Since last week you guys seemed to enjoy the book review over the Great Gatsby, I thought I'd do another one just to see how it goes. So, without further ado, here's a review over one of the books I read this summer from a recommendation by my English teacher--Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
The setting of Brave New World is pretty easy to understand once you get into the story a bit--basically, mankind has progressed scientifically to the point where we have scientific solutions to all our problems, including the consequences of our actions, a predicament which naturally leads to the society that you see in Brave New World--a society of lustful, drug-dependent automatons in a caste society who are all remarkably content with their lifestyle. The story is basically about a man who becomes disillusioned with "civilization" and goes to an Indian reservation in America, where he finds the forbidden half-breed son of his boss living a squalid life of self-inflicted, pious pain. He brings the half-breed, who is known to everyone else as Mr. Savage, which is quite possibly the coolest name ever, to "civilization", whereupon my narrative ends, and if you want to know anything else about the actual plot of the book, you'll have to (merciful heavens, no!) read the book yourself.
Hereupon begins my opinions about the book; feel free to voice your own through any medium you wish, bearing in mind, of course, that this is, for the most part, subjective stuff.
According to the standard Evolutionist school of thought, all creatures are constantly evolving to become better beings, a principle which states, in fact, the entire point of evolution. That's why, according to the history of an evolutionist, fish grew legs--because they would benefit from it. The point of Brave New World is that, eventually, humans will learn enough science to solve all of our problems and create a sort of terrestrial Paradise. The only problem is that, as illustrated in Huxley's novel, when we get to that point, we lose what makes us human.
You see, when we are faced with the choice to do something good or to do something bad (or, in most cases, to not do something bad, which is the good choice), we go through a mostly-unconscious thought process. Basically, our human brain is having a staring match with our conscience. The conscience says, "You shouldn't do this because A) It will cause bad things to happen to you later on, B) God says not to, and C) In the long run, it will improve your relationship with the people to not care about if you don't do it; and then your brain says, "Want want want want want want want," which, of course, is not a reason. The problem is, once one get to where things are in Brave New World, all of a sudden things are on a completely different playing field.
Now when one are faced with a decision, the conscience goes to the three big reasons one shouldn't do it. But the brain goes, "A) No it won't, because science fixed those problems, B) Humans have solved all problems, therefore we have killed God, who is, to an atheist, basically a metaphysical policeman, and C) Solved it with genetic engineering and brainwashing, man." To which the conscience replies, "Well, you really shouldn't," to which the brain replies, "But I want to," at which point the conscience shrugs its shoulders and buys both of them their drinks. To summarize, the atheistic viewpoint states that the only thing stopping you from doing what you want is your common sense, which looks into the future and figures out what the consequences are for your actions. Thus, if and when science can negate those consequences, the possibilities are, quite literally, limitless.
For those of you who are bored, confused, or are just here to see something funny, here's Homer Simpson tripping over and over again.
But that's not the point of Brave New World, sadly.
The point of Brave New World is actually similar to that. The main focus of the book, it would seem, is that by "evolving" ourselves to the point where we no longer need to strive to live, we actually become more base creatures. Our thought process goes completely down the drain, we lose contact with emotions, and we basically become self-serving animals. We become animals in a proverbial zoo--all we really do is please ourselves.
Don't get me wrong--I'm not belittling God's influence in any way. It's just that this is a review of Brave New World, and the book itself does not include God as a factor. I think that Huxley certainly includes the idea of God as a factor--in other words, that mankind has an innate feeling that there's somebody bigger than us all keeping tabs on our actions--but I don't think he understood or was attempting to communicate that God is in ultimate control.
So should you read Brave New World? I don't know...do you like science? Do you like drama? Do you like confusing stories of romance? Do you like picking apart the human psyche? If so, then yes, I think you would enjoy Brave New World. My verdict? Brave New World is a very well written, Orwellian-esque epic of the battle between our desires and our own good, and of the contrast between the world inside the bubble of security and the world outside it.
Well, that about does it for me today. At this time I'd like to remind you to please give me any feedback you can through any medium you need (that means I'll read stuff you tell me on Facebook). So, please give me any feedback you can through any medium you need!
Until next time,
--CommanderSnowball
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