BraveNewWorldPodcastEpisode

The Brave New Podcast discusses and analyzes the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The novel, written in 1931, is a dystopian fiction that explores themes of technology, population control, and individuality. Huxley was inspired by scientific advancements during his time, such as Darwinism and birth control. The story follows Bernard, an alpha who questions the pleasure-seeking society, and John, a character from a reservation who struggles to fit in. The ending is bleak, with John ultimately choosing to hang himself rather than live in a world that suppresses individuality. The novel emphasizes the importance of individuality and suggests that seeking constant pleasure is ultimately unsatisfying. Hello, everyone. My name is Madeline Downey, and welcome to the Brave New Podcast. This podcast is dedicated to the novel Brave New World. Today's episode is called Brave New Episode. In this episode, we will be discussing, analyzing, and giving an overall synopsis of the book Brave New World. Brave New World is a dystopian fiction novel written in 1931 and published in 1932. This book was written by Aldous Huxley. Aldous Huxley was an English writer and philosopher and has written over 50 novels. But before we get into the novel, let's learn more about Aldous Huxley for the context of this novel. He was born in 1894 into a very rich and famous family. His grandfather was a biologist who gave evidence for Charles Darwin's Darwinism and Social Darwinism. These ideas are evident throughout the book. New scientific ideas such as Darwinism during Aldous Huxley's time inspired him to write this book, along with lots of other books he wrote. Other scientific advancements during Huxley's time, including the development and scientists starting to research new medicines for birth control and contraception. Brave New World has tons of examples of this, such as abortion centers, which even exist today. The belts that women can wear that hold contraceptives and pills, which I think start with an M. Let me check. Okay, they are called Malthusian belts. So, women wore these in the novel to hold the medicine that they could use to, like, abort a child. In another major point, another major point of this book is that birth doesn't exist anymore. The population is controlled by the Bokunovsky process. The population, I assume, is determined by the government or the hatching center where humans are created. So, they ultimately decide how many people exist, kind of alluding to the technology being developed during Huxley's time, like controlling populations. Huxley's most important literary piece was definitely Brave New World. It received tons of critical acclaim back then, even now, since it has predicted and influenced so much of our society today. To wrap up this section about Aldous Huxley, I wanted to share a fun fact about him. He actually died on the same day John F. Kennedy did when he was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Well, that's it for our section of this podcast episode about Aldous Huxley. I hope this information can give you some context about the novel Brave New World. So, now, let's get into our next section. Now, I'm going to give a brief summary of the novel Brave New World. So, let's get into it. Our setting is the world state. Just going off the name, I think the entire state takes up the entire world. But, specifically, our story is focused in London. The novel begins with the director of the hatchery, which is where the place humans are made, explaining the scientific processes and techniques that they use to condition humans to their cast to a group of students. The world state's population is divided into somewhat of a caste system. There are alphas, betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilons. Alphas and betas are allowed to socialize together, and they both do intellectual jobs, such as doctors and directors. But alphas are still better than betas. They're physically and intellectually better than everyone, and it goes down from there. Gammas, deltas, and epsilons are all conditioned during their development to be physically and intellectually inferior. They do simpler work and basically serve the alphas and betas. The whole idea of the world state is to seek pleasure and live your best life, which sounds pretty messed up and is pretty messed up. Everyone can have everyone, and there are movies called Feelys, and everyone takes this happiness drug called Soma that the world state government promotes. Now that we have some setting information, let's talk about the main characters of this book. First, we have Bernard Marks. He's probably one of the most important characters in the novel. He's an alpha, but he's smaller and less attractive than the rest of the alphas. He also thinks very differently than the rest of his peers. Bernard believes that there's something more to life than just seeking pleasure, and he thinks of himself as more of an individual. He rarely ever takes Soma, and rarely ever has anyone, making everyone else suspicious of him. They all think that alcohol got into his surrogate when he was being developed. He's also very introverted, but thinks very deeply about the society he lives in. His questioning of his purpose in life leads him to the Savage Reservation in New Mexico, but before we get to that, Bernard likes this girl named Lenina. She's a beta and is very beautiful and promiscuous, which is a good thing in the world state. Bernard likes her, but he doesn't