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Encyclopedia > Brave New World

For other uses, see Brave New World (disambiguation).
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Please improve this article if you can. (March 2008)
Brave New World
First edition cover
First edition cover
Author Aldous Huxley
Cover artist Leslie Holland
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Dystopian novel
Publisher Chatto and Windus (London)
Publication date 1932
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 288 pp (Paperback edition)
ISBN ISBN 0-06-080983-3 (Paperback edition)

Brave New World is a 1932 novel by Aldous Huxley. Set in the London of AD 2540 (632 A.F. in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology, biological engineering, and sleep-learning that combine to change society. Huxley answers this book with a reassessment in an essay, Brave New World Revisited (1958), and with his final work, a novel titled Island (1962), both summarized below. The phrase brave new world comes from Mirandas speech in Shakespeares The Tempest, Act V, Scene I: O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beautious mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people int! It may refer to: In literature: Brave New... Image File history File links BraveNewWorld_FirstEdition. ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal world as the setting for a novel. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Chatto and Windus has been, since 1987, an imprint of Random House, the publishers. ... See also: 1931 in literature, other events of 1932, 1933 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... ISBN redirects here. ... See also: 1931 in literature, other events of 1932, 1933 in literature, list of years in literature. ... For other uses, see Novel (disambiguation). ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Reproductive technology is a term for all current and anticipated uses of technology in human and animal reproduction, including: artificial insemination artificial wombs cloning (see human cloning for the special case of human beings) cryopreservation of sperm, oocytes, embryos embryo transfer germinal choice technology hormone treatment to increase fertility in... Insulin crystals Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. ... Sleep-learning (also known as hypnopædia) attempts to convey information to a sleeping person, typically by playing a sound recording to them in their sleep. ...

Contents

[edit] Background

The world the novel describes is a dystopia, presented satirically: humanity lives in a carefree, healthy, and technologically advanced society; however, art, science, religion, and all other forms of human expression have been sacrificed to create this "Brave New World". Warfare and poverty have been eliminated and everyone is permanently happy due to government-provided conditioning and drugs. The irony is that all of these things have been achieved by eliminating many things that humans consider to be central to their identity - family, culture, art, literature, science, religion (other than idolization of "our Ford", Henry Ford, who is seen as the father of their society), and philosophy. It is also a hedonistic society, deriving pleasure from promiscuous sex and drug use, in the form of soma, a powerful psychotropic rationed by the government that is taken to escape pain and bad memories through hallucinatory fantasies, referred to as "Holidays". Additionally, social stability has been achieved and is maintained via deliberately engineered and rigidly enforced social stratification. This article is about the philosophical concept and literary form. ... 1867 edition of Punch, a ground-breaking British magazine of popular humour, including a good deal of satire of the contemporary social and political scene. ... -1... A boy from Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ... This article does not cite any sources. ... Promiscuous redirects here. ... Many drugs are provided in tablet form. ... This article is about the Vedic plant and ritual. ... A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical that alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness, or behaviour. ... social stratification is the division of people of a particular society on the basis if occupation, income, power, prestige, authority, status, dignity, education, class, castle, gender, race and ethnicity In sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes and strata within a society. ...


Brave New World is Huxley's most famous novel. The ironic title comes from Miranda's speech in Shakespeare's The Tempest, Act V, Scene I: This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Shakespeare redirects here. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

"O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!
O brave new world
That hath such people in't!"

Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1932 while he was living in France and England (a British writer, he moved to California in 1937). By this time, Huxley had already established himself as a writer and social satirist. He was a contributor to Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines, had published a collection of his poetry (The Burning Wheel, 1916) and four successful satirical novels: Crome Yellow in 1921, Antic Hay in 1923, Those Barren Leaves in 1925 and Point Counter Point in 1928. Brave New World was Huxley's fifth novel and first attempt at a dystopian work. Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... American actress Demi Moore, on a typical Vanity Fair cover (August, 1991) Vanity Fair is a glossy American glamour magazine monthly that offers a mixture of articles based on sensational exaggerations, jet-set and entertainment-business personalities, politics, and lies. ... For other meanings, see vogue. ... Year 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Crome Yellow is the first novel by British author Aldous Huxley. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... Antic Hay is a novel by Aldous Huxley, published in 1923. ... Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Those Barren Leaves is a satire by Aldous Huxley, published in 1925. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Point Counter Point, published in 1928, was Aldous Huxleys fourth novel. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...


