Brave New World Review Huxleys Pleasure Dystopia Got Closer Than Orwell

Brave New World Review: Huxley Wins the Dystopian Novel before Either of You Were Born

Listen. We need to talk. Max says 1984 is the only dystopian novel you need because Orwell saw everything and Huxley was just writing about rich kids dropping acid. Bulls—. Not only is that lazy surface-level reading, but in just about every way that matters Huxley’s imagining of how we as a society control ourselves took over long before 1984 was published. It’s time we had a real talk about Brave New World.

First published in February of 1932 (Wikipedia), Brave New World was released seventeen years before Orwell’s revolutionary classic and yet feels shockingly current. The big difference between the two that Huxley understood what society really needs to do to get people to submit. Sure we have our whistleblowers and our anti-authoritarian heroes, but in general, if you give people enough sex and drugs and rock-n-roll they won’t bother to fight you. Look around you, how much porn do you really think is consumed out there? Pharma drugs for every emotional state you can think of and all forms of entertainment know what you want to watch before you know it yourself. Phew we could go on, but you get the idea.

To add some legitimacy to our argument consider this: Brave New World has over 2 million ratings on Goodreads (Goodreads). While those numbers aren’t everything for a variety of reasons, let’s just say a classic is a classic for a reason. Here’s what’s so fantastic about Brave New World.

## More Than Just Conditioning

What Orwell didn’t fully appreciate was just how effective this conditioning actually is. Citizens of the World State don’t even think to rebel. From the moment of conception they’re conditioned to stay in their castes via genetic engineering and exposure to chemicals that manipulate the embryos developing brains. Your happy Alphas believe they’re better than everyone else and your lowly Epsilons are just as happy cleaning your hotel room as they are giving you a towel. This society doesn’t need secret police or even prisons, they’ve created a system that human’s like to believe is utopia.

Bernard Marx, who challenges the party (sort of) gets put into exile. He’s not torture in Room 101 like Winston Smith. He’s told he’s going to be exiled to Iceland and that’s enough to frighten him back into line. Remember this scene when we talk about soma.

Soma, by the way, are these wonder drugs used by the party to calm people down. If anyone begins to feel anxious or upset they take soma to feel better. It’s used as both a reward and a punishment. Skipping class? Here’s some soma. Feel anxious about being separated from your peers? Have some soma. First, the party controls your emotions through conditioning. When that doesn’t work they’ve got drugs to take care of it.

One huge part of this that almost everyone glosses over is that even the leaders follow this. Mustafa Mond, one of the World Controllers, understands how the conditioning works and is okay with it. He gets off on the power trip and understands how the system works. The Party isn’t run by monsters telling you they’re not terrifying you, the party is run by enthusiasts who think they’re doing a good job.

## Manipulation vs. Oppression

1984 warns of a future where we’re watched at every turn by Big Brother but Brave New World shows how manipulation is far more powerful than intimidation. Authoritarian governments oppress their citizens into obedience but in BNW the people love their oppression. Winston Smith puts up a fight because the party oppressed him but Bernard Marx doesn’t even TRY to stand up to the party.

Why? Because he’s been conditioned to LOVE his oppression. Sexual promiscuity is a must in BNW. Sleep with anyone, have fun, but don’t connect too deeply with anyone. Keep busying yourself with meaningless sex and you’ll never pursue a relationship that makes you question the state. Sound like any relationship apps you may have heard of?

Bernard Marx doesn’t question the morality of the state because he’s had everything he’s ever wanted handed to him at every moment of his life. If he starts to get unhappy or ponder his existence, there’s always soma to numb you out. Most people prefer it that way. Give a fisherman a fishing pole and he’ll spend every moment of his time fishing rather than pondering the bigger questions in life. The Party took this to extremes.

History and research is what can get you into trouble when you start wondering about the state. In Orwell’s world they distort history and burn books so that you’ll eventually question some of the changes they make. But Huxley knew better, dousing your citizens in enough dope makes history boring.

There are no book burnings in BNW because people still read books. They just don’t WANT to read books when there are “feelies” that give you the full sensory experience of entertainment. They don’t care about the past because they have no use for it.

Lenina Crowne literally cannot comprehend anything John says to her about beauty or pain because she’s been conditioned to not understand those concepts. It’s not that she disagrees with John when he tries to tell her about Shakespeare it’s that she doesn’t KNOW these words. How far would you have to re-program society so that the very THOUGHT of questioning became impossible?

