Boekverslag: Brave New World
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, International School Publications B.V., 1982, First published in: 1932. Number of pages: 44
Reason for choosing this book:
It was done as classwork.
Plot of the novel
In the year 623 (after Ford) there is a New World society. The motto is Community, Identity and Stability. In London there is a Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. In this centre is it possible to raise babies in bottles. The bottles contain special nutritive solutions for each of the social classes, from Alpha plus to Epsilon minus, for which the future men and woman are intended.
Bernard Marx , who deviates from other people, loves Lenina Crown in the old way. When Bernard and Lenina visit the Indian reservation (a region were people live like the old way), they meet John. John tells them that he was the son of Tomakin. After some conversations it appears that Tomakin is the D.H.C (Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning).They decide to go back to London with John and Linda, the mother of John.
In London John as a big discussion with the controller. John thinks that the brave new world is madness. God is not important anymore, there is no danger, no love and no pain. All there is, are soma (a drug), feelies (sort of cinema) and a scent organ (which creates happy atmospheres).
John has fallen in love with Lenina, but when Lenina shamelessly offered her body to him, he received a cruel shock. When Linda dies, because she took an overdose of soma, John has a lot of anger. He says that the brave new world is bad and that the soma is poison.
Bernard and Helmholtz Watson, the only man who seems to understand John, are banished to Iceland. John wants to join them, but the controllers only give him a lighthouse on a hill. There he can live as an individual. But people do not leave him alone. Hundreds of men come to watch him, as if he is an animal. Because he loves Lenina he hits himself with a whip. After an emotional meeting with Lenina, he hangs himself.
Climax
The climax of the book is after the death of Linda. John says that the brave new world is bad in this period. This is also the opinion of the writer. The writer shows through John the reader that the brave new world doesn¡¦t work.
Meaning of the title
The title is derived from Shakespeare¡¦s The Tempest, where Miranda exclaims in joyful wonder: ¡§O brave new world, that has such people in it!¡¨ These words quoted by John when he is still under the delusion that everything in the civilized world is wonderful and glorious.
Characters
„h Bernard Marx: Bernard is an Alpha plus who deviate by the people of the brave new
world. He loves Lenina in the old way.
„h Lenina Crown: Lenina is a standard Brave New World inhibitor. She is a pretty girl,
who is very popular by the alphas. She feels attracted to Bernard.
„h John the Savage John is the son of Linda and the D.H.C.. He wants to go to the brave
new world, but when he is there he says that the brave new world is bad.
„h Linda Linda is the mother of John. She is glad when she can go back to the
brave new world. She dies of soma.
„h Mustapha Mond He is one of the ten world controllers at that time.
Theme
¡§The theme of Brave New World is not the advancement of science as such; it is the advancement of science as it affect human individuals,¡¨ thus the writer. It describes the condition in which our Western technological civilization may find itself some six hundred years from our time.
Author
Aldous Huxley was born at Godalming, Surrey in 1894, into prominent family scientists. Huxley was educated at Eton and Oxford. In 1919 he married the Belgian Maria Nijs. Huxley suffered most of his life from an eye condition, which often made him nearly blind. He died in Los Angeles in 1963. Huxley was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, essays, biography, drama and verse. His primary importance is probably not as an author of imaginative fiction, but as a thinker whose ideas about man and society greatly influenced intellectuals in Europe between the two world wars. Brave New World has proved to be his most lastingly popular work.
Personal experience
When Bernard and Lenina go to the Indian Reservation (like the world today) I was thinking of agreements between the Reservation and the world today, but I couldn¡¦t make any agreements.
I also couldn¡¦t find an agreement between this book and my own life, because this book is unrealistic while it plays on in the future.
My opinion
This book was difficult to understand, because it takes place in the future. You can¡¦t get a view of it. I was glad that I read the epitome, so I could better understand the book. When I understand this book, then the story impresses me.
Choices
B Which of the following elements is very important in the book? Explain.
The writer¡¦s ideas are very important in this book, because he wants to make clear to the reader that the brave new world is not a good world.
D Do you like the main characters?
I don¡¦t like all the main characters. I like Bernard and John, because they are trying to make clear to the people of the brave new world that this life is not the best life, in other words the brave new world is bad. I don¡¦t like Mustapha Mond, because he behaves like a dictator.
E Is the presentation of the people and events in the book realistic?
The presentation of the people and events in this book is unrealistic, because it takes place in the future.
Huxley werd geboren in een intellectueel gezin. Zijn eerste boek voltooide hij op zeventienjarige leeftijd, nadat hij op zestienjarige leeftijd bijna blind was geworden aan de gevolgen van een oogziekte (die hem ook uit de loopgraven hield). Als twintiger was hij reeds een actief schrijver. Huxley was een cultuurcriticus. In 1937 emigreerde hij naar de Verenigde Staten; hij vestigde zich in Hollywood, Californië.
Boek informatie
- Brave New World
- Aldous Leonard Huxley
- Engels
Handige opties
- Meer boeken van:Aldous Leonard Huxley