Brave New World was inspired by the H. G. Wells' Utopian novel Men Like Gods. Wells' optimistic vision of the future gave Huxley the idea to begin writing a parody of the novel, which became Brave New World. Contrary to the most popular optimist utopian novels of the time, Huxley sought to provide a frightening vision of the future. Huxley referred to Brave New World as a "negative utopia" (see dystopia), somewhat influenced by Wells' own The Sleeper Awakes and the works of D. H. Lawrence. Yevgeny Zamyatin's novel We, completed ten years before in 1921, has been suggested as an influence, but Huxley stated that he had not known of the book at the time.[1] Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... Men Like Gods is a novel written in 1923 by H. G. Wells. ... This article is about the philosophical concept and literary form. ... The Sleeper Awakes is a dystopian novel by H. G. Wells about a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years, waking up in a completely transformed London, where, because of compound interest on his bank accounts, he has become the richest man in the world. ... David Herbert Richards Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer of the 20th century, whose prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism, and personal letters. ... Yevgeny Zamyatin by Boris Kustodiev (1923) Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin (Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин sometimes translated into English as Eugene Zamyatin) (February 1, 1884 – March 10, 1937) was a Russian author, most famous for his novel We, a story of dystopian future which influenced George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxleys Brave... We (Russian: )[1] is a dystopian novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin completed in 1921. ...


Huxley visited the newly-opened and technologically-advanced Brunner and Mond plant, part of Imperial Chemical Industries, or ICI, Billingham and gives a fine and detailed account of the processes he saw. The introduction to the most recent print of Brave New World states that Huxley was inspired to write the classic novel by this Billingham visit. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For people named Billingham, see Billingham (surname). ...


Although the novel is set in the future, it contains contemporary issues of the early 20th century. The Industrial Revolution was bringing about massive changes to the world. Mass production had made cars, telephones and radios relatively cheap and widely available throughout the developed world. The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the first World War (1914-1918) were resonating throughout the world. Many characters in the story are named after influential people of the time, for example, Benito Hoover and Bernard Marx. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... A Watt steam engine, the steam engine that propelled the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the world. ... Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardised products on production lines. ... The Russian Revolution (1917) was a series of economic and social upheavals in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal and moderate-socialist Provisional Government, resulting in the establishment of Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...


Huxley was able to use the setting and characters from his futuristic fantasy to express widely held opinions, particularly the fear of losing individual identity in the fast-paced world of the future. An early trip to the United States gave Brave New World much of its character. Not only was Huxley outraged by the culture of youth, commercial cheeriness, sexual promiscuity, and inward-looking nature of many Americans,[2] he also found a book by Henry Ford on the boat to America. There was a fear of Americanisation in Europe, so to see America firsthand, as well as read the ideas and plans of one of its foremost citizens, spurred Huxley to write Brave New World with America in mind. The "feelies" are his response to the "talkie" motion pictures, and the sex-hormone chewing gum is parody of the ubiquitous chewing gum, which was something of a symbol of America at that time. In an article in the May 4, 1935 issue of Illustrated London News, G. K. Chesterton explained that Huxley was revolting against the "Age of Utopias" - a time, mostly before World War I, inspired by what H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw were writing about socialism and a World State. Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ... Americanization is the term used for the influence the United States of America has on the culture of other countries, substituting local culture with something of an American culture. ... Chewing gum Chewing gum is a type of confectionery designed for fun and chewing. ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1874–June 14, 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. ... Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was a world-renowned Irish author. ...

“ After the Age of Utopias came what we may call the American Age, lasting as long as the Boom. Men like Ford or Mond seemed to many to have solved the social riddle and made capitalism the common good. But it was not native to us; it went with a buoyant, not to say blatant optimism, which is not our negligent or negative optimism. Much more than Victorian righteousness, or even Victorian self-righteousness, that optimism has driven people into pessimism. For the Slump brought even more disillusionment than the War. A new bitterness, and a new bewilderment, ran through all social life, and was reflected in all literature and art. It was contemptuous, not only of the old Capitalism, but of the old Socialism. Brave New World is more of a revolt against Utopia than against Victoria. ”

Brave New World received nearly universal criticism from contemporary critics, although his work was later embraced. Even the few sympathetics tended to temper their praises with disparaging remarks.[3]


[edit] Characters

[edit] In order of appearance

  • Thomas "Tomakin", Alpha, Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (D.H.C.) for London; later revealed to be the father of John the Savage.
  • Henry Foster, Alpha, Administrator at the Hatchery and Lenina's current partner.
  • Lenina Crowne, Beta-Plus, Vaccination-worker at the Hatchery; loved by John the Savage.
  • Mustapha Mond, Alpha-Plus, World Controller for Western Europe (9 other controllers exist, presumably for different sections of the world).
  • Assistant Director of Predestination.
  • Bernard Marx, Alpha-Plus, psychologist (specializing in hypnopædia).
  • Fanny Crowne, Beta, embryo worker; a friend of Lenina.
  • Benito Hoover, Alpha, friend of Lenina; disliked by Bernard.
  • Helmholtz Watson, Alpha-Plus, lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering (Department of Writing), friend and confidant of Bernard Marx and John the Savage.

