Essay Topics: Brave New World
1. Analyze the character of Bernard Marx. In what ways is he admirable? In what ways is
he less than admirable? Overall, how would you characterize his motivations and
actions? Explore the function his character plays in the novel. What purpose does he
serve?
2. Novels and plays often depict a character caught between colliding cultures whether
national, regional, ethnic, religious, or institutional. Such collisions can call a character's
sense of identity into question. Obviously, John is such a character. Write a wellorganized essay in which you describe his various responses to the “brave new world”
and explain their relevance to the work as a whole.
3. John is shocked by the degree to which the members of the World State are conditioned.
He considers them to be less ‘free’ than he is. However, it is not completely clear
whether he is correct in his assumption. It could be argued that he is simply conditioned
to a more “Romantic” notion of his own self-importance. What do you think? Is anyone
more free than anyone else in this book, and is one kind of freedom preferable to
another? Why?
4. Morally ambiguous characters – characters whose behavior discourages readers from
identifying them as purely evil or purely good – are at the heart of many works of
literature. Choose a morally ambiguous character that plays a pivotal role. Write an
essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous AND
why his/her moral ambiguity is significant to the novel as a whole.
5. According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their
human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great
tress more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of
course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightening.” In Brave New World
a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others.
6. The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a
death or deaths take place. In a well-developed essay show how a specific death in Brave
New World helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole.
7. In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by
innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation
and terror. For Brave New World, explain how its representation of childhood or
adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.
8. Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Write an essay in which you
analyze how Huxley uses literary elements in Brave New World to explore this issue and
explain how the issue contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.