I am currently reading the book A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Written in 1932, it depicts a dystopian society where everyone acts the same as each other. It could be labeled as a book of science fiction but I think it goes beyond that. In my opinion, Huxley imagines a world that combines the totalitarian societies that ruled Western Europe at the time (Communism, Fascism, Nazism) with the American creation of the assembly line. I don’t think his idea is to warn us about future, it seems to me more a caricature of where the world could end up. In this society, people are born in giant labs, hundreds at a time and programmed to behave in ways that keep society stable. The notion of the family and personal freedom are eliminated in favor of the common good. The State decides what is best for everybody.
The story takes place 600 years or so after the first model T rolled out of the assembly line. The main characters so far are a couple (Bernard and Lenina) that don’t quite fit the standards. They go on a trip to visit a community of savages (people that were not born under the state control) and they meet two new characters, John and Linda, mother and son who live with the savages.
The story is at time hard to follow because the author is constantly switching from one character to the next without much warning and their stories run parallel to each other. It is an intriguing book with a wonderful writing style and such unusual theme, that I know I will remember for a long time.
It sounds like a really neat book. That's too bad that the author jumps around. I know what you mean because it is hard to follow and makes the book less exciting. Sounds like
ReplyDeleteA good action packed and historical past novel
This book sounds really interesting. I might actually read it myself. However, it's too bad the story switches between characters so much. I recently read Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, which was written in 1953 and takes place in a future US where books are illegal and the government gets the people to turn a blind eye. It sounds similar to Brave New World.
ReplyDeleteA Brave New World seems like it really breaks the boundaries of a typical dystopian novel, and is obviously still standing strong even if it was written in the thirties. What do you mean by the phrase that the savages "were not born under state control"? Exactly how savage are they?
ReplyDeleteDid the book have a satisfying ending? I'm wondering because a problem I have often with many dystopian books is that the author sets up to large of a plot to fully resolve it in the end, and either they stretch it out into infinite sequels are simply leave the reader hanging.