Brave New World (Vintage Dystopia) Book

Aldous Huxley was ahead of his time when in 1931 he anticipates a dystopian future of genetically pre-determined people, who are programmed to respond according to a planned social design. The story begins in AF (after Ford) 632, which is AD 2540 in the Gregorian calendar. Citizens are engineered into castes using in vitro techniques, cloning and selective breeding and nurtured in artificial wombs. The concept of family not only doesn't exist but is positively scorned. The caste system is determined according to work requirements and intellectual ability. Sex is encouraged from a young age for pleasures sake and not used at all for procreation. From the moment a child is born it becomes conditioned through process of 'hypnopaedia' in relation to their own status and role, conditioning them to believe in their own superiority and importance in relation to the other. Death is taboo and happiness is sought though the drug 'Soma' which is used to induced euphoric dreams. The central characters are Lenina Crowne, an attractive young woman who work as a foetal technician, who is causing concern to her friend for appearing attached to Henry Foster, having been sexually faithful to him for four months. Romantic involvement is considered dangerously emotional and ill advised. Promiscuity is the societal norm. Bernard Marx is also a oddity in his upper class alpha plus caste due to his particularly short height which is rumoured to have been due to adding alcohol to his blood surrogate prior to being 'decanted'. He has a melancholic personality and less conditioned than his peers. He is in love with Lenina. Thomas Tomakin is the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, and is threatening to exile Bernard to Iceland but initially sends him to a New Mexico Savage Reservation. Bernard asks Lenina to join him and on this trip they meet Linda and her son John, who are anomalies in this conventional and traditional society. John has led a narrow life at the reservation having failed to fit into traditional conformity due to the perception of his mother Linda's promiscuous ways by other members of the reservation. His entire education is based upon his reading of the entire works of Shakespeare. John longs to escape and seizes his opportunity along with his mother through the arrival of Lenina and Bernard. This story is important for its representation of the clash of social construction. The juxtaposition of the people from both societies could represent any set of polarised views and helps us to understand our failure to appreciate the conditioning of people from outside of our own micro cultures, be it lack of gun control in the USA, totalitarianism in North Korea, or even more locally in relation to voting to leave or remain in the EU. What is fascinating is the impact of the move from one culture to another of Linda and John, and helps us to appreciate the marginalising effects. Other aspects of worshipping happiness through the use of substances to de-sensitize from emotions has a resonance with the rise of alcohol and drug dependency and certainly makes the pursuit of happiness through a culture of consumerism appear an elusive dream. The ending is poignant (no spoilers) and rather disquieting! A book worthy of a second read. Read More