"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

I finally got around to actually reading this book, after it had been recommended to me so often, and after I'd heard that it was similiar in scope to one of my favourite novels, "1984" by George Orwell.
I have to say that this book (although at this point I should mention that i've not finished it yet) Is incredibly thought provoking.
It was written in the early 30's, so it is full of quaint words and phrases, but it is set approximately 600 years from now, or the "year of our Ford 632" as it is written in the novel. Basically, it tells of a story of a homogenous, utopian society, conditioned from birth to never experiance negative emotions. People are birthed in hatcheries, and have no mother or father. They are bred to a specific purpose in life, and some are intentionally retarded before birth to serve in the lower echelons of the caste system. To be honest, there are so many interesting facets to this book that I could go on for ages, but instead I'll just recommend people to read the book if you havent already.


The most striking thing I found in the book was the use of "Soma", which is basically a hallucinogenic narcotic that is given out freely by the government to keep the people sane. If anyone feels any anger or misery, they are conditioned from birth to automatically reach for the Soma tablets, and take a "Holiday".
Its seems such a benevolent thing for a government to do, that is, to give its citizens free drugs, and to free them from pain and misery, but at the same time, its such a horrific concept.



Anyway, anyone else read the book? Care to discuss anything about it?

I find it to be one of the literary masterpieces of the 20th century. It shows the human race as it could be without religion, based upon the principles of engineering and science instead. Humans aren't born, but grown in vats to perform one duty, and as they increase in rank they have more freedom. It's truly thought provocing, eliciting a strong responce from most readers. The film butchered the book, and made it into something different. That's not what it should have been. I'll remain an avid fan of Huxley's work, and wonder why his work is so sparsely known, despite it being a true work of excellence.

I've read the book a few years ago for English class so details are sketchy at best. I was really impressed with it, more with the concepts and ideas behind it than with the real storyline (which I hardly remember anything from)

It shows the human race as it could be without religion, based upon the principles of engineering and science instead.

Ach... must you bring religion into this. Like being an atheist really makes people sciencefreak-utopians.

Aha! Found it:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...rave+new+world

This old thread has one or two posts that might interest you Rhah (although only one or two as it's a very short thread).

I never said it did. I just said that it was a faithless society based upon engineering and Science. Besides, they worship Henry Ford. Somewhat

I've read the book a few years ago for English class so details are sketchy at best. I was really impressed with it, more with the concepts and ideas behind it than with the real storyline (which I hardly remember anything from)

Agreed. The story wasn't what grabbed you in, it was the world Huxley created. It wasn't a typical science-fiction story, it had more of a "prophecy" feeling to it.

When I first read this book, I honestly thought "What's the big deal, this world wasn't so bad." I still sort of hold this view for several reasons. The author obviously meant for this to be a dystopic prophecy, but I don't really see this world as a dystopia. I don't see it as a utopia either, but it really isn't that terrible or perfect.

1984 was a near perfect dystopia because not only did the people live their lives as mind slaves to the Party(which it sole interest was to control the people by brutal means), they had no real hope for a better future. No revolution could ever take place, the Party had complete and utter control over the intelligent populace, and had no reason to fear the ignorant proletariat.

Brave New World on the other hand, was of course bad in the sense that people never experienced emotion(good or bad), but there wasn't really a true malevolent force in the novel that purposely wanted for the people to be miserable. Also, a "revolution" isn't completely out of the question, as there are intelligent(somewhat) people in the world outisde the civilized lands. And even if there were people who realized how empty their lives were, it could be argued that there are many people in this world who might trade the positive aspects of life in for a protection from the negative.

Some may find the caste system deplorable as well. But the way I see it, if everyone was happy with their position in life(as the people in the novel were), then I don't see a big problem. I do see the issue with creating people simply for to fill the various castes. You have to feel sorry for the gammas, people created only to do the grunt work for society. But once again, it can't be 100% terrible because everyone is guarnteed a job, a job they don't mind doing.

But then again, my view on life is kind of warped. Also, what's so brave about this new world? :hmmm:

While it's been a while since I read the book, I can remember enjoying it. The things that stick out most in my mind are the clever little touches and ironies injected by Huxley. I think that the main character's love interest was named Lenina Trotsky. Heh.