Advanced Placement Literature and Composition
Brave New World background information
Biography
Aldous Huxley was born in 1894 in England
to two very aristocratic parents, Leonard and
Julia Huxley. Huxley’s family possessed both
scientific and literary fame throughout Europe.
Indeed young Aldous had much to live up to. As
a teenager, Huxley was enrolled in Eton, the
legendary university. Soon he developed a
bizarre eye disease which left him blind for over
two years. Needless to say, this event
dramatically changed Huxley, who decided to be
a writer instead of a medical doctor. He
reminisces, "...I should infallibly have killed
myself in the much more strenuous profession of
medicine." However, Huxley was no stranger to
work, even in the literary world. The great
author had an incredibly productive writing
career for nearly four decades, concluding at the
time of his death in November of 1963.
Huxley lived and wrote in Italy for much of
his early adult life. He contributed to many
literary magazines, including Vogue, but soon
was forced to flee to America in 1937 to escape
Hitler and the Nazis. As Huxley grew as an
author, his writing became increasingly serious.
He struggled to determine man’s role in society
and to find the meaning of his perception. With
his most famous work, Brave New World,
Huxley proved to be decades ahead of his time.
Indeed it would take years for the literary
community to finally accept his work for what it
was. Eventually Huxley emigrated to the United
States where he lived the rest of his days in
sunny southern California. As he grew older,
Huxley began to experiment with LSD, a mind
altering drug he found to be particularly useful
for attaining spiritual perception. His later books
reflected this interest in man’s relationship with
the spiritual world.
Huxley will go down in history as being one
the most famous of the contemporary writers,
often writing misconstrued pieces far ahead of
their time.
Character Profiles
D.H.C.: director of the hatchery; gives the students a tour of the facility
*Mustapha Mond: resident controller of Western Europe; one of the ten world controllers; also lectures
the students on the past and present state of earth; tells the Savage that the civilized world has decided
to take happiness in exchange for freedom, art and religion
*Bernard Marx: Alpha plus successful psychologist who has an inferiority complex due to his small
height; feels isolated from rest of society; doesn’t believe in the promiscuous nature of his society;
exhibits characteristics of man before Ford
*Lenina Crowne: Woman who tries to persuade Bernard to take her to the reservation; always seems to
unzipping her clothes
Fanny Crowne: works in the bottling room; friend of Lenina who pressures her to be more traditionally
promiscuous
Benito Hoover: notoriously good-natured, always kind to others, always offering sex-hormone chewing
gum
*Helmholtz Watson: emotional engineer, friend of Bernard, also an outcast but due to his great physical
beauty and muscular strength and mental excess; later Bernard is jealous of him when he and the
Savage become friends; eventually sent to the Falkland Islands when he exhibits too much
independence
Director: man who threatens Bernard with Iceland but then has to eat his words when Bernard returns
with Linda and his son the Savage
*Linda: conditioned woman raised in civilization but left by accident in the Reservation by the Director
years before; has son, John, who grows up as a half-breed
*John, the Savage: son of Linda and the Director; returns to civilization to attack it; demands freedom
and isolation in exchange for happiness
Mitsima: Indian tribal elder who acts as a father to John and teaches him the Indian way.
* most significant characters
Metaphor Analysis
Caste System— people in Brave New World are genetically divided into five Greek letter categories. The
best and brightest intellectuals are Alphas while the Epsilons are the manual laborers with little need
for intelligence. The other castes fill jobs somewhere in between.
Alphas: Wear grey; these are the intellectuals of
society. Some examples of professions can be
World Controllers (Alpha double Plus),
Directors of Hatcheries, and Wardens.
Bernard, a psychologist, is also an Alpha.
Betas: Mulberry colored; these persons are
somewhat intelligent and often work as
mechanics.
Gammas: Wear green; often work as machine
minders/manipulators, butlers, and other
semi-thought-provoking jobs.
Deltas: Wear khaki, helicopter attendants, cold
pressers, screw-cutters, package packers; are
mass produced and have no individuality.
Epsilons: Wear black, can’t read or write,
Sewage Workers, liftmen, foundry-workers,
carriers, semi-morons.
Theme Analysis
Brave New World presents a startling view of
the future which on the surface appears almost
comical. Yet humor was not the intention of
Aldous Huxley when he wrote the book in the
early 1930's. Indeed Huxley’s real message is
very dark. His idea that in centuries to come, a
one-world government will rise to power,
stripping people’s freedom, is not new. In fact
there are hosts of books dedicated to this topic.
What makes Huxley’s interpretation different is
the fact that his fictional society not only lives in
this totalitarian government, but embraces it like
mindless robots.
Soma, not nuclear bombs, is the weapon of
choice for the World Controllers in Brave New
World. These men have realized that fear and
intimidation have only limited power; after all,
these tactics simply build up resentment in the
minds of the oppressed. Subconscious
persuasion and mind-altering drugs, on the other
hand, appear to have no side effects. Add to this
the method of genetic engineering, and soon
almost all "pre-Ford" problems have been wiped
out permanently.
The caste system of this brave new world is
equally ingenious. Free from the burdens and
tensions of a capitalistic system which separates
people into social classes by natural selection,
this dictatorship government is only required to
determine the correct number of Alphas, Betas,
etc., all the way down the totem pole. There is
no class warfare because greed, the basic
ingredient of capitalism, has been eliminated.