[edit] At the Solidarity Service

  • Morgana Rothschild, Herbert Bakunin, Fifi Bradlaugh, Jim Bokanovsky, Clara Deterding, Joanna Diesel, Sarojini Engels, and "that great lout" Tom Kawaguchi.
  • Miss Keate, headmistress of the high-tech glass and concrete Eton College.
  • Arch-Community Songster, a quasi-religious figure based in Canterbury.
  • Primo Mellon, a reporter for the upper-caste news-sheet Hourly Radio, who attempts to interview John the Savage and gets assaulted for his troubles.
  • Darwin Bonaparte, a paparazzo who brings worldwide attention to John's hermitage.

The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (privately funded and independent) for boys, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, north of Windsor Castle, and... Canterbury is a cathedral city in east Kent in South East England and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England, head of the Church of England and of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... For other uses, see Paparazzi (disambiguation). ...

[edit] Of Malpais

  • John the Savage ('Mr. Savage'), son of Linda and Thomas (Tomakin/The Director), an outcast in both primitive and modern society.
  • Linda, a Beta-Minus. John the Savage's mother, and Thomas's (Tomakin/The Director) long lost lover. She is from England and was pregnant with John when she got lost from Thomas in a trip to New Mexico. She is disliked both by savage people because of her "civilized" behaviour, and by civilized people because she is fat and looks old.
  • Popé, a native of Malpais. Although he reinforces the behavior that causes hatred for Linda in Malpais by sleeping with her and bringing her alcohol, he still holds the traditional beliefs of his tribe.

[edit] Background figures

These are fictional and factual characters who died before the events in this book, but are of note in the novel:

  • Henry Ford, who has become a messianic figure to The World State. "Our Ford" is used in place of "Our Lord", as a credit to his invention of the assembly line.
  • Sigmund Freud, "Our Freud" is sometimes said in place of "Our Ford" due to the link between Freud's psychoanalysis and the conditioning of humans, and Freud's popularisation of the idea that sexual activity is essential to human happiness and need not be open to procreation. It is also strongly implied that citizens of the World State believe Freud and Ford to be the same person.
  • H.G. Wells, "Dr. Wells", British writer and utopian socialist, whose book Men Like Gods was an incentive for Brave New World. "All's well that ends Wells" - wrote Huxley in his letters, criticizing Wells for anthropological assumptions Huxley found unrealistic.
  • Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, whose conditioning techniques are used to train infants.
  • William Shakespeare, whose banned works are quoted throughout the novel by John, "the Savage". The plays quoted include Macbeth, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Measure for Measure and Othello. (See List of quotes from Shakespeare in Brave New World.) Mustapha Mond also knows them.
  • Thomas Malthus, whose name is used to describe the contraceptive techniques (Malthusian belt) practised by women of the World State.
  • Reuben Rabinovitch, the character in whom the effects of sleep-learning, hypnopædia, are first noted.

Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ... The World State is the primary setting of Aldous Huxleys 1932 dystopian novel Brave New World. ... Modern car assembly line. ... Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... H. G. Wells at the door of his house at Sandgate Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 - August 13, 1946) was an English writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. ... Utopian socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern Socialist thought. ... Men Like Gods is a novel written in 1923 by H. G. Wells. ... For other uses, see Pavlov (disambiguation). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This article is about Shakespeares play. ... For other uses, see Tempest. ... For other uses, see Romeo and Juliet (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... King Lear and the Fool in the Storm by William Dyce (1806-1864) King Lear is a play by William Shakespeare, considered one of his greatest tragedies, based on the legend of King Lear of Britain. ... Claudio and Isabella (1850) by William Holman Hunt Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, written in 1603. ... For other uses, see Othello (disambiguation). ... The list of quotes from Shakespeare in Brave New World refers to the large number of quotations in the 1932 dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, which are derived from the plays and other works of William Shakespeare. ... Thomas Robert Malthus FRS (13 February 1766 – 23 December 1834),[1] was a political economist and British demographer. ... Sleep-learning (also known as hypnopædia) attempts to convey information to a sleeping person, typically by playing a sound recording to them in their sleep. ...

[edit] Sources of names and references

The limited number of names that the World State assigned to its bottle-grown citizens can be traced to political and cultural figures:

