I can't explain why it took me so many years finally to read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, but I don't think I could have possibly read it at a more terrifying moment than now. I can well imagine that Brave New World was horrifying for its contemporary readers to contemplate, especially as they began to sense the approach of what must have seemed to be the inevitability of yet another catastrophic world war. But that so much of the political and cultural mindset described by Huxley in this classic dystopian novel seems to parallel today's world, makes Brave New World as troubling now as it must have been in 1932 when first published.
Huxley's brave new world is one in which everyone is brainwashed from birth (if not before) into knowing his place in society and being happy with it. It is a place in which the truth cannot be shared with anyone but the elite few who run the lives of the billions of other people who inhabit the planet, the few people who run our world from the shadows, ruthless people concerned with little more than maintaining their own power and wealth.
It is a world in which dissent is not only discouraged, it is punished by banishment from society - call it cancel culture, if you will.
It is a world in which neither the concept equality nor equity have real meaning because the powerful elite decide for you what you will spend your life doing and what you will be allowed to achieve.
It is a world in which dissenters are called crazy, and are treated accordingly.
It is a world in which young students are not taught or encouraged to think for themselves.
It is a world in which students of all ages can regurgitate on cue the correct chant or approved point of view on any political or social issue that takes center stage for its brief moment in the sun.
It is a world in which young people have no family (literally, in this case) with which to share their loyalty and love.
It is a world in which sex is a recreational commodity, but actually having children is something to be ashamed of and socially punished.
It is a world in which only the approved opinion can be said out loud or shared with anyone else. No one is to be trusted.
It is a terrifying world.
It is a world much like the one I live in.
Welcome to 2025.
You have convinced me I need to read this book. I will just have to look for a copy.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that you should be able to find a copy relatively cheaply somewhere or another. It made for some disturbing reading in the sense that if I had read it 50 years ago I would have called it speculative fiction or science fiction, something that was never going to happen. It reads entirely differently to me today as something very possible in the not too distant future.
DeleteI should read Brave New World. I tend to shy away from dystopian novels but the ones I have read have stayed with me. Not sure if Lord of The Flies was dystopian but I read it in high school and would like to reread it but I'm kind of afraid to. That's how big an impact it had on me.
ReplyDeleteLord of the Flies fits my definition of dystopian because of the way the boys created their own little dystopian world in exile the way they did. I can understand why it impacted you the way it did. I still remember reading that one at about the same age you were then.
DeleteI haven't read this either but, reading your list of things it suggests will happen, I feel like I have. Honestly, Sam, it's so frightening and I'm glad I'm 71 not 17, but I fear for my grandkids in 'so' many ways. But they're oblivious! 'It is a world in which dissenters are called crazy, and are treated accordingly.' Or every 'phobic' or 'ist' you can think of, just for asking questions or standing up for, for instance, women's sport. And what I hate most of all is this feeling of powerlessness to do anything about it whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteCath, It's precisely that feeling of helplessness to do anything about it all that I find to be the most terrifying aspect of what our supposed leaders are doing to all of us around the world these days. Brainwashing of the young has worked so well that I wonder if common sense will ever be common again. I doubt it. I think those of us of a certain age have experienced enough to recognize immoral liars when we see them. But all we have are the numbers, we don't have any power anymore...or those of our age group sold out long ago. When you lose trust in your government to do the right thing, and in the media to tell you the truth and not cover up the lies of politicians you do tend to lose faith in the whole system. Too many of us have now reached that point.
DeleteYou make me want to reread this one. I read it in my 20s and am sure I'd get a lot more out of it now. Great review, Sam.
ReplyDeleteI think that's true, Lark. I read very differently, and for entirely different reasons, now than I read in my twenties. Maybe all that reading we've done over a lifetime does finally start to pay off.
DeleteYour insights on "Brave New World" and its eerie parallels to today's world are deeply thought-provoking and disturbingly relevant. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWe live in scary times. i hate to think what kind of world my grandchildren are going to inherit. I feel for them.
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