like how she enjoys the society they live in. He enjoys being an individual, but she can't go a day without being around tons of people. Bernard invites her to go with him to the Savage Reservation. When he asks his director for approval to go to the Savage Reservation, the director warns him that he lost a girl he was seeing there, and they couldn't find her. And the director tells Bernard that he is highly suspicious of Bernard, and if his behavior doesn't change, he will be exiled to Iceland. So they go to the Indian reservation, and Bernard is fascinated by their lifestyle, but Lenina is appalled. They meet a woman called Linda who is actually the girl Bernard's director was seeing. She hates the reservation and misses her old life, but she couldn't return home because she had a child. She would be publicly humiliated if she had a kid back home. Linda also doesn't understand the culture of the reservation, since she has been there, but their wives beat her up because she does. Her son is named John, and he doesn't fit in at the reservation because everyone shunned him out because of his mother and their origins. He wants to go to the Brave New World so that he may have a chance of fitting in. Bernard ends up taking them back to London. The director calls a meeting with Bernard and tells him he is losing his job, but when Linda and John walk in and start screaming, my father, and saying this is your son, the director is so embarrassed that he leaves and resigns from his job. Linda and John soon become the newest, hottest thing in society. They are quite despectful since they are so different from everyone else. This also makes Bernard famous, and he ultimately uses them to gain fame and girls. He really changes from being against the world state to being for it, but John realizes he actually hates all this. Lenina wants to have John want her. He wants to have moral code and wants to be an individual who suffers, not who is happy all the time. One day, Bernard invited over a ton of important people who wanted to see John for dinner, but John refused to see him, causing all of Bernard's fame to backfire. He tried to be a unique, popular individual by exploiting John and Linda. John's mother, Linda, ends up dying, causing John to lose it. He hates the entire world state now and tries to rebel, but it doesn't work. When he tries to rebel along with Bernard and Heimholtz-Watson, Heimholtz-Watson is friends with Bernard, and they are both very similar. They both feel like they don't fit in with society, and they both want to be individuals and expressive. But back to what I was saying, Bernard and John Heimholtz are all arrested and end up in Mustafa Man's office. Mustafa Man is an extremely intelligent world controller. He is one of ten. He also has access to old cultural entities, such as the Bible and Shakespeare. John and Mustafa argue about the world state and why it is the way it is. Ultimately, Bernard and Heimholtz are exiled by Mustafa to the islands filled with other people just like them, who are individuals. Bernard is very upset about this, but Heimholtz is at peace with it. John ends up going to live in solitude in a lighthouse until crowds come to see him. He eventually lashes out at them and himself, and an orgy happens. John instantly regrets it and ends up hanging himself. He would rather die than have to live in a world where he can't be an individual. Okay, now that we have a super long summary, let's dissect the ending. Personally, I kind of anticipated the ending. I had a feeling that Bernard would be exiled because of his differences in individuality, but I didn't think that Heimholtz would. I kind of thought he wasn't as important as Bernard. I definitely didn't see John hanging himself, that's for sure. I kind of expected John not to love the world state since he was so inclined on going in the first place. Like, you know the phrase, all that glitters isn't gold? So, yeah. I thought he may have chosen to go back to the reserve or even stayed in society but not participate in their pleasure-seeking activities. Or even gone with Bernard or Heimholtz to the islands. Like, I felt like he would have fit in there. I definitely didn't expect him to kill himself, so I was kind of right saying that he would stay in society but not participate in their pleasure-seeking activities, but instead he went to live alone in the lighthouse. The ending wasn't really satisfying, it was pretty depressing, but it kind of symbolized how you can try to be happy as you can and do whatever you can to feel happy, but it's never enough at the end of the day. This is even true for the other citizens such as Lenina. They try to be as happy as they can, but they always want more because it is never enough. They need more soma, more partners, and more entertainment. Huxley ends the novel this way to show how important individuality is, which is the theme in Brave New World. The message being shown here is that by trying to be an individual, Bernard, John, and Heimholtz were all essentially destined to die, or greatly suffer because of it. But being an individual who laughs, cries, and experiences good and bad emotions is better than being a surface-level happy person who just blends in with everyone else. Now I have a surprise. We have a special guest today on today's podcast episode. Everyone, please welcome the man himself, Bernard Marks. Hello Bernard, how are you doing? I'm doing great, thank you, and how about you? Doing great as well. Now Bernard, I have some questions