Aldous Leonard Huxley was born, in the English countryside, on July 26, 1894 to Leonard and Julia Huxley. He was their third child. His siblings were Julian, Trevenen, and Margaret. His father was the son of T. H. Huxley, a brilliant scientist, and his mother, Julia, was the great-niece of Matthew Arnold, a poet-philosopher. He was unusual and bright but not immediately academically distinguished (Hara 4). His mother had started a school for girls and that is where Huxley first started to bloom. In 1908 his mother died of cancer and she told Huxley, “Don’t be too critical of people and love much” (Garrett 87). His academic career was stopped in 1911 when he got Keratitis punctata (an eye ailment). It left him blinded but he still stayed in school. He had two tutors, his homework and braille. In 1913, he stayed with his brother while his vision improved. He started to travel more when his father remarried (Garrett 87).
Aldous was not looking for love, but it found him. He met Maria in 1915 and it was love at first sight. They got married on July 10, 1919 and their child, Matthew, was born in 1920. He lived as a struggling writer. He published poems and essays that eventually led him to publish his first novel, in 1921, Crome Yellow. After this success Chatto gave Huxley his first three year contract. He wrote four volumes of short stories, two essays, and two philosophical travel books, from 1922 to 1928. Huxley reached a much wider audience with his novel, Point Counter Point, in 1928. His novel, Brave New World, did not become revered until after WWII, since people did not know what to make of it before the war. Huxley’s novels cover a wide range of topics, earning the name “novels of ideas.” Huxley pushed his...
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...ganization have been designed to control individual’s religious emotions (Congdon 96). They have organized communal gatherings, with a certain procedure so everyone gets the same religion. The idea of God, in the end, is not compatible with scientific ideals (Diken 160). The World Controller saw the need to modify and improve religion in the name of Ford. Fordism was their new religion and Henry Ford was their god. He was the first one that created mass production. The scientists took that knowledge and changed it so they could control human nature (Boulevard 146). They give the people a drug called soma (Christianity without tears). They use this to keep people happy and easy to control. This gives them an escape from the real world and so that they never see how bad off the world is. It has all the advantages of alcohol but without the defects (Congdon 92).
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited. New York, New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
“Albert Camus is one of the most likeable and approachable of the mid-twentieth-century French authors” (Brosman 10).This is quite a compliment for Camus, but most would agree. In France, Albert is known for his many books, two which have made the French best-sellers list. His works are often read and studied in French secondary-school class rooms, introducing a countless number of students to his pieces each year. Camus also holds the high honor of receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957 (Boak 346). His wide popularity has made his name known in North America as well. Just what is Albert Camus so popular for one might ask? The answer would be his approach to his work— the underlying beliefs of Existentialism or the theory of the absurd that characterizes his pieces (Wyatt 1).1 All of Camus’ works incorporate this strong sense of the individual having freedom of choice, and thus complete control over his own outcome. He acknowledges no help or control from higher powers, just simply focuses on the individual; consequently, creating a sense of alienation. Albert Camus’ attraction to and his use of Existential beliefs began from his own life circumstances.
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the author depicts a collective society in which everyone has the same values and beliefs. From a young age, the people in the World State’s civilization are conditioned to believe in their motto of “Community, Identity, Stability.” Through hypnopaedia, the citizens of the World State learn their morals, values, and beliefs, which stay with them as they age. However, like any society, there are outsiders who alienate themselves from the rest of the population because they have different values and beliefs. Unfortunately, being an outsider in the World State is not ideal, and therefore there are consequences as a result. One such outsider is John. Brought from the Savage Reservation, John is lead to conform to the beliefs of the World State, thus losing his individuality, which ultimately leads him to commit suicide. Through John and the World State populace as an example, Huxley uses his novel to emphasize his disapproval of conformity over individuality.
Self proclaimed philosopher, english writer, and novelist Aldous Huxley wrote the book Brave New World. One of the issues in the novel is how uniform the society is. There is no diversity in the in Brave New World. Huxley carefully examined on why society is the way it is. He wants the audience to understand the philosophy of a unique society different from a normal society.
