Brief Analysis of my favorite Science Fiction book: Brave New World (Un Mundo Feliz)

As you saw in the title, today I will do a brief analysis of the novel "Brave New World" (in Spanish: Un Mundo Feliz). But first, I will do a little summary.

Brave New World is a novel written by Adolf Huxley and published in 1932. It is interesting to notice that Huxley wrote this novel before the periods of totalitarianism and dictatorships, however, the text is based on a totalitarianism, without this book being a criticism of these regimes.

The book relates a futuristic world 632 years after a world revolution that established a "World State" where humans are created and genetically altered. In addition, when they born, they are separated into castes. These castes are designated with letters of the Greek alphabet from the Alpha (upper caste) to the Epsilon (lower caste). The castes are physically and intellectually inferior to the previous one. This in order to have people adapted to their social position, during childhood they are conditioned, in order to being happy with their work (that they were assigned).

One of the protagonists, Bernard Marx, went on holidays to “Reservation Malpaís” with his friend named Lenina Crowne, because he wanted to know, how life was before the revolution. “Reservation Malpaís” was a place where lived people who did not have the same system or were under the wing of the “World State”. There he meets Linda, a Beta who did not return to the "World State" since she had a child by the “natural way”. Her son, named John, grew up on the reservation and had never seen the "World State”. For the "World State´s” people, who lived in "Reservation Malpaís" were basically savages. The novel ends when John after traveling and discovering the "World State", decides to commit suicide by the horrifying system.

Science fiction authors of that time believed that science would solve all the humanity´s problems. Huxley, however, argued otherwise. Due to this, he writes this novel, in which the only thing that contributes science to people (after having eliminated poverty, injustice, disease, hunger, unhappiness, family)It is a drug, called "Soma" that gives people a "false happiness" and that allows them to forget their problems. Due to "Soma" they omit that they are being manipulated and enslaved. To be happy they must abandon their freedom, decisions, beliefs, that is, “our misfortunes” as they are exposed in the work.

There is strong criticism of "Fordism" because it implied a dehumanization of the worker. Fordism viewed workers as machines. The caste system reflects the same, because if we go lower down the social pyramid, the castes are less intelligent, and, finally, all people are like machines. They have no individual identity. Likewise, Fordism was the religion of the people in the novel, and their God was: Ford.

There is also a criticism of consumer society, where the laws are to promote consumption above all else, an example of this is when Lenina, on her vacation, does not want to leave the hotel because she is not interested in seeing what is outside, she just wants spending money inside the hotel and getting high on “Soma”.

Finally, Huxley make a criticism to all society system of "Brave New World" where people are convinced that they act on their “own initiative”, however, they only respond to the incentive that scientists teach them. What Huxley does in this novel is also highlight the importance of people's “identity”.

Brave New World it is a regime in which emotions don´t fit, that are shoved with artificial substances. A dictatorship "dressed" as democracy.

Have a great week!!!

Alex xxxxxxxx