Book Review

     Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a novel in which the government controls its civilians. In this society people’s futures are decided for them. While they are still embryos in a bottle, they are conditioned to like what they are going to do. Some embryos are put through the ‘Bokanovsky's Process’, which continuously divides one egg until there are 96 identical eggs. This process uses radiation, which cause some of the eggs to die. Some eggs are also poisoned with alcohol until near death. Once the embryos are a little older, and have been predestined, they are conditioned according to their future job. For instance, if they are going to be working in a tropical mine, they will be conditioned to hate the cold.
     From the time they are newborns, until they are adults, they are conditioned to be successful in society according to their caste. Everyone is put into a category. The people in the highest cultural level are Alphas, and then Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons are the bottom. Alphas are strong, tall, smart, and extremely attractive. Epsilons are short, stupid, and most of them are deformed.
     As they get older, another way the citizens are controlled is with soma. Soma is a pill that makes people happy. People are supposed to take the drug whenever something goes wrong and they start to feel depressed.
     As the story progresses we meet two characters that are very different. The first is Bernard, an Alpha, who is abnormally short and hates soma. He refuses to take it. He would rather be unhappy than have a false bliss.
     Another character that is encountered is Lenina. Lenina loves soma. She takes soma all the time. In our society she would be considered an addict, but in their society, it is completely normal. 

      There is one similarity between these characters; they like each other. They go on an awkward date, which ends in them having sex, which is also normal for the society. They move past the gawkiness and decide to go to the Savage Reservation together.
      Once they are there, they meet a man named John. John's mother is from the outside world, but he was born in the reservation. Bernard and Lenina meet his mother, Linda. Linda came to the reservation 20 years ago and was accidentally left at the Reservation. Since Linda has been in the reservation she has gotten old, fat and ugly. Bernard finds this all every interesting and calls the World Controller. Bernard and Lenina bring John and Linda back to the New World with them.
     Once they are brought to the New World, Bernard takes Linda and John to see the Director, John’s father.  Linda throws herself at him but he doesn’t remember or doesn’t allow himself to remember who she is. John comes in, drops to his knees, and yells, “My Father!” The Director ends up quitting his job.
     Bernard is put in charge of John, and shows him around the city. John was very excited to see the new world because his mother had told him wonderful things. He begins to hate the New World very quickly.
     So, ever since John laid eyes on Lenina, he has liked her. Lenina also starts to develop feelings for John. In one part of the novel, Lenina goes to see John to confess her feeling for him. She takes off all her clothes and throws herself at him. He pushes her away and threatens to kill her if she doesn’t go away. Lenina runs and hides in the bathroom and John receives a phone call and rushes out of the apartment.
      The call is from the Hospital for the Dying. Linda was taken there to die. She was so old, fat and ugly that the society wanted nothing to do with her. So, when Linda was brought back to the New World she was put on a twenty-four hour soma intake. The soma was slowly taking away her lung capacity until she could no longer breathe and ended up dying right in front of John.
      John is so upset that when he sees a group of Deltas getting their soma rations, he flips out. He starts quoting Shakespeare and lecturing them about how soma is not only poisoning their bodies, but their souls as well. When the Deltas look at him puzzled, he begins throwing their soma pills out the window.
     Then, John, Bernard and their friend, Helmholtz, get in trouble with the law and are going to be exiled to an island. John has to go to a different island than Bernard and Helmholtz. So, John chooses to live in a lighthouse.
      John needs to feel like he is worthy of something. This is because of his upbringing and having the only book he has ever read be The Complete Works of Shakespeare. He was raised in the Savage reservation, where when a man wanted to marry a woman he had to prove himself commendable.
     To prove that he is worthy; the first night John is in the lighthouse he stretches out his arms in a mock crucifixion style.  After doing that all night, he is still unsatisfied, but he tries to get over it and goes to start a garden. He also decides that he needs bows and arrows. He falls down a tree and starts carving out a six-foot bow and some arrows. He realizes that he is actually having a good time and immediately starts thinking about his dead mother.
      John continues the masochistic routine of brutalizing himself on a daily basis. One afternoon, John starts to think about a naked LeninaLenina and starts whipping himself. A reporter catches this on film and makes a movie out of it. People from all over London, flock to see John whip himself like an animal. John grabs his whip and starts advancing at people as if he were going to beat them. Lenina shows up and sends John over the edge. He runs at her and whips her. The crowd loves the ‘show’, and starts imitating John’s actions and chanting ‘Orgy-Porgy’.
      After he regains consciousness from the soma-induced orgy, John remembers everything. Some reporters go to see him that afternoon and find him hanging from the rafters of the lighthouse.
      Brave New World is not the traditional book you would read in high school. While most books depict a world where the protagonist lives happily ever after; Brave New World does just the opposite. Although the identity of the protagonist is debatable, neither John nor Bernard has a happy ending.
      Bernard’s character is fairly wishy-washy. He has a ‘woe-is-me’ attitude. He feels that because he is shorter than all the other Alphas, people don’t respect him. There is an instance in the book, when he has to yell at the Gammas three times to bring his helicopter out of the garage. Bernard is a whiny, self-absorbed person. He is definitely not my favorite character. 
      I would recommend this book to a friend. It is a very interesting book. It is well written and makes you wonder if Huxley was making a prediction of what our society will be like in another 100 or so years.