conquer her as a lover. He had gotten his ideas of love
from reading 'Romeo and Juliet' and flees from her in terror when she throws herself onto
him. Linda, John's mother, is a little too overwhelmed with what she has been missing and
she overdoses on 'soma'. In the hospital John is enraged by the lack of humanity, for
they show 'their children' the dead, to prepare them for their own death. John starts a
mutiny among the workers about their weekly amount of soma, but the crowd cools down when
becomes clear that they won't get any if they don't stop. He is arrested and led before
the great Mustapha Mond where they argue over humanity and other issues. Tests are done
on John and he is eventually set free. He leaves London, to pick up his old way of life
again, outside in the country. 
Climax:
Inside his new home John whips himself trying to forget his love for Lenina and sins he
has committed. But passing citizens witness this fascinating act John is doing to
himself. During one of his whipping sessions he is taped and photographed by a hidden
reporter in the bushes. A movie is released of John beating himself and this causes
people to start hitting each other. Soon swarms of people come to witness the savage and
begin chanting that they want to see the whip in action. John takes the whip and walks
toward the crowd furious just wanting to be left in peace.
Resolution:
The resolution comes when Lenina is lowered from a helicopter and urges John to come to
her. John in his rage and with the crowd screaming we want the whip charges her like a
madman and beats her to death with the whip. He then takes 'soma' and falls into a deep
state of mind. When he awakens from his 'soma holiday' he realizes what he has done and
hangs himself.
Characterization:
Protagonist:
John Savage is the main character of Brave New World. He was born and raised in the
Savage Reservation in New Mexico. However, his real father was the Director of the
Central London Hatchery and Conditioning. He believes strongly in individual freedom and
dispsises the civilized world and everything it stands for. John is used by Bernard to
get attention and respect from his fellow alphas. He is not a dynamic character as he
refuses to live under the rules of the civilized world. 
Antagonist:
The opposing factor is the totalitarian state that rules every aspect of people's lives.
It's a state in which people's futures are decided and planned even before they are born
in their cloned groups. There is no space for free speech, emotion, family, and everyone
is happy through 'soma', which gets rid of their bad thoughts and depression. They obtain
control over people's minds by brainwashing them as infants. One might be led to believe
that this society is a perfect place to live, since all the inhabitants are eternally
happy. However, even Utopia has problems such as racism, imperfection or indifference.
This is shown by the way that Bernard is looked down upon because of his physical
appearance.
Minor Characters:
Bernard Marx is an Alpha-plus but due to a mistake in which alcohol was added to his test
tube he is physically impaired. He is looked on upon as an outcast as a result of his
difference. He is important to the novel because he introduces John to the civilized
world, which brings the conflict to the story. He feels that something is missing and
longs to be free and think for himself. He adores Lenina, a female worker on the same
plant, in an old fashioned way, and wants her for himself. 
Lenina Crowne is a young beautiful girl and also an alpha-plus psychologist. However, she
believes in the way that she has been conditioned and cannot think for herself as a
result. She is happy and is a perfect example of an alpha-plus. She falls in love with
John but because she has an open mind towards sex, scares him away. 
Helmholtz Watson plays a small part in the story. He also dislikes the Utopian
civilization. The problem with him is they let they him get too smart. That led him to
want a better life, a dream he felt was unobtainable in Utopia. He was one of the few
people that understood John and had similar interests in literature. He is also
classified as an alpha-plus.
Setting:
The novel is situated around six hundred thirty-two years after Ford released the T-Model
automobile, or around 2535. Ford has become somewhat of a God. It is essential to the
theme that it be placed in the future because of the advancement in technology and
science. Without these progressions the Utopian Society could not have been created. 
Diction:
I thought that Aldous Huxley's style was good and easy to understand and follow. He used
descriptive words when they were needed. They gave you the illusion of being in a
futuristic world. The beginning is filled with technological information mixed in with
the description of the world. The word Ford is often used instead of God and obscenities.

Method of Narration:
The novel is written in 3rd person omniscient and Huxley frequently uses characters to
portray his thoughts about the Utopian Society.
Bibliography
Author:
Aldous Huxley was born in 1894, and died in 1963, the same day JFK was assassinated. He
first went to Eton, and then to Oxford. He was a brilliant man, and became a successful
writer of short stories in the twenties and thirties. The first novels he wrote were
comments on the young generation, with no goal whatsoever, that lived after WW I. Before
he became a writer; he worked as a journalist and a critic of drama. Other books of his
include Antic Hay, Time Must Have a Stop and Island. Next to novels, essays and short
stories he also wrote poems, biographies, plays, political books, and even a record of
his experiments with drugs.