Polly

Specialist Study
“Brave New World”

“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley depicts a sterile and loveless future in which there is no such thing as an individual and human beings are bred, not born, to fulfil specific roles in society. Set in London six hundred years in the future, Huxley’s “brave new world” draws the reader in as if they too are trapped within this inescapable future in which no one person has an identity of their own. But how does the author’s use of setting in time and place impact on the reader’s appreciation of the text as a whole?
The book is set in London in the year 632 A.F, or “After Ford”. Ford is the original creator of this “World State” which the Earth has now become, and is considered to be the equivalent of a God as there is now no religion in the new world. London has changed a lot in 600 years - Charing Cross Station is now the “Charing T Rocket Station”, Big Ben is now better known as “Big Henry” and Westminster Abbey is now a nightclub - the “Westminster Abbey Cabaret”. By referring to familiar landmarks and how much they have changed, the reader is able to build up a picture in their mind’s eye of London in this strange future and relate to the setting more.
Huxley describes in depth the extent to which the world has modernised. Now when you go to the cinema, not only do you watch what’s going on but you can feel it as if you are actually in the movie yourself. Also, rather than the car, the main form of transportation is now the helicopter.
However, by far the most noticeable change in this new world is that humans are no longer born but created and grown in laboratories and modified whilst still developing as foetus’ to have all the skills necessary for carrying out their future roles in society, whether they be in the lowest caste of “epsilon semi-morons” or the highest caste of “alpha plus’”. As infants, they are taught that “everyone belongs to everyone else” - already being discouraged to show any individuality - and that sex is the best form of entertainment possible. Emotions are discouraged - there is no such thing are love, marriage or commitment, and, if things get too intense, there is always the recreational designer drug “soma” distributed to everyone by the government itself. This civilisation is designed to be a utopia in which there is no disease or aging and death is just another part of life to be ignored, but ironically the scene that Huxley sets creates the complete opposite effect, making this “Brave New World” seem like a cold, heartless place where it is impossible to be your own person and you are punished for any self expression or if you resist to conform. It is as if everybody is a prisoner on their own planet, and yet so many are completely oblivious that this is so.
During the novel, two of the main characters, Bernard and Lenina, visit a “Savage Reservation”. The people who live in these reservations are known as Savages because they are still actually born, not grown, have parents and families, believe in religion and commitment, and lots of other completely normal morals that we ourselves are encouraged to abide by in this day and age. However, because of the surge of technology in the new world, Savages are primitive even to us and are thought of as disgusting by ‘civilised people’. On arriving at the reservation, Bernard and Lenina are reminded that the inhabitants are - “absolute savages” that “still preserve their repulsive habits and customs”. It is as if they see them as animals rather than humans. At this reservation lives John, a young man whose parents both originally were from the new world, yet he himself has grown up as a savage. His character says a lot about how times have changed in that the reader can relate to his beliefs as they are the most like those in present society. John himself is keen to visit the new world, in fact it is he who refers to it as a brave new world in the first place - “O brave new world that has such people in it…”. This shows that his view on the world outside the squalor of the savage reservation is that of an exciting, modern place full of new opportunities. John Savage is probably the most touching character in the book as he is depicted as a complete innocent who is totally overwhelmed by the new world. Tragically, he kills himself at the end of the novel, unable to cope with the corruptness of society. Therefore, this idea of a “new world” is heightened by the fact that the character most like the reader commits suicide showing that this so-called “Brave New World” is so terrifying that we, as savages, so to speak, in the present day, wouldn’t be able to survive it. His character is an effective comparison between our world and this future - even the term “savage” shows that how most humans live their lives today would be considered savagely in this new society. However Huxley’s storytelling portrays the opposite idea to the reader - the customs of those in the World State come across cold and emotionless: perhaps it is they who are the savages after all.
All of this, in a way, makes the Brave New World, the setting itself, the main character in this novel because everything links back to it and it’s impossible to escape, as if it is some sort of domineering dictator, enslaving a race of people, most of whom are completely oblivious.
This future seems particularly terrifying because anyone individual enough to want to escape this apparent nightmare of a world is silenced meaning humans are trapped in this setting, this ‘brave new world’, causing the reader to think about their own society and the role that they themselves choose in life, as well as what it really means to be human.

Polly Davidson
5G2