for you. I'm ready to start whenever you are. I'm ready. Okay, first question. Do you think there were any strengths to the World State Society even with its flaws? Unfortunately, yes. Since we are all so uniform, it's super easy to manage us from a government standpoint. We all want the same things too. It's so easy to fulfill our needs, so there are no uprisings or rebellions. And since we are all drugged on SOMA, we really can't tell that we're being controlled that way. Since everything we do and how we are made is so carefully controlled, the world leaders know how to keep us organized and controlled. This is bad because it comes at the cost of our personal freedoms. No one is truly an individual because of how uniform and controlled we are. Thank you for such a deep response. Now, how do you think you changed throughout the novel? Well, at the very beginning of the novel, I was very introverted and apprehensive, but I knew that I stood out from the society I lived in. But after I met John at the Savage Reservation, my whole perspective on life changed. I was so jealous of how John could openly have a real human relationship with others and could authentically feel emotions. I realized how truly empty our society is. And even though the savages experienced pain, death, and sadness, it was worth it so that they could also feel true happiness, joy, love, and passion. Okay, next question. How did your relationship with Helmholtz fuel your resentment towards the society you live in? Seeing someone as an artistic and intellectual as Helmholtz being oppressed made me very upset. He is so creative when he writes, but he can't write about any emotions or anything truly authentic because we aren't allowed to. We both want true, authentic relationships that have good and bad moments. We shouldn't drug ourselves in order to feel happy. He's such a strong and supportive friend, and I wish that our society would allow him to use his talents freely. How sad. Do you think the scientific discoveries the world today has made are good or bad? Well, I think they're good, but they're being used very badly. These new technologies could be used to help humans in so many good ways. But conditioning humans to their castes and giving them disabilities and lower IQs is inhumane. Those embros are people. You are choosing to hurt these people in order to keep stability in our society and to economically benefit off of their stupidity and grueling labor. If we could implement these technologies in humane ways, our society would greatly benefit. Okay, final question for everyone listening. What do you think everyone can learn from your story? I think everyone can learn that being an individual is better than being like everyone else. Although I regret many of my actions, I don't regret my opinions on the world state. No one should ever be afraid to think independently, even if it means being exiled, like in my case. Fight for what you believe in, and also don't exploit your friends for fame. It will backfire in the end. Thank you so much for your time, Bernard. I truly appreciate it. Yeah, of course. See you later. Bye, Bernard. Now, I have some passages from Brave World that I want to share with you and analyze. Each one has a different significance that I will share. Now, let's get into it. First, I will read this passage from chapter two, page 27. The context of this passage is that the director of the hatchery is explaining the process of developing humans to a group of students who are receiving a tour. Elementary class consciousness, did you say? Let's have it repeated a little louder by the trumpet. At the end of the room, a loudspeaker projected from the wall. The director walked up to it and pressed the switch. All wear green, said a soft but very distinct voice, beginning in the middle of a sentence. And Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides, they were black, which is such a beastly color. I'm so glad I'm a beta. So basically, the hatchery is using new scientific methods to condition and train developing kids into thinking that they have the best cast. This passage is significant because it's setting the stage for one of the most important things in the entire book. The government using scientific technologies to condition, grow, change, and control the world state. This theme begins to develop in the first few chapters and continues to be evident throughout the novel. The government also uses pride and arrogance to control the cast, saying things like, I'm better than Gammas, and they were such an ugly color, to make everyone happy with their cast, when in all reality, they shouldn't be happy at all. My next passage I'll be reading from is chapter nine, page 140. The context of this passage is that Lenina and Bernard visited the Sabbath Reservation, and Lenina was horrified and appalled with the way they lived compared to the world state. Lenina felt herself entitled, after this day of queerness and horror, to complete an absolute holiday. As soon as they got back to the rest house, she swallowed six half gram tablets of Soma, laid down on her bed, and within 10 minutes had embarked for lunar eternity. It would be 18 hours, at the least, before she was in time again. Lenina basically drugs herself out on Soma, in order to forget everything since she isn't happy. This passage is significant because of the symbol Soma. Soma is definitely a symbol throughout the novel, representing temporary happiness, that which one person cannot get enough of. In Lenina's case, she