Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World offers us a terrifying vision of the future which, though not an attempt at sociological
forecasting, is as disconcerting now as when it was written in 1932. In fact, with the advances made in science and medicine, particularly the field of genetic engineering; with the victory of consumerism; and with the ever-growing tolerance of promiscuity and drug abuse; Huxley’s world is much more recognisable as a possibility now than at the time it was written.
Unlike Orwell’s 1984 which, written in the 1940s, a decade in which totalitarianism was in full flourish and tyranny had reached its zenith with the appearance of Hitler and Stalin, Brave New World’s nightmare vision is a world where everybody is healthy, happy, prosperous and safe. Genetic engineering and advanced psychological conditioning have combined to create a world of happy, hard-working consumers. The citizens of the world have jobs they are designed to love and interests designed to keep productivity flowing. The population are genetically engineered into five classes, from intellectual to semi-moron and given worked suited to their capabilities. They live to sixty years of age in perfect health and with no signs of aging. There is universal use of soma, a drug which guarantees happiness and there are none of the problems caused by the passions as
people no longer have them. There is plenty of sex, but no sexual love; there are no families; no true friends and no enemies.
But there is Bernard. Bernard, for some reason, feels discontent. There are rumours that somewhere in his pre-birth design, something went wrong. Bernard knows he is unhappy, but cannot articulate the problem. Visiting a reservation - an area unfit for civilization and so left as a reserve for a small number of savages - he stumbles across one who speaks English. The
savage returns with Bernard to London and is treated as a celebrity. However, the savage can articulate what Bernard can’t. In a world without hate, there is no love; in a world without suffering, there is no growth. The savage realises that, consumer-driven though this brave, new world is, nothing has any real value as nothing costs enough. The goods and services which people crave may cost money, but there is nothing in this world which costs a single tear.
The plot offers no solution. Bernard is exiled and the savage is destroyed by the world he has been brought to. What Brave New World does give, however, is a warning; a warning more necessary now than it has ever been.