George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was a world-renowned Irish author. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a 19th century philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... German philosophy, here taken to mean philosophy in German language, has been extremely diverse, and central to both the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy for centuries, from Leibniz through Kant and Hegel to contemporary philosophers such as Jürgen Habermas. ... Das Kapital (Capital, in the English translation) is an extensive treatise on political economy written by Karl Marx in German. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Lenin redirects here. ... This article is about the Bolshevik faction in the RSDLP 1903-1912. ... The Russian Revolution (1917) was a series of economic and social upheavals in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal and moderate-socialist Provisional Government, resulting in the establishment of Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ... Faina Yefimovna Kaplan (Фаина Ефимовна Каплан; 1883–September 3, 1918), also known as Fanny Kaplan and as Dora Kaplan), was a Russian political revolutionary and an attempted assassin of Vladimir Lenin. ... Leon Trotsky (Russian:  , Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lyev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij, Trockij and Trotzky) (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 – August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (), was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. ... Mussolini redirects here. ... Italian fascism (in Italian, fascismo) was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964), the thirty-first President of the United States (1929–1933), was a mining engineer and author. ... For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ... Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (August 31, 1821 – September 8, 1894) was a German physician and physicist. ... Behaviorism (also called learning perspective) is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors. ... John Broadus Watson (January 9, 1878–September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism, after doing research on animal behavior. ... Bonaparte as general Napoleon Bonaparte ( 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution and was the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from November 11, 1799 to May 18, 1804, then as Emperor of the French (Empereur des Français... Map of the First French Empire in 1811, with the Empire in dark blue and satellite states in light blue Capital Paris Language(s) French Government Constitutional Monarchy Emperor  - 1804 - 1814/1815 Napoleon I  - 1814/1815 Napoleon II Legislature Parliament  - Upper house Senate  - Lower house Corps législatif Historical era... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... Charles Darwins Origin of Species (publ. ... Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (Russian: Михаил Александрович Бакунин, Michel Bakunin on the grave in Bern), (May 18 (30 N.S.), 1814 – June 19 (July 1 N.S.), 1876) was a well-known Russian revolutionary, and often considered one of the “fathers of modern anarchism. Born in the Russian Empire to a family of Russian... Russian philosophy is a broad field, little known to most non-Russians, dominated by religious and humanistic figures such as Vladimir Soloviev and social or political philosophers such as Mikhail Bakunin. ... Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–10 November 1938), until 1934 Mustafa Kemal, Turkish army officer, statesman and revolutionary, was the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. ... The Republic of Turkey is a country located in Southwest Asia with a small part of its territory (3%) in southeastern Europe. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett (1868 - 1930) was a British industrialist and politician. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Spanish dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, Marqués de Estella (Jerez, January 8, 1870 - Paris, March 16, 1930) was a Spanish military official who ruled Spain as a dictator from 1923 to 1930, ending the turno system of alternating parties. ... The history of Spain spans the period from pre-historic times, through the rise and fall of the first global empire, to Spains modern-day renaissance in the post-Franco era. ... Thomas Alexander Mellon (February 3, 1813 – February 3, 1908) was an American entrepreneur, lawyer, and judge, best known as the founder of Mellon Bank and patriarch of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... Engels redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Sarojini Naidu (February 13, 1879 - March 2, 1949), known as Bharatiya Kokila (The Nightingale of India), was a child prodigy, freedom fighter, and poet. ... Coat of arms of the Rothschild family The Rothschild family (often referred to simply as the Rothschilds), is an international banking and finance dynasty of German Jewish origin that established operations across Europe, and was ennobled by the Austrian and British governments. ... Charles Bradlaugh (26 September 1833 _ 30 January 1891) was a political activist and one of the most famous English atheists of the 19th century. ... Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (pronounced ; March 18, 1858 – September 30, 1913) was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the diesel engine. ... Diesel engines in a museum Diesel generator on an oil tanker A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine which operates using the Diesel cycle. ... Henri Wilhelm August Deterding KBE (Hon), (19 April 1866, Amsterdam - 4 February 1939, St Moritz) was for many years the chairman of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and then Royal Dutch/Shell, one of the worlds largest oil companies. ... Ewai Kawaguchi just before leaving Japan c. ... Rousseau redirects here. ... Habibullah Khan (1872 - 1919) was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1901 until 1919. ... The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (privately funded and independent) for boys, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, north of Windsor Castle, and... John Keate (1773 - March 5, 1852) was an English schoolmaster. ... The Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader and senior clergyman of the Church of England, recognized by convention as the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... The Anglican Communion is a world-wide organisation of Anglican Churches. ... For other uses, see Native Americans (disambiguation). ... 1680-The Pueblo Revolt, by George Chacón, Taos Mural Project The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 or Popés Rebellion was an uprising of many pueblos of the Pueblo people against Spanish colonization of the Americas in the New Spain province of New Mexico. ...

[edit] Synopsis

[edit] The introduction (Chapters 1-6)

The novel begins in London in the "year of our Ford 632" (AD 2540 in the Gregorian Calendar). In this world, the vast majority of the population is unified as The World State, an eternally peaceful, stable, plentiful society where everyone believes everyone is happy. In this society, natural reproduction has been done away with and children are born and raised in Hatcheries and Conditioning Centres. Society is rigidly divided into five castes, which are carefully engineered by these centres. The castes are: the Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons (with each caste further split into Plus and Minus members). Alphas and Betas are the top level of society: they make decisions, teach, and dictate policy. Each Alpha or Beta is the product of one egg being fertilized and developing into one fetus in artificial wombs located on an assembly line in Hatchery and Conditioning Centres. The other castes, however, are not unique biologically but multiple clones of one fertilization, created using the Bokanovsky process. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie and the Flivver) was an automobile produced by Henry Fords Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927. ... For the calendar of religious holidays and periods, see liturgical year. ... Caste systems are traditional, hereditary systems of social classification, that evolved due to the enormous diversity in India (where all three primary races met, not by forced slavery but by immigration). ...


