Literature is both shaped by our culture and shapes it. Because of this it is an effective representation of the culture of a time. One can tell how people were affected by the events of the times by how it comes through in their writing. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a prime example of this. The work was targeted at people in a post WWI world. This is a time between WWI and WWII where the world is still shocked by how rapidly the science of war had advanced. People also continue to be appalled with the mass death of a World War caused by such technology and therefore yearn for a more stable world. Because of this yearning, they attempt to create a more stable environment for themselves. Most people had lost faith in the institutions they came to know because those institutions caused the War. Therefore the League of Nations was founded in 1919 only 13 years before “Brave New World” was published in 1932.
Like Brave New World the themes in literature at the time were dark; they were usually lonely. The time was about people fighting for something against a world that has lost its absolute values. There is no happy ending through good fortune or a hero or heroine coming to the rescue; one is what one makes of one’s self. Another reoccurring theme is an aversion to war. That stems from some of the historical aspects of the time.
Ethics in the modern period were very situational and there was no absolute set of moral standards that held true in every situation. The moral expectation is different at times of war then at times of peace. Massive loss of life in WWI in Britain caused a theme of destruction through technology to appear in many works of the time.
All of these themes are present in Aldous Huxley'...
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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.
Firchow, Peter Edgerly. "The End of Utopia: A Study of Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World”." The End of Utopia: A Study of Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World,'. Bucknell University Press, 1984. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. James P. Draper and Jennifer Allison Brostrom. Vol. 79. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 May. 2011.
BNW Literary Lens Essay- Marxist Since the primitive civilizations of Mesopotamia and the classical kingdoms of Greece and Rome, people have always been divided. Up to the status quo, society has naturally categorized people into various ranks and statuses. With the Marxist literary lens, readers can explore this social phenomenon by analyzing depictions of class structure in literature. In Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, readers are introduced to a dystopian society with a distinctive caste system.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
McMichael, Charles T., "Aldous Huxley's 'Island': The Final Vision," in Studies in the Literary Imagination. Vol. 1, No. 2, April, 1968.
Zamyatin's We, George Orwell's 1984, and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World." Extrapolation 48.2 (2007): 314-39. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
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.
...production, and Shakespearian writing and Biblical/religious texts, he successfully creates meaning and pushes his agenda of the fact that total government control is devastating, and the inner human drive to be an individual can never be suppressed, which attacks the rising Socialist and Fascist societies of the time. This makes the novel Brave New World more than just a great novel to read. It makes it a socio-political masterpiece that makes people value their own human rights.
Woodcock, George. "Brave New World: Overview." Reference Guide to English Literature. Ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Mar. 2011.
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.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is written with the idea of a totalitarian society that has complete social stability. Huxley demonstrates how a stable world deprives a person of their individuality, something that was also lost in Anthem by Ayn Rand. Brave New World exemplifies the great sacrifice needed to achieve such a stable world. This novel envisions a world where the government has complete control over people in its mission for social stability and conformity. The outcome of this is that the government has created a society with no love, freedom, creativity, and the human desire for happiness.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World portrays a society in which science has clearly taken over. This was an idea of what the future could hold for humankind. Is it true that Huxley’s prediction may be correct? Although there are many examples of Huxley’s theories in our society, there is reason to believe that his predictions will not hold true for the future of society.
"Brave New World by Aldous Huxley : Barron's Notes." Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:
Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. “The Norton Introduction to Literature.” New York: W.W Norton &, 2014. Print.
Although the end of World War II brought immense joy to the world, it was a turning point for American literature. Though the war was over, it was like starting over for America as it donned a new post war era. Authors and poets used their stories and characters to portray the grim era of that time and many of them reflected a guilt and disillusionment in the American dream. Though various writers had their own ideas of what the new post war America would shape out to be, not all had positive outlooks. It was a time of change as the United States was beginning its foray to the forefront of being the new cultural center and world power. Not only did a new generation come out of the war, but its ethnic, regional, and social character was
The time period after the war lead to a new world of literature. Preceding World War I, people viewed war as courageous and patriotic. The realities of World War I led the formally traditional
McConnell, Frank. The Modern Novel in America, Regnery, revised edition,1963, pg. 814. Rpt. In World Literature Criticism.