Brave New World

Often compared and contrasted to 1984, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is pure satire.  Often comical and always absurd, it paints a less desperate picture of our future and how the powers that be treat its people.  God is replaced by Ford (Ford’s in his Flivver…All’s well with the world.), mood altering drugs are handed out like candy and this government certainly does not preach abstinence.  Every need is taken care of and people live healthy lives up to a point and then are happy to leave this world.

Like 1984, the government is absolute, controlling the news, media, entertainment and even sports.  Resistance may be futile but is not handled with the same harshness as in Orwell’s future.  People who don’t get along get plenty of warnings and then may be shipped off to an island somewhere to hang out with other malcontents.  But again, with sex, drugs and synthetic music who’s complaining?

Brave New World starts off following a lot of people and storylines but finally settles down with a few key players…

-Lenina the original party girl, typifies the perfect follower, unquestioning until the end…and then it’s too late for her to understand.  Lenina likes the party and likes to party.

-John or “The Savage,” is the unknown descendant of the one of the most powerful party leaders who grew up on an American Indian reservation.  Learning about the outside world from his mother, learning about family values from the natives and reading Shakespeare gives John some strange ideas when he finally comes to the big city. 

-Bernard Marx doesn’t fit into society despite being in the upper caste.  Smaller and unpopular, he blames his personal troubles on society and for awhile, tries to not fit in.  He almost welcomes the punishment of a post in Iceland.  However, once he brings the Savage to light, he becomes a media star and finds that he can fit in quite well, thank you very much.  But when the Savage causes problems, society threatens to send Marx off to exile.

I have read that Brave New World is not so much Huxley’s idea of too much government but of too much Americanization.  The strength of popular culture, the worship of youth, and the gluttony of consumables -he got that right.  His satire takes all this beyond culture and turns it into Government Policy.

And in this day of cable/satellite/smart phone/texting/I-pod/I’m-pushing-buttons-and-somehow-that’s-being “social” living, Lenina’s words ring true, “’Talking?  But about what?’  Walking and talking – that seemed a very odd way of spending the afternoon.

Brave New World is loads more fun to read than 1984.  I recommend you read both to get a good feel about the 20^th Century fear of overly powerful government.  And then go catch a double feature of Soylent Green and Logan’s Run.  Oh and about the title, yet another line from Shakespeare, this time "The Tempest" is the play evoked.

Next week:  Sandra talks about Animal Farm