All members of society are conditioned with the values that the World State idealizes. Children are trained to identify by their caste, co-operate, copulate, to enjoy anything that is good for Society, and hate anything that is bad for Society. Constant consumption is the bedrock of stability for the World State; one thing everyone is encouraged to consume is the ubiquitous drug, soma. Soma is a mild hallucinogen that makes it possible for everyone to be blissfully oblivious. It has no short-term side effects and induces no hangover; however, long-term abuse leads to death by respiratory failure. Hallucinogenic drug - drugs that can alter sensory perceptions. ...


Heterosexual sex is also widely consumed. In The World State, sex is a social activity rather than a means of reproduction and is encouraged from early childhood. Regular reproduction can occur, but is viewed by society as unnatural and repugnant; the few women who could reproduce are conditioned to take birth control. As a result, sexual competition and emotional, romantic relationships are obsolete. Marriage is not only unnecessary, it is considered an antisocial dirty joke because, as the conditioning voice repeats at night, "everyone belongs to everyone else". In World State society, natural birth or pregnancy is smut of the most vulgar kind. To call someone a mother is the lowest possible insult; calling someone a father is not as bad (it will even produce laughs), but it's little better.


Spending time alone and reading are considered outrageous wastes of time. People are taught to associate in groups and consume entertainment. Also, the World State tries to stop its citizens from having thoughts that are different from the rest of Society.


In The World State, people typically die at age 60[4] having maintained good health and youthfulness their whole life. Death isn't feared; children are conditioned to view hospitals as happy playgrounds. Since no one has family, they have no ties to mourn.


All consumption is encouraged; no one waits long for anything they desire. Everyone gets everything he or she is conditioned to want and is therefore happy. The caste system eliminates the need for professional competitiveness; people are literally bred to do their jobs and want no other. There is no competition within castes; each caste member receives the same food, housing, and soma rationing as every other member of that caste.


In order to grow closer with members of the same class, citizens must participate in mock religious services called Solidarity Services. There twelve people consume large quantities of soma and sing hymns. As the ritual progresses, the participants lose their concept of individuality and become one unified body. This is symbolized when the group breaks out into an orgy and the Arch-Community Songster sings orgy-porgy hymns.


In geographic areas that are non-conducive to easy living and consumption, The World State allows well controlled, securely contained groups of "savages" to live. (One such "Savage Reservation" is located in the western desert of the United States.) On reservations, savages reproduce normally.


In its first chapters, the novel describes life in the World State and introduces Lenina and Bernard. Lenina, a Beta, is an average, beautiful, desired woman, while Bernard, a psychologist, is an outcast. Although an Alpha, Bernard is shorter in stature than the average of his caste -- a quality shared by the lower castes, which gives him an inferiority complex. He also defies social norms and secretly stews in a hatred of his equals. His work with sleep-teaching has led him to realize that people's deepest values are really just repeated phrases. Courting disaster, he is vocal about being different, once stating he dislikes soma because he'd "rather be himself, sad, than another person, happy". Bernard's differences fuel rumors that he was accidentally administered alcohol while incubated, a method used for creating shorter stature in Epsilons.


Bernard is obsessed with Lenina, attributing noble qualities and poetic potentials to her despite evidence otherwise. A woman who seldom questions her own motivations, Lenina is reprimanded by her friends because she is not promiscuous enough. Both fascinated and disturbed by Bernard, she responds to Bernard's advances to dispel her reputation for being too selective and monogamous.


Bernard's only friend is Helmholtz Watson, an Alpha-Plus lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering (Department of Writing). Helmholtz is also an outcast, but unlike Bernard, it is because he is too gifted and handsome. Helmholtz, successful, charming, attractive, is drawn to Bernard as a confidant: he can talk to Bernard about his desire to write poetry. Bernard likes Helmholtz because, unlike anyone else, Helmholtz likes Bernard. He is also, Bernard realizes jealously, everything Bernard will never be.


[edit] The reservation and the Savage (chapters 7-9)

Bernard, desperately wanting Lenina's attentions, tries to impress her by taking her on holiday to a Savage Reservation. The huge reservation, located in New Mexico and surrounded by electric fences, holds a society of Malpais, who live and reproduce in natural, unsanitized conditions. From afar, Lenina thinks it will be exciting. In person, she finds the aged, toothless natives who actually mend their clothes rather than throw them away, repugnant, and the situation is made worse when she discovers that she has left her soma tablets at the resort hotel. Bernard, however, is fascinated, although he realizes his seduction plans have failed. In Spanish, Malpais means badland. ...


