Brave
New World by Aldous Huxley
“O
brave new world…”
Literature
Analysis
By Hayden Robel
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GENERAL_______________________________
1. Briefly summarize the plot
of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's
purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
2. Succinctly describe the
theme of the novel. Avoid clichés.
3. Describe the author's
tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
4. Describe a minimum of ten
literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding
of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For
each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your
readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)
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1. A modernist magnum opus
straddling the perilous precipice of post-modernism, the world of Aldous
Huxley's Brave New World is a cautionary tale, a fictional fable of human
fallibility. An utterly efficient, emotionless utopia, the World State
functions by three foundational tenets: Community, Identity, Stability. A
civilization bereaved of emotion, the arts, religions, individualism,
expressionism but perpetually sustained in monitored maintenance, in
equilibrium, consumerism, industry, the sciences, "perfect content".
Bernard Marx, the debatable "protagonist", however lacks such
content, dissatisfied, introverted and alienated for his lack conformity in a
culture constructed upon universal uniformity. Threatening the fragile
stability of the world state as stability cannot be achieved without complete
and total lack of individuality, the hatchery director Helmholtz threatens to
exile Bernard. Bernard, having visited the Savage society, a society outside
the world state lacking the technology, soma, the same system of cultures and
values, however has a different plan confronting the director with his
naturally conceived son John. Fleeing in confusion, embarrassment, in fear the
director enables us a perspicacity, a window to observe world state society. A
society forgoing death and aging, a society without love, family, emotions a
world without humanity. Huxley by novels end connotes his ultimate purpose,
theme, as John symbolizes the values and culture of our society whilst the
director (and Mustapha Mond) symbolizes that of the world state. John argues
what I ultimately do, that forgoing the flaws of humanity, pursuing perfection
via the elimination of emotions, any danger, or love, ultimately sacrifices
what makes us human, a sacrifice that ends with John (Spoiler Alert)
sacrificing himself to preserve/symbolize our most human trait: imperfection.
Something flawed can only ever be but is our flaws that make us human, give us
our humanity. This is what I believe Aldous Huxley's ultimate purpose whilst
crafting the world and characters of the World State,
a cautionary tale on the costs of perfection, perfection at the cost of our
humanity. Indeed this is a potential future, but I try to be an optimist, all I
can say is I can't wait to see what lies in our futures, can't wait to see the
Brave New World.
2. (Essentially answered this in previous question) Huxley by novels end connotes his ultimate purpose, theme, as John
symbolizes the values and culture of our society whilst the director (and
Mustapha Mond) symbolizes that of the world state. John argues what I
ultimately do, that forgoing the flaws of humanity, pursuing perfection via the
elimination of emotions, any danger, or love, ultimately sacrifices what makes
us human, a sacrifice that ends with John (spoiler alert) sacrificing himself
to preserve/symbolize our most human trait: imperfection. Something flawed can
only ever be but is our flaws that make us human, give us our humanity. This is
what I believe Aldous Huxley's ultimate purpose whilst crafting the world and
characters of the World
State, a cautionary tale
on the costs of perfection, perfection at the cost of our humanity.
3.
·
"In the
Bottling Room all was harmonious bustle and ordered activity. Flaps of fresh
sow's peritoneum ready cut to the proper size came shooting up in little lifts
from the Organ Store in the sub-basement. Whizz and then, click! the
lift-hatches hew open; the bottle-liner had only to reach out a hand, take the
flap, insert, smooth-down, and before the lined bottle had had time to travel
out of reach along the endless band, whizz, click! another flap of peritoneum
had shot up from the depths, ready to be slipped into yet another bottle, the
next of that slow interminable procession on the band."
·
"Roses and
electric shocks, the khaki of Deltas and a whiff of asafœtida – wedded
indissolubly before the child can speak. But wordless conditioning is crude and
wholesale; cannot bring home the finer distinctions, cannot inculcate the more
complex courses of behaviour. For that there must be words, but words without
reason. In brief, hypnopædia."