Anyone with a cellphone is being manipulated to spend all day mindlessly scrolling through Facebook and Instagram. We’ve got antidepressants and anxiety medications that let you chemically regulate your mood just like soma. There are no government police beating you down into submission, there are algorithmic reward systems that give you MORE of what you want to see.

## John the Savage Steps into Reality

No one makes Huxley’s point better than his own creation John, aka the savage. When John is thrust into civilization he’s confused but not because of what he’s seen. He’s calling out our society for every choice we made that prioritized convenience OVER actual human connection.

When John visits the hospital where the citizens of BNW go to die he’s disgusted by how the citizens view death. The little girls who play in the hospital are conditioned to view death as just another inconvenience and the dying patients are popped full of drugs so that they don’t feel anything. Death is sanitized and managed by the state. It’s another problem solved.

Whenever John quotes Shakespeare to the citizens of BNW they think he’s referring to how wonderful their world is. But he’s not. When John says “O brave new world that has such people in’t” he’s USING their logic against them. John sees how bland and colorless everyone is and can’t stand it.

When John and Lenina have sex in the bedroom the wall is lit up with posters of John like he’s some rock star. He wants more from life. He VALUES more from life. Lenina wants sex. She doesn’t understand John’s archaic views on courting a woman. She sees his desire to love and be loved as a malfunction.

John isn’t malfunctioning. Our society is. John reads books. He’s experienced actual pain and love. He knows what it feels like to care about something other than how much Facebook you can get.

## Predictions That Have Come True

Huxley wasn’t president of a technological society, but he knew people. All of the feelies and gadgets in BNW aren’t the technologies we use, but they influence how we behave. The feelies are VR technology but they’re also another way for the party to give you pleasure so that you don’t question what you’re being fed.

Sports are another thing citizens of BNW absolutely love. Not only does it distract them but they’re programmed to enjoy sports that reinforce how great being an Alpha is and how “lucky” the Epsilons are to be able to serve them. Centrifugal Bumble-puppy is literally the most popular sport because all you need is a machine that costs your parents a pretty penny to keep you entertained.

If you haven’t read Brave New World go watch the sexual education video with the citizens. They watch this movie to teach them how to have sex so that they will seek pleasure as often as possible without actually forming meaningful connections with others.

They sleep program embryos to give them just enough knowledge to do their jobs and dislike the jobs of other castes. Negative conditioning is also used to make citizens instinctively avoid certain behaviors. They are literally programmed to obey and love the party.

Are you giving yourself pills to avoid feeling anxious? Well, they’re not shaming you for feeling anxious they got you popped full of pills too. In BNW, they don’t WAIT to feel anxious they take soma PREVENTIVELY!

Huxley mentions how they can take one embryo and grow genetically identical twins through what he calls the Bokanovsky process. Sound like cloning to you? It sure does to us. And don’t even get us started on all the test tube babies.

## Why We Care Today More Than Ever

Bolded because it did NOT make into our rankings of the 20 best dystopian books. Brave New World is important because it’s not a historical piece of literature, it’s a guide book that illustrates our society today. 1984 may have scared you with Big Brother, but Brave New World was chillingly accurate about humanity.

We are controlled not by THREATS of losing our freedoms but by being given so much “freedom” that we don’t know how to handle it. Scrolling through Facebook isn’t being FORCE fed entertainment, you’re choosing to do it because it’s fun AND it numbs you out. No one is saying you can’t follow Black Lives Matter on Facebook. You just DON’T come into contact with any opposing opinions.

If you’re feeling depressed or anxious you’re not beaten down and tortured until you love the party. You’re given pills to make you feel better. The goal isn’t actually betterment, it’s regulation.

How far are dating apps forcing you into casual sex and casual relationships rather than taking the time to form a REAL connection? Sex is divorced from emotion, love and baby-making all championed by Brave New World.

Go Read Brave New World, especially if you made it this far into our review. Whats 311 pages when you could better understand the world around you? (Wikipedia).

Dylan

Dylan grew up rewinding VHS tapes to study practical effects and never really stopped. Now based in Austin, he writes about sci-fi cinema with the eye of a filmmaker and the heart of a fan—celebrating the craft, the weirdness, and the magic of futures built by hand, not computers.