Brave New World takes us into the imaginarium of Aldous Huxley, the descendant of Thomas Henry Huxley or better known as Darwin's Bulldog. Brave New World is Huxley's take on the future of humanity, its purpose and ofcourse the meaning of it all. Huxley has his contemporaries , Orwell foremost among them; men who see the world governed, crafted and defined by science. Perhaps that is the reason people tend to label Huxley's works as Science Fiction. I would disagree. Huxley's work are as realist as the world is real, concentrating on issues most essential to humanity- role of scientific development and what it means to be human. How is that Science Fiction?
I won't go about enumerating the various characters and the development of the story, the reviewer has done a good job of it. My attention instead was drawn to the intricacies of the social system envisioned in the book by Huxley. For there is something charming yet grotesque, something brilliant yet disdainful in the segregation of humans into epsilons, alphas, betas etc. All this makes one think about the Universal principle of Human equality ? Man has long boasted that humans are equal and each man has the power over his own fate. From the time since we are born to the time of death, how free are we exactly ? Can one hope to control whether his parents are rich or poor ? Criminals on the run or god fearing men ? That ofcourse is just one facet of it.
Ever since man has learned to think intelligently( i mean since the advent of philosophers) the question has always raged – Where is the human race headed ? What about the principles of human development ? these questions and their answers have changed with the changing conditions of living whether it is feudalism, capitalism and communism. However the only unchanging sacred principle of humanity has been- The Equality of all human beings. Human beings cannot be equal. They are different in their ability, the brain, intelligence, behaviour etc. In any form of society those most hardworking and intelligent or superior to others in some form rise to the top and dominate. Indeed Karl Marx himself has quoted examples of this- Human civilization started by living in equal groups, which then led slowly to chiefs of groups, to kings, to popes, and now to industrialists(or politicians which is pretty much the same thing). As history shows this has always been the case and will continue to be the case. Quoting Marx- Human history is but a history of class struggles.
In my view human development will continue to be a story of class struggles. The quest for human equality is wrong and unjustified. Rather what we must aim for is equality of opportunity to all. That’s precisely why communalism failed. Huxley’s social order is an interesting take on world dominance. To be truthful, to me, Huxley’s take is perhaps the only way to achieve a stable society.
I did wish to discuss the differences between Huxley and Orwell, but I am sure that I have far exceeded the limitations of a comment. This cartoon strip should suffice :
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=135828
arbiit.wordpress.com
PS: Sorry for putting up this comment on the main site , I was having difficulty in adding the comment to the review.
"Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals."
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"Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with the IMPACT of imagined innovations in science or technology."
-wikipedia
I think the novel does fit into the above definitions,but you are right when you say the main issues concentrated in the novel are realist. The novel is not like typical science fictions,but I think I mentioned it in the review.
P.S. The cartoon strip was good
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