My students read 1984 by Orwell in their 10th grade English class. I usually offer Brave New World as an alternative to 1984 for those who may have (for one reason or another due to migrating international students) read it previously. Dystopia fiction is quite interesting--not just due to commentary on propaganda and dictatorships/totalitarian governments, but also because of their discussion of the nature of humanity itself. What are we, as human beings, and what really makes us different from animals? My students really enjoyed writing not just historical criticism papers, but also psychological criticism, criticism of rising technologies and their ethical usage, and comparisons to other regimes such as Castro, Chavez, North Korea, etc. Well, maybe I shouldn't say "really enjoyed." Some of them did. One student in particular discussed Stockholm syndrome in relationship to 1984, and it was quite an interesting study.
No one's said anything about Fahrenheit 451, which is another cornerstone of the dystopian genre. Also The Giver, which might not be the most believable/accurate, but in my opinion is the most haunting. One thing Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and 1984 have in common is that the film adaptations SUCK. Way more than your average film adaptation. I heard there's a german film adaptation of "We" filmed in the 80's, and I guarantee that sucks, too.
One of my favorites, not only because of its vision of the future (predicting wall-size televisions and reality shows) but also of why (my favorite part of the book is Capt. Beatty's explanation of why they burn books, and it has glaring applicability today). I would also add as an excellent representation of the genre Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz".
I've rear that one as well, although I read it quite a while ago, so may have to re-read it, but from what I remember, offered a very interesting insight into an anti-intellectual dystopia, with the book burning ect... "Ever heard, "Art imitates Life. Life imitates Art"? That kind of applies here. I'm willing to bet that people read that and governments thought, "What an excellent ****ing idea."" - CCTV was invented in the same decade as Orwell, so it is possible, yet what is interesting is the degree to which CCTV is used to control people, as Orwell suggested. The UK has a very, very large amount of CCTV cameras...
In reply to the original post:: I was introduced to this book in my high school sci-fi literature class, right after reading 1984 and I have to say that Brave New World held my interest right up to the very end whereas 1984 had me falling asleep within the first chapter. Being a major book worm even then, falling asleep reading a book that I'd just started horrified me. I was expected to finish this?? GAH! The class was only one semester, and the whole time we were writing essays and giving pro/con arguments about those two books but I can't remember anything at all about that. Just that Brave New World stuck in my head, and every time I see a copy of 1984 I cringe. Read Brave New World. It definitely gives perspective and allows a sizeable amount of food for thought.
Many naps and head-bobs later, yes. I had to, it was for class and anything less than an A meant earlier curfew =\ which was totally unacceptable! I'll admit I began getting into the story much later (like the last four or so chapters), but it happened so late in the book for me I never re-read it, and it didn't change my opinion of the book as a whole.
I'm reading it for the first time right now, and wow. I like it a lot so far! The concept is amazing, people raised from embryos to be in a certain caste, etc. It's interesting to compare it to 1984. I adore 1984, but it's interesting to see the differences. Orwell feared a society with too little; Huxley feared a society with too much.
Spot on. It is interesting hwo if you look at our society today, Huxley was just as right as Orwell in so many ways (Facebook, Celeb news, 436733837 TV channels...)
I just started reading it for the first time, too. It's really interesting for me because previously, most of the feedback I'd heard about it was from my church friends back in high school, who were all horrified because it was a book about making little kids have sex. Um...yeah...way to focus on one detail and miss the whole rest of the book. I love it so far.
Which makes me wonder, which is worse? A society with too little or too much? As of right now, since I'm about 80 or so pages into Brave New World, I'd say living in 1984 scares me more.
Finished it a while ago, and what a sad ending. Just leaves you with this hopeless feeling at the end. What a good book.
I think Orwell's is much more terrifying, a society with too little leaves no room for escape, as the ending shows. I must re-read it, it's been two years since I did. Managed to stumble across a rather rare-ish collection of his works today in a bookstore, which I am taking as an incentive (although I do not believe in fate) to try and own them.
I agree. With Orwell, if you're different, you're tortured and eventually you become an unperson. With Huxley, you can choose exile and be with others who are different. It's still an awful society, but at least you can choose an escape.
It's interesting that Orwell thought of 'prolefeed' and Huxley thought of 'mans infinite appetite for distraction'. Both of them seemed to guess the arrival of comercial culture; (dumbed down) music, film and to an extend books, mass pornography, and Tinnie Tempah.
If they'd read Marx or Adorno (which they almost definitely had) that's not really that impressive...both of those theorists already wrote extensively about mass culture. What Orwell and Huxley do deserve credit for is taking those theoretical ideas and fictionalising them in a way that made the latent terror of the ideas accessible to people who wouldn't necessarily read philosophy or critical theory.
No doubt they read all about false conciousness as well, but what's still impressive in the exactitude of their predictions and as you said, by making the ideas accessible. It will be interesting to see what direction dystopian fiction heads in the next few years as the transition from postmodernism to... what ever comes next continues.
Their works are incredibly impressive. Books like Brave New World and 1984 remind me why I love reading so much.
Read it some years ago. The title is ironical since the world described is one where people's destinies within a society are determined before birth via scientific intervention. Not at all like Plato's Republic where natural tendencies and abilities are observed and people are separated accordingly for their roles in society.
A brilliant book and a must-read for would-be writers. With that said, I did think it became a bit preachy in the latter half. The story was at its best when it simply described the horror society objectively and in all fairness, and left the reader to draw conclusions from it. The Savage ended up seeming like a stubborn dinosaur, who lived just as much in a fantasy world, only one where Shakespeare was everything and people meant nothing. He liked Lenina as long as he could project a saintly fantasy onto her, and once he found out how promiscuous she was, he was repulsed and rejected her like a whore. In the end, his ideals were as skewed as the new society he loathed.
Brave New World is spectacular. If you watched V for Vendetta, know that it borrows heavily from this book. Brave New World describes a futuristic society devoid of God, art, history, music or individual experience. Everything is controlled by the government, and human beings live in comfort, with their every need being fulfilled through technology. The consequences of such an existence however, include a complete lack of individuality and a desire for organic, natural emotion and experience. Definitely a must read.