Text Box: Brave New World: A Banned Book

Text Box: Brave New World Summary:
                 Brave New World begins in the year A.F 632, which is After Ford 632, which translates to 632 years after 1908, which is the year Henry Ford produced his first Model T car.  It is set in England and portrays a caste society that has five different classes; Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons.  All the different classes have different jobs and even different clothes they can wear.  Alpha is the highest class and this is the class in which the main characters Lenina Crowne and Bernard Marx belong.  Their society is radically different then society today.  In the time of Brave New World, the humans are conditioned in their childhood to be content with their class, to base their life on pleasure through having multiple partners for sex, to see nothing wrong with having no family, and to take drugs even through their food.  One particular drug used frequently is Soma, a drug that lets the user escape from the real world into fantasy.  It is frequently stated in the book that “a gramme is better then a damn” which shows their disregard for having to deal with real life problems (55). 
                 The main character Bernard is viewed by the other Alphas as not quite as good because he is not as physically attractive as the others and seems a little different.  However he has a crush on Lenina and asks her to visit the reservation in America with him on a date.  Lenina, however, has been sleeping solely with Henry Foster for months and does not feel promiscuous despite the fact that she knows she must be polygamous.  Eventually when people start to question her monogamous relationship she realizes she must start seeing someone else.  Thus she decides to accept Bernard and go on a trip with him to the reservations.  The reservation is made up of Indians living life comparable to life today.  Children there are actually born to their mothers and can have disease.  While at the Reservation they meet John, a boy who had a European mother yet who grew up on the reservation.  He wishes to be accepted by the Indians but is never successful.  Bernard and Lenina then end up taking John back with them.
                 Once back in London John is dubbed the Savage and everyone wants to see him.  Bernard now had much popularity and basks in it. Lenina and John go on a date but he does not ask her in to have sex because he wishes to have a monogamous relationship.  Lenina is upset by this and the next day goes to see him and demands to know if he likes her.  John tells her he does and she then throws herself at him.  He replies that he doesn’t wish to be controlled by lust and wishes to marry her.  She is repulsed by this and says that she only wishes to have sex with him.  John starts yelling at her calling her names.  Bernard then realizes that Soma is the cause of many troubles and starts throwing soma out the window.  The Delta’s get very upset and start to attack him but the police come and he is taken away along with Bernard.  They meet with World Controller Mustapha Mond and discuss science and censorship.  It is decided that Bernard will be sent to an island and he then departs.  Mond and John continue discussing technology in this time and John is invoked with all the feelings in the world.  John then decides to seclude himself and continually punish himself.  He creates a stir and then one day Lenina shows up.  John starts whipping her and seems to be going insane.  The next day when he wakes up and realizes what happened he hangs himself. 

Text Box: Online Text

Text Box: ALA Homepage

Text Box: Interview with a Professor

Text Box: Interview with a Student

Text Box:              Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, has inspired people for generations, influencing media and entertainment even in modern times.  Examples of this influence can be seen in numerous television shows such as Boy Meets World, 7th Heaven, One Tree Hill, The Division, and Facts of Life.  The subject matter of certain episodes draw greatly from this novel.
             Despite Brave New World being a banned novel, the entertainment industry today does not seem to object as strongly to the subject matter presented in other media forms.

Text Box: Take a Quiz!

Text Box: Copyright © 2006
Created by: Evans, Forste, Green, Sherman

Text Box: About the Author

Text Box: About the 1st Amendment

Text Box: Banning History