Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley 1894-1963
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley 1894-1963
•Grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley 1894-1963
•Grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”
•Brother of Julian Huxley, biologist
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley 1894-1963
•Grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”
•Brother of Julian Huxley, biologist
•Eye disease- nearly blind from 17-20
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley 1894-1963
•Grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”
•Brother of Julian Huxley, biologist
•Eye disease- nearly blind from 17-20
•Taught French at Eton- Eric Blair (G. Orwell) was student
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley 1894-1963
•Grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”
•Brother of Julian Huxley, biologist
•Eye disease- nearly blind from 17-20
•Taught French at Eton- Eric Blair (G. Orwell) was student
•Moved to Hollywood in 1937, wrote for films
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley 1894-1963
•Grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”
•Brother of Julian Huxley, biologist
•Eye disease- nearly blind from 17-20
•Taught French at Eton- Eric Blair (G. Orwell) was student
•Moved to Hollywood in 1937, wrote for films
•Always a spiritual seeker, became interested in
psychedelic drugs in 1950s
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley 1894-1963
•Grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”
•Brother of Julian Huxley, biologist
•Eye disease- nearly blind from 17-20
•Taught French at Eton- Eric Blair (G. Orwell) was student
•Moved to Hollywood in 1937, wrote for films
•Always a spiritual seeker, became interested in
psychedelic drugs in 1950s
•Died same day as JFK and C.S. Lewis
Brave New World
Brave New World Background
Brave New World
Brave New World Background
Henry Ford
•The deity of the World State, honored for his development of
the assembly line
•Book takes place in AF (After Ford) 632, or 2540 AD
•Years are figured from 1908, introduction of the Model T
•Holy symbol is a T
Brave New World
Brave New World Background
Ivan Pavlov
•Conditioned dogs to salivate when a bell was rung
•Pavlov’s techniques are used on babies in BNW
Brave New World
Brave New World Background
Sigmund Freud
•"Our Freud" is sometimes said in place of "Our Ford" due to
the link between Freud's psychoanalysis and the conditioning
of humans.
•Citizens of the World State believe Freud and Ford to be the
same person
Brave New World
Brave New World Background
Thomas Malthus
• British demographer and economist
•Best known for his highly influential views on population
growth
•Predicted that population would outrun food supply
•In BNW, women’s contraception techniques are named after
Malthus
Brave New World
Brave New World Background
William Shakespeare
•Title of the book comes from Miranda’s speech in The
Tempest
"O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beautious mankind is!
O brave new world
That has such people in't!"
• Other plays mentioned are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King
Lear, Measure for Measure, Othello
Brave New World
Brave New World Background
H.G. Wells
•British science fiction writer (The War of the Worlds, The
Time Machine)
•BNW is a satire of his book Men Like Gods, a highly
optimistic vision of the future
•A “Dr. Wells” appears in BNW
Brave New World
Character Names
Brave New World
Character Names
•Bernard Marx
•George Bernard Shaw, playwright
• Karl Marx, a German Philosopher famous for The
Communist Manifesto
Brave New World
Character Names
•Lenina Crowne
•Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik leader during the Russian
Revolution
Brave New World
Character Names
•Polly Trotsky
•Leon Trotsky, deputy under Lenin during the Russian
Revolution
Brave New World
Character Names
•Benito Hoover
• Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy
• Herbert Hoover, President of the USA at the time the
book was written
Brave New World
Character Names
•Darwin Bonaparte
• Napoleon Bonaparte, the leader of the First French
Empire
• Charles Darwin, author of Origin of Species
Brave New World
Character Names
•Herbert Bakunin
• Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian philosopher and anarchist
Brave New World
Character Names
•Mustapha Mond
•Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic
after WWI
• Alfred Mond, British businessman and politician, founder
of ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries)
• World Controller (mond is French for world)
Brave New World
Character Names
•Primo Mellon
•Miguel Primo de Rivera, prime minister and dictator of
Spain from 1923 until 1930
•Andrew W. Mellon, banker
Brave New World
Character Names
•Sarojini Engels
•Friedrich Engels, co-author of The Communist Manifesto
along with Karl Marx
Brave New World
Character Names
•Helmholtz Watson
•Hermann von Helmholtz, German physicist and
philosopher, studied physics of perception
Brave New World
Cultural References
Brave New World
Cultural References
Jazz and Chewing Gum
•Stereotypically American at the time
•Emblems of a consumer culture
Brave New World
Cultural References
Flivver
•Slang term for a cheap, mass-produced car
Brave New World
Cultural References
Pneumatic
•Used to refer to a particularly enthusiastic female sex
partner
Brave New World
Structure
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