7/28/2019 Thoughts on Brave New World

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Thoughts on Brave New World

Brave New Worldis a literary classic, and I think it deserves to be. Like Orwell,

Huxley wrote this book to illustrate the dangers of totalitarianism, but illustrates it in adifferent, more satirical way than Orwell did with 1984. I enjoyed how Huxley describes

his dystopia in a quirky, silly way, but more importantly, I liked how he touched on the

heavy, meaningful subject of humanity vs stability.

In the first stages of the novel, Huxley introduces the world as more of a utopia

than anything else. He shows that the citizens are happy, and the world, stable.However, as the book goes on, one of the main characters, Bernard, gets more and

more frustrated with the limitations of the society that he lives in. He eventually meets a

savage, called John, who at first seems to be less human than the rest of the normal

population. However, as the story progresses, John discoverers that it is the civilized

world that has truly lost its humanity.

To me, one of the most important parts of the novel is when John has a debate

with the antagonist, a world controller named Mustapha Mond. Their topic is whether or

not its worth it to lose humanity for the sake of stability and happiness. Mond supports

making everyone happy by fulfilling desires that he has created for them (brainwashing,

in short) while John argues that its not worth sacrificing emotions and relationships,

which are the fundamental elements that make us human.

Personally, I havent pondered this topic enough to choose a side, and I feel like

the more I learn about humanity vs stability, the further away I will be from having an

actual answer. Nevertheless, this is an eye opening counter argument to the savagery

vs civilization theme present in Lord of the Flies that displays the dangers of extreme

human emotions. Its also one of the reasons I chose this book, because I never like to

be shown only one side of an argument.

7/28/2019 Thoughts on Brave New World

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I also feel like reading classics like these is more fulfilling than reading modern,

action driven stories such as the Hunger Games. Although Suzanne Collins book is

more exciting to read through, reading Brave New World has given me new, interesting

topics to think about. This way, I will still continue to enjoy the book even after Im done

reading it. My next read will probably be I, Robot, which is another sci-fi that plungesinto deep topics. I hope to continue with this type of literature well into my adult life and

beyond, hopefully gathering ideas and inspiration on how to live a better, fuller, life.