Brave New World Study Guide

In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley uses tone to develop characters in the novel while simultaneously showing that every character is cast out at some point in their lives. This utopian future setting is developed throughout the whole first half of the novel.The entire culture is different, children are genetically bred and conditioned in so called Hatcheries. “ “Stability,” said the controller, “Stability. No civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability” (page 42) Each person supports a specific role in society, and if they break that role they are exiled. Readers get the chance to meet a few characters who question why they were even decanted or in John's case, Born.

The father, Bernard is a novelist whose career is on a slow decline. Bernard is also a writing instructor. His wife, Joan, is becoming a successful writer Joan’s success cause tension between her and her husband. Joan and Bernard have two sons, 16-year-old Walt, and 12-year-old Frank.

John tries to change the framework of this brave new world based upon his values, but all his attempts opposing stability can’t be accepted and finally lead him to his death. Linda’s death marks a transition point of John’s life. Through this trauma, John experiences these citizens’ indifference. He can’t understand their callousness toward a real human’s death. Linda was his real mother, and he loved her very much. This kind of close relationship did not exist in the brave new world. Therefore, John can’t adopt citizens’ attitudes, and the citizens view him as a person who will destroy the status quo. This event affects John’s feelings and forces him to take a stand against the brave new world. Preventing soma distribution is his chance to confront this “enemy”. He thinks, “Linda had been a slave, Linda had died; others should live in freedom, and the world be made beautiful” (210). This reflection makes him consider a rebellion –

Has there? […] And seeing that, you ought to be a little more promiscuous…’” (34-6). The lack of emotional attachment between individuals is also reinforced when Lenina enters the elevator. At this point, she notices how many of the men she has engaged in sexual relations with, knowing this does not distress the men nor Lenina, instead, it is an achievement: “The lift was crowded with men from the Alpha Changing Rooms, Lenina’s entry was greeted by many friendly nods and smiles. She was a popular girl and, at one time or another had spent a night with almost all of them” (49). Furthermore, the concept of superficial relationships is also alluded to in “Brave New World”. Lenina contemplates partaking in other relationships while being involved with Henry, although Fanny explains that she must make an effort to engage in other sexual confrontations to avoid being categorised as an outcast: “‘I really do think you ought to be careful. It is such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man […] And you know how strongly the DHC objects to anything intense or long drawn’” (34). Lenina therefore partially participates in other relationships simply for personal gain, even though she does not entirely agree with the concept: “‘You’re quite right, Fanny. As usual. I’ll make the effort’” (37). Linda’s conditioned ways of living

One company, OrganInc Farms, aims to improve the artificially formed pigoon through implementing, “a rapid maturity gene [that] was spliced in so the pigoon kidneys and livers and hearts would be ready sooner, and now they were perfecting a pigoon that could grow five or six kidneys at a time” (23). Through this attempt at “perfecting” the pigoon, OrganInc Farms promotes the importance of reaching an idealized version of living animals. Through inventing, and then accelerating the adaptation of the pigoon, OrganInc Farms transitions biological changes from an event outside of human control to an academic pursuit. This change signals a societal increase in control over natural surroundings, and a commitment to the advancement of humanity through the use of technology.

He tried to smile at her. Suddenly she put her arms round him and kisses him again and again” (127). Since Linda has an emotional attachment to John, she has a personality different from the other citizens of the World State Society. However, despite the motherly connection that she could have continued with John, she chooses to sell her life to the drug soma. When Lenina lays dying in the hospital with John next to her, she unconsciously chooses her life of sex and soma she used to have over John: “She knew him for John, her son, but fancied him an intruder into that paradisal Malpais where she had been spending her soma-holiday with Popé” (205). In the very end, Linda suppresses her emotional love for John with soma and goes back to the principles and pleasantries of the World State Society.

2. The most effective argument in his essay is when he says “Millions are suffering. This is precisely the argument that research-cloning advocates are deploying today to allow them to break the moral barrier of creating.” In this argument he points out how the research advocates can't be trusted because a year ago, they assured they only wanted to do stem cell research on discarded embryos. He also points out that the research advocates create new excuses in order to keep breaking the moral barrier. In addition, they promised to only grow human clones only to the blastocyst stage. In other words, they would not create a human embryo in the laboratory. Today, they are campaigning hard to permit research for the creation of human embryos. This shows us that the research advocates are not keeping their promise because they are campaigning in order to create human embryos. The author's

Mustapha Mond responds to John Savage’s protest, saying that John has a point, but that in this society, happiness is the greater good and great literature can only come from unhappiness.

