The Future as Portrayed in Brave New World :: Brave New World

The Future as Portrayed in Brave New World     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World opens in a technically advanced future world. In the beginning of this book, we see the Director of World Hatcheries lead the new hatchery students on a tour of a Conditioning Center in London where babies are produced in bottles and pre-sorted to determine which class level they will be born into. These class level range from Alpha-plus, the highest level, to Epsilon-minus, the lowest. There are no parents, and babies are conditioned from birth to learn certain behaviors. All diseases have been eliminated, and when people are feeling down, they just take soma, a wonder drug. Also, people are conditioned from birth not to love one person, so there is no marriage and most people have many lovers. There is no God; instead, Henry Ford is worshipped as the god Ford. Another accomplishment of this society is the elimination of aging. Bernard Marx has unorthodox viewpoints and is outcast as an eccentric. He likes being alone, but in this society being alone is discouraged. His isolation from society has made him very different from everyone else. His only friend is Helmholtz Watson, an accomplished intellect who writes government propaganda. Watson has grown war of life as it is, and his supervisors have him under close watch. Two co-workers are discussing Lenina Crowne, another worker, in a changing room. They act as if she were property, able to be bought and sold. Bernard is disgusted by this, so he decides to ask Lenina to go to a Savage Reservation in New Mexico. Bernard visits the Director for permission to go. The Director tells a story of when he went to a Savage Reservation with Linda, a pretty colleague. During their visit,Linda was lost, and the Director had to leave. So Bernard and Lenina go to the Savage Reservation, which is inhabited by Indians. They quickly find Linda among the Indians. At first they do not realize who she is, but she explains what happened. Linda is aged and obese. Also, Linda has a son named Jo hn who is the Director's child. John is educated and mature, having read Shakespeare (forbidden in civilization). Bernard takes the two back to London for study. Once back, Linda takes too much soma, so she falls into a coma. John is displayed by Bernard, who becomes a hero.