“There is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon, returning whence they find themselves on the other side of the crevice, safe on the solid ground of daily labour and distraction, scampering from feely to feely, from girl to pneumatic girl, from Electromagnetic Golf course to …"
Great to have here with us Aldous, sorry we don’t have a great deal of time so we’ll get strait into it. Your Novel Brave New World, Could you briefly tell us about your book and the role of creation within the text.
In the novel "Brave New World" civilized society lives in a world of science and technology. Major changes have occurred during the future; Utopia now revolves a religion of drugs and sex. God and the cross have been replaced by Ford and the symbol T, the founder of the age of machines. Instead of Sunday church, members now attend solidarity services where morals and tradition are not learned, but rather faith is taught in the belief of hallucinations produced by a substance known as "soma." Soma has effectively replaced the belief in a higher being by its elimination of problems and stress resulting in a lack of imagination , creativity, or "soul." Yet religion can still be found in today's society because of man's continuing need for answers to questions that cannot be solved by science or technology.
During the past few weeks my class and I have been reading your book, “ Brave New World”. While reading your book I have discovered a few captivating issues. These issues include the destruction of the family, the use of drugs, and polygamy (obligatory sex). These issues are interesting because of their implications in life today, and the frequent times they are shown in the book. The ways they are used to control people and make their life easier, and the fact that our world seems to be falling into the same state.
In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley deftly creates a society that is indeed quite stable. Although they are being mentally manipulated, the members of this world are content with their lives, and the presence of serious conflict is minimal, if not nonexistent. For the most part, the members of this society have complete respect and trust in their superiors, and those who don’t are dealt with in a peaceful manner as to keep both society and the heretic happy. Maintained by cultural values, mental conditioning, and segregation, the idea of social stability as demonstrated in Brave New World is, in my opinion, both insightful and intriguing.
In 1932, Aldous Huxley wrote a thrilling dystopia titled Brave New World. Centered on a man struggling in a world where emotions have been forsaken for peace and stability of the entire community, the novel has a shock factor that is quite electric. Though it was popular in the 1950’s with college students because of its portrayal of sex, the true merit of Huxley’s work can be found in its predictions for the future. The practices in the novel are alarming similar to many aspects of today’s society. The approval of drug use to induce happiness, the constant effort to make life better through technology and the everlasting trust in the government are all characteristics shared by our society and that found in Brave New World.
Clareson, Thomas D. "The Classic: Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World'." Extrapolation 3.1 (Dec. 1961): 33-40. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1973. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 May. 2011.
The 20th Century and late 19th Century were periods of great turbulence. Aldous Huxley’s writing of Brave New World, a fictional story about a dystopian society managed by drugs, conditioning, and suppression, was greatly influenced by these turmoils and movements. Occurrences such as World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the second Scientific Revolution, the Great Depression, Modernism, the Industrial Revolution, Henry Ford, and many others had a significant impact upon Huxley’s thoughts, expressed through Brave New World.
There were quite a few changes made from Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World to turn it into a “made for TV” movie. The first major change most people noticed was Bernard Marx’s attitude. In the book he was very shy and timid toward the opposite sex, he was also very cynical about their utopian lifestyle. In the movie Bernard was a regular Casanova. He had no shyness towards anyone. A second major deviation the movie made form the book was when Bernard exposed the existing director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, Bernard himself was moved up to this position. In the book the author doesn’t even mention who takes over the position. The biggest change between the two was Lenina, Bernard’s girlfriend becomes pregnant and has the baby. The screenwriters must have made this up because the author doesn’t even mention it. The differences between the book and the movie both helped it and hurt it.
"Brave New World by Aldous Huxley : Barron's Notes." Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:
The “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley is one of his most famous novels. The author created a complex novel by developing a story focusing on a Utopian and Dystopian society. The novel was written 83 years ago and people are still amazed by the content of the book. The “Brave New World” takes the reader into a world of fantasy and fiction. In “Brave New World” Huxley describes a very different society.