The movie well portrays the conflict between the couple while maintaining the different shades of grey in their character. Bernard was shown as an egoist, with narcissism and no sense of responsibility for his actions, but he was also shown having a vulnerable side of him. He lacked the capacity to contain emotions this frequently made him feel that others are being ‘difficult’. His inability to express his emotions was shown by his usage of words like - ‘comic timings’, ‘hurts my feelings’ and ‘it’s

Soon enough Lucy wants more from John of being in there own house and living better. As John is away Lucy gets sick and eventually dies. John seems to think he need to find someone else to be with. He do not take any time of feeling sad about Lucy death. Even though the whole town is mad at him for being too quick about finding another wife he still does it. Show that John cannot be alone, he needs someone there with him as a guide. His new wife Hattie is just someone one he brought into his life, even though he knows she could never take Lucy place. John does whatever he wants, no matter what Hattie wants him to do or does not want him to do. John still has not matured because a responsible man and matured man do what they're supposed to do the right way. John seem to always want to be an a relationship but not really with someone he truly love. Hattie says “ Well if you do not want me you made lak yuh did.”(143). Showing he give signs that he need someone to be around him. Eventually John no longer want Hattie anymore and also hits her. He tries to be on his own for awhile to get his mind straight after all the drama and court dates with Hattie. John after a while goes right back to

The world of the feed is infected with so much radiation in the atmosphere that humans are not allowed to reproduce children through sexual intercourse. A couple’s genes are no longer needed to create a child. As a result of this, individuals can control the outcome of their children. As Titus’s mom describes what she told the “we want him with my nose and his dad’s eyes, and for the rest, we have this picture of DelGlacey Murdoch’” (Anderson, page 116). In today’s society there are different ways to have kids through surrogates or embryos.

Chapters 7 and 8 foreshadow the the future of Lenina. In these chapters Lenina meets Linda a woman who used to be of an upper caste but was forced to stay at the reservation after discovering that she was pregnant. At first Lenina is disgusted calling Linda speaking in with derogatory terms such as “So fat. And all the lines in her face, the flabbiness, the wrinkles. And the sagging cheeks, with those purplish blotches…” (Huxley 121) But once Lenina is able to move past Lindas looks the two instantly hit it off, and talk of all the great times each had had as an upper caste woman, but the story of Linda eerily foreshadows the fate of Lenina. It can be assumed that what has happened to Linda will also happen to Lenina, as she is also of

Deeply entrenched within society is the idea that we are continually advancing and developing in all sorts of ways, but mainly for the benefit of human vitality. In Oryx and Crake, one of the experiments the scientists and researchers focuses on is their pigoon project, where they can “grow an assortment of foolproof human-tissue organs in transgenic knockout pig hosts” (22). The pigs are genetically modified by inserting human cells into them so they can internally reproduce the same organs as humans do, and are also inserted with spliced genes to “fend off attacks by

Bokonavosky’s Process is used to turn one fertilized egg into as many as ninety six embryos using, “a series of arrests in development,” such as X-ray treatment, freezing and thawing, and alcohol poisoning (Huxley 6). This process does significantly weaken the embryos which is why it is only used on the lower classes. Through this process, identical twins are created, “by scores at a time” (Huxley 7). This, combined with the Podsnaps Technique which causes egg cells to rapidly be produced, can turn out an average of about eleven thousand people from just one ovary (Huxley 6-8). Occasionally, the embryos are even further conditioned by methods such as depriving them of oxygen in order to lower their intelligence (Huxley 14). These assorted biotechnologies play a major role in dehumanizing the population.

The strongly placed point of view creates a characteristic voice in the story. The voice ultimately reminds one of a ‘stream of consciousness’-technique, which influences the story in general. The element of changing appellations stresses how the two kinds of processes are going on in the story; the associating way of reflecting along with the developing state of mind. The different use of how the main character titles himself from “Lane A. Dean, Jr. … Lane Dean, Jr. … Lane Dean … Lane”5 shows how he is mentally changing back and forth, emphasizing this circularly and non-linear reflection. On the other hand the naming of Lane’s girlfriend, Sheri, shows a linear development from “his girlfriend … the girl … she … Sheri … Sheri Fisher”6. The way in which the girlfriend is named gives an impression of how the main character is developing his view of the girlfriend throughout the story. From an anonymous approach, ‘the girl’, to actually addressing her by her full name “Sheri Fisher”, This use of the narrative technique creates a stream of consciousness and creates an associating but yet authentic feeling – a feeling that enlightens the complex main theme of the story.