Brave New World Book Talk

Lainey’s Book Talk

English 493

February 14, 2018

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Outline: Brave New World is a classic dystopian sci-fi novel written in 1931 and published in 1932 by Aldous Huxley. The story takes place in London in the year 2540. The novel begins with a group of boys touring the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Centre with the director of the hatchery, Henry Foster, conducting the tour. At the hatchery, human embryos are stored in bottles where they are selected by staff to belong to one of five castes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, or Epsilon. Each class is conditioned to be slightly lower performing intellectually and physically than the one above it. There is no concept of “mother” or “father” because children are raised and conditioned by the World State. The boys are then introduced to Mustapha Mond, one of the 10 World Controllers, who describes the history of the World State and its achievements in doing away with intense emotions, desires, and relationships.

The story then switches to Lenina (who is dating Foster) and Bernard Marx who both work at the facility and secretly have crushes on each other. She expresses her desire to join Bernard on his trip to the Savage Reservation in New Mexico. Bernard then takes a helicopter to see his friend, Helmholtz Watson (who begrudgingly writes propaganda for the government), and the two voice their frustration with the World State and the concept of a class system. After leaving Hemholtz office, Bernard gets the permits to go to the reservation and travels there with Lenina. They are shocked by what they witness. The reservation is brimming with people who are aging naturally, unlike in the World State where modern science and technology has allowed people to remain young and beautiful.

It is at the reservation where they meet John, a light-skinned man who is banished from the village because of his mother’s (Linda) loose morals. Linda visited the reservation with Henry Foster 20 years earlier but got lost in a storm and was taken in by the villagers before getting banished by them. Bernard invites John to return to the World State with him and John agrees so long as Linda is able to come, too. Meanwhile, Lenina takes enough soma (a drug that makes the citizens of the World State blissfully content) to put her to sleep for half a day. When the four return, Foster is about to exile Bernard for insubordination but the shame of finding out that he is the father to John causes Foster to resign.

John becomes popular in London because of his entirely different existence as a “savage” from the reservation. He is crowned “Guardian of the Savage;” however, the more he is exposed to the society, the more horrified he becomes with their brainwashing practices. Lenina becomes obsessed with John and visits him one day in an attempt to seduce him while doped up on soma. He, in turn, hits her and begins quoting literature. While Lenina seeks refuge in his bathroom, John receives a call saying that his mother overdosed on soma. She is shown as part of the tours given to the young boys and they are appalled by her visible aging. John is outraged and begins throwing soma out the window in an attempt to start a rebellion. Bernard and Helmholtz join him. They are arrested and taken to Mustapha Mond’s office. The rest of the story is for you to discover for yourself…

Biography: Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was an English novelist and philosopher. He is remembered as a humanist, pacifist, and satirist. He wrote nearly 50 books, both fiction and nonfiction; however, his most famous work is Brave New World. Huxley was the youngest of his two brothers. As a child, he earned the nickname “Ogie” short for “Ogre” because of his fascination with the strangeness of things. Huxley attended Balliol College in Oxford, England where he studied English literature. Before graduating, he became an editor for Oxford Poetry. Huxley became a French teacher (Orwell was one of his students) and worked in a high-tech chemical plant (where he derived most of his inspiration for Brave New World).

Huxley married Maria Nys in 1919 and they had one child together, Matthew, in 1920. Huxley did most of his writing in the 1920s. In 1955 Maria died of cancer. The following year he married Laura Archera. In 1960, Huxley was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer. While his health deteriorated, he managed to write another dystopian novel called Island and gave many lectures. At the end of his life, Huxley was acknowledged as one of the leading intellectuals of his time. Since his death, he has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven different times.

Grade Level: 11^th to 12^th

Rationale: Brave New World is a classic novel that is already taught in many high schools. I believe that is deserves a place as assigned reading for a few reasons. The first is that it is an excellent book for exploring and questioning concepts such as: dystopia, social conditioning, government, conformity, freedom, science’s role, chemical dependence. These are excellent topics of discussion that cause students to think critically about these key themes that are relevant in the real world. The second is that the story is science fiction which I think is a genre that appeals to a fair amount of teenagers. I believe the concepts will be interesting for them to read. The third is that is British literature. Literature from England tends to be written differently. I think it is good exposure for students to read literature from all around the world.

Teaching Ideas:

1.     Students can create their own dystopia or utopia. This can take the form of a poem, short story, drawing, etc.

2.     Students write an essay about one of the overarching themes and explain how it is fleshed out in the novel. Additionally, they will argue whether it aids or hurts the society (i.e. government).

3.     Students create character diagrams for each character that detail their physical and personality traits.

4.     Students will work in pairs to brainstorm the pros and cons of each major setting in the novel (i.e. The Hatchery, the Savage Reservation, etc.). They will share these with the class.

Obstacles: One of the obstacles of the novel is that is British. There are some words and cultural references that may be confusing for the class; however, I think the upperclassmen will find that overall it’s not too difficult of a read. There are a few obstacles with the content of the novel, however. Some of the topics addressed are sex, drugs, brainwashing, oxygen deprivation to babies, physical violence, and suicide. I will address these topics by making sure I have the administrations approval first. Then I will make sure to send a letter home to parents with the option to opt-out. Lastly, I will tell the class that they are to be considerate to their classmates during discussions, especially when it comes to sensitive topics that that appear in the text.

References:

Brave New World. (2018, February 10). Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World

HUXLEY, A. (2018). BRAVE NEW WORLD. S.l.: VINTAGE CLASSICS.