Aldous Huxley - Brave New World

Warning: I spoil the plot... what little there is.

Not a week goes past that a Brave New World reference doesn't pass through my lips. Even before I read the book, I'd throw around references to Soma and alphas, and occasionally throw in a little Orgy Porgy. So many facets of this world that Huxley created are pertinent warnings to those alive today. The stratified social structure, the institutionalized consumerism, the prevalence of a drug to keep people from being depressed all are not only possible in this society, but are happening.

If I was in a coffee house right now, I would argue that the state instituted class separation is alive today because of inequities in health care, education and access to technology. I would argue the similarities of Soma and Prozac. Alas, we are not in a coffee house, and I am writing about the book itself, not the world it creates.

Huxley's Orwellian anti-utopia is awe-inspiring, but as I started getting into this book, more and more started to bug me.

One of main characters, Bernard Marx, questions the basis of this society and resists his socialization, but the only action he ever seems to take is to go on vacation to the Savage Reservation.

I have 2 problems with this.

First of all, Huxley painstakingly builds up the new world in our minds, then leaves it. Why? I wanted to stay there. I wanted to explore this great evil place. I didn't want to leave.

My other problem is that Bernard is not happy with life and wants to expand his mind. Though it seems that he has always been a bit of an oddball who doesn't believe in the system, it also seems that his first step toward self discovery is going to a far away, dangerous place where no one ever goes. That is like me saying, "I'm having a bout of depression. I'm going to Iran," then jumping on a plane and going.

I just have to believe that if Bernard is so unhappy with the world around him that he would do something to change it. The way he talks, the way he attempts to change minds, is not consistent with his randomly going on vacation, even if it is to the Savage Reservation. There is just so many more, exciting plot possibilities if he stays home and actually does something.

While there, he and his companion find Linda and her son John. Linda is a civilized woman who was accidentally left on the Savage Reservation years ago. Linda is utterly obnoxious, and I can not imagine that she had been stranded for so long. Surely, she and the savages would have found a way to get her out or the savages would have killed her. She whines. She sleeps with other women's men, having no concept of marriage. She hardly takes care of her son. If I was one of the savages, I would have offed her a long time ago.

Also, she is constantly sleeping with men. How does she only have one child? The savages have no birth control. The circumstances surrounding her are just didn't make sense to me.

So, Bernard works it so that he can bring Linda and John back. They hook up Linda to the Soma machine and let her o.d. on bliss. Meanwhile, John gets instant fame as The Savage, and Bernard becomes popular because John is staying with him.

After all, all anyone ever wants is to be popular. The Bernard in the beginning is a thoughtful person, but once he becomes popular he throws that right out the window. By the time I get to the last chapter, the story seemed so absurd to me, that I didn't care about the sad fate of John, who turned out to be the main character, after all.

I will never deny that Brave New World is one of the most important and interesting books in science fiction and perhaps all of literature, but that does not mean it is one of the best reads. I have a passion for both anti-utopian sci-fi and classic literature, and the only thing I felt about this book was utter disappointment. I even love discussing this book, comparing it to society today, but reading it did little more than annoy me.

Now, could someone please pass the soma?