Brave New World

Usually you hate charecters that remind you of yourself. o they say.

Who says that?

I don't whip myself everyday like John did...

Father John ?

John the savage. Anyways, I sort of don't agree with what you said. Although sometimes the character do reflect some traits that one may possess but doesn't like.

I don't like the society portrayed by A Brave New World because the people are degenerated into tools, and what they call happiness are drugs that makes you go high. As I've said, I am not particularly fond of Helmholtz because he's too passionate in being creative as if it's his priority but other than that he's alright, John because his idea of salvation is beating himself up and being anti-social (feel sorry for him). I can relate to Bernard the most although I don't like how he becomes selfish near the end, but he got out of it eventually...

Anyways, this book is nightmarish...

Island is not bad, he modelled the island of the novel on Ceylon--what we now call Sri Lanka.

Brave New World can be frustrating because he attempts to meld the allegory with the novel, without sacrificing the major principles of either. I think he succeeded, but he did not also produce a particularly readable novel in the process. Huxley was also a writer of convoluted "society" novels, which explored the "souls" of the characters in more psychological depth than was common in that genre in the 1920's and 1930's.

Huxley gives us a clue to the allegorical nature of the novel with the title . . .

"O brave new world, that hath such people in it."

. . . is uttered by Miranda, in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Miranda has been laid under an enchantment whereby she loses all memory, but the spell succeeds to the point that the first people she sees, the "orphans of the storm," washed ashore by the tempest, provide the proof that she even does not recollect such a thing as people. Compare this idea to the characters of whom you have spoken.

(Caveat: This is an expression of a personal opinion, and is not presented as, nor should be construed as, a statement from authority.)

Of equal interest, but possibly difficult for anyone but the enthusiast to read, are Chrome Yellow, Point Counterpoint, Antic Hay, Do What You Will and Eyeless in Gaza. If you felt you wished to dedicate yourself to learning more about how Huxley saw his post-Great War world, and start to learn something about the Bloomsbury Group (Virginia Wolf, E. M. Forster and others), i would recommend for relative (and only relative) ease of reading: Antic Hay and Eyeless in Gaza.

I would also recommend Forster to you: Howard's End, A Passage to India, Where Angels Fear to Tread, The Longest Journey and A Room with a View. These are all in the pre-Great War era, with the exception of A Passage to India. Personally, i don't recommend Virginia Woolf to anyone, even those whom i dislike.

Thanks Setanta.

Ta, Boss, i hope that you will read and enjoy . . .

I really liked the book until they introduced the annoying Tomakin character (the native american-like dude). He was really, really annoying. Stupid and annoying. I also think that the author often sacrificed realism for drama at times, like with the religion scenes, etc. Writing books like BNW is really hard because the author has to outhink every hole and make sure everything comes out right, and in BNW, many things don't. There are a lot of holes in Ford's plan, and if you examine his formula under and evolutionary light, there are many, many points which would stand out to make the whole book look like a totally ludicrous fantasy novel. I would point out details but I read that book last year. But still, it is a pretty good book...and one of those books...you know, everyone should read.

Welcome Bakku, and thanx for your input.

I can understand your annoyance with the savage. I'm annoyed by him too, but I do think that he is believable, and that's one of the thing that's quite disturbing about the book. I think the savage is an individual who fell into the dark. Having seen the society that he saw, plus having a hard time in the society he lived in before, he becomes distrustful of any society and he feels lost is what I think.