·
"Phosgene,
chloropicrin, ethyl iodoacetate, diphenylcyanarsine, trichlormethyl,
chloroformate, dichlorethyl sulphide. Not to mention hydrocyanic acid.
Ch3C6H2(NO2)3+Hg(CNO)2=well, what? An enormous hole in the ground, a pile of
masonry, some bits of flesh and mucus, a foot, with the boot still on it,
flying through the air and landing, flop, in the middle of the geraniums – the
scarlet ones; such a splendid show that summer!"
The
brave new world of Huxley's novel is bound by the dogma of rationality,
science, utilitarity and uniformity. A cold tone, calculated and relentlessly
analytical Huxley's tone is undeniably the vehicle of World State
society's relinquishment of all things mute to the state's benefit. As illustrated
in the excerpts above, Huxley characterizes the mechanical hive of efficiency
that constitutes the surrounding society via an equally if not exceedingly
machinist tone bolstered by an ironic use of flowery if not waxing poetry to
describe what contemporary readers such as myself would cringe at the gruesome
spectacle (quote 3). Quotes like #1 and 2 capitalize on this juxtaposition of
vibrant descriptions and figurative language against the cold and cruel, the
ethically grey scientific systems of the state (I.e. hypnopaedia, neo-Pavlovian
conditioning etc.). A master of the rhetorical strategies Huxley's tone within
Brave New World expertly convey's the sense of cold, emotionless, frequently
cruel, ethically, morally grey ambiguity of the eponymous novel's World state
society, connoting the values of its culture in the process.
4. Here we go. (Ad infinitum)
1.
Setting:
“A SQUAT grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the
words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State's
motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY.” (Pg. 1) Depicts thru cold cut
description/tone the setting of Brave New World, the grey, clinical surroundings
that come to characterize the surrounding World State
society as well as its values of: COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY.
2.
Theme: “Hot
tunnels alternated with cool tunnels. Coolness was wedded to discomfort in the
form of hard X-rays. By the time they were decanted the embryos had a horror of
cold. They were predestined to emigrate to the tropics, to be miner and acetate
silk spinners and steel workers. Later on their minds would be made to endorse
the judgment of their bodies. "We condition them to thrive on heat,"
concluded Mr. Foster. "Our colleagues upstairs will teach them to love it.
“And that,"put in the Director sententiously, "that is the secret of
happiness and virtue – liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at
that: making people like their inescapable social destiny.” (pg. 11) This quote
describes the pre-conditioning/controlled conception of humans via mechanical
processes ultimately connoting one of the novel’s central ideas, theme:
subjugation thru perfect content, apathy. I.E. Caste system according to the World State.
3.
Rhyming scheme/Free Rhyme verse: “Bottle of mine, it's you I've always wanted! Bottle
of mine, why was I ever decanted? Skies are blue inside of you, The weather's
always fine; For There ain't no Bottle in all the world Like that dear little
Bottle of mine.” (pg. 47) Not long enough to qualify as a sonnet (needs 14
lines etc.), the rhyming scheme however cleverly creates a catchy means by
which Huxley identifies but one of the many ideals of the World State, a
society without art or expression, even their “folk-songs” are merely propagandist
spirituals.
4.
Aphorism:
“When the individual feels, the community reels.” (pg. 52) Huxley thru World
State Aphorisms such as these connotes the beliefs of the civilization’s
ideological dogmas, this aphorism in particular exhibiting the fear of individuality
in a universally uniform society.
5.
Allusion:
“Bernard Marx, Lenina, Henry Foster
etc.” (pg. throughout the novel) Huxley brilliantly incorporates the names of
famous historical figures directly into that of his Brave New World characters
often to further characterize the themes of the novel. EX. Communist proponent
Karl Marx is the derivation of
Bernard Marx, Russian ruler Lenin is
feminized for Lenina, Henry Ford’s first and last name is similar to Jesus in
stature/naming frequency in characters like Henry Foster.
6. Imagery: “In the Bottling Room all was harmonious bustle and
ordered activity. Flaps of fresh sow's peritoneum ready cut to the proper size
came shooting up in little lifts from the Organ Store in the sub-basement.
