Significance of the Plot within Brave New World

An author must put serious thought and consideration into the plot of their story; it is the very basis of their text and shapes what the reader perceives of, and gets from, the story. The plot must be arranged not only to provide the frame of the story, but also to make it flow and transition effectively, creating a figurative storyline within the mind of the audience. In order to achieve this, there are a variety of common plot templates that authors may choose to follow. Aldous Huxley takes a unique approach to his plot in Brave New World, intermixing different plot types, most notably the progressive and episodic plot, to enhance his novel and make it as effective as possible. Huxley utilizes these plot types to provide insight into his characters, allowing the reader to view them in different situations, while managing to connect all of the different occurrences together to form a clear and purposeful structure to his novel.

An episodic plot is made of a series of incidents that may not appear to be directly connected, save for a common factor that may unite them all. This factor is usually a character, or a theme, and Huxley uses both to relate his occurrences to one another. Throughout his story, he provides separate episodes in the life of Lenina, Bernard, and John. These characters are the uniting factors, because they interact with each other and are part of each others life later within the novel. Both John and Bernard have feelings for Lenina and vice versa. Their lives are intertwined, but Huxley also explores the separate part of each character’s life. This form of plot within the novel is similar to a parallel plot structure, with each character’s plot being shown alternately, but it is more episodic due to the fa...

... middle of paper ...

...iduals deemed normal in the “brave new world”.

When Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World, he created an intriguing and effective novel, designed to captivate the audience and provide them with a story that is easy to digest, even though it is complex. He accomplishes this through a combination of careful plot structure and the use of subplots. His subplot provides a foil, useful for contrasting the protagonist of the story, and also gives the reader a wider view of the setting of the story. Huxley takes an unconventional but powerful approach to his plot structure; organizing an episodic plot structure into a plot that can also be considered progressive. This increases his ability to develop his characters while maintaining a series of events that draws the reader in and keeps the story transitioning nicely, and creates a story that is sure to please all audiences.