Huxley, Andrew: Brave New World

Brave New World

The book of Andrew Huxley tells us a story of the future. After 9 years of war, humans decided to build a New World with one state, the “World State” which was ruled by so called “Controllers”. For centuries the World State held its principles on community, identity and stability. This means that everyone lives with everyone else in order to identify themselves as a group. They must serve the State and not attempt to change the social system in any way. Basically, the World State knows what’s best for everyone so the people have no need think for themselves; they only have to obey the rules. The citizens are controlled from their childhood and each citizen is conditioned for life, which is predestinated by the World State. By example, people who have to work in hot rooms would be conditioned to enjoy the heat.

In this world lives Bernard Marx who is a psychologist. Bernard is different to others, he is an extremely clever ‘Alpha plus’, but his body is small compared to other ‘Alpha plus’ people (each class; Alpha, Beta etc. have specific body sizes and wear uniformed clothes to match their form). Not only does he look different, his thoughts are also not the same as the others. Bernard sometimes prefers to be alone (unimaginable for anyone else as they were conditioned to enjoy doing everything together). His behavior made him into an outsider. This Alpha plus does not often take Soma when he feels sad. Soma is the “perfect drug” that makes people forget their problems and feel happy without any side effects such as illness. Nobody seems to like him because of his “anti–social” behavior and his look. In addition nobody respect his friend, the well-known writer Watson Helmholtz who is the only person who can understand Bernard’s thoughts. Because of this he is very grateful to have Watson as a friend.

One day, a young and beautiful girl called Lenina asks Bernard to come with him to the reservation; the reservation is the place where the savages live. In the reservation they do “things” that citizen of the World State would never do: they get married, live as man and wife together, have their own children and believe in gods. Such incredible and disgusting activities are unheard of in the New World. Only a few people, Bernard and Lenina are but two, obtain permission to visit the reservation. For these two so called civilized people, the strange habitudes and behavior of the savages is a unique experience.

But one of the savages is different, his skin is like Bernard’s, his name is John and he original came from the New World. Years before, his mother Linda (who is now a fat and ugly old woman) visited the reservation like Bernard and Lenina have. Linda disappeared and never returned from her visit. People thought the savages killed her although usually they would never harm a citizen of the New World because they are all frighten by their weapons and strength. In fact she had fallen, injured herself and managed to survive with the help of the savages. This forced her to act and live like a savage.

John and Bernard began talking together and discussed many things like the World State and life in the reservation. During there talks Bernard learns that John’s mother (the fat Linda) was the girlfriend of his boss, Thomas, who is the director of the Hatchery. Bernard Marx doesn’t like Thomas at all: they disagreed and argued on several issues. He even thought about sending Marx to an island where all the people there are either too clever or generally disagreeable to the World State. The small Alpha plus has a plan that the director wouldn’t send him to the island if he could bring back his girlfriend so they take the Savages (Linda and John) with them.

When they arrive back at the Hatchery, they become an immediate sensation with the people: the good looking young man John and the ugly old woman Linda. Linda identified her old lover but he did not remember her as in the World State, people don’t get old, they retain a youthful look throughout their life. The director could hardly remember her, he knew her only as beautiful young girl. Her ugliness makes him and the other citizens of the New World feel sick and they avoided meeting this ugly creature again. Linda begins to take Soma; so much that she dies of an overdose and the Director is then sent away (what should he do if everyone knows that he was in love with such a woman?), he has lost his reputation.

After a meeting with Helmholtz and John, Bernard becomes jealous of the way that they get along together and seem to impress each other. Bernard’s reaction is rather stupid: he makes jokes about the great Shakespeare (Shakespeare was not known in the World State but Bernard knew that the strong words impressed the writer Helmholtz deeply). John reacted immediately, he was so disappointed with Bernard and Helmholtz’s behavior he stopped talking to them and became very angry. Watson couldn’t avoid laughing as he heard the pathetic comment from his friend.

Bernard introduces John to several very important people, John hates to have so many people around with not a single minute of silence but Marx enjoys being in the limelight. On a day when the most important people come to talk with John the Savage, he refuses to see them. These mighty men remembered the will of the earlier boss of Marx who wanted to send him to an island. Helmholtz, Bernard and John the Savage are ordered to Mustapha Mond, the controller of Europe. Here they talk to Mr. Mond, who explains that people in the New World no longer need a god or poetry, they can stop thinking and take Soma if they have problems. But the three rebels, (in particular John) can’t agree with Mustapha Mond. So he sends Helmholtz and Bernard to islands and John out of London to an old tower building.

After this, John looses contact with Bernard and Helmholtz; he begins a new life in the old tower. The Savage remembered what he had learned in the reservation and begins to plant his own food, construct his own tools and live like he did in a time before. Sometimes he has the habit of striking himself with a whip to help forget about the Brave New World and the beautiful Lenina.

But the people don’t leave him in peace and return with noisy helicopters. John becomes seriously aggressive and shoots at them with his self-made arrow. After this event they keep a respectful distance from John’s tower.

Eventually the people and the radio reporters lose interest in the Savage until the day when a movie called “The Savage of Surrey” is shown in the cinemas. The movie shows scenes of John while he was beating himself with a whip, which was secretly filmed by the reporters. Later, interested people come back and ask the Savage to hit himself with the whip in the way they had seen in the movie. But that’s too much for John: when they return the following day they see John the Savage hanging from the ceiling with a cord around his neck, turning slowly from one side to the next, back and forth.

O brave new world...