Literary Analysis: Brave New World

This was done with a whole lot of help from my friend Beka

GENERAL 

1. Brave New World by Huxley is about a dystopian society where there are no parents, no morals, and a very strict cast system. The alphas keep the lesser castes in check by drugging them with a hallucinagen called “Soma.” The book also illustrates a society that exists outside of this world, and then demonstrates what happens when the worlds collide.

2. One of the themes of this novel is that humanity is frail and subject to fall. It can also be said that the government can control the masses through a combination of drugging and brainwashing. Also, it displays how beautiful chaos is and how if we try to control every aspect of our humanity we will lose it.

3. The tone of the novel tends to be trying for shock value. Huxley describes second grade aged children experimenting sexually, and then goes on to have characters react to it as if it is not an unusual thing. It is, in fact, expected. Also, many things, including the title of the book are references to Shakespeare.

CHARACTERIZATION

1. Whilst getting to know the different caste systems, Huxley will use flashback to show why the character is the way it is. An example of this is Lenina, and when Huxley describes her inner thoughts and her remembering things that have happened in her life. Another direct example is when they talk about how the factory workers are taught that books are bad from a young age so they are never educated. Once the savage is introduced, his character is mostly expressed through small quotes he says throughout visiting the “Brave new world” such as “I want to be myself. Myself and nasty.”

2. When focusing on setting Huxley focuses more on inner monologues in characters. To describe characterization it is mostly dialogue based.

3. The savage is a dynamic character in the sense that once he is introduced to the world outside of the reservation he will never be the same. Whatever innocence he retained growing up away from the assembly line life has been turned into resentment for what humanity has become.

4. After reading this book I felt very similarly to when I had finished reading Animal Farm. These characters represent a real problem, but at the same time they are so separated from our reality that it is hard to find them feasible.