History Literature / BraveNewWorld

Also, this book is frequently compared to ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' as a way of showing the perspectives of the dystopia-esque society. Note that ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' shows that [[BigBrotherIsWatching what we fear controls us]], while ''Brave New World'' shows that what we ''love'' [[MemeticMutation controls us.]][[note]]The most famous expression of this argument was in the introduction to media scholar Neil Postman's 1985 work ''[[https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297276/amusing-ourselves-to-death-by-neil-postman/ Amusing Ourselves to Death]]''.[[/note]]

* DramaticIrony: The narration reveals early on 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, not realizing this, the outcasts she does fall for (Bernard, John) assume she's just another vapid, conforming slut like most other woman of the setting.

* FreeLoveFuture: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] and [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] simultaneously. Everyone is encouraged from earliest childhood to have sex with as many people as possible, and never to form strong attachments to any of them. Chastity is the deadest of virtues. But it's not really "free love", because being promiscuous is mandatory. Sexual norms are just as strict as they were in Victorian times, they just go in the opposite direction. John confuses Lenina by ''not'' jumping her bones at the first opportunity; because of this, she ends up ''longing'' for him, and comes the closest she will ever come to actually feeling love in her whole pathetic, sex-saturated life.

* HiddenDepths: Lenina is naturally inclined towards monogamy despite polyamory being enforced by society, tends to feel attracted to unconventional thinkers and social outcasts despite being her society's ideal woman (outwardly pretty and vapid), is ''fascinated'' by the prospect of seeing the reservation instead of being too repulsed to go like most of her peers (betraying at least some intellectual curiosity). She's also one of the few characters who woke from their sleep-induced conditioning as a child, but due to bad luck the she was instead frightened by the ghostly whispers in the night that only the pleasant dreams of socially-imposed platitudes provided, so the ''real'' reason she resists breaking out of the happiness machine is not lack of intellectual ability like Bernard or John suspect, but deep-seated, conditioned (unintentionally) childhood trauma.

* 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. 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.

* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Most people have no idea just how vapid and insignificant their lives are. The ones who ''do'' know this are so difficult to integrate that they're just shipped off to isolated islands just so they don't have to think about it so much or risk spoiling everyone else's mindless fun.

* 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.

* DomedHometown: Most of civilization lives in closed-off areas, while living "outside" is considered roughing it in the extreme

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:John tries to get away from civilization, but fails and ultimately kills himself because of it]].

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''.

* RealityEnsues: Everyone is having sex on a regular basis and conditions to see it as a good thing, and that if you're happy then surely you're willing to share what you have. This also means that no one is taught about healthy boundaries or consent. John makes it clear that, while he would like a relationship with Lenina, he doesn't want it freely but would rather earn her love fairly. She doesn't listen, which leads to him violently spurning her. It also means that no one in this society respects personal space or your wishes. [[spoiler:When John tries to live on his own, interested journalists try to interview him and get chased off his land. They don't get the memo that John wants to be alone, and a whole group of people come to witness John with his whip, including Lenina. He turns his whip on her, which starts a riot in turn because the people don't understand the difference between pain and punishment and want to be involved]].

* AntiVillain: Despite being one of the ten World Controllers, Mustapha Mond comes off as sympathetic (in both senses - he has sympathy for others, and the reader may tend to like him), because he secretly enjoys much of the old 'smutty' material such as Shakespeare and regrets the sacrifice of things such as truth and freedom. He believes, in his own full capacity, that the sacrifices are worth it.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The new world, according to the Savage (and many readers) -- the entire notion of parentage is regarded as obscene, 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.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: {{Inverted}}. Linda is a social outcast for having a baby in a world where in-vitro fertilization is universal, motherhood is an archaic obscenity, and Abortion Centres are luxury facilities.

* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: The lower (read: intentionally retarded) castes. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]; they've got the technology to make a great deal of that work obsolete and in fact tried just that, only to find out that it made people unhappier. It's better to give the Epsilons [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife somewhere to go and something to do for 8 hours]], so labor-saving technology was intentionally dialed back to create more make-work. As for why they didn't just stop breeding/manufacturing the lower castes and let a society of free, intelligent humans operate the labor-saving devices themselves: they tried that too, and the island they tried it on [[TooManyCooksSpoilTheSoup collapsed into civil war within a couple of years]]; it turns out that the higher castes need someone to boss over and will not do anything that they feel is beneath them.

The book is now in the public domain, and can be found [[https://www.huxley.net/miranda/chapters.html here]].

* ColorCodedCastes: 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.

* ArcWords: "O [[TitleDrop brave new world]], [[ShoutOutToShakespeare that has such people in it]]..."

* IllegalReligion: Fordism has taken the place of old beliefs such as Christianity, Totetemism, and Ancestor Worship, though they're still practiced in the Reservations.

* CrapsackWorld: The reservation is a dump with excessive violence and drugs with more ravaging effect than Soma.

