History Literature / BraveNewWorld

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The caste uniforms. Alphas wear grey (black in the film), Betas wear mulberry (blue in the film), Gammas wear green, Deltas wear khaki, and Epsilons wear black.

A 1932 dystopian novel written by Aldous Huxley. Quite possibly the only serious Western {{Dystopia}} involving ''too much'' happiness... as provided by the totalitarian state.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The caste uniforms. Alphas wear grey (black in the film), Betas wear white (blue in the film), Gammas wear green, Deltas wear khaki, and Epsilons wear black.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The new world, according to the Savage (and many readers) -- "Mother" is an obscene word, sex is as quick and impersonal as a handshake, nobody misses people when they die, and ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' would be considered a comedy. Described In-Universe as an example: When the Savage gets into a discussion with Mond, Mond explains that the reason this world feels so wrong to the Savage is that he is still using the old system of good and evil, as opposed to the modern system of happiness and unhappiness. One of the very few cases in which this trope is done well.

And before you ask, the Music/IronMaiden song of the same name ''was'' [[FilkSong inspired by the book]]. Not to be confused with the second expansion of the fifth installment of {{VideoGame/Civilization}}. Or the Japanese novel and anime series ''Shin Sekai Yori'', whose English name is ''Literature/FromTheNewWorld''.

It was announced that a [[Series/BraveNewWorld television adapataion]] is to be released on NBC's new streamin g service Peacock on July 15th 2020. It has been adapted twice previously as made-for-TV movies in 1980 and 1998 (the latter notably starring Creator/LeonardNimoy as Mustapha Mond).

%%* FutureMusic

%%* StepfordSmiler

%%* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior

%%* {{Zeerust}}

* GreekLetterRanks: One of the TropeCodifiers. People are genetically engineered and designed to fit into castes ranging from Alpha (the best and brightest) to Epsilon (simple-minded workers for the simplest jobs).

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Having invented the production lines that produce everything (people included), Henry Ford is [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] by society into a literal Christ-like figure. ([[FutureImperfect And combined with]] Sigmund Freud.) Played with in that these people were not in and of themselves different or leading some secret life, but were retconned into this by the regime, who needed people to inspire the masses. (Think the Kim dynasty in UsefulNotes/NorthKorea.)

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Having invented the production lines that produce everything (people included), Henry Ford is [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] by society into a literal Christ-like figure. ([[FutureImperfect And combined with]] Sigmund Freud.) Played with in that these people were not in and of themselves different or leading some secret life, but were retconned into this by the regime, who needed people to inspire the masses.

** "Pneumatic." This actually was a slang term back in the 1920s, but it's become so obscure that it sounds like FutureSlang.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Your options are either a utopia that encourages neglect of individuality, or an exile in a squalid low-technology reservation or a remote island. An attempt to make a society where everyone is treated equally and everything is provided by robots collapsed into civil war within a few years. (Everyone on that island was an Alpha, even though jobs done by other castes in the rest of society still needed to be done; predictably, all the islanders considered themselves above such tasks, they didn't get done, and things snowballed.)

* CreativeSterility: Art without content or substance is what Helmholtz makes, and it's ultimately why he doesn't like the system. Mond also reveals scientific research and development has been purposefully halted for years, the authorities gave him a job as one of the world leader to cheer him up.

* FalseDichotomy: Mustapha Mond's experiment in equality fails to be an argument against free will because the experiment seems to have been engineered to fail. The people involved in the experiment were Alphas. They not only had a high intelligence that made them efficient at intellectual work, they were conditioned '''all''' their prior life to be happy '''only''' with specific jobs. This ensured civil war, because they were literally brainwashed into being incapable of accepting the menial jobs they were shown. Yet no character points this out. If the experiment involved members of ''all'' castes, except without the caste system being enforced (allowing castes to interbreed, and take different jobs if they wanted to), or the citizens selected for the experiment were adults who were spared conditioning as children, the experiment could probably have succeeded. The "brilliant minds" who became disillusioned with society and were banished to the world's many islands to do as they please (alluded to at the book's end and explored in Huxley's ''Island'') certainly created what could very well be [[TakeAThirdOption a viable alternative]] to "civilization" (with its brainwashing and enforced caste system) and "savage" (poverty- and conflict-ridden) reservations. Thus the presented trilemma between pointless hedonism, civil war, and low-technology reservations, is a false one.

* FictionalReligion: Fordism, in which Henry Ford is worshipped as a god.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: There is pretty much no society of today that will ground a four year old boy for not wanting to have sex with some girl. The DHC even comments how there was a time where that would be frowned upon in a they-believed-the-Earth-was-flat tone.
* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler:Bernard, Henry.]] The whole society was made so you can simply take a pill the moment trouble arise which doesn't lead to especially brave people but those two sticks out.

