• Brave New World– Author

– Born

– Family Life

– Writing Style

– Writing Focus

– Aldous Huxley

– 1894

– Came from a family with both a literary and scientific background

– Combined thoughts on the morality and nature of man with scientific findings and predictions

– Focused many of his works on the conflicts between the individual and society

• Brave New World– Huxley’s Influence

• Writings became especially popular during the 1960s

• His works often featured the use of various drugs, which he experiments with as well in his lifetime

• His work The Doors of Perception was the inspiration for Jim Morrison to name his band The Doors.

• Literary Focus– Publication

– Genre

– Setting (time)

• 1932

• Dystopian Future

• 2450 A.D– Set 632 “After Ford”– Meaning after the invention

of the Model “T”– This is symbolic of the

societal shift in thinking—time is referenced in terms of a technological breakthrough versus a religious landmark

• Literary Focus– Setting (place)

• England and a place referred to as the “Savage Reservation”– England is known as

“the brave new world”– The “Savage

Reservation” is where people still feel emotions like love and grow old

• Literary Focus– Point of View

• Omniscient Third Person

• The unique thing about the narration is that it is used through the perspective of various characters

• This allows the reader to see inside the minds of people who belong to the different castes in the society

• Literary Focus– Dystopia

• A “Brave New World” predicts a future where people don’t have serious relationships, where they don’t have opinions and are classified from birth into a caste

• People sleep carelessly with many different partners

• People are filed into five castes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, or Epsilon

• Literary Focus– Themes and Conflicts

• Technology and Its Ability to Manipulate

• Control versus Emotion• Religion versus

Technology• Free-Will versus

Stability• Fantasy versus Reality• Science versus

Technology• Corruptive Nature of

Power

• Literary Focus– Satire

• By making the Dystopia of the “Brave New World” so extreme, it is easy for readers to see the ridiculousness of the society

• Some examples of the over-the-top nature of the novel– Frivolous sexual

encounters– Reverence for Henry Ford– Humiliation of over having

a child

• Literary Focus– Symbols

• Soma

• Savage Reservation

• The government uses a drug called Soma to symbolize the control and power of the government over the people

• Representative of the old ways—the ways when humans felt emotion and love

• A Brave New World– Overview

• Huxley offers a fictional future in which man’s free will, ability to love and ability to be an individual has been marginalized at the expense of the stability of society

• Huxley’s work, in essence, forecasted many of the world’s future conflicts such as Hitler’s rise to power, World War II and the Cold War

– Overview • Humans living in “a brave new world” are filed into five different castes.

• The Highest caste is for the leaders and thinkers

• The lowest caste is for those who will perform menial labor

– Overview • The State, in order to bring stability, has attempted to eliminate human emotion, human desires and human relationships

• The State’s strict control is shown in sharp contrast with the religion, aging and strong emotions seen on the “Savage Reservation”

– Overview • When an outsider from the “Savage Reservation” is brought back to the “brave new world” he is met with awe and curiosity

• This outsider named John rebels against the controlling government and leads a riot

• The ultimate questions arises: It life worth living when a human is deprived all feeling of exploration, wonder and love?

• Characters– John

• Grew up outside of the confines of the “brave new world”

• Grew up in the “Savage Reservation”

• John’s new ideas about relationships, love and individuality challenge the system of the State

• Characters– Bernard Marx

• Part of Alpha Caste• Has unusual views

and combined with his unusually short height is somewhat of an outcast

• Bernard takes advantage of his relationship with John

• Characters– Mustapha Mond

• One of only 10 World Controllers

• In charge of censoring scientific discoveries and exiling people who have beliefs that go against the State

• Despite his job, Mond himself was a prolific scientist and an avid reader

• Characters– Hemholtz Watson

• Friend of Bernard’s • He questions the

State on a far deeper and more intellectual level than Bernard

• By the end of the novel Bernard is ready to leave the restrictive boundaries of the State