This novel is famous for quite a few things. For one, the biological techniques described in the book (such as cloning) would turn out to be remarkably similar to those used in the modern day, despite this novel being written in the 1920s, ''decades'' before real science would ever reach this stage. It helps that Huxley is a member of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huxley_family one of Britain's most important and productive scientific families]] (his older brother Julian was a leading evolutionary biologist and his grandfather Thomas was Darwin's Bulldog, the man who argued Darwin's idea in public for him.).

The cost of continuing to breed people smart enough to keep society running is the risk of emotional instability in those people. Genius creates the risk of madness--yes, in this society, unhappiness qualifies as madness. We have a Type Alpha who is not as tall and strong and beautiful as most, looking more like a Type Gamma; there are continual jokes about his jar getting spiked with alcohol. He fantasizes about being unhappy. And we have a Type Alpha who's in a critical position in society: he writes advertising jingles. Unfortunately, he suddenly wants to create TrueArt, and TrueArtIsAngsty. (No, he doesn't actually create TrueArt. Wanting to is bad enough.)

* TheFilmOfTheBook: In 1980 (with Kristoffer Tabori and Julie Cobb), in 1998 (with Peter Gallagher, Rya Kihlstedt, Tim Guinee and Creator/LeonardNimoy as Mustapha), and there's another one in the works.

** The 1998 American movie version is a bit LighterAndSofter: [[spoiler:John does die, but not by hanging himself. Instead, John ends up falling off a cliff to his death due to the paparazzi hounding him following his meltdown at the soma dispensary. After Bernard gets the DHC's position following the latter's ousting over being a father, he discovers Lenina is pregnant and decides to leave society and live with her on a free island so they can be a family. And viewers discover that John's influence has inspired a boy to stick cotton in his ears so he won't be brainwashed by the nightly hypnotherapy]]

* LargeAndInCharge: The lower classes are shorter than the Alphas and Betas.
** Justified in that stunted growth is a symptom of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, but at the time the book was written, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was not known to exist. Huxley ''[[AccidentalTruth made up a condition]] [[VindicatedByHistory that later turned out to be real]]'', and ''even managed to get the symptoms right''.
** Bernard subverts this due to being the shortest Alpha, so short that he can look at an Epsilon in the eyes. There are frequent jokes that he got some alcohol put in his gestation bottle.

Also, this book is frequently compared to ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' as a way of showing the perspectives of the dystopia-esque society. Note that ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' shows that [[BigBrotherIsWatching what we fear controls us]], while ''Brave New World'' shows that what we ''love'' [[MemeticMutation controls us.]][[note]]The most famous expression of this argument was in the introduction to media scholar Neil Postman's 1985 work [[https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297276/amusing-ourselves-to-death-by-neil-postman/ Amusing Ourselves to Death]].[[/note]]

Also, this book is frequently compared to ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' as a way of showing the perspectives of the dystopia-esque society. Note that ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' shows that [[BigBrotherIsWatching what we fear controls us]], while ''Brave New World'' shows that what we ''love'' [[MemeticMutation controls us.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Mustapha Mond recognizes that individuality, creativity, and self-awareness are lofty and noble things. [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill He also believes that sacrificing them in the name of stability, order, and banal happiness]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans is necessary to preserve human civilization]].
* WeWillHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture: Downplayed: the government doesn't actually euthanize anyone-people are simply biologically programmed to die at age 60. Since everyone is discouraged from making permanent bonds with one another, there's no sense of loss on either side.

* HateSink: The director of the Hatchery, who is Bernard’s and Lenina’s boss. He does nothing but shill how wonderful the book’s civilization is, but unlike [[AntiVillain Mustapha Mond]], has nothing to back it up and has never entertained an original thought in his life. But then he tries to get Bernard [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassigned to Iceland]] for the “crime” of [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong not liking golf]], and it is revealed that [[spoiler:he is the Savage’s father, but didn’t give one whit about Linda’s disappearance and presumed death]]. It is made very clear that all of his actions are deserving of the highest praise InUniverse, demonstrating its dystopian nature.

A [[Series/BraveNewWorld television adaptation]] has been released on Creator/{{NBC}}'s streaming 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).

%%* IJustWantToBeNormal: Bernard Marx and Linda.

* InTheFutureWeWillHaveEuthanasia: After roughly sixty years of youth, perfect health, and productivity, the aging process ensues rapidly and the person dies within the month. Since everyone is discouraged from making permanent bonds with one another, there's no sense of loss on either side.

* SpeaksInShoutOuts: One of John's first books was an anthology from William Shakespeare, [[SpeaksInShoutOuts he's prone to quoting him.]]

In the future, most of humanity and the environment people live in has been tailored to make everyone happy. There are five castes of people (Alphas through Epsilons), divided further into sub-castes ranging from the leader Alpha Pluses down through the barely-human grunt Epsilon-Minus Semi-Morons. Everyone is grown in jars and their general roles in society planned before "birth". The population is pacified with virtual reality and the pleasure drug soma. Human needs are satisfied--by biological engineering when necessary; orgies are the norm; and anything that might possibly cause dissatisfaction is simply left out of society.