Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
A.F. 632 (After Ford), World State, London/New Mexico
Characters
Bernard Marx- A protagonist, the black sheep of the society, an Alpha
Lenina Crowne- A desirable woman to the majority of the characters; seems to be a rebel at
times, but is a conformist with most of the society’s standards, an Alpha.
Director- Head of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre where Lenina, Bernard,
and some of the other characters in the novel work at; father of John the Savage, an Alpha.
Helmholtz Watson- A successful Alpha, who dislikes aspects of his society, is friends with
Bernard for that purpose.
Mustapha Bond- One of ten World Controllers, most powerful character, exiles Helmholtz and
Bernard.
John the Savage- Protagonist, son of Linda and Director, grown up in a reservation in New
Mexico, only character to be born outside of World State, loves Shakespeare, is the epitome of
an alienated person.
Linda- John the Savage’s mother was stranded in the Reservation after a vacation and becoming
pregnant with John. She is thought of being negatively promiscuous by the village in the
Reservation, even though it is thought as normal in her native World State
Henry Foster- One of Lenina’s partners, an ideal Alpha, to Bernard’s anti-Alpha tendencies and
characteristics.
Fanny Crowne- Lenina’s coworker, no relation with Lenina however, who symbolizes the
traditional values of World State.
Background
All of the population starts out as thousands of nearly identical embryos that are first
conditioned to become the different castes of the society with air deprivation and levels of
alcohol in the container holds the embryos. The different castes are; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta,
or Epsilon, in descending order of their status. Alphas were the only ones that could hold high
ranked positions, because they were the smartest, strongest individuals. Epsilons were very slow,
both physically and mentally, and were stationed to the occupations that needed the least amount
of knowledge or skill. The embryos are not only controlled in what caste system they will be in,
but also what they will want to do for the rest of their lives. For example, there are embryos
vaccinated for the ones that are intended to go to tropical locations, while different ranks are
programmed to enjoy certain things while disliking others so the government can maintain what
each person wants to do. Another form of control to the population is a session of repetitious
teaching of ideas to children, as a form of brainwashing. During the nightly brainwashing, the
children are taught to like being in their class the social standards such as “Everyone belongs to
everyone else.” The people of World State do not have any art, literature, or religion, for with
these features of life, comes conflict and unhappiness. Their god is Ford, the designer of the T
model. It is not a deep rooted religion and so there is not a lot of thought behind it. Love is
shunned, as a social standard, in World State, as is deep feelings, any kind of serious human
relationships, such as family or any kind, and real desires. A drug called soma and meetings
called orgy porgies are used to alleviate the desires and need for any deep relationship with
anyone or any feelings. Soma is used to calm someone down and make the user completely
careless of anything. Orgy Porgies are used to separate the people from the emotional
attachments that the government wants to avoid. Their lives are carefree and are not bothered by
anything because soma and the government govern their lives.
Summary
Lenina Crowne is talking to her coworker about a relationship with Henry Foster of four
months. Four months is an unfathomably long amount of time for a person in World State to be
with someone, since relationships of any kind that are not purely for the individual’s benefit. In
the same conversation, Lenina shows interest in Bernard Marx, which is odd because of
Bernard’s weird appearance and acts strangely. He had asked her to go the Reservation, and she
decided that she would go. When Bernard asks for a permit to go to the Reservation from
Director, he tells Bernard of a time that he and a woman went to the Reservation and she went
missing. After the sad anecdote from Director, Bernard obtains a permit and Lenina and Bernard
are off to the Reservation.
The Reservation is vastly different from World State. People age and become sickly in
the Reservation and there are religious rituals that seem barbaric to Bernard and Lenina. At the
Reservation, they meet John, and later his mother, who turns out to be Director’s missing
companion from before. It turns out that the rest of the village has ostracized both John and his
mother because Linda had sex with many of the village’s men, something very normal to Linda
and her World State beliefs, but not to the villagers of the Reservation. In the midst of John and
Bernard’s conversation, John shows great interest in coming to World State, which he had
always heard great things about. Bernard invites John and his mother to World State and they all
go back together after permission from Mustapha Bond.
With John and Linda’s arrival at World State, John, Bernard, Lenina, Linda, and Director
all undergo great changes in their lives. Director, ashamed that he is the father of John, resigns.
Bernard becomes very popular for his “discovery” of John. He has many parties where people
come over to see John, but once John declines the meetings, Bernard’s status drops immediately.
John, not being from World State, is disturbed by all the customs in the society. He especially
does not understand Lenina, while she does not understand him either, yet is attracted to him as
well. They come from two completely different set of beliefs and morals which neither of them
understanding each other’s form of relationship. Linda, overwhelmed by the soma that she was
away from for so many years, becomes almost addicted to soma until she dies.
After Linda dies, John blames soma on his mother’s death along with what is wrong with
a lot of World State’s society. He gets into a riot with some Deltas after telling them to throw out
their soma and to revolt the system. Bernard and Helmholtz come to the riot to try to help John,
and all are then sent to Mustapha Mond after the riot if taken care of. At Mond’s office, he and
John argue about the beliefs of World State. John believes that World State dehumanizes their
people by not letting them feel and experience what they should be able to by their own free will.
Mond’s argument is that humanity is less important than people being stable and happy.
Mustapha then tells Helmholtz and Bernard will be exiled, which Bernard pleads not to go, and
Helmholtz accepts it, hoping to be able to write when he is at the island, something he could
never do at World State. After they leave, Mond and John resume their argument and in the end,
John decides not to go into exile and decides to stay in a lighthouse and perform self-punishment
for the sins that he had committed. When someone discovers his rituals, many people flock to the
lighthouse to see him. Lenina then comes to see him and he whips her yelling, “Oh, the flesh! . . .
Kill it, kill it!” After this more and more people come and the passion of the situation causes
John and everyone else to have an orgy. Disgusted with himself the next day after taking part in
something he felt so against, he hangs himself, which marks the end of the novel.
Motifs

Governmental Control- World State completely controls the people. Their entire future is
based on what the government puts into their heads when they are younger. John, who had
never lived at World State, did not have a place in its society because he had not had the
control that everyone else did.

Carelessness- Carelessness is an attribute almost every inhabitant of World State has. The
government makes sure that society has no time to care and worry about anything in their
lives. Soma and orgy porgies make sure that no one in the population cares about anything
deeper than sex and having fun.

Culture Clash- The differences between John/Reservation’s traditions and World State’s
traditions created tension with John and the rest of World State’s society. Also with Linda,
the differences between the Reservation and her native World State was too much and she
was constantly craving soma because of her situation.
Themes

You cannot have happiness with knowing the truth, and visa versa.

The importance of not succumbing to the majority

The difference between looking happy and being happy