Periods Of Modernism In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

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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.
Most importantly, Henry Ford and his assembly line and the Industrial Revolution were ubiquitous throughout the novel. Huxley extolled Ford’s pioneering industrial techniques and elevated him to the status of a god. Geoff Andrews writes, “In Brave New World he gave Fordism a status beyond the "philosophy of industrialism": that of a new religion in its ability to answer all social questions.” An example from the novel that demonstrates this is, “’Speak up,’ says the D.H.C. ‘don’t keep his Fordship waiting.’” One can see the status that Henry Ford carries with the fictional society. Additionally, because of the Industrial Revolutions’ influence on Huxley, the story depicts a society in which humans are artificially made and “assembled” within a factory. In the introduction, Huxley describes the hatchery, “’And this,’ said the Director opening the door, ‘is the Fertilizing Room.’” With the account of the hatchery, the author furthermore elaborates on human production methods, “The procession advanced; one by one the eggs were transferred from their test-tubes to the larger containers.” One critic noted, “The bizarre case of a product supervising a production line.” It is clearly shown from these descriptions that b...

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...ave even their appetites controlled then. Anything for a quiet life.’” The “Nine Year’s War” is most likely an idea based off of the Great War. The setting clearly features opposite factors of the inclusive World War I.
The critical reception of Brave New World was largely chilly (Caitrin Nicol.) Although Brave New World was not initially a success, not everyone dismissed Huxley’s dystopia. Joseph Needham, a Cambridge Biochemist and embryologist wrote, “Only biologists and philosophers will really appreciate the full force of Mr. Huxley’s remarkable book.” But, many people did not see the connection Brave New World had with the real world. Caitrin Nicol quotes, “An unholy alliance of industrial capitalist, fascist, communist, psychoanalytic, and pseudo-scientific ideologies…“ The novel, however, was similar to a warning of what Huxley saw society approaching to.

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