In typical tourist fashion, Bernard and Lenina watch what at first appears to be a quaint native ceremony. The village folk, who live similarly to Pueblo peoples such as the Hopi and Zuni, begin by singing, but the ritual quickly becomes a passion play where a village boy is whipped to unconsciousness. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Pueblo Indians . ... Moki redirects here. ... The Zuni (also spelled Zuñi) or Ashiwi are a Native American tribe, one of the Pueblo peoples, most of whom live in the Pueblo of Zuñi on the Zuni River, a tributary of the Little Colorado River, in western New Mexico. ...


Soon after, the couple encounters Linda, a woman formerly of The World State who had accidentally been left behind years ago when she was brought here on a date not unlike the one Bernard and Lenina are having. Linda was lost from the party and her date, 'Tomakin' searched futilely for her and then went home. She became pregnant because she mistimed her "Malthusian Drill" and there were no facilities for an abortion. Linda was forced to give birth to a son, John (later referred to as John the Savage) who is now eighteen.


Through conversations with Linda and John, we learn that their life has been hard. For eighteen years, they have been treated as outsiders: Linda was hated for sleeping with all the men of the village – as she was conditioned to – and John was mistreated for his mother's actions. John's one island of joy was that his mother had taught him to read although he only had two books: a scientific manual from his mother's job and a collection of the works of Shakespeare (a work banned in The World State). John has been denied the religious rituals of the village, although he has watched them and even has had some of his own religious experiences in the desert.


Old, weathered, Linda wants desperately to return to London; she is tired of a life without soma. John wants to see the "brave new world" his mother has told him so much about. Bernard wants to take them back for his own self-serving reasons: as revenge against Bernard's boss, Thomas, who threatened to reassign Bernard to Iceland because of Bernard's antisocial beliefs. Bernard arranges permission for Linda and John to leave the reservation.


[edit] The Savage visits the World State (chapters 10-18)

Upon his return to London, Bernard is confronted by Thomas, the Director of the Hatchery and Conditioning Centre who, in front of an audience of higher-caste Centre workers, denounces Bernard for his antisocial behavior and again threatens to send him to Iceland. Bernard, thinking that for the first time in his life he has the upper hand, defends himself by presenting the Director with his lost lover and unknown son, Linda and John. Because the concepts of parents and natural birth are anathema, the inexorably humiliated Director resigns in shame.


Bernard's new pet savage makes him the toast of London. Pursued by the highest members of society, able to bed any woman he fancies, Bernard revels in attention he once scorned. Everyone who is anyone, it seems, will endure Bernard to dine with the interesting, different, beautiful John. Even Lenina grows unnaturally fond of the savage, while the savage falls increasingly and chastely in love with her. Bernard, intoxicated with attention, falls in love with himself. At last, he has won.


The victory, however, is short lived. Linda, decrepit, toothless, friendless, goes on a permanent soma holiday while John, appalled by this empty society, refuses to perform for one more of Bernard's parties. With the savage show over, society quickly and cruelly drops Bernard. Alone, he turns to his one true friend, only to see Helmholtz fall into a quick, easy camaraderie with John. Bernard is left an outcast yet again as he watches the only two men he ever connected with find more of interest in each other than they ever did in him. John and Helmholtz discuss writing and Shakespeare while Bernard is left to make childish, uninformed comments from the sidelines. Shakespeare redirects here. ...


John and Helmholtz's island of peace is brief. John grows increasingly frustrated by a society he finds wicked and debase. He is deeply moved by Lenina, but also hates her for her sexual advances, which revolt and shame him. Finally, he is heartbroken when his mother succumbs to soma and dies in a hospital. John witnesses his mother's death, and, maddeningly, his grief bewilders and revolts the hospital workers. Their cold reaction to Linda's passing prompts John to try to force humanity from the workers by throwing their soma rations out a window. The ensuing riot brings the police who soma-gas the crowd. Bernard and Helmholtz arrive to help John, but only Helmholtz helps him, while Bernard stands to the side.


When they wake, Bernard, Helmholtz and John are brought before Mustapha Mond, the Resident World Controller for Western Europe. Bernard and Helmholtz are told they will be sent to live in Iceland and the Falkland Islands, two of several island colonies reserved for exiled citizens. Helmholtz looks forward to living on the remote Falkland Islands, where he can become a serious writer. Bernard grovels, begs and betrays his friends. Mond reveals that exile to the islands, a frequent threat to prevent unorthodox thinking, is where freethinkers are released, rather than repressed. After Bernard and Helmholtz leave the room, a philosophical argument between Mustapha and John leads to the decision that John will not be sent to an island. Mustapha says that he too once risked banishment to an island because of some experiments that were deemed controversial by the state. In the final chapters, John isolates himself from society in a lighthouse outside London where he finds his hermit life interrupted from within by lust for Lenina. To atone, John brutally whips himself in the open, a ritual the Indians in his own village had said he wasn't capable of. His self-flagellation, caught on film and shown publicly, destroys his hermit life from without as hundreds of gawking sightseers, intrigued by John's violent behavior, fly out to watch the savage in person. Even Lenina comes to watch, crying a tear John does not see. The sight of the woman whom he both adores and blames, is too much for him; John attacks and whips her. This sight of genuine, unbridled emotion drives the crowd wild with excitement, and – handling it as they are conditioned to – they turn on each other, in a frenzy of beating and chanting that devolves into a mass orgy of soma and sex. In the morning, John, hopeless, alone and horrified by his drug use, debasement and attack on Lenina, makes one last attempt to escape civilization and atone. When thousands of gawking sightseers arrive that morning, frenzied at the prospect of seeing the savage perform again, they find John dead, hanging by the neck. This article is about a type of political territory. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article is about ancient Greek gathering. ...


