Have you ever thought about a world that allows you to enjoy pure entertainment? A world that allows you to endure no pain? A world with no struggle, anxiety, or nuisance? In the Brave New World that Aldous Huxley creates, you will find the “perfect” society that fits this description. The author lays its scene in the year 2540 of the new London where every one trust not in god but Henry Ford. The government in this society devotes its energy creating social stability, high efficiency and joy to its members. Although the society advocates a brutal caste system that categorizes and labels all members from alpha to epsilon, you can be sure that everyone here loves what they are doing! This should be credited to the conditioning they undergo. Conditioning refers to the process of programming human genes which makes them capable of and content with what they are predestined to do. In other words, each human is created in a test tube and each cast has a predetermined job and working environment; this is called being bokanovskified. If you are a predestined servant, no worries, the scientists will rig your genes and add a little alcohol to your test tube to adequately deprive part of your thinking ability. In addition, you will be conditioned through a series of questionable practices (like shocking you when you are inclined to enjoy a flower or a book), so you unaware of your lower social caste. Not wot worry, however! It is not unethical if the gene therapy and social conditioning allow you same amount of happiness as every other person regardless of caste! Even if you do start to feel unhappy, a soma for you! Soma is a drug that will take you on a hallucinogenic vacation to restore your worry-free joy and pure contentment in this world. After work, feel free to enjoy the night, for you will have no stress of family obligations! Family has been eradicated for the efficiency and cleanliness of society. You can enjoy Obstacle Golf, virtual reality films (called the “feelies”), and a night of unrestrained lust without the fear of STD or accidental pregnancy! For the stability of our utopia, monogamy and parenthood are prohibited, for these outdated ideals are the most disgusting and they uncertainty, stress, vulnerability, and disease. To further ensure the stability of this society, every day is fully scheduled for everyone, leaving no time for you to be alone with your thoughts. The revered leaders don’t want you overthinking the state of society or your position in it—that might put you in a bad mood or cause revolt—God forbid (or should we say “Ford forbid”—As Henry Ford the great creator of the Model T is the deity in this world)! Although this society is criticized as a disconcerting dystopia by its readers (as intended by the satirist, Huxley) this society is deemed utopia by the characters who live in it. For example, if everybody feels joy, what is the point of critical thinking or learning at all? Mind nourishment may not seem that important when every physical need and emotional desire are satisfied. Right?

An arguable dystopia is much more thought provoking than a dystopia which is disgusting and horrifying in every aspect. In comparison to 1984 by George Orwell, Huxley constructs the world that seemingly has value. Huxley shows extensive comprehension and analysis of social structure, which enables him to construct a society that completely opposes our current society but still make sense and could be quite desirable to some. 1984 simply depicts a world in which dictators simply monitor and restrict their citizens of any freedom, which cannot be seen as attractive no matter how you look at it. But Brave New World is different. When one really digs into the overt criticism of this society, he finds that the society might actually be great, since nobody should have reason to complain about it.

The two major characters’ fates are the ingenuity and the essential of the novel. Bernard, born an alpha with the ability to think freely, is an alien to the society because of his weird habits. He doesn’t like to play obstacle golf, and constantly behaves differently from others, not enjoying his predestination. For example, when Lenina, a beta who seems quite happy and has no reason to question her conditioning, asks him out, he agrees and decides to took her to the sea. He resists his primitive conditioning of embracing only sexual desires and lust by trying to taste the passion of love. Because of his unconventional behavior, people begin spreading rumors about Bernard, suspecting that perhaps alcohol was added to his test tube. The irony is that Barnard’s perceived craziness and anti-societal thoughts are considered normal in reader’s real world society, which implies that Brave New World is satirizing unethical and immoral values of Bernard’s world. Since Bernard is often alone, mostly self-imposed, he is endowed him with more time than others to ponder his lonely existence while others are intoxicated with pleasure of the flesh, which makes him diverge from the crowd of shallow minded automatons. However, his spark of passion for true love is quickly extinguished by Lenina and her conditioned ways. Impulsive desire for the flesh momentarily suppresses his more logical and intellectual thoughts, and Bernard degenerates into an animal of pleasure, yielding to Lenina’s perfect flesh. This turn highlights the corruption of the society, representing the  intolerance of thoughtful and intelligent people. When emotions and thinking ability are discarded, humanity has surely degenerated to the slave of entertainment.

On the contrary, John the “savage” walks on a different path. He was a Aborigines of the Savage Land and the son of a woman who is abandoned by his husband at this place. When Bernard and Lenina are taking a vacation at the Savage Land in New Mexico, Benard decides to bring them to New London to raise his popularity and social status. He experienced very similar circumstances as Bernard. However, thanks to his “primitive, barbarous and uncultivated lifestyle” (according to the world of test-tube babies and conditioning), he has chances to read Shakespeare, he gets chances to serve the god of love and death, instead of living only in the world of efficiency and stability. Because of his different experiences, he can better understand love, death, and existence. When Lenina simply asks for the erotic pleasure with him, John bursts out with rage. He rebukes Lenina as he rebukes the society. He reveals nothing but contempt for this ribald society that promotes nothing but primitive impulses and unadulterated pleasures. After witnessing his mother’s death and the deltas laughing at his mother’s death, he loses all hope of surviving in this society and banishes himself into the woods. Doing so, John refuses to use anything from the society and decides to regress to the primitive and self-sufficient lifestyle. But the curious and amoral society refuses leave him alone. People continue to intrude on his land and his privacy, visiting him like an animal in the zoo. His noble redemption seems to be a pathetic and ridiculous joke to the visitors. After realizing there is no escape from this horrifying life, John hangs himself, and rids himself from a society that finally eats him alive.

Huxulry also left an Easter egg in the name of the book: "Brave New World" is an allusion to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which was originally referring to a perfect utopia. Huxley, hereby, sarcastically names this novel “Brave New World” to provoke the discussion: Is it really a perfect world? Can physical pleasure truly replace the nourishment of the mind? Through constructing this controversial dystopia, Huxley probes the primitive desire of humanity and satirizes how mental toughness yields to sensual pleasures entertainment. This world may seem to be perfect, but Huxley warns us of a dehumanizing and hollow future if we drown ourselves into limitless entertainment and stop using our brain to ponder our existence, taste the bitterness of our lives to improve, and expand our spiritual world to strengthen our mind.