Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Book Summary and Review) - Minute Book Report

This is a quick summary of Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley and why I think this book and this train track are similar. This is a story about a world where people
are born in test tubes with their lives being predestined into social classes. There are
no such things as mothers, fathers, children, and other social relationships, and all of
the essential human needs are provided for through mandatory or fabricated social experiences. The highest social class, Alphas, are the
most intelligent and enjoy more of life, while the lower classes, which are genetically stunted
in a lab, perform the society's lesser tasks.

Each generation of children is created in
batches through cloning and suggestive conditioning to further secure their future social status. Bernard, a government psychologist in London,
is an Alpha, but he's physically small and doesn't like the artificial social aspects
of the society, such as free sex and soma, a drug that makes people feel drunkenly good. As a psychologist, Bernard is sent to New
Mexico to study a "savage" reservation, a place where the "old" society still exists.
He brings along Lenina, a young and beautiful woman, and the two of them enter the reservation.
There, Bernard discovers Linda, a woman who grew up in London, but was abandoned in the
reservation several years earlier. It is also discovered that Linda had a son, John.

This is problematic because the father is
Bernard's boss, the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, and procreation through
natural means is something that Bernard's society doesn't recognize. Despite that, Bernard
decides to bring back Linda and John to London. Bernard, who is normally quiet, becomes outgoing,
as his fame for bringing back John, "The Savage", grows. However, after John fails to show up
to a social gathering, his social status returns to one of an outcast.

After the death of his mother, John realizes
that something is wrong with the society. He draws the attention of the Controller,
the regional leader of Western Europe, and John and the Controller talk. The Controller explains how and why things
are the way they are. That the coexistence of truth and happiness is a balancing act
and that they have chosen a life of extreme happiness with very little truth.

Bernard is sent away to an island with other
free thinking people like himself and John decides to move away into the countryside
to live on his own. In the end, John hangs himself out of shame
after being made a spectacle. As always, a lot can be said about this story,
but what draws my interest and attention is the idea of predisposing individuals for a
certain path before they are even born, like placing them on a train track. In the story,
we learn that the batches of lower level individuals learn early what is comfortable to them so
when they grow up and have to do menial tasks, they aren't upset since they have been conditioned
to think that what they are doing is good.

In other words, a social ceiling has been
created for them. And what's interesting is that the same thing
could be happening today. For example, if an individual is brought up in a high class
social network, that individual is set on a track to continue to be in that high social
network. Likewise, an individual who is brought up in a poor social network is also predisposed
to remain in that network.

Of course, these tracks aren't binding and there is always
the possibility for varied deviations, but for the most part, environment heavily influences
the type of person someone becomes and what choices they will make. What's exciting to see are individuals, through
their own talents or luck, who change their social circumstances and assimilate themselves
into different social networks. In essence, they are changing the direction of their tracks
and ending up in new destinations. After hearing my comparison, what item do
you associate with this book? Let me know by leaving a comment.

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