[edit] Fordism and society

Main article: The World State

The World State is built around the principles of Henry Ford, who has become a Messianic figure worshipped by society. The word Lord has been replaced with the similar-sounding Ford. The calendar counts years "After Ford" (AF), a parody of "Anno Domini" (AD), starting at 1908 when the Ford Model T was created. The Christian cross has been replaced by the symbol "T", another reflection of the Model T, as well as a symbolic cutting off of the upward-pointing part of the Cross (indicating that belief in God has been abolished). Ford's famous phrase "History is bunk" has become The World State's approach to the past, and the assembly line process is present in many aspects of life. The present-day newspaper Christian Science Monitor is mentioned as being still published under the name "Fordian Science Monitor". The World State is the primary setting of Aldous Huxleys 1932 dystopian novel Brave New World. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ... In Judaism, the Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ anointed one, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew Arabic ) initially meant any person who was anointed by God. ... AD redirects here. ... Year 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie and the Flivver) was an automobile produced by Henry Fords Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927. ... A reliquary in the form of an ornate Christian Cross Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope... Modern car assembly line. ... The Christian Science Monitor (CSM) is an international newspaper published daily, Monday through Friday. ...


From birth, members of every class are indoctrinated by recorded voices repeating slogans while they sleep (called "hypnopædia" in the book) to believe that their own class is best for them. Any residual unhappiness is resolved by an antidepressant and a hallucinogenic drug called soma (Greek for "body"), distributed by the Arch-Community Songster of Canterbury, a secularised version of the Sacrament of Communion ("The Body of Christ"). Indoctrination is the process of inculcating ideas, attitudes, cognitive strategies or a professional methodology. ... Sleep-learning (also known as hypnopædia) attempts to convey information to a sleeping person, typically by playing a sound recording to them in their sleep. ... Prozac, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, Venlafaxine An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication or other substance (nutrient or herb) used for alleviating depression or dysthymia (milder depression). ... Hallucinogenic drugs or hallucinogens are drugs that can alter sensory perceptions, elicit alternate states of consciousness, or cause hallucinations. ... The Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader and senior clergyman of the Church of England, recognized by convention as the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... In Christian belief and practice, a sacrament is a rite that mediates divine grace, constituting a sacred mystery. ... Communion has several meanings within Christianity. ...


Contrary to what modern readers would expect, the biological techniques used to control the populace in Brave New World do not include genetic engineering. Huxley wrote the book in the 1920s, thirty years before Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA. However, Mendel's work with inheritance patterns in peas had been re-discovered in 1900 and the eugenics movement, based on Darwinian selection, was well established. Huxley's family included a number of prominent biologists including Thomas Huxley, half-brother and Nobel Laureate Andrew Huxley, and brother Julian Huxley who was a biologist and involved in the eugenics movement. In light of this, the fact that Huxley emphasizes conditioning over breeding is notable (see nature versus nurture). As the science writer Matt Ridley put it, Brave New World describes an "environmental not a genetic hell." Human embryos and fetuses are conditioned via a carefully designed regimen of chemical (such as exposure to hormones and toxins), thermal (exposure to intense heat or cold, as one's future career would dictate) and other environmental stimuli, although there is an element of selective breeding as well. Elements of genetic engineering For a non-technical introduction to the topic, see Introduction to Genetics. ... For other people named James Watson, see James Watson (disambiguation). ... Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004), (Ph. ... The structure of part of a DNA double helix Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a nucleic acid molecule that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. ... Mendel is the last name of Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), often called the father of Genetics. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Eugenics Conference [10], 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ... Alternative meaning Natural Selection (computer game). ... The Huxley family is a British family, consisting of several notables. ... Thomas Henry Huxley, FRS (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) [1] was an English biologist, known as Darwins Bulldog for his advocacy of Charles Darwins theory of evolution. ... The Nobel Prizes (pronounced no-BELL or no-bell) are awarded annually to people who have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. ... Andrew Huxley at Trinity College, Cambridge, July 2005 Family tree Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley, OM, FRS (born 22 November 1917, Hampstead, London) is an English physiologist and biophysicist, who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work with Alan Lloyd Hodgkin on the basis of nerve... Sir Julian Sorell Huxley, FRS (June 22, 1887 – February 14, 1975) was a English biologist, author, Humanist and internationalist, known for his popularisations of science in books and lectures. ... The nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individuals innate qualities (nature) versus personal experiences (nurture) in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits. ... Matthew (Matt) Ridley (born February 7, 1958 at Newcastle upon Tyne) (not to be confused with Mark Ridley) is an English science writer. ... Selective breeding in domesticated animals is the process of developing a cultivated breed over time. ...


