Brave New World – Quick Summary
The novel opens in the year 632 A.F. (which means After Ford, the god of the New
World). All of civilization has been destroyed by a great war. Then there is another
war, the Nine Years War, which ushers in the era of Ford, ensuring stability through
dictatorship. The society depicted in the novel is based on a rigid caste system. The
higher of the five castes enjoy superior tasks, while the lower ones perform menial
roles. Ten Controllers hold all the power in this new world and peace is maintained
by conditioning infant minds and by soothing adults with the tranquilizer, soma. The
population is further controlled through scientific methods; marriage is forbidden,
and children are not born but produced in an embryo factory.
When the novel begins, some students are being given a guided tour through the
London Hatcheries. Henry Foster and Lenina Crowne, two employees of this center,
have been dating each other a little too often, going against state rules. Lenina's
friend Fanny warns her against such promiscuity. As a result, Lenina decides to date
Bernard Marx, who is very intelligent but not quite like the others of his caste. Lenina
and Bernard decide to go on a vacation to a Savage Reservation in New Mexico,
where people considered unworthy of Utopia are confined. On the reservation, the
inhabitants live in an almost primitive manner. Before Bernard leaves for his
vacation, he is warned by Tomakin, the Director of Hatcheries, about his nonconformist ways and threatened with exile to Iceland.
Lenina and Bernard accidentally meet Linda and her son, John the Savage, on the
Reservation. Bernard learns from John that long ago Linda had come to the
Reservation with Tomakin, who had abandoned her there. Discovering herself to be
carrying Tomakin's child, she knew that she could not return to Utopia; therefore,
she stayed on the Reservation and raised John. Hearing this story, Bernard goes to
the Controller and gains his permission to take John and his mother back to Utopia.
When Bernard presents the pair to Tomakin, the Director is shattered and resigns
from his position at the Hatcheries, having become an object of ridicule. Bernard no
longer has to worry about being exiled to Iceland.
While living in the custody of Bernard, John becomes the object of everyone's
curiosity and amusement. Bernard at first revels in the attention that he receives
because of the Savage. Things, however, do not go smoothly. John soon grows
repulsed by the ways of the New World and becomes unhappy. Despite his mood,
Lenina finds herself terribly attracted to John and tries to seduce him. John,
however, fights his physical attraction for her and resists her advances.
When his mother dies, John goes crazy. He then tries to convert the Utopians to his
way of thinking. Rebellion results and must be quelled. Bernard and Helmholtz
Watson are blamed for the rebellion. When the two of them are taken to Mustapha
Mond, along with John, Bernard and Helmholtz are exiled. John is retained for further
experimentation. He resists and tries to flee into solitude, but the citizens of Utopia
continue to hound him. In a fit of misery and depression, John commits suicide.