Book Review: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The world Huxley creates in Brave New World is so vivid and incredibly introduced. He sets the scene up very well in the first chapter, and the rest of the novel flows smoothly after. Just like 1984 by George Orwell, there are aspects of the novel strikingly predictive of our modern world, with its genetic engineering, exaggerated version of hookup culture, the mass production (even though we thankfully haven’t turned to mass producing humans yet) and materialism, the turning to drugs for escaping our emotions, our willingness to let go of individuality and adopt the “trending” worldview, etc. Early on, I decided not to tab the book, because almost every single page would have a tab from how much I was underlining, and my frugality couldn’t handle it.

Surprisingly, the beginning might be the most interesting, as it’s the worldbuilding segment, and as you might know by now, I go for character depth. But the characters were definitely not the point of the novel, as they were simply reflections of the dystopian culture, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment. The middle of the book goes into the characters a bit more, and in hindsight, all of the characters besides Helmholtz were rather annoying, but that was intentional. The conditioning the citizens went through from when they were fetuses in bottles made them mindless idiots (even the alphas who had controlled intelligence) whose every thought and action were made for them. Even those few who tried to break through the conditioning and managed to find some version of individuality were still somewhat controlled, making them even more annoying because you were rooting for them to break free, but they simply couldn’t. The characters perfectly reflect the dystopian society in which they live.

There is a section right before the last chapter when the Savage (the native who was born naturally and not raised in society) and the World Controller have a philosophical conversation on what’s better for mankind. It was kind of morally heavy-handed and a bit unnatural within the context of the book, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Huxley integrated it as seamlessly as he could have integrated a scene like that. But it was sincerely interesting and produced one of my favorite quotes of the novel: “Happiness is never grand.” Happiness is what we humans constantly seek, but our own emotional intelligence won’t ever allow us to enjoy it. We want grand passion and art and knowledge, which consistent happiness never coincides with.

Honestly, when I read the last sentence of the book, I said, “Wow.” Although the last chapter which just features the Savage trying to escape the society in which he has been trapped was my least favorite of the novel since it was kind of boring to me, the last three pages were so powerful and so well written. When all of our darker thoughts are being validated by an immoral society, it creates an internal struggle that features no winner. The Savage (John) couldn’t bear to live in a society which had a sole aim of pleasure and had no concept of moral reparation. 

When thinking of the novel, I can’t help but set it against 1984, arguably its sister dystopian classic. I think I found Brave New World more imaginative and the prose easier to read, but overall I found 1984 more powerful and definitely heavier. I think I found it more realistic mainly because my small mind can’t imagine a future without the human tendency for violence. They were both prophetic in their own ways, and I think some sort of blend of the two is probably most realistic of where society is going. Orwell was all about external oppression, and Huxley was all about internally embracing oppression. Although I disagree that we have to choose between Huxley and Orwell’s visions of the future, I do think Neil Postman compared the two best:

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism.

Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumble puppy.

As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists, who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny, “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.”

In 1984, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us.”