Brave New World

There’s this new book I’ve been reading for my art and technology class called Brave New World, and for a book published in the 1930’s, the author’s imagination was very fertile. The detailed explanations of the factory-like process used by Huxley to create the clones, the social class system established and Ford idolizing are just a few examples for his creativeness. The social class is divided into five groups: Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons. It is based on a pyramid system with the Alphas as the superior groups with better physic and intellectual capacity and Epsilons the inferiors in every sense of the term. The are several main characters but the three that interest me the most so far are Lenina Crowne, Henry Foster and Bernard Marx part of the Alpha caste. Lenina is an object of desire and has many lovers, she’s very promiscuous. She tries to follow the rules of the Conditioning Center as much as possible. She consumes vast amount of soma, which is their drug to solve any problem. She is attached to Henry and attracted to Bernard which is unlike the society’s norm. She is unable to relate to both of them as well. Bernard Marx is the rebel of the group, he hates his unusual frail appearance as an Alpha. Unlike other’s he doesn’t like to take soma, his behavior is anti-social, private and he likes to be lonely. He is jealous of others, says he feels imprisoned and acts very fake to fit in. Unlike the others he is not interested into having sex with no strings attached. Henry Foster is the perfect Alpha and Bernard’s rival. Henry is all for free sex and even offers to share Lenina with a co-worker. He thinks their world is perfect and satisfied with the class system. Basically Henry to me is the reminder of scientific control going on. So far, the book exceeded my expectation and even though I’m still in early chapters I’d recommend it.