Aldous Huxley - Brave New World

Aldous Huxley was a very, very smart man... there is no doubt about that at all. He was able to write a book all the way back in 1932 about a world environment that is just now beginning to become reality.

Brave New World is a simply amazing book because it shows the truly dedicated reader a world where children are basically cloned by the state and raised in a world where sex with everyone is the norm. The children would then grow up and whenever anything unpleasant came along (like emotions) they could take the magic pill of soma (which is compared in the novel to being drunk without all the bad side effects) and be back in happy land. These children were all conditioned to love death and never feared it. Everyone lived in perfect youth until they were about 60 and then they died. All the work is done by the lesser classes of people and those lesser people are all conditioned to be happy and enjoy their jobs too.

Now this may all sound crazy and like it doesn't apply to the world today, but take a look at society. Promiscuity is becoming more and more common and isn't frowned upon nearly as much as when the book was originally written (1932). Imagine the television shows of today being broadcast to the general population in 1932… even the shampoo commercials now are too raunchy for 1932. In the now of 2004, cloning human beings is continually hinted at and with the constant threat of terrorism a lot of people would be relieved to let the state take over and make everyone happy all the time. So looking at current trends maybe Mr. Huxley was a visionary! He originally stated that the world he envisioned would appear in about 600 years but after World War II he added a forward to the book saying that the horrors he wrote about could easily occur in as little as 100 years from what was then 1945.

As for the story, every book must have a story to it and that is the only capacity this great novel lacks in. The first half of the book is almost completely devoid of any kind of interesting narrative and mainly helps to introduce the world in which the story will take place. The second half of the book does a great job with a story though . A savage from a land that has not yet been "civilized" is brought to civilization and must cope with the difference between his belief system and the belief system of society. No one in society can read Shakespeare (mainly because most all the copies were destroyed) and the savage loves Shakespeare. Because everyone in society has sex with everyone else the savage must cope with the feelings he has for a beautiful woman that wants to throw herself naked on him, while in the savage's primitive society they still cling to anachronisms like marriage.

Some comparisons could easily be made between Brave New World and 1984 with all the "state controlling everything" but while in 1984 it's more of a sinister control, it takes almost the opposite path, here, in Brave New World. The control of the people is done for their overall happiness and all the sacrifice to personal freedoms take place just so everyone can be happy.

In the end, this book is not without problems. The lack of story in the first half really forces the reader to be dedicated to get through this novel. However once the savage becomes involved the story really picks up and sucks you in. This book is required reading in many schools and after finishing it, the reason for that requirement becomes clear. By reading this novel you can help prevent the world portrayed here from becoming reality, and in the end that is the real reason for reading this book. Definitely read this if you read and enjoyed other similar books like Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 but don't waste your time on it if you enjoy lighter reading. There are a lot of heavy philosophical discussions between characters and if those important points are not comprehended then the point of the book will be entirely lost. Definitely a classic but not for everyone!