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Unit 17: Aldous Huxley—Brave New World

I, when a lack of societal control had caused a war that inflicted great pain and death on an Notes
entire continent.
The novel also comments on humanity’s indiscriminate belief in progress and science. Huxley
had himself desired a scientific career before the near blindness that he suffered during childhood
kept him from such pursuits. The Western world, Huxley believed, placed too much emphasis
on scientific progress at the expense of a love for beauty and art. His novel attempts to show
how such science, when taken too far, can limit the flourishing of human thought. In World
War I, humanity had seen the great destruction that technology such as bombs, planes, and
machine guns could cause.

Notes Huxley believed that the possibility for such destruction did not only belong to
weapons of war but to other scientific advancements as well.

Self Assessment

Multiple Choice Questions:
1. Who was the author of Brave new world?
(a) Jane Austen (b) Aldous Huxley

(c) Joseph Andrews (d) None of these
2. Huxley fifth novel Brave new world was written in ......... .
(a) 1932 (b) 1930
(c) 1931 (d) 1933
3. In which year, Morden Library ranked Brave new world?

(a) 1899 (b) 1999
(c) 1795 (d) 1995
4. Aldous Huxley was the ......... son of Dr. Leonard Huxley and Julia Arnold.
(a) third (b) second
(c) first (d) none of these.

5. In which year Brave new world was published?
(a) 1931 (b) 1929
(c) 1930 (d) 1932
6. Huxley died from ......... on November 22, 1963.
(a) Cancer (b) Asthma

(c) Brain hemorrhage (d) Tumor
The reaction of society to the book ranged from acclaim to outrage. H.G. Wells, a famous
writer of science fiction and dystopian literature, panned the book as alarmist. Other critics
challenged Huxley’s depictions of religion and ritual as well as his views of sexuality and
drug use. The novel’s stark depictions of sexuality and cruelty meant that it continues to incite
controversy over whether or not it is an appropriate book for all ages and audiences. Nevertheless,
as a social critique, Brave New World takes credit with Orwell’s 1984 for advancing a new
genre of literature that fuses science fiction, political allegory, and literary ambition.

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