Critical Review of “The Provocations of Lenina in Huxley's Brave New World”
Baylie Fox
David Leon Higdon, author of The Provocations of Lenina in Huxley's Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, uses the character “Lenina” from Brave New World to show Aldous Huxley’s misogynistic views on women. Huxley often described women as vicious or depressed creatures works preceding Brave New World and followed suit in his 1932 work. Although he wrote Lenina as a type of strong “against the grain” type of woman, Huxley almost refused to acknowledge her resistance to the Fordian society. As Milton Brinbaum stated, Huxley writes females to be only a satellite to males and are only seen in relationship to them.
Brave New World’s world is viewed from four main males of the story: Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, John the Savage, and Mustapha Mond. Each of these men found a way, either purposefully or not, to act in an unorthodox manner. What is overlooked, though, is the many ways Lenina resisted against the patriarchal state of society. Lenina, in the case of clothing rebellion, wore green instead of her implied Alpha status’s color.
Lenina also unorthodoxly rebelled in her sexual habits. While the citizens of the “brave new world” supported the idea that “everyone belonged to everyone else” in a sexual sense, Lenina preferred to take a monogamous view on life, and even began to desire the feeling of love, a concept removed from the utopia so total control could be maintained over the Fordians.
Aldous Huxley did not further develop Lenina’s obviously unique character traits but instead humiliated her by turning her into a sexual predator (towards John the Savage) just like he had done with his female characters in past novels and also by killing Lenina by a beating.
In the two times Huxley revisited his novel, he never once mentioned the women of his novel, only commenting that he could have developed John’s character to have the hope of sanity towards the end of the story, instead of being driven to pure lunacy (Higdon).
Huxley minimalizes the importance of all female characters in Brave New World and makes his Fordian society based off of the roles of the male characters. Huxley should instead use the females of Brave New World to show the equality of his “utopia” and expand on their potentially rebellious characteristics to further prove that they live in what is a dystopia for men, and adequate enough for the women to not realize the society’s faults. In this way, Huxley makes womankind appear ignorant to their surrounding political situation.
Brave New World’s world is viewed from four main males of the story: Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, John the Savage, and Mustapha Mond. Each of these men found a way, either purposefully or not, to act in an unorthodox manner. What is overlooked, though, is the many ways Lenina resisted against the patriarchal state of society. Lenina, in the case of clothing rebellion, wore green instead of her implied Alpha status’s color.
Lenina also unorthodoxly rebelled in her sexual habits. While the citizens of the “brave new world” supported the idea that “everyone belonged to everyone else” in a sexual sense, Lenina preferred to take a monogamous view on life, and even began to desire the feeling of love, a concept removed from the utopia so total control could be maintained over the Fordians.
Aldous Huxley did not further develop Lenina’s obviously unique character traits but instead humiliated her by turning her into a sexual predator (towards John the Savage) just like he had done with his female characters in past novels and also by killing Lenina by a beating.
In the two times Huxley revisited his novel, he never once mentioned the women of his novel, only commenting that he could have developed John’s character to have the hope of sanity towards the end of the story, instead of being driven to pure lunacy (Higdon).
Huxley minimalizes the importance of all female characters in Brave New World and makes his Fordian society based off of the roles of the male characters. Huxley should instead use the females of Brave New World to show the equality of his “utopia” and expand on their potentially rebellious characteristics to further prove that they live in what is a dystopia for men, and adequate enough for the women to not realize the society’s faults. In this way, Huxley makes womankind appear ignorant to their surrounding political situation.
Works Cited
Higdon, David. “The Provocations of Lenina in Huxley's Brave New World.” The
International Fiction Review 29.1-2 (2002): n. pag. Web. 13 April 2014.
Higdon, David. “The Provocations of Lenina in Huxley's Brave New World.” The
International Fiction Review 29.1-2 (2002): n. pag. Web. 13 April 2014.