‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley is a strange and controversial book revolving around two characters; Bernard and John. This book is not only banned in many countries, but it is also banned in Canada. Personally, I did not like ‘Brave New World’ for a variety of reasons, most of which can be backed up by the fact that in order to move along, very bad topics and scenes are brought up for what reason? The problem is, I do not see the author putting them in for the sake of addressing them or for the character to overcome it, maybe not even for the sake of bringing awareness. I see why people (and many) were triggered by this book, and reasonably as well. Huxley kind of normalizes the use of these bad topics in his book, and it worries me.
My main problem is this: the book is (reasonably) banned in Canada, but not only do we have access to it, we are reading a book that contains a sense of normalization of slight CP, SA, drugs, and etc. I find myself wondering, was this even allowed? And also, the end is very disturbing, it moved very fast and, well… that happened. If we absolutely had to read this book, I’d rather it be in the older grades. I’d also like to understand why Huxley wrote the book like this, and what gave him the thought it would be so immature? The characters in this book feel like they’re written like children, or maybe that’s just because this is such a controversial book.
On a positive note, it does give us an idea that people during Huxley’s time really were dreaming of flying cars, or helicopters, or… whatever it is they drive. I honestly don’t know. But, truthfully, this book makes me question a lot: why did Huxley feel the need to put such topics in? And how, if anything, did their society come up with the though that there is no use for old things? Why do we change POV? Why was the book overall written like this, and why did Huxley choose to go down the path he did? Is there even any reasoning behind the book? It’s hard for me to believe so, but it’s also hard for me to believe that the work was written just to fulfill a twisted thought or fantasy. It’s hard to come to terms with anything in this book, let alone the book itself.
As a side note, shouldn’t we be reading Romeo and Juliet? And I wonder why this book was even allowed to be shown to grade 10’s. It’s just adds to the unappealing-ness of this book, when you realize we’re reading this at 15… reading about a book thought to be the future, a future where drug abuse, child… stuff, and other disgusting things are normalized and accepted into society. Where everyone, in a sense, is brainwashed.