A Hierarchial Scale of Madness

Many books, such as Aldous Huxley's classic "Brave New World" go beyond the scope of science fiction: they are also meant to be used as a cautionary tale, to warn the reader of future possibilities in daily life.

By showing what the future may be like, Huxley manages to do this in a very frightening way. In Brave New World, nobody is born through natural means, rather, they are all born through test tubes. The people that create you also decide how you will turn out in the future: by giving you doses of alchohol, as well as harmful electric stimulation in your infant years. This decides if you are as smart as an Alpha, or grouped with the slow Epsilons. Alphas generally get good, high paying jobs, while Epsilons are often the janitors, the elevator operators, and the garbage collectors.

However, you are made to like what you are. Whether you are an Alpha, a Beta, a Delta, or an Epsilon (all groupings of your intelligence) you are happy with your placement. You are trained to like what you are, and wish never to be at a higher or lower level.

All in all, society is a utopia: everyone is happy. Enter one man, however, and you wind up with a dystopia, where not all persons and individuals are happy. Bernard Marx, a disaffected sleep specialist, begins to feel unhappiness, and dislikes the benovent totalitarian dictatorship ruling over the world.

Although there are no wars, no poverty, and no crime, Marx is still unhappy. Everyone around him is almost always high off of soma, a drug that is meant to keep the citizens calm. Promiscuous sex is also encouraged, although birth is not.

However, Marx and his new cohort, John the Savage, feel the need to change the ills of this dystopic society. The society they live in is a society of constant consumerism, and the time is 632 AF (after Ford). They dislike the way of life, and eventually, Mustapha Mond, one of the powerful rulers, begin to interfere in their thoughts.

This excellent novel provides a cautionary tale of dystopia, as well as the destruction of the individual.

The only problem is, that in this world of madness, it may take a few readings to truly understand the comical satire that Huxley is preaching.

One last remark: I say this is satire because people and citizens are born into their roles in society. Alphas are born to be doctors and lawyers, while Epsilons are born to be laborious workers. This reminds the reader of the monarchial system in Britain, where the rulers are born in their positions. Thus, the satire is strongly evident in perhaps one of the greatest cautionary tales in American history.