The life of Huxley

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The life of Huxley

• Born into a wealthy,
• intellectual family

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Was left partially blind after an illness in
college
so he couldnt become a doctor
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Huxley formed a lifelong friendship with D.H.
Lawrence, and gained literary prominence with his
first novel
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1937- Huxley moves to California, writes film
scripts, essays, utopian novel Island
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Experiments with drugs, writes The Doors of
Perception, which gives Jim Morrison a name for
his band
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Dies of cancer on November 22, 1963
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Brave New World

• Huxleys 5th novel was published in 1932, after
  he traveled extensively. Often seen as his
  response to the American lifestyle and a response
  to H.G. Wells utopian Men Like Gods

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The World State Community,
Identity, Stability How are these
values implemented?....
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Children are not born through sex but through
genetic engineering in test tubes. Women no
longer give birth and are on strict birth
control.
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The Caste System

• Fetuses are reared in accordance with a caste
  system of Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and
  Epsilons. Alphas are conceived individually,
  while lower castes are created through
  Bokanovskys Process, which splits one egg many
  times.

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Children learn about the world through a
hypnopaedic process, meaning that they listen to
phrases and principles during sleep, which
conditions them to feel and act according to the
World State.
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Everybody belongs to everyone
Sex is rampant there are no monogamous
relationships. The characters regularly engage in
orgy-porgies
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Time is no longer measured according to the life
of Christ but according to the life of Henry
Ford it is currently 632 AF. Consumption is
all-important nothing is used twice and
everything is made on the assembly line Why do
you think Ford is considered a deity in The World
State?
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Soma Everybodys Happy Nowadays

• To make sure that everyone is in a constant
  state of contentment, the characters have been
  conditioned to take the drug soma whenever they
  might feel unhappy. This drug keeps them in a
  state of pleasure.
• - Is there a modern-day equivalent of soma? What
  could be its downsides?