brave new world

"Brave New World is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, inhabited by genetically modified citizens and an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist."

i'm a big fan of speculative dystopian, but i think that brave new world takes the cake. i originally read brave new world in high school, but didn't have many thoughts on the book at the time. fortunately, i decided to really give huxley a fair shot, outside of an academic setting, and found myself pleasantly surprised. 

this book can be difficult to grasp on one's first read, high school me included. there's a lot of scientific jargon that gets thrown into the beginning that may take you a few rereads in order to fully grasp and shakespeare passages that can be hard to understand at one's initial glance, but trust me when i say that it's worth it. 

the society depicted in brave new world, the world state, is uncomfortable to read. it's uncanny. there are babies made from tubes, children who are openly encouraged to explore their sexuality, drugs that can turn a frown upside down in seconds, and the concept of monogamy is considered taboo. everyone belongs to everyone. there is no such thing as possession as in mine or yours or theirs. 

while on the surface it appears that the world state contrasts our society in every way, shape, and form, the deeper one thinks, the less true that becomes. slowly, the facets of huxley's fictional world start to resemble our own. the world state is a society that hyperbolizes mass consumption and excessive consumerism. think about the size of fast food sodas or extra large movie theatre popcorns in modern america. except in the world state there is unlimited refills with unrestricted access. despite brave new world appearing other-worldly to readers, its foundations are rooted in hedonistic ideologies that value instant gratification through overconsumption and materialism.

“But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”