Whizz and then, click! the lift-hatches hew open; the bottle-liner had only to
reach out a hand, take the flap, insert, smooth-down, and before the lined
bottle had had time to travel out of reach along the endless band, whizz,
click! another flap of peritoneum had shot up from the depths, ready to be
slipped into yet another bottle, the next of that slow interminable procession
on the band.” (pg. 22) Paints the imagery of the mechanical process by which
humans are manufactured, not far off the manufacturing mechanisms of cow slaughter
or assembly line electronics.
7. Personification: “The roses were in bloom, two nightingales
soliloquized in the boskage, a cuckoo was just going out of tune among the lime
trees. The air was drowsy with the murmur of bees and helicopters.” (pg. 37) Huxley
at times engages in beautiful bouts of imagery laden figurative language to
juxtapose the otherwise cruel and grey atmosphere of the novel. I personally
liked the use of personification in this passage with the soliquizing flowers
and drowsy air, creates a mood contrasting with the overall foreboding feeling
of oppression prevalent in the book.
8. Tone: “The
overalls of the workers were white, their hands gloved with a pale corpse-coloured rubber. The light was frozen, dead, a ghost.
Only from the yellow barrels of the microscopes did it borrow a certain rich
and living substance, lying along the polished tubes like butter, streak after luscious streak in long recession down
the work tables.” (pg. 12) Cold, clinical the tone of Brave New World is sterile
in it’s diction, even the similes/figurative language (in bold above) are
Huxley’s tool to crafting a tone fitting of a society automated by a hive of
machines and identical automatons—I mean humans.
9. Theme: “The various Bureaux of Propaganda and the College of Emotional Engineering were housed in a
single sixty-story building in Fleet Street. In the basement and on the low
floors were the presses and offices of the three great London newspapers – The Hourly Radio, an
upper-caste sheet, the pale green Gamma Gazette, and, on khaki paper and in
words exclusively of one syllable, The Delta Mirror. Then came the Bureaux of
Propaganda by Television, by Feeling Picture, and by Synthetic Voice and Music
respectively – twenty-two floors of them. Above were the search laboratories
and the padded rooms in which Sound-Track Writers and Synthetic Composers did
the delicate work. The top eighteen floors were occupied the College of Emotional
Engineering.” (pg. 62) Automation of all things
is a prominent facet of the World State and the naming conventions of various
operating branches such as “the Bureaux of Propaganda and the College of
Emotional Engineering” service as quick references to the values of this
society, Huxley’s theme of replacing all things that make us human, even
emotion thru propaganda and conditioning.
10. Theme:
“The greater a man's talents, the greater his power to lead astray. It is
better that one should suffer than that many should be corrupted. Consider the
matter dispassionately, Mr. Foster, and you will see that no offense is so
heinous as unorthodoxy of behavior. Murder kills only the individual-and, after
all, what is an individual?” (pg. 86) Yes, there are a lot of themes that
Huxley imbued his novel with thus do I with these examples. No theme more prominent then that of the elimination
of the individual as the quote yet again connotes the theme of individuality
and its role…lack there of in World State society.
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CHARACTERIZATION________________
1. Describe two examples of
direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.
Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your
lasting impression of the character as a result)?
2. Does the author's syntax
and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How?
Example(s)?
3. Is the protagonist static
or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
4. After reading the book did
you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze
one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
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1.
Direct Characterization
·
EXAMPLE 1:
“Tall and rather thin but upright, the Director advanced into the room. He had
a long chin and big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not
talking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty?
Fifty-five? It was hard to say. And anyhow the question didn't arise; in this
year of stability, A. F. 632, it didn't occur to you to ask it.”
·
EXAMPLE 2:
“The completed mechanisms were inspected by eighteen identical curly auburn
girls in Gamma green, packed in crates by thirty-four short-legged, left-handed
male Delta-Minuses, and loaded into the waiting trucks and lorries by
sixty-three blue-eyed, flaxen and freckled Epsilon Semi-Morons.”
