Handout Brave New World

1932: Brave New World was first published 1937: moved to the USA believing that the Californian climate would help his eyesight 1958: Brave New World Revised appeared 11/22/1963: died in Los Angeles (at the same day President Kennedy was killed) Other Works: Crome Yellow (1921), Point Counter Point (1928) Island (1962) Main Characters: - Bernard Marx: loves Lenina Crowne; untypical Alpha Plus (very small); more independent thinking as a result of feeling separate; outsider; close friend of Helmholtz Watson.

- The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (DHC): humiliated by the arrival of Linda and John the Savage and resigns in disgrace.

- Helmholtz Watson: Alpha-Plus with too much intelligence; also an outsider; friend of Bernard; writes a poem which gets him in trouble.

- His Fordship Mustapha Mond: Resident Controller for Western Europe and one of the Ten World Controllers; makes the rules for society and decides what may be published. - Lenina Crowne: beautiful woman; goes out with Bernard Marx to the Savage Reservations; tries to sleep with the Savage (who is unwilling); unclear whether she is killed or not.

- Linda: mother of the Savage; the DHC brought her to the reservation; alcoholic; consumes too much soma and dies soon thereafter.

- John The Savage: son of the DHC and Linda; born on the; excluded from Indian rituals; went to London; falls in love with; runs away from the society; hunted down by a mob of sightseers; commit suicide. Short Summary: - Life has changed: there is only one World State ruled by Controllers; babies were produced in bottles and are conditioned for their later use; people are divided into five groups (Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, Epsilons) - Bernard and Lenina go to an reservation and meet John whose mother is from the new world - They take John and his mother with them to confront Bernard s Boss, the DHC, with John who is his son - In the new world John and the ugly old woman Linda become an immediate sensation - Linda begins to take Soma and dies of an overdose - John gets disappointed with Bernard and Helmholtz s behaviour so that he stopped talking to them and become very angry - Bernard introduces John to several very important people, John hates to have so many people around with not a single minute of silence but Marx enjoys being in the limelight - When the most important people come to talk with John the Savage, he refuses to see them (Helmholtz, Bernard and John the Savage are ordered to Mustapha Mond, the controller of Europe - They talk about free-thinking an the drug soma and because the three rebels, can t agree with Mustapha Mond he sends Helmholtz and Bernard to islands and John out of London to an old tower building - John looses contact with Bernard and Helmholtz, begins a new life in the old tower and remembered what he had learned in the reservation - But the people don t leave him in peace and ...