You have left this question incredibly open, and so I have
included some links below to help you access further information about themes and
characters in this excellent novel, which will help you to find out more about some of
the key interests. Any of these could be used as a basis for an essay. For example, you
might like to write about the theme of class in this
novel.
The rigorous scientific conditioning that has
produced the "brave, new world" of the novel has successfuly done away with class
conflict. The Controllers, in deciding that there should be five social classes from
Alphas to Episolons, have therefore created a system where everyone is genetically bred
and conditioned to accept their lot in life and be best adapted to their class in life.
There is no sense of class envy or a desire to achieve social mobility. Note the way
that the Epsilons receive less oxygen to ensure their lower intelligence as the Director
of the Hatcheries explains in Chapter One:
readability="6">
Hasn't it occurred to you that an Epsilon embryo
must have an Epsilon environment as well as an Epsilon
heredity?
Thus it is that
embryos that are marked to be Epsilons are given less oxygen to impact their
brain.
However, it is clear that in spite of this rigid
delineation and how it is accepted, Huxley seems to be satirising the importance of
class in British society during the time he was writing. One way he does this is by
focusing on how different classes look physically different but how they all wear
separate colours to avoid confusion, just as we today wear certain types of clothing to
identify us as belonging to a particular social class. Secondly, class is satirised by
the introduction of John the Savage into this world, who has not received the same kind
of conditioning as others, and thus when he sees a dark-skinned Epsilon, he thinks of
Othello, a Shakespearean hero famous for being both dark-skinned and noble. John, unlike
the new society around him, does not judge by appearance, and Huxley thus seems to be
pointing out the hypocrisy of society in judging by social class rather than judging by
looking at individuals and their worth alone.
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