Literature Analysis #1

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1. The story opens in London, 600 years in the future where nearly everyone and everything is industrialized. Everyone takes orders from a few people at the top of a World State. Humans are grown in a lab and divided into various castes. They are conditioned to believe moral "truths"- consumerism is the main focus. The main job of everyone is to keep the economy stable and strong. Sex is casual. A narcotic called soma is part of the everyday lifestyle. There is no sadness, individuality, no families, no literature, and no religion. Conservative Bernard has a date with unorthodoxed Lenina. While they are at the Savage Reservation (a place completely opposite of "The Other Place") they meet a boy named John (who turns out to be the Director's long lost son) and his mother. Bernard uses John as blackmail to the Director so he doesn't get exiled; the Director resigns. John isn't impressed with the civilized world, and the fact that he isn't allowed to quote Shakespeare. John refuses to have sex with Lenina and calls her a whore. His mother, Linda, overdoses on soma and dies; no one understands why he is so sad because to them, death is no big deal. John causes a riot and Bernard and Helmholtz try to help him but end up being exiled. Johns runs away to an abandoned light house, flogging and starving himself. Everyone comes to watch and take part in an orgy where John ends up having sex with Lenina. The next morning he hangs himself.
2. Brave New World has a few themes; science as a mean of control is a quite apparent one. Biology, psychology, and physiology are misused in the control of reproduction, Soma, and entertainment machines. The World State's control over human activity destroys even the scientific progress that gained it such control. Another theme includes consumer society. The attitudes and behaviors of the world in the book are extremes of our society today where people's happiness is based off the ability to satisfy their needs. Freedom and confinement is another strong theme emphasized in Brave New World. People are in a constant state of imprisonment of happiness. They are condition to not feel negative emotions. They are imprisoned by brainwashed sayings, drugs, and promiscuity. 
3. The tone of Brave New World is satirical, parodic, and dramatic. The book is a satire of society today.This society is made to be seen as wonderful and prosperous while the book really is a warning of the completely controlled society. Students even turn pale and sick when hearing the word "mother." In chapter 13, Lenina forgets to give a bottle its immunization. The text dramatically says, "Twenty-two years, eight months, and four days from that moment, a promising young Alpha-Minus administrator at Mwanza-Mwanza was to die of trypanosomiasis." Also at the end of chapter 3 it says, "Slowly, majestically, with a faint humming of machinery, the Conveyors moved forward, thirty-three centimeters an hour. In the red darkness glinted inumerable rubies." Brave New World combines dark drama with healthy puns and parodies such as "Orgy-porgy" or "Thank Ford!"
4. The author used a parody of a utopian society to create a disutopian society. Irony is also used in the book in which the reader knows things that the characters do not, and that this new world is an extreme version of our society. Being able to identify a metaphor too strengthened my understanding of the book. The Director continuously referred to the people as insects in saying, "This hive of industry." The author used symbolism of soma to represent the use of instant gratification to control the people. Multiple allusions to Shakespeare are present such as, "O brave new world that has such people in it." Another example from chapter 11 illustrates the authors use of visual imagery when describing characters and scenes- "Finally–and this was by far the strongest reason for people's not wanting to see poor Linda–there was her appearance. Fat; having lost her youth; with bad teeth, and a blotched complexion, and that figure (Ford!)–you simply couldn't look at her without feeling sick, yes, positively sick." Personification is also used, as it is seen  in a sentence in chapter 18- "Eternity was in our lips and eyes." In that same chapter, the author also used a hyperbole when Bernard asked the savage if he had eaten something that had made his stomach upset due to his ill-looking face. Hence the Savage responded with "I ate civilization." Precision of language is present in Brave New World. Society is described in which scientific exactitude is everything: "eighty-eight cubic meters of index cards". The story is mainly narrated from the third person point of view of Bernard of John."'In brief,' the Director summed up, 'the parents were the father and the mother.'…'These,' he said gravely, 'are unpleasant facts; I know it. But then most historical facts are unpleasant.'"
(I read the book online so I can't cite the pages)
Characterization
1. An example of direct characterization includes, "The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects..." A second example of direct characterization is, "Tall and rather thin but upright, the Director advanced into the room. He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not talking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five?" An example if indirect characterization includes, "'And then he spends most of his time by himself-alone.' There was horror in Fanny's voice." A second example of indirect characterization is, "Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly color. I'm so glad I'm a Beta." The author uses both approaches to further the novel's themes and his purpose/message he wants the readers to take in.
2. Yes the author's syntax is adjusted when focusing on a character. The syntax becomes more lyrical to express a specific character and how they feel and think. An example of this is clear when John talks about love and Shakespeare.
3. As the protagonist, Bernard Marx is a dynamic character(at least for a time being). As the start of the story Bernard is reserved. He stayed away from soma, avoided confrontation, and wasn't a sexually active man. After John came into his life, Bernard completely changed and became outgoing. He now took soma, hosted parties, and attracted women. Bernard shifted from being timid to being narcissistic. By the end, he has lost his popularity and is back to being dissatisfied with his life. Bernard is a flat character and can easily be described in one sentence-someone who is consumed with misery. 
4. When reading Brave New World I felt like I was meeting a character rather than a person. The way Bernard dealt with situations he faced wasn't compatible with how one would react today. His responses were unrelateable "Bernard gave his orders in the sharp, rather arrogant and even offensive tone of one who does not feel himself too secure his superiority. To have dealing with members of the lower castes was always, for Bernard, a most distressing experience. For whatever the cause...Bernard's physique was hardly better than that of the average Gamma. He stood 8 centimeters short of the standard Alpha height and was slender in proportion. Contact with members of the lower castes always reminded him painfully of his physical inadequacy." I personally feel that the author just seemed to describe characters.