Brave New World: Utopia or Dystopia?

Brave New World (written in 1931, published in 1932) is a novel written by Aldous Huxley
which describes a world set in the year AD 2540. The world depicted in the novel can be both
seen as a utopia or a dystopia, depending on the readers point of view.

Set in London, the novel describes technological developments regarding reproduction, sleep-
learning, psychological manipulation of society and classical conditioning. The title of the novel
was inspired by William Shakespeares play The Tempest, Mirandas speech, Act V, Scene I: O
wonder!/How many goodly creatures are there here!/How beauteous mankind is! O brave new
world,/That has such people int.1 It is said that the novel was inspired by H.G. Wells
optimistic utopian novels A Modern Utopia (1905) and Men Like Gods (1923). In comparison to
these, Brave New World is often regarded as a negative utopia presenting a frightening vision of
the future2.

It can be considered a utopia as it presents a happy, satisfied and successful world, where people
live according to the rules set by The World State: people living here love their work, know their
place within the society, do not suffer because of love, do not compete with each other, as there
is no need to do this, and moreover do not have feelings of sadness or loneliness because all
these issues are solved by people plunging into the consumption of the pleasure drug soma. We
can see healthy and wealthy people whose lives are being guided by the government providing
for their well being.

On the other hand, the novel is seen as a dystopia, as one may question all the values, the
happiness and stability of the society presented: it is after all a world of suppressed emotions,
controlled happiness, where people are not allowed to be different, elsewhere they are banned

1
William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, Scene I, II, Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 203-206
2
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/philosophy/brave-new-world-utopia-or-dystopia-philosophy-essay.php, read on
23/04/2017
from the society; love does not exist at all, promiscuous sex is not seen as immoral, women are
seen as meat, art or any kind of development not being encouraged.

The novel tells the story3 of Lenina Crowne, Bernard Max and some other minor characters.
Lenina is a worker, a socially accepted and happy member of the society. Bernard, on the other
hand, is the unsatisfied member of the Alpha caste - a psychologist with an inferiority complex
due to his short statue. An intelligent man, Bernard disapproves of the rules of the society he
lives in, is arrogant, nonconformist and vocal. He shares his feelings with his only friend,
Helmholtz Watson, who works as a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering.
Helmholtzs lack of happiness doesnt come though, from a feeling of inferiority, but from his
sense of being gifted, good looking and fit. During a holiday in New Mexico, Bernard and
Lenina meet Linda and her son, John. Linda is a former citizen the World State who, after having
an affair with Bernards boss and becoming pregnant, refuses to go back to civilization. Linda
took care of her son, taught him how to read by using two books: a scientific manual and the
collected work of Shakespeare- works which will influence Johns way of thinking and destiny.
Accompanied by Bernard, Linda and John return to London, where they are confronted with
Bernards boss who, after finding out that John is his son, decides to resign. Linda takes refuge in
a soma holiday, while John is disgusted by both the society he encounters and Leninas attempts
of seducing him. He then finds out that his mom is really ill and causes a scandal attacking one
of the Delta children who entered the ward for death conditioning. Helmholtz also gets involved
in the fight. After the quarrel, the World Controller for the Western Europe, Mustapha Mond
decides to exile Bernard and Helmholtz on islands, as a punishment for antisocial behaviour.
Helmholtz accepts Monds decision and moves to Falkland Islands where, as he says, live the
most interesting and intelligent people, the ones who couldnt adapt to the World States society.
John refuses to live by the rules of this society and moves to an abandoned lighthouse, practising
self-mortification and self-flagellation. During one of his attempts to purify himself, he sees
Lenina and unwillingly gets involved in a soma orgy. The next day, tantalized with remorse, he
hangs himself.

3
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/nov/17/classics.margaretatwood, read on 23/04/2017
The novel presents a society which claims to benefit from the developments of technology, the
genetic engineering, with people who lead a happy and stable life, who have no emotions and no
morals, no desire to create or invent something new. But, there are characters in this novel who
criticize the rules of World State. Bernard, Helmholtz and John do not approve of the
governments vision of a happy society, of people losing their identity and freedom. In World
State happiness means the ability to satisfy immediate needs, but at the same time the inability to
face truth. These three characters see this world as being superficial, focused on technological
improvement, but not on scientific research or exploration. This turns the novel into a dystopia.
In this respect, the characters names4 are suggestive: Lenina Crowne comes from Lenin, the
well known Russian leader, Helmholtz Watson- from the German physician and physicist
Herman von Hermholtz and the American behaviorist John Watson; Bernard Marx- from George
Bernard Shaw or Claude Bernard and Karl Marx; John the Savage is associated with John the
Baptist; other characters in the novel also have suggestive names: Henry Foster- Henry Ford, the
American industrialist, Polly Trotsky- Leon Trotsky - the Russian revolutionary leader, Benito
Hoover - from Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator and from the president of the USA- Herbert
Hoover; Joanna Diesel - from Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine. The sources and
references of all these names lead us to the idea that the author used them as symbols for
totalitarianism, technological development, mass production, an industrial era, rebels a.s.o.

This novel has often been compared to George Orwells 1984, which depicts a society
continuously manipulated and punished for any signs of individualism and independent thinking.
As a conclusion, while Orwells 1984 is definitely considered a dystopian novel, Brave New
World can be seen either as a dystopia or as a negative utopia.

4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World, read on 23/04/2017
Bibliography:

Books:
1) Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Modern Classics, 2006
2) William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Oxford University Press, 2008

Online resources:
1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World, read on 23/04/2017
2) https://www.ukessays.com/essays/philosophy/brave-new-world-utopia-or-dystopia-
philosophy-essay.php, read on 23/04/2017
3) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/nov/17/classics.margaretatwood, read on
23/04/2017