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Brave New World is a 1932 dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley. The book anticipates developments in reproductive technology, eugenics and mind control that combine to change society beyond recognition. It is Huxley's most famous and enduring novel.
The term brave new world is also used in print media when refering to a plan of action that may have undesired or negative outcomes. For example:
Set in the future, it describes a dystopian society of Huxley's imagination. In this society people are "decanted" into a chemically-enforced and totally conformist caste society. Children are engineered in fertility clinics and artificially gestated. The three lower castes are manufactured in groups of up to 96 clones, and they are chemically stunted and/or deprived of oxygen during their maturation process to control their intelligence level and physical development.
The Alpha caste consists of those destined for leadership positions, with Betas filling professional and administrative posts requiring higher education, but without the leadership responsibilities of the Alphas. These two groups together form the upper castes, with Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons comprising the lower castes, each with a descending degree of intelligence (Epsilons being so stupid as to be described as "semi-morons", and trained to perform the most menial tasks without complaint). People are thus manufactured to fill their jobs, rather than jobs being created for people. Within these classes are sub-groups, plus or minus, which further determines their roles in society (every possible combination appears at least once in the text, with the exception of Delta-Plus). Members of each caste also wear uniforms, the color of which identified which caste they belonged to. Alphas wear grey, Betas mulberry, Gammas green, Deltas khaki, and Epsilons black.
From birth, members of every class are indoctrinated, by recorded voices repeating slogans while they sleep, to believe that their own is the best class to be in. Any residual unhappiness is resolved by an anti-depressant and somewhat hallucinogenic drug called somaSoma is a ritual drink of importance in ancient proto- Hindu- Vedic (in India) and Persian culture (cf. the Sumble of Germanic culture). It is regularly mentioned in the Vedic scriptures, which contain many hymns praising its energising and intoxicating q.
Contrary to what modern readers would expect, the biological techniques used to control the populace in Brave New World do not include genetic engineeringGenetic engineering genetic modification GM , and gene splicing (once in widespread use but now deprecated) are terms for the process of manipulating genes in an organism, usually outside of the organism's normal reproductive process. It often involves th. Huxley wrote the book in 1932, twenty years before WatsonJames Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he enrolled at the age of 15, earned a B. in Zoology at the University of Chicago in 1947 and a Ph. in Zoology at Indiana Un and CrickFrancis Harry Compton Crick OM ( June 8, 1916 July 28, 2004) was one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. Born in Northampton, England, he studied physics at University College London, and became a B. During World War II, he worked on discovered the structure of DNADeoxyribonucleic acid DNA is a nucleic acid which carries genetic instructions for the biological development of all cellular forms of life and many viruses. DNA is sometimes referred to as the molecule of heredity as it is inherited and used to propagate. As the science writer Matt RidleyMatt (Matthew) Ridley (born February 7, 1958 at Newcastle upon Tyne) is a British science writer. He received a doctorate in zoology from the University of Oxford before commencing a career in science journalism. He worked as a science correspondent for T put it, Brave New World describes an "environmental, not a genetic, hell".
Citizens have no awareness of history except for a vague idea of how terrible things were before the inception of the present society. They know that humans used to be viviparous and what parents and birth were, but these concepts are taboo, and "mother" and "father" are this society's equivalent of dirty words.
However, perhaps the most striking element of the society is the behaviour of its citizens. The lower castes, being cloned and conditioned from birth, exhibit a strong group mentality. Even the more individualistic higher castes, who are also conditioned during infancy and childhood, happily accept the strict social mores. Normal behaviour is to be highly sociable, engage in promiscuous sexual activity, avoid negative thoughts and feelings by regular consumption of soma, practise sports and, in general, be good consumers. This is reinforced in the novel by the characters' frequent repetition of tag-lines from their conditioning such as: "Everyone belongs to everyone" and "A gramme is better than a damn" (referring to soma). It is socially unacceptable to spend time alone, to be monogamous, to refuse to take soma, and to express opinions which conflict with those taught during conditioning.
