BRAVE NEW
WORLD
BY ALDOUS HUXLEY
Test Review – ENG3U
PLOT SYNOPSIS
•A SATIRE ON A UTOPIAN
SOCIETY BASED ON ASSEMBLY LINES.
•EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD IS HAPPY
BECAUSE THEY HAVE SOMA.
•THE MAIN PART OF THE BOOK
IS ABOUT A SAVAGE, JOHN, WHO
IS ALIENATED BY THE UTOPIA.
CHARACTERS
•PROTAGONIST: BERNARD MARX
“I am I, and I wish I weren’t.”(Huxley 35)
•ANTAGONIST: LENINA CROWNE
“HOW CAN YOU TALK ABOUT NOT WANTING TO BE PART OF THE SOCIAL
BODY?…WE CAN’T DO WITHOUT ANYONE!” (HUXLEY 91)
•PROTAGONIST: JOHN (THE SAVAGE)
“ ‘O BRAVE NEW WORLD WITH SUCH PEOPLE IN’T!’ IT WAS A CHALLENGE, A
COMMAND.” (HUXLEY 216)
“I WANT GOD, I WANT POETRY, I WANT REAL DANGER, I WANT FREEDOM, I WANT
GOODNESS, I WANT SIN…I’M CLAIMING THE RIGHT TO BE UNHAPPY.” (HUXLEY 246)
•ANTAGONIST: MUSTAPHA MOND
“BUT THAT’S THE PRICE OF STABILITY. YOU’VE GOT TO CHOOSE BETWEEN
HAPPINESS… AND HIGH ART.” (HUXLEY 226)
“Sometimes, I rather regret the science-happiness is a hard master.” (Huxley 233)
CHARACTERS – IN DETAIL
• Mustapha Mond The World Controller, intellectually and
politically powerful. He offers a historical view of the brave
new world at the beginning of the novel and later debates
John and Helmholtz on society’s values. Mond sentences
Bernard and Helmholtz to be banished to the Falkland
Islands and determines that John must stay in London.
• The D.H.C. The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning,
called “Tomakin” by Linda. He occupies an important
position in the brave new world but loses it when Linda
announces that he is the father of their son, John.
• Henry Foster An Alpha who is seeing Lenina Crowne. He is
a typically conventional Londoner.
• Fanny Crowne Lenina’s friend. Fanny represents the
conventional views of the brave new world. She encourages
Lenina to pursue John sexually if he will not take the lead.
CHARACTERS - CONTINUED
• Bernard Marx An Alpha-Plus psychologist, rumored to
have received alcohol in his blood surrogate, a circumstance
that would explain his shortness. Identifying himself as a
true individual, Bernard bristles at the social pressures for
conformity and longs for the intense, heroic feelings but
lacks the ability to be a rebel. He brings John the Savage
and Linda back from the Savage Reservation and so makes
possible the conflict that informs the last third of the novel.
• Lenina Crowne A technician, attracted by Bernard, in love
with John. A conventional young woman who is drawn
unconsciously toward danger, she represents ideal beauty
for John.
• Helmholtz Watson Bernard’s friend, later a friend of John.
An Emotional Engineer, he longs to become a poet. He
represents a more courageous and intellectual character
than Bernard.
CHARACTERS - CONTINUED
• John the Savage The son born of parents from the brave
new world but raised in the Savage Reservation, John
represents a challenge to the dystopia. He is the character
closest to being the hero of the novel.
• Linda John’s mother. An upper-caste Londoner, she
commits the ultimate social sin by bearing a child. She is
deeply ashamed and longs for escape, finding it in peyote,
mescal, sex, and soma.
• Popé Linda’s lover in Malpais. Popé’s involvement with
Linda inspires John’s deep revulsion for sex.
• Mitsima An old Indian man in Malpais who begins to
teach John to mold clay and presides in the marriage
ceremony John witnesses. He represents the beginning and
end of John’s involvement in the traditional life of Malpais.
• Mustapha Mond, Resident Controller of
Western Europe, governs a society where all
aspects of an individual's life are determined
by the state, beginning with conception and
conveyor-belt reproduction.
• A government bureau, the Predestinators,
decides all roles in the hierarchy.
• Children are raised and conditioned by the
state bureaucracy, not brought up by natural
families.
•There are only 10,000
surnames.
• Citizens must not fall in love,
marry, or have their own kids.
• Brave New World is centered around
both control and manipulation
• He instills
the fear that
a future
world state
may rob us
of the right
to be
unhappy.
VOCABULARY
• Feelies - motion picture shows which offer the audience not only
visual and auditory images but also tactual sensations. The audience
takes hold of two knobs on the seat and feels the action taking place
on the screen.
• Phosphorous Recovery - The cremation factories are able to recover
99% of the phosphorous contained in each body. This is then used as
a raw material or in fertilizer returned to enrich the soil.
• Podsnap's Technique - A method for speeding up the ripening of
mature eggs. The process makes possible the production of many
identical human beings at roughly the same time..
• Savage Reservation - One of the only places left on earth where
people remain in a state of nature. The Savages were not considered
worth civilizing and were therefore placed in fenced off areas which
contained some of the worst land. John was born here. His mother,
Linda, is a former resident of the Brave New World.
CONFLICTS
•INDIVIDUAL VERSUS SOCIETY
JOHN (SAVAGE) VERSUS THE UTOPIA
“ ‘O BRAVE NEW WORLD WITH SUCH PEOPLE IN’T!’ IT WAS A
CHALLENGE, A COMMAND.” (HUXLEY 216)
•INDIVIDUAL VERSUS SELF
BERNARD MARX VERSUS HIS CONDITIONING
“BUT WOULDN’T YOU LIKE TO BE FREE IN SOME OTHER WAY…IN
YOUR OWN WAY; NOT IN EVERYBODY ELSE’S WAY?” (HUXLEY 91)
THEMES
•HAPPINESS IS THE BEST THING
•IT COMES AT THE PRICE OF TRUTH.
•WE SHOULD NOT BE SO MATERIALISTIC
•WE NEED TO BE HAPPY WITH WHO WE
ARE.
•THE INDIVIDUAL IS MORE IMPORTANT
THAN THE STATE.