The Green caldron - University Library

4 The Green Caldron
Huxley has injected many elements that make the book a significant
work. The thought-provoking theme, the compelling style, and the
realistically imagined, forceful presentation blend harmoniously and
serve to emphasize Huxley's skill as an author. In addition, this meaty,
satirical novel has been given new meaning and importance by the events
and trends of the quarter-century that has elapsed since Brave New
World was first published. Time is uncovering the most vital, yet most
terrifying aspect of this book; time itself is giving Aldous Huxley's tale
the semblance of a prophecy. For during the course of the last few years,
many of the characteristics of the soul-less Utopian society he visualized
have become evident in our own way of life. Each day, our increasing
passion for scientific progress, a "consumer economy," "security," and
a Miltown brand of "happiness" makes Brave New World less of a fantasy
about a far-removed life in a distant future.
Indeed, Huxley has focused attention on the dangers to the spirit of
man that are now latent in modern society. It is his belief that overemphasis
on science and technology directed at controlling the individual
and his environment will make a slave of man. Once Progress has
become his master he will be forced to adapt to the "fruits" of his
technical achievements. In the preface added in 1946, 15 years after
the book was written, Huxley explains : "The theme of Brave New World
is not the advancement of science as such, it is the advancement of
science as it affects human individuals."
As the products of applied science, the book's well-drawn characters
appropriately illustrate the author's stated theme. Completely condi-
tioned tools of their technical society, they are almost wholly unques-
tioning in their acceptance of its doctrines : Brave New World's characters
are a forceful demonstration that the inhabitants of such a world
must, of necessity, be mere human robots. The only natural man in the
story is an outsider immediately branded as "the Savage." Although
he had dreamed of the day when he would finally enter "Ford's king-
dom," he ultimately came to prefer suicide to life in that artificial place.
The Savage did not know what kind of world awaited him when, in naive
anticipation, he quoted Shakespeare : "O brave new world, that has such
people in it ... "
Reading Brave New World for the entertaining and unusual contents
is an experience in itself. However, it is difficult to finish the novel with-
out having contemplated its implications. Such contemplation seems to
be almost a part of the book, for there is much in this story of a Fordian
society to prod the reader into new evaluation of the disturbingly similar
world of today. Therefore, it is through the successful stimulation of
thought that Aldous Huxley has best accomplished the purpose of
his book.