#1 - Brave New World
What is the title of the literary work?
Brave New World
What is the name of the writer - author, playwright, or poet?
Aldous Huxley
When was the work first published? If it is a play, where and when was it first performed?
1932
What happens in the work? Summarize or describe what happens in no more than 100
words.
A dystopian society called the World State based on a caste system is told. People are
artificially hatched in a laboratory and is conditioned into accepting their fate in society.
The story tells a well-organized society where individuality, emotions, and freedom are
repressed for the sake of maintaining a controlled society. The main conflict is men vs.
society, where, the protagonist, Bernard Marx, is discriminated in his own caste due to his
physical appearance and rebellious attitude. Bernard then meets an outsider named John
who lived in a traditional society, contrasting the World State, known as the savage lands.
The two faces conflicts as John discriminates the World State and as Bernard try to
explore beyond the World State, into the Savage Land of which he grows interest in
overtime but the situation is considered violation of the World State rules.
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What are the key thematic concerns of the literary work?
Throughout the novel, there are several key thematic concerns highlighted. Some main
ones includes consumer society, individuality, industrialism, happiness and agency, and
consumption.
What contexts are important to understanding your work? Context is something that is,
in the main, external to the work, but which has a potential impact on how readers may
understand the work. Understanding context could mean knowing something about
when the work was written, where events take place (an aspect of setting), the cultural,
political, or religious practices in the period where the work takes place and/or was
written, and/or details of the writer’s life. Note down 3 – 5 contexts that you are likely to
refer to in your Paper 2 examination response.
Setting, where the events took place. Setting place a huge role in the novel as it allows an
emphasis of the "modern" world. The existence of the reservation, also known as the
savage lands plays a huge role in allowing a contrast of all historical societies to the World
State. The storyline revolves around a futuristic setting, where it has allowed Huxley to
explore different features and prevalent cultural issues if things went the wrong way
during the Great Depression.
The time the novel was written is an important context to understanding the novel. Brave
New World was written in the 1930s. It was a time a rapid technological change and when
a social upheaval occurred due to the Great depression which motivated Huxley to writing
this novel, as he was skeptical of where the trends of the period could lead to.
Caste System
The novel is based a caste system, therefore, it is important to understand the concepts
caste systems. Castes system is a relic of India and a pervasive, deeply ingrained social
hierarchy that continues to shape the lives of millions of people worldwide. While the
caste system is commonly associated with India, it is also present in America and within
South Asia diaspora. The caste system reveals cultural, political and religious issues in a
society. It also reveals key thematic concerns shown throughout the novel. Such as the
consumer society. Where one's caste is pre-determined before birth and members of the
Word State society are conditioned into accepting their fate.
Setting: Where and when does the work take place? How is the setting shown/described?
If the setting changes, why does the setting change, and how is the change shown? What
is the significance of setting for the characters and the development of plot?
The world takes place in the future of the year 2450 A.D. Where the modern society,
named the World State takes place in England and in contrast, the not so "modern"
society, known as the savage reservoir takes place in New Mexico. In the novel, The World
State, is described with vivid details. Such as how the landscape of England has been
radically transformed. The original country side has now developed into industrialized
agriculture. Nature and wilderness that we recognizes in the present. Have been built into
modern chic technology. To emphasize the development, Huxley told a story of another
society known as the savage lands where things are considered primitive where
technology has not transformed society.
Characterization: Who is the main character(s) in the work? If there is a protagonist, is
there an antagonist? How is the protagonist described? How does the protagonist
develop/change in the course of the story? What other characters are important to the
work and why?
Mode of narration/narrative voice: How is the text narrated/focalized? Is it constant, or
does it shift? If it changes, what is the impact of the shift? How reliable is the narrative
voice? If the narrator is also a character, what is the significance of this?
Structuration/Plot: How is the work structured, and what is the significance of this
structure? What is the relationship between plot and story? Consider things like chapters,
acts, and scenes. Think about the organization of time and space, and the ways in which
events and actions are revealed to readers. What you are concerned with here is to
understand the ways in which your work is organized.
Language, style, and literary devices: What makes your work literary? How does the
writer establish an imagined world through things such stage directions, figurative
language, imagery and symbolism, lexical choice/diction, sound/music, movement etc.?
Choose 10-15 quotations and explain why these quotations are particularly relevant or
significant to understanding the work. What aspects of literary style do these quotations
reveal? How does the quotation reveal an aspect of, for example, theme, character, or
setting? What is the relationship between the quotation and context(s)?
Significance to understanding morality, social life, and the human condition: The works
you have studied are not messages. Messages are messages, and literature is literature.
However, it is likely that your work suggests something about what we might call the
human condition’. What does your work help explain, do you think? Can your work be
understood in more than one way?