Brave New World.
Chapters 1-8
The beginning of the novel opens in 632 AF (After Ford)[Just for clarification purposes this is Henry Ford as in Ford T model he is quoted several times in the novel. And the irony is that science is controlled in this time but Ford was a pioneer for the science of automobiles] a futuristic London were a group of boys are being lead around the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Centre by the director. The irony here is that the place is growing and raising genetically engineered embryos, human embryos. You learn all about the process in which the different classes of the society are conditioned even from before birth. The society it's self is broken into five castes; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. Certain classes are set to undergo a type of procedure known as Bokanovsky Process which entails shocking an embryo so that is makes 96 identical human beings. These three classes make up the factory workers and less thans in the society. From "birth" the children are set to listen to tapes that are basically a form of propaganda to make them content in their place in the society. We are introduced to a not totally significant character but one who appears frequently, Lenina who talks to the group of boys about the vaccines for sleeping and typhoid sickness.
Children of lower castes are conditioned to hate books and nature as a way to keep them from wanting to read and nature is simply so they do not waste society’s transportation getting there.
*This is when it gets a little inappropriate by our class room standards.
Next the touring boys are taken to an elementary sex lesson.(Keep in mind the word mother and father have almost become pornography to them. It’s never said since no member of the society has either) The director mentions stuff about sexual repression and how it had effect society prior to life for them now. A boy is stated to be hiding in bushes appearing to be embarrassed by the sexual nature of the games the naked children are commencing in. He is rushed off by a nurse to a psychologist for evaluation.
Next we are introduced to two main charters or the novel Bernard Marx, who is unconventional in his society even for an alpha plus and Mustapha Mond who is one of the world leaders.
We then jump to a shower scene between Lenina and a girl named Fanny. Fanny has started taking a hormonal treatment that mimic pregnancy (since obviously women aren't having children any more but still provided with the hormone side of pregnancy) Fanny begins to make fun of her for seeing one man for four month, which by the way is outrageous in this society.Lenina goes onto say that Bernard Marx has invited her to vacation at a savage reservation(where non conformed members of the world live. They still partake in religion and monogamy.) Lenina decides to take Bernard up on his offer. Bernard feels embarrassed after Lenina announces in front a large group of his coworkers that she will take him up on his offer. Bernard than visits his friend, Helmholtz Watson, a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering. Helmholtz works in propaganda. Bernard gets paranoid talking to his friend believing believe are eavesdropping at the door.
After a game of obstacle golf Lennia and her date have coffee with soma(which is like Prozac on crack and can cause disillusion and hallucinations) in it. They then proceed to Abbey Cabberte and hear a song that goes,
"Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun,
Kiss the girls and make them One.
Boys at one with girls at peace;
Orgy-porgy gives release."
Obiously not our societies brand of normal.
Bernard while Lennia is on her date attends his weekly Solidarity Service at the Fordson Community Singery. Which is in all honestly a bizarre sexual ritual.
Bernard later that week goes to the director to get the permits necessary to go to the Reservation. the director informs him that he is being carefully monitored and if his actions keep heading in the direction they are he will be banished to Iceland. However before this he tells of a story about his trip to the reservation in which he lost a girl. In this moment of weakness he reveals that this has troubled him greatly over the year, a forbidden group of feelings.
After they depart for the reservation Bernard remembers he left the scent on in his apartment, potentinally costing him a boat load. After rushing the Warden through a long speech he phone Helmholtz, where he discovers that Mond is attempting to carry out his plan of banishing him. After much resistes he agrees to take a soma.
At the reservation Lenina watches a community celebration, in which a boy is beaten till the point of collapse with a whip. This bothers Lenina. One savage named John surprises both characters by speaking perfect English. He explains how is mother was from the other place. Bernard, after meeting Linda makes the connection that she is the girl from the director’s story. Bernard then realizes that he could you this to exploit the director and save himself from exile. John has read the complete works of Shakespeare enough times to have memorized a fair amount of passages. John is over thrilled with Bernard's idea that he should return to England with him. The chapter closes with John quoting a line from The Tempest
"O brave new world that has such people in it." Bernard urges him not to judge before he has seen it.
Obviously this book doesn't have the upfront humor that a lot of the novel i imagine my classmates are reading however this is a satire. The humor can be found in the over sexuality of the characters. I guess i should of prerequisite this by telling you this book was published in 1932 making quite a stir upon release. This book much like 1984 is suppose to resemble what the characters perceive to be a utopia which in all actuality is a dystopian society. Meaning that although all seems well on the surface there is actually quite a dysfunction taking place. It's sarcasm at its best. The idea that our society would progress to a state that is souly revolved around conditioned happiness and that it has made individuals in the society miserable, is ironic. Mainly because in creating this society they have almost, not quite, created their own counter culture within. But as we can see with the idea that Bernard could potentially be exiled this isn't the first time a great mind had challenged the overall happiness of a society. Furthermore the fact that the classes have pretty much, even though futuristic setting has reverted back to a fixed caste system much like the middle ages. This novel is compelling in it's portly of the human psyche. I'm intrigued to see how the story will progress.
