The book that I read was Brave New World. It was written by Aldous Huxley. Huxley was born in England on July 26, 1894. He came to the States in 1937. Throughout his writing career he wrote many types of things. His works included novels, poetry, and essays. Huxley had established himself as a prestigious writer by the time that he was thirty. He also received the Award of Merit for his novel Island. , from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died Nov. 22 1963. In California. I want to give you some background about the book before I get into the theme. The book itself takes place in a futuristic London.
The entire Western Europe is controlled by one man, the Ford. The Ford’s name is Mustapha Mond. In this society all of the people are hatched. The idea of people Giving birth is repulsive as well as is the idea of anyone wanting to be alone. Every persons future is predetermined. They are made to fit a cast system And they can never break away from that cast. Some people are smart and well respected and others are looked at like they are the scum of the earth. The primary objective of This society is to be social. To have fun, and to have sex with no commitment.
Dealing with problems is no problem for these people because of a drug called Soma. Soma is like a tranquilizer that puts you in a place that you want to be and has no side-effects. So they never have to face reality. The book is centered around four main Characters The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, a scientist named Lenina, another scientist Bernard and the Savage, John. The theme of the book is that people need to be looked as an individual with specific needs and concerns and feelings not that we should all e the same way all of the time The theme of the book starts with John.
John is a young man that has lived his entire life on an Indian reservation. And has had no contact with the new modernized world. John is brought back from the Reservation to the city by Bernard and Lenina who were visiting the reservation for a vacation. At first he doesn’t know what to make of this new exciting Place with its lights and smells and music going all of the time. This is shown many times in things that characters say. The passage that I’m going to read it shows John’s lack of interest for the city.
The excerpt is from a letter written by Bernard to Mustapha Mond about Johns adaptation to the city. (book pg. 160) As the book progresses and John spends more time in the city He begins to dislike it more and more. That is the primarily Due to the fact that Bernard begins to just want to show John off To the high-ups in the city. It is obvious that John is becoming defensive about how much he want to be out in public. You can tell this just by his responses to Bernard in this quote. (book pg. 175) Eventually
John gets so feed up with the Brave New World that He feels that he must leave. He prepares as much supplies that He can. He leaves and goes to a valley on the outskirts of town To an abandon Lighthouse. He remained there self-sufficient Until a few travelers found that he was there they immediately Notified the media and soon reporters were bothering him again. He became more upset and aggressive, but the reporters completely Overlooked that. This further shows the theme that people in this Society are more interested in the social aspect of he city than Any person within the city.
Here is a few lines toward the end of The book that helps reinforce the idea that the people of this Society don’t get the concept that there are things more important Than looks and social activities. (book pg. 263) I think that the book is trying to tell us not to let the idea of new bigger and supposedly better things for ourselves get in the way of treating our fellow human beings with the dignity that they deserve. I think that this is a very good book and very well written. I would recommend it to anyone.
