On Aldous Huxley's Brave New World Revisited By: Luke Meyer
In his Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley writes to tell us how his nightmarish Brave New World has quite nearly become reality. He begins by writing, “in 1931, when Brave New World was being written, I was convinced that there was still plenty of time… Thirty-seven years later… I feel a good deal less optimistic than I did” (4). His book spends fifteen chapters detailing humanity’s societal tendencies, and fifteen times he clearly illustrates that we are entering a cowering, simpering New World.
He begins with simple logistics, covering such subjects as over-population, the subsequent moral issues of quantity versus quality, and the fear of over-organization. Keen to begin illuminating the similarities between our world and his Brave New World, Huxley first points out how the upper class is reproducing at a rate disproportionately less than that of the lower classes. This, combined with exponential population growth, contributes to a more caste-like pyramid system of power as seen in Brave New World. What follows, claims Huxley, is the issue of maintaining the death rate. He explains, “[if] quick death by malaria has been abolished; life made miserable by undernourishment and over-crowding is now the rule” (21). In the cold war era of the 60’s, Huxley still maintains that the only way to facilitate such growth is by strict rulership.
Huxley then progresses to detail how the familiar mind games from Brave New World are present in today’s society in the form of propaganda (both in democratic and tyrannical society), consumerism and the art of selling. According to Huxley, the best way to sell something, be it a product or an idea, in a democratic or an autocratic situation, “is to sell Hope” (63). Only when the audience thinks that they are in control will they be completely in the grasp of the puppeteer. Should these methods prove ineffective, Huxley illuminates the widespread use and general success of methods such as simple brainwashing, chemical persuasion, or more nefarious tactics like subconscious persuasion or hypnopaedia.
Lastly, so as to give his audience something to strive for in addition to things to avoid, he includes a section on education for freedom and answers the question: What can be done? In a depressingly short discourse, Huxley summarizes everything he has said to this point: He claims that we must choose. We must choose between efficient autonomy or reckless freedom. While in Brave New World we see what would happen if we choose the former, Huxley ends on a different note, saying “Perhaps the forces that now menace freedom are too strong to be resisted for very long. It is still our duty to do whatever we can to resist them” (147).
Source
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World ; And, Brave New World Revisited. London: Harper & Row, 1960. Print.