%%* DomedHometown

* DoubleStandard: It is clear that, in the novel, sexism is still alive and well. Although the nature of the indiscretions have changed, the exposure of a man's indiscretions merely make him a laughingstock, while his female partner, being exposed, is shunned. In addition, the "dirty words" that describe a woman are much more taboo than those that describe a man, to the extent that a government employee censors them when writing official documents. There is also a conspicuous lack of references to Alpha females throughout the book (particularly glaring when the [=DHC=] addresses a group of Alphas at the beginning, who are all boys), to the point one may wonder if Beta is the highest caste a woman can belong to.

** Henry's attitude towards Lenina, typical of the Alpha caste; when he thinks she already has a date with someone else, for example, he's always excited to know with whom. Fanny actually critisizes Lenina for not being slutty ''enough''.

* MyGirlIsASlut: Henry's attitude towards Lenina, typical of the Alpha caste; when he thinks she already has a date with someone else, for example, he's always excited to know with whom.

* DoubleStandard: It is clear that, in the novel, sexism is still alive and well. Although the nature of the indiscretions have changed, the exposure of a man's indiscretions merely make him a laughingstock, while his female partner, being exposed, is shunned. In addition, the "dirty words" that describe a woman are much more taboo than those that describe a man, to the extent that a government employee censors them when writing official documents.
** There is also a conspicuous lack of references to any Alpha females throughout the book (particularly glaring when the [=DHC=] addresses a group of Alphas at the beginning, who are all boys), to the point one may wonder if Beta is not the higher caste a woman can belong to.

And before you ask, the Music/IronMaiden song of the same name ''was'' [[FilkSong inspired by the book]]. Not to be confused with the second expansion of the fifth installment of {{VideoGame/Civilization}}. Or the Japanese novel and anime series ''Shin Sekai Yori'', whose English name is ''Literature/FromTheNewWorld''

%%* BreadAndCircuses

* CrapsackOnlyByComparison: Native Americans view the "utopian" world of London as immoral, unnatural, and pointless, while Lenina sees John the Savage's home on the savage reservation as backwards, uncivilized, and barbaric.

%%* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Too many to count.

* FalseDichotomy: Mustapha Mond's experiment in equality fails to be an argument against free will because the experiment seems to have been engineered to fail. The people involved in the experiment were Alphas. They not only had a high intelligence that made them efficient at intellectual work, they were conditioned '''all''' their prior life to be happy '''only''' with specific jobs. This ensured civil war, because they were literally brainwashed into being incapable of accepting the menial jobs they were shown. Yet no character points this out. If the experiment involved members of ''all'' castes, except without the caste system being enforced (allowing castes to interbreed, and take different jobs if they wanted to), or the citizens selected for the experiment were adults who were spared conditioning as children, the experiment could probably have succeeded. The "brilliant minds" who became disillusioned with society and were banished to the world's many islands to do as they please (alluded to at the book's end and explored in Huxley's ''Island'') certainly created what could very well be [[TakeAThirdOption a viable alternative]] to "civilization" (with its brainwashing and enforced caste system) and "savage" (poverty- and conflict-ridden) reservations. Thus the presented dilemma between pointless hedonism, civil war, and low-technology reservations, is a false one.

* FictionalReligion: Fordism.

* GeniusBreedingAct: Embryos are created in labs, and people are born into different classes: Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, and Epsilon. These groups are engineered to have different intelligence levels both through genetic selection and differences in their artificial fetal environment; for example, an Alpha is made from Alpha gametes ''and'' incubated in an optimal fetal environment, while Gammas and Epsilons not only have inferior genes but are also exposed to alcohol in vitro.

* AntiEscapismAesop: Soma is presented as a perfect, non-addictive drug that everyone consumes daily for a delightful euphoric "holiday" with no unpleasant side-effects that might decrease productivity. AndThatsTerrible. Although later it's implied that might have a hand with why no one can makes it past sixty, since those that are too old or depressed would just put themselves on permanent holiday until they die.

* TheChainsOfCommanding: Mustapha Mond doesn't really like his job as World Controller all that much, but someone has to do it.

* PunchClockVillain: Mustafa Mond actually really likes Shakespeare, pure science and religion, but he has to refuse all of these, because his job to provide happiness for the people demands this.

* DramaticIrony: The narration reveals early that Lenina is naturally inclined toward monogamy, but is peer-pressured into casual dating by society. The men she falls for also tend to be unconventional thinkers and social outcasts, and she commits a minor taboo by dating "undesirable" men instead of the kind of vapid, popular men society thinks she ''ought'' to go for. However, un-privvy to this information, the men she does fall for (Bernard, John) assume she's just another stupid, vapid, shallow, blindly conforming slut like all the other girls in society.