[edit] Controversy

Miller is a city located in Lawrence County, Missouri. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... For other uses, see Plagiarism (disambiguation). ... For the rap album, see 1924 (album). ...

[edit] Comparisons with George Orwell's 1984

Social critic Neil Postman contrasts the worlds of 1984 and Brave New World in the foreword of his 1986 book Amusing Ourselves to Death. He writes: Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 - October 5, 2003) was an American professor, media theorist, and cultural critic who is best known by the general public for his 1985 book about television, Amusing Ourselves to Death. ... This article is about the Orwell novel. ... Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985), is a controversial book by Neil Postman in which he argued that mediums of communication inherently influence the conversations carried out over them, that television is the primary means of communication for our culture, that television has...

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

Journalist Christopher Hitchens, who has himself published several articles on Huxley and a book on Orwell, notes the difference between the two texts in the introduction to his 1999 article "Why Americans Are Not Taught History": Christopher Eric Hitchens (born April 13, 1949) is a British-American author, journalist and literary critic. ...

We dwell in a present-tense culture that somehow, significantly, decided to employ the telling expression "You're history" as a choice reprobation or insult, and thus elected to speak forgotten volumes about itself. By that standard, the forbidding dystopia of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four already belongs, both as a text and as a date, with Ur and Mycenae, while the hedonist nihilism of Huxley still beckons toward a painless, amusement-sodden, and stress-free consensus. Orwell's was a house of horrors. He seemed to strain credulity because he posited a regime that would go to any lengths to own and possess history, to rewrite and construct it, and to inculcate it by means of coercion. Whereas Huxley ... rightly foresaw that any such regime could break but could not bend. In 1988, four years after 1984, the Soviet Union scrapped its official history curriculum and announced that a newly authorized version was somewhere in the works. This was the precise moment when the regime conceded its own extinction. For true blissed-out and vacant servitude, though, you need an otherwise sophisticated society where no serious history is taught.[8] For other uses, see Ur (disambiguation). ... A clay tablet with writing in Linear B from Mycenae. ... This article does not cite any sources. ... This article is about the philosophical position. ...

[edit] Brave New World Revisited

Brave New World Revisited
Brave New World Revisited

Brave New World Revisited (Harper & Row, 1958), written by Huxley almost thirty years after Brave New World, was a non-fiction work in which Huxley considered whether the world had moved toward or away from his vision of the future from the 1930s. He believed when he wrote the original novel that it was a reasonable guess as to where the world might go in the future but in Brave New World Revisited he concluded that the world was becoming much more like Brave New World much faster than he thought. Image File history File links Braverevisite. ... Image File history File links Braverevisite. ... Harper & Row is an imprint of HarperCollins. ...


Huxley analysed the causes of this, such as overpopulation as well as all the means by which populations can be controlled. He was particularly interested in the effects of drugs and subliminal suggestion. Brave New World Revisited is different in tone due to Huxley's evolving thought, as well as his conversion to Vedanta in the interim between the two books. Map of countries by population density (See List of countries by population density. ... Recreational drug use is the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational purposes rather than for work, medical or spiritual purposes, although the distinction is not always clear. ... A subliminal message is a signal or message embedded in another medium, designed to pass below the normal limits of perception. ... For other uses, see Vedanta (disambiguation). ...


[edit] Huxley's Island

Huxley's final work, Island, written in 1962 after Huxley had experienced the psychedelic drugs mescaline and LSD, includes background elements in common with Brave New World, used for good in the former and for ill in the latter. Such elements include: For psychedelics, see psychedelic drug. ... Not to be confused with mesclun. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called LSD, LSD-25, or acid. ...

This table may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (February 2008)
Theme comparison
Island Brave New World
Drug use for enlightenment, and self-knowledge Drug use for pacification
Group living (in the form of Mutual Adoption Clubs) so that children would not have unalloyed exposure to their parents' neuroses Group living for the elimination of individuality.
Trance states for super learning Trance states for indoctrination
Assisted reproduction (low-tech artificial insemination) Assisted reproduction (high-tech artificial womb)
Natural methods of contraception, expressive sex Universal forced sterilization, meaningless sex
Dangerous climb to a temple as spiritual preparation Violent Passion Surrogate
Parrots trained to utter uplifting slogans Ubiquitous loud speakers

The culture of the fictional Southeast Asian island, Pala, is the offspring of Scottish Secular Humanism and Mahayana Buddhism, making Huxley's ideal fusion of East and West. A central element of Palanese