In the first half of the novel, the two characters of Lenina Crowne and Bernard Marx (their name allude to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and founder of communism Karl Marx) present contrasting viewpoints of this society. Lenina is the perfect (female) citizen, happy and 'pneumatic', conformist in her behaviour, fulfilling her function in society (which seems to be to sleep with as many men as possible) but largely incapable of free thought (she does not even recognise her love for the "Savage" as this conflicts with her conditioning). In contrast, Bernard is something of an outsider; intellectually gifted but physically smaller than is typical for an Alpha, he faces (or at least believes he faces) social problems including rejection by women of his caste and lack of respect from lower castes. As a result, he has become a loner and a social misfit, embarrassed when trying to set up dates with women, uninterested in sports, preferring to be miserable rather than take soma, and often expressing non-conformist opinions. Bernard's unacceptable behaviour lands him in trouble with his boss, the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning. But nevertheless, Bernard secures his permission to visit the savage reservation in New Mexico to where he takes Lenina on a date.
The second half of the novel begins with the visit to the reservation. It is here that the other main protagonist of the novel is introduced. John is the son of two citizens of the Brave New World (he is the result of an accidental contraception failure). His parents (we soon learn that his father is Bernard's boss) were visiting the savage reservation when his mother got lost; she was stranded inside the reservation and gave birth to him there. He grew up with the lifestyle of the Zuni Native American tribe and a religion that is a blend of Zuni and Christian beliefs. However, he is also influenced by his mother's education (she taught him to read) and by his discovery of the works of Shakespeare. The culture shock which results when the "savage" is brought into the society of the "Brave New World" as he initially calls it, provides a vehicle for Huxley to contrast the values of the society with our own.
The key moral point of the book revolves around two diametrically opposing problems. The first, and most obvious, is that in order to ensure continuous and universal happiness, society has to be manipulated, freedom of choice and expression curtailed, and intellectual pursuits and emotional expression inhibited. Citizens are happy, but John Savage considers this happiness to be artificial and "soulless". In a pivotal scene he argues with another character, World Controller for Western Europe Mustapha Mond, that pain and anguish are as necessary a part of life as is joy, and that without the former to provide context and perspective, "joy" becomes meaningless. The second problem presented in the novel is that freedom of choice and expression, the recognition of (or rather the inhibition of) emotional expression and the pursuit of intellectual ideas, result in an absence of happiness. This problem is shown primarily through the character of Bernard, but also by the behaviour of John in the final stages of the novel. Unable to fully suppress his desire for Lenina (which he believes is morally unacceptable), but also feeling remorse at the death of his mother which he is not allowed to express, he seeks isolation from society and imposes on himself a regime of privation and self-torture. Finally, he commits suicide after succumbing to an orgy of sex and soma.
In other themes, the book attacks assembly line production as demeaning; feminism and the liberalization of sexual mores as being an affront to love and family; the use of slogans or thought terminating cliches; the concept of a centralised government and the use of science to control people's thoughts and actions. While Huxley attacks the emergence of Socialist and Communist attitudes, he also opposes capitalist consumer society. Indeed, the latter motifs are stronger than the former: in the novel, the legendary founder of the society was Henry Ford, whose writings occupy Mustapha Mond's bookshelves. The letter T (a reference to the Ford Model T) has replaced the cross as a quasi-religious symbol.
The title of the book is a quotation from Miranda in Act V of Shakespeare's The Tempest, when she is joyfully reunited with her family. John Savage is a keen Shakespeare fan, which sets him further apart from the vast majority of humanity in Huxley's dystopia. Like most of the world's artistic and cultural achievements, Shakespeare's works are banned and unknown in this society to everyone but the World Controllers.
In 1993, an attempt was made to remove this novel from a California school's required reading list because it "centered around negative activity."