nut free nerd

Sometimes it seems as though certain books will never leave your TBR… until you finally force yourself to check them out of the library and read them in one sitting!

This was my situation with Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, a classic novel set in London during the year 2540. I’ve been intrigued by the synopsis ever since reading George Orwell’s 1984 a few years ago, yet for some reason I never got around to reading it until recently. (Was it Watsky’s song “Brave New World” that finally pushed me to action? Perhaps.)

Brave New World surprised me with its witty humor and snark. Of course, it’s incredibly dark humor– children are treated as mere numbers and essentially brainwashed into conforming to societal norms– but there are certainly ridiculous parts that made me laugh out loud. It’s precisely these moments of laughter when I realized the brilliance of this novel: it makes you realize that some elements of Huxley’s fictional society are also present in our modern reality. Many of us would rather be entertained and distracted rather than face actual problems that must be solved. Sometimes we treat relationships as a means to our own pleasure rather than a mutual connection between two people. We crave comfort, familiarity, and ease while simultaneously yearning for something more. Above all, we avoid things that are uncomfortable, painful, and unpleasant.

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”

Throughout the novel Huxley emphasizes the importance and value of hard work, perseverance, and taking chances. The argument is that when everything comes quickly and easy to everyone, the value of things, people, and ideas are soon lost.

“The Savage nodded, frowning. “You got rid of them. Yes, that’s just like you. Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it. Whether ’tis better in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows or outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them…But you don’t do either. Neither suffer nor oppose. You just abolish the slings and arrows. It’s too easy.”

…”What you need,” the Savage went on, “is something with tears for a change. Nothing costs enough here.”

As the facade fades away, the reader realizes that what appears to be a utopian world is actually a dystopian society masked in false promises and illusions. I love Brave New World for the way it makes you think about our own society and what we value in our lives today. It’s interesting to think about how this novel was first published in 1932 yet it’s still relevant almost a century later. To me, this endurance is the definition of a classic.

My only regret is not having read this book sooner. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!

What are your thoughts on Brave New World? Have any recommendations of similar books? Let me know in the comments section below!

Yours,

HOLLY