Even Deltas and Epsilons are content to do their
manual labor. This contentment arises both from
the genetic engineering and the extensive
conditioning each individual goes through in
childhood.
Freedom (as well as art and religion which
are results of freedom) in this society has been
sacrificed for what Mustapha Mond calls
happiness. Indeed almost all of Huxley’s
characters, save Bernard and the Savage, are
content to take their soma ration, go to the
feelies (the superficial substitute for actual life),
and live their mindless, grey lives. The
overwhelming color throughout Brave New
World is grey. Everything and everyone seems
dull to the reader, except perhaps the Savage,
who is the only bright color in the novel. This
grey happiness is the ultimate goal of the World
Controllers like Mond.
Yet Mond has incorrectly associated lack of
pain with happiness. Only the Savage knows
that true happiness comes from the knowledge
that one has value. He alludes to this when he
describes his childhood in the Reservation where
the only time he was happy was after he had
completed a project with his own two hands.
This, not soma, gave him the self-confidence to
find happiness. The Savage knows his own
value is as an individual, not a member of a
collective.
Other characters in Brave New World,
however, have no concept of self-worth. This
results in their inability to find the happiness
known to the Savage and the rest of the pre-Ford
world which lives in the Reservation. True
happiness is a consequence of freedom, not
slavery. No slave can experience happiness until
he is free. Yes, any slave can experience the
contentment of a full belly and a full supply of
instant gratification, but this doesn’t lead to
happiness.
Bernard suffers throughout the book, being
caught between both worlds. Although he has
been conditioned to accept his servitude, he is
constantly longing for freedom. He sees this
freedom in the Savage, and envies him for
possessing the inner happiness—genuine
happiness— which Bernard’s society outlaws.
Huxley uses Bernard to exemplify this struggle
between freedom and slavery. Huxley argues
that a genuine, free life requires suffering and
pain. Men without anguish are men without
souls. Huxley’s future describes a world without
pain and a world without soul.
Top Ten Quotes
1) "Bokanovsky’s Process is one of the major instruments of social stability!": The Director in chapter 1.
This quote underscores the entire idea behind this modern civilization— lack of individuality. With the
Bokanovsky genetic engineering process, the population is made much easier to manage.
2) "And that," put in the Director sententiously, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue— liking what
you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny.": The
Director in chapter 1. After genetic engineering, social conditioning is the most important way for the
government to enslave its people. The different caste members are conditioned to never yearn for a life
other than their own. This is the second major instrument of social stability.
3) "Moral education, which ought never, in any circumstances, to be rational.": The Director in chapter 2.
The World Controllers do believe in moral education, but they determine the morals, not God or reason.
4) "Imagine the folly of allowing people to play elaborate games which do nothing whatever to increase
consumption. It’s madness. Nowadays the Controllers won’t approve of any new game unless it can be
shown that it requires at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games.": The
Director in chapter 3. Like everything else, government controls the games people are allowed to play.
The priority here is not only that people enjoy themselves, but that the economy also benefits.
5) "History is bunk.": The Director in chapter 3. With no God or other divine morals, the past is regarded
as backward and detrimental.
6) "Wheels must turn steadily, but cannot turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as steady
as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment." Mustapha Mond in
chapter 3. This is the justification for totalitarian government. The reasoning is that government, not
individuals, know best.
7) "You’ve got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We’ve sacrificed the
high art." Mustapha Mond in chapter 16. Art is one of those things people must do without in this brave
new world. Without pain and suffering, art is not an issue.
8) "‘You can only be independent of God while you’ve got youth and prosperity; independence won’t
take you safely to the end.’ Well, we’ve now got youth and prosperity right up to the end. What follows?
Evidently, that we can be independent of God.": Mustapha Mond in chapter 17. Here Mond explains to
the Savage why society can now function without God.
9) "Christianity without tears— that’s what soma is.": Mond in chapter 17. Here Mond highlights the true
reasoning behind soma—it makes people content without causing the sadness and guilt of Christianity.
10) "But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want
goodness. I want sin.": The Savage in chapter 17. Here the Savage explains the old world reasoning. He
asserts that true life requires exposure to all things, good and evil.
Vocabulary
surrogate-- (n.) a substitute
viviparous-- (adj.) giving birth to living offspring that develop in the mother's body
largess-- (n.) liberality in giving
hypnopedia-- (n.) sleep teaching
apertures-- (n.) openings
incessant--(adj.) unending
innocuous-- (adj.) harmless
tactual-- (adj.) appealing to the sense of touch
premonition-- (n.) A warning in advance; a foreboding
spasmodic-- (adj.) convulsive
semblance-- (n). an outward or token appearance; superficial aspect
incarnadine-- (adj.) a color resembling flesh or blood
jaunty-- (adj.) crisp in appearance
luminous-- (adj.) emitting light
wamble-- (v.) to move in a weaving, wobbling, or rolling manner
impunity-- (n.) exemption from punishment
effusively-- (adv.) irrepressibly demonstrative
maudlin-- (adj.) effusively sentimental
monogamy-- (n.) the custom of being married to only one person
pensive-- (adj.) engaged in deep thoughtfulness