has been trained to take it whenever she isn't feeling happy enough or happy at all. At the beginning of the novel, Bernard never or rarely ever takes Soma, which is probably why he's so different from everyone else. He refuses to be temporarily happy and controlled. Instead, he would rather be a suffering individual. This is different for Lenina. Lenina must have it. She believes it is a good thing because she's been conditioned to it. Overall, Soma is important to contribute to the theme of temporary happiness and pleasure in the novel Brave New World. My final passage is from chapter 7, pages 116 through 117. I ought to have been there, the young man went on. Why wouldn't they let me be the sacrifice? I'd have gone round ten times. Twelve. Fifteen. Palosuita only got as far as the seven. They could have had twice as much as blood from me. The molten tutuus sees incarnadine, he pulling out his arms in a lavish gesture, then despairingly let them fall again. But they wouldn't let me. They disliked me for my complexion. It's always been like that. Always. Tears stood in the young man's eyes. He was ashamed and turned away. John basically says that, oh but first let me give you context, sorry. The context of this passage is that Lenina and Bernard have arrived at the savage reservation and they watch a religious sacrifice occur. John, one of the main characters, is introduced. Now let's analyze it. John basically says that he isn't popular with the tribe and that he wishes he could have been the sacrifice so that he would gain more respect and acceptance from the others. This passage is significant because of the foreshadowing. In this part of the novel, John wants to die, not really die, but suffer immensely so that he will be popular and accepted from his society. But at the end of the novel, John actually chooses to take his own life because he wants to escape from a society that finds him very interesting and has massive popularity in. This foreshadowing shows that how much John has changed by the end of the novel. This relates to the theme of individualism, showing how John doesn't want to be an individual at the beginning of his character arc and then end up wanting to be an isolated individual. He basically just wanted to be accepted at the beginning and then now he doesn't want to be, so he really has changed and his motivations have changed. Okay, so now let's talk about some critiques of the novel, Brave New World. When Brave New World was released, not many people actually liked it because of how crazy the book is. It is literally a society promoting drug abuse and promiscuity. Many people also didn't listen or understand the novel's complex ideas and futuristic views about a very controlling government with all-powerful technology. It is also a book that is censored too, which is crazy, but I think that it has criticism because of how some of the technologies used in the novel are very much real today. And this book was worn against all-powerful governments when it was published in 1932, which was around the same time Hitler and Mussolini were gaining power. That probably made this book a bit more sensitive during the time it was written. Hitler and Mussolini can use propaganda tactics to control and condition their countries rather than scientific technologies like in Brave New World. Okay, so now I'm going to share some pop culture relations to Brave New World. My first one is Fortnite by Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone. This song is a relationship that is over, but Taylor Swift is still hung on about. The lyric that I think has some relation to Brave New World is, I took the miracle move on drug, the effects were temporary. Although this may not directly say anything about Brave New World, I feel like this is a reference to Soma. Soma is literally known as the miracle drug that allows you to move on from your emotions so that you can feel happiness. And the effects of Soma are clearly temporary since everyone has to keep taking it all the time in order to always feel happy. Another lyric that relates to Brave New World is from Florida by Taylor Swift featuring Florence and the Machine. This song is about escapism, and I'm going to read two lyrics from the song. I got drunk and I dared it to wash me and another lyric is Florida is one of a drug. Both of these lyrics imply that Taylor wants to use alcohol and to leave where she is now to escape her problems. This relates to Brave New World through Soma and its use. But instead of physically leaving a situation or using alcohol, citizens of the world state use Soma to get so drugged up that they forget about whatever issues they've had or having. For example, whenever Lenina is stressed in Brave New World, she recites a little rhyme about how good Soma is and proceeds to take it to forget about whatever happened. In this song, Taylor also wants to basically forget about what happened in her life and wash it away. Overall, Brave New World isn't one of my favorite books. The plot is very confusing and the biological technology really grosses me out. But I do like the deep analytical thought that this book makes you think about. What do you lose when the entire society is happy? For that reason, I would recommend this book to other people to read. It also predicts and foreshadows our modern day society and shows us what we need to avoid. Everyone, thank you so much for sticking with me through this episode. Tune in next week for another one. My name is Madeline Downey and catch you later.