Guilt free sex, anyone? (Brave New World - Aldous Huxley)

Member Name: Kool_Beans_1

Product:	Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Date:	02/07/01 (904 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Thought provoking, Good Read

Disadvantages: May have to read it a couple times to get everything

Everyone has some vision of the world in the future. Some people imagine a world that is much like the one we live in today; some picture large space crafts and meetings with life from other planets; some envision a world controlled by machines who use humans as a source of energy; and others see the world controlled by a few very powerful groups of people. For Aldous Huxely, however, the world of the future is one of genetically designed humans, class placement based on predetermined genetics, emotional freedom, and a somewhat oblivious society of people.

Though very futuristic, Brave New World is far from the typical science-fiction view of the future. Set in a world where people still consider themselves alone in the universe, this novel addresses the human race’s biggest obstacle for the future: the fact that the human race is the human race.

In Aldous Huxely’s brave new world several miracle drugs have changed the way society conducts daily activities. Soma, for instance allows people to live with out the burden of emotions such as: guilt, pain, love, depression, and anger. Sex becomes no longer associated with love with the help of drugs that make pregnancy a thing of the past. Promiscuousness is not shunned but rather encouraged. The death of another human is no longer mourned but simply ignored. Manual labor tasks are performed by a group of genetically engineered humans produced specially for such tasks. Peoples lives revolve around keeping themselves contented in every aspect. This includes several sexually explicit activeties such as movies the viewer can feel. All of these developments in this society have allowed for a few elite people to maintain control.

The plot of the novel revolves around a young man taken from a society a bit more primitive than today’s society and thrown into the workings of Huxely’s world. The reader follows this man through his constant struggle to understand why pe
ople would want to live in such a manner. He demands the right to mourn for death, be unhappy, and to simply be in complete control of his thoughts and feelings.

Though one of Huxely’s easier novels to read, you shouldn’t expect to be able to read this novel in one sitting and completely understand it. Huxley put a lot of thought into the creation of this novel. In order to get the full affect of the novel, I suggest reading it a couple of times through.

This is a very typical Huxely novel. Island (one of Huxely's other popular novels), for instance also includes the use of a mircle drug. Huxely himself was a raging Darwinist and drug addict. He wrote a number of pieces on his experiences with drugs. His essay named The Doors of Perseption became the inspiration for Jim Morrison to name his band The Doors. All of Huxely's writtings are very thorough and thought provoking.

Brave New World is the perfect novel for anyone who enjoys reading a thought provoking novel. This is also the perfect read for someone who concerned about the future of the world. Huxley paints a very vivid picture of a possible future world. If you haven’t thought about how society today can shape the progress of the future, you will after reading this novel.

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