Indirect characterization
·
EXAMPLE 1:
“Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so
frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard.
And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They
all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with
Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to
read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly color. I'm so glad I'm a Beta.”
·
EXAMPLE 2:
“And then he spends most of his time by himself – alone.” There was horror in
Fanny's voice.
“Any
writers worth their royalties utilize both direct and indirect
characterization.” – Hayden Robel
after answering this question in seven other
analyses…
Yes, Huxley is one such
author. In the direct characterization examples we see the author’s direct
description of the physical appearance of various caste levels. In the indirect characterization examples, Huxley
synthesizes the two types of characterization to not only directly characterize
a given character(s) but so to subtly (and not so much) indirectly detail the
character spouting the quote’s own character. Indirect example one is an
excerpt of Lenina’s comments upon various castes of which she dubs as
categorically worse due to their lower social stations, thus her final comment
(in bold) ironically indirectly characterizes her not only as a pretentious
[insert expletive here] but also ignorant her pre-conditioned ideals. Indirect
example two indirectly characterizes the fear of individuality (as Fanny and
Lenina discuss Bernard’s peculiar self-isolation/introversions) not just in Fanny
but World State society as a whole as Fanny gasps
in “horror” to the idea of self-isolation, quite reflection and solitude.
Huxley utilizes both approaches as the author’s of my seven other literary
analysis sections do: to further the novel’s themes/his own ultimate purpose in
the creation of the work. (Level of annoyance with this question=exceedingly
obvious :)
2. No. Huxley (IMO) rarely
shifts in his cold/clinical diction/syntax even whilst in characterization
rather emphasizing the automated society of the world state with inhuman, terse
and mechanical word choice/structure even in character speech.
3. Bernard Marx is indeed a
“dynamic character” by the definition of a character arc but ultimately remains
static in his individuality. In the beginning of the novel Bernard is
incredulously introverted, an individual alienated for his individuality, he
dissatisfied with his society as well as his status within it. By the mid-act
of the novel Bernard depicts a character shift from somewhat timid to nearly narcissistic
in arrogance as he seizes the popularity and attention arrived from John, thus
Bernard is dynamic in his total polarity shift from an introvert to extrovert. But
by the novel’s end, however, Bernard loses all of his popularity yielded from
John’s providence and yet again descends into introverted misery. Consequently
Bernard may have changed superficially, dynamic for a time being, but the
“protagonist” returns to his static introverted state, ultimately remains the
same, an individual exiled (metaphorically and literally), a lone voice
drowning in a sea of uniformity.
4.
·
“The mockery made
him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which
increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility
aroused by his physical defects. Which in turn increased his sense of being
alien and alone. A chronic fear of being slighted made him avoid his equals,
made him stand, where his inferiors were concerned, self-consciously on his
dignity. How bitterly he envied men like Henry Foster and Benito Hoover! Men
who never had to shout at an Epsilon to get an order obeyed; men who took their
position for granted; men who moved through the caste system as a fish through
water – so utterly at home as to be unaware either of themselves or of the
beneficent and comfortable element in which they had their being.”
Bernard
Marx emblemizes the most human trait of humanity: imperfection. In a society
founded upon the principles of manipulated equilibrium, manufactured happiness,
Bernard stands as an individual, free of thought and selfish in such, just like
any real person. While most of the characters of Huxley’s utopian dystopia are
intentionally artificial, Bernard Marx is human in his flaws, his personal
ambitions of “self-improvement” even if that self-improvement can be perceived
as superficial and servicing on his social aspirations. The quote above
connotes his envy of others, his source of alienation, introversion,
self-isolation, his individuality. An outsider in a society of COMMUNITY,
IDENTITY, STABILITY, Bernard Marx is a tragic character in many ways, seizing
what he was pre-conditioned to desire (a higher social standing as an Alpha)
but ultimately failing, falling from the heights of his ambition. Something flawed
can only ever be, in the end Bernard Marx is pathetic, insecure, at times
introverted, an individual, flawed, just like you or me, just like humanity. (So
yes I think he’s more person than character :P)
