Brave New World- Literary Analysis
A look into Brave New World Many times there is an underlying topic to a novel and what it truly means. For Brave New World, there are many underlying ideas as to the makeup of Aldous Huxley’s novel. For example, themes like science, sex, power, freedom and confinement, drugs and alcohol, society and class, and dissatisfaction as different themes that Huxley produces in the novel. Also there could be many symbols in the novel including, bottles and Ford. Not only are these themes and symbols throughout the novel, but there also could be a direct tie to Brave New World with Freud. Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World is about a futuristic society where humans are made from bottles that go through a brainwashing after their growth in a bottle. Each citizen is instructed to serve the community, they are there to be consumers and workers and to do their job. The bottles are placed in a caste, and according to each caste is how they are to grow up and become a part of society. For example, the Alphas are one of a kind; they are smart, tall and muscular. Contrasting, the Epsilons are grown in batches of 100 identical dumb, ugly and short humans. In order to keep the five castes separate, all but the Alphas are given harmful substances to keep them “stupid.” In the novel, Mustapha Mond states “The optimum population… Is modeled on the iceberg- eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above (Huxley, 223)” Mond claims that those under the water line are actually happier than those above it, another reason being that those in the upper castes are more seen and are the face of the society whereas those in the lower casts are of non-importance. In both Brave New World and in Freud’s studies, there is a lot of focus on the sexual aspect of human life. In Brad Buchanan’s article “Oedipus in Dystopia: Freud and Lawrence in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World” Buchanan claims that throughout Huxley’s life, he often rejected Freud and his ideas, however, the tone of
Cited: Buchanan, Brad “Oedipus in Dystopia: Freud and Lawrence in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World” Journal of Modern Literature. 25.3/4. (2002) 75-89. Print Huxley, Aldous Brave New World. New York: 1946. Print.