12/28/2023 0 Comments A brave new world book![]() ![]() He wants to see what happens when there’s some amount of time in between desire and fulfillment. The next morning, he expresses regret-they should have waited, he tells her, before having sex. Ultimately, Bernard gives in to her seductive ways, but he has to take a few grams of soma before he can bring himself to get into bed with her. This confuses Lenina, who wants to take drugs and have sex. He wants to spend some time talking, or maybe holding hands during a long walk on the beach. Since he writes meaningless hypnopaedia sayings all day, Helmholtz expresses a desire to create something more intense and more passionate-he just doesn’t know what that might be. But he actually passes on the offer and instead shoots the beans with Bernard about how dissatisfied they are with their lives. So good looking, in fact, that the first time we meet him he’s being offered a foursome-with three women. Next we meet Helmholtz Watson, another Alpha-Plus male who shares Bernard’s dissatisfaction with their controlled, structured lives but fortunately doesn’t share Bernard’s physical deficiencies: Helmholtz is really attractive. Bernard feels isolated because he’s “different,” and all his time alone lets him ponder big thoughts such as: “I wish everyone wasn’t so promiscuous and could take love seriously,” “I totally want Lenina, but I’d rather have a nice long talk than have sex with her.” When he finally does get around to asking Lenina out, he’s embarrassed that she publicly discusses their plans for sex. While we’re getting dealt this info, we meet another character, Bernard Marx, an Alpha-Plus psychologist who, for some reason or another, doesn’t have the great physical characteristic of most Alphas. ![]() The short version is that the world got gradually more and more screwed up until the world population collectively said, “Oh we can’t take this anymore! Please take away all of our liberties and individuality in the name of universal stability!” And the Powers That Be said, “OK.” And now there’s no war, no sadness, no individuality, no history, no literature (!), no families, no emotional ties to others, no solitude allowed, no scientific freedom, and no religion (God has been replaced by “Ford,” as in Henry Ford, as in the man who perfected the assembly line and mass production). Mustapha explains to the same “group of students” (read: “plot device”) how this society came about. We receive much of this information from the Director during his tour, but the rest is delivered via Mustapha Mond, a big-deal guy who happens to be one of ten World Controllers. The other big activity in this world is taking a narcotic called soma-a drug that sends its users off into “lunar eternity,” a trippy escape from reality. ![]() Also, orgies are a required bi-weekly event. “Every one belongs to every one else,” which means when a man wants to sleep with a woman, he publicly says, “Hey, you, let’s have sex tonight,” and she says, “OK.” (Basically.) Even little kids play games with each other like hunt-the-zipper (just use your imagination). In the World State, sex is casual, regular (as in, once-a-day), and explicit. However, this arrangement is the status quo. Moving right along, we meet two more of the novel’s characters, Lenina Crowne and Henry Foster, both workers in the hatchery. And you thought having an older brother was tough. Also, the lower castes are grown in batches, so that 100 Epsilons are all exact copies of one another. In this case, they use alcohol and oxygen deprivation. These people figured out that the best way to keep non-Alphas stupid is to give them dangerous substances while they’re still in the test tube. Alphas are smart, tall, and muscular Epsilons short, dumb, and ugly. To make the system run more smoothly, humans are divided into various castes: Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and… drum roll…Epsilons. It’s their job to be consumers and workers, which in turn keeps the economy stable and strong. Each person exists to serve the community. The Director explains to the students the process by which humans are grown inside bottles and then conditioned (read: brainwashed) to believe certain moral “truths.” This conditioning, also known as “hypnopaedia” or “sleep-teaching,” instructs the citizens to believe in the value of society over the individual. Brave New World begins in an uncomfortably sterile and controlled futuristic society, commonly referred to as “the World State.” We join the story as a group of young students are receiving a factory tour of the “London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre” from the center’s director, whose name is… The Director. ![]()
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