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Review Summaries
"A young man is brought out of a "savage" reservation, where he lived somewhat like an American Indian, into an advanced and controlled, and seemingly happy and wonderful, society. He must chose to become part of that society or embrace a more natural human existence."
Amy Wilson, Resident Aldous Huxley Scholar
"Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) wrote over forty books and his future vision 'Brave New World' (1932), is one of the few still readily available on the shelves of the 21st century bookshop. One of the best science fiction stories ever written, it is imaginative, seductive, and frightening. The title, and a significant portion of the dialogue, is Shakespeare, and the tone is of hard irony and sharp satire. On my first reading as a teenager I felt that I had learned more than I wished to know about how the world worked and where we might all be going. The blurb of a 1972 edition notes that this future fantasy is 'uncomfortably closer than...in 1932'. And thirty years on it is creepingly closer still. This book, and the famous quote on the meaninglessness of science in his autobiographical 'Along The Road', made Huxley the scourge of technocrats the world over. But like many a secular littérateur, he poses the questions but not the answers.
Hundreds of years in the future the Third World War has killed untold numbers of people with anthrax bombs (there's prescient for you), and other advanced killing systems. There is a new world order where Civilisation is total. Peace, good health, and promiscuity are compulsory. However, families, love, and parenthood are obsolete. Thinking for yourself, being an individual, and being unhappy, are wrong and not allowed. Babies are grown by advanced bioscience in bottles, cloning ensures consistent product. Your place in society is precisely determined by a biological caste system, your mind-conditioning virtually guarantees the orderly attitude of a good consumerist citizen. There is no need for alcohol, the perfect no-hangover drug soma is free. If you get the blues it guarantees an instant purple-haze cure.
Of course a few people at the top (the Alphas) do have some freedom to be able to think and plan - someone has to enforce universal happiness. However, in London, England, Bernard Marx refuses to be a happy Alpha. Like Truman in the film, he is haunted by the feeling that his life is just one massive movie set. He wants to escape and look behind the scenery and see what else is to see. Perhaps the uncivilised wilds of the American deserts, where a few flea-ridden savages still live, hold the answer. The Savage (in some ways the most important character) he brings back to Civilisation briefly makes him a social star, but later explodes his world for him. The Savage (deep irony) has educated and civilised himself from an old copy of the complete works of Shakespeare, and quotes him to powerful effect in the final climactic scene with the World Controller. But as he too refuses to be happy on their terms the Civilisation of the Brave New World finally does him in."
Michael JR Jose, Resident Aldous Huxley Scholar
"A young man from an Indian reservation comes to a futuristic society in which there is no privacy, no religion, no motherhood and fatherhood, and no emotions. People are controlled by ideas imbedded in them since infancy and everyone belongs to a certain cast. He tries to find himself in that society and when does not succeed, goes away to live in his way. People find him and he commits suicide when understands what he did in trying to change them."
irina, Resident Scholar
"This book discusses a world controlled from birth to death by the government. In it, there are two main characters. John the Savage was the main and Bernard was the 2nd. John is from a foriegn land... Bernard goes to visit him there and brings him back to the "New World" where he must cope with people who are trained their entire lives to live a certian way.. and never think differently, UNTIL NOW."
Amber Wilson, Resident Aldous Huxley Scholar
"This is the story of the future where everyone is programmed by birth to be a certain kind of person and to do a certain kind of job.
People are also given drugs which keep them docile. But when a "savage" from the outside enters this society, he looks at it from a fresh
perspective, and rebels."
Steve, Resident Aldous Huxley Scholar
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Overall Review
Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence - 10% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%
Tone of book
- depressing/sad
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- science fiction story
Repressive society story
Yes
Repressive because:
- drugs you
- controls your mind
- controls your sex
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Age:
- 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Main Adversary
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Setting
Earth setting:
- medium future 22-24th century
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references only
- descript of kissing
How much dialogue?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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