Huxley's Brave New World--Prose Analysis 1 of 2 by Kazzandra

Text from the Novel—Page 103

         Leaning forward, the Warden tapped the table with his forefinger. “You ask me how many people live in the Reservation. And I reply” –triumphantly- “I reply that we do not know. We can only guess.”

         “You don’t say so.”

         “My dear young lady, I do say so.”

          Six times twenty-four—no, it would be nearer six times thirty-six. Bernard was pale and trembling with impatience. But inexorably the booming continued.

         “. . . about sixty thousand Indians and half-breeds . . .absolute savages. . . our inspectors visit. . . otherwise, no communication whatever with the civilized world. . . still preserve their repulsive habits and customs. . . marriage, if you know what that is, my dear young lady; families. . . no conditioning. . . monstrous superstitions. . . Christianity and totemism and ancestor worship . . . extinct languages, such as Zuñi and Spanish and Athapascan . . . pumas, porcupines and other ferocious animals . . . infectious diseases . . . priests. . . venomous lizards. . .”

         “You don’t say so?”

Analysis:

          This passage contains quite a long description of a world, identified here as the Reservation, so similar if not exactly like the world I live in today. Explaining the customs and beliefs of this outside world, it seems like a scene from the movie Pocahontas when the British soldiers explain to their king of another world with Indian savages and a peculiar way of life. The Reservation is a complete mystery of which the   people of the civilized world have nearly no comprehension for why the savages live the way they do. Meant to be a serious and frightening subject for Lenina and Bernard, I find the Warden’s explanation humorous. Picturing an astonished man telling me, “Oh my, your people get married,” is almost like a punch line after which I’d respond by saying sarcastically, “No way. I think these couples have families too.” It’s amazing how the world I live in now is perceived to be so wrong in this almost too real of a future.

            Aldous Huxley’s wise use of tone is what creates the chaotic depictions of the Reservation. His simple word choices have a strong effect in showing the whole direction of the Warden’s outlook upon the outside world. It puts the world Bernard and Lenina are from on a pedestal as though it were the only perfect world in the universe. Absolute savages, repulsive habits, and ferocious animals are the examples in this passage which speak negatively of the Reservation. Said with scorn and a bit of hatred, the Warden definitely implies that their brave new world has control over this uncivilized world especially seen when he triumphantly says that he does not know the population of the Reservation as though greatly intrigued like scientists nowadays are fascinated by aliens.

           The interest and curiosity they have makes me feel like I’m the alien coming from a world I know is full of cruelty and mystery but I also know is normal. The disgust they contain deep in their minds and the fear they have for the Reservation is all too artificial. Who in their right minds would think like this? Because of the scientific development, morals have changed and my world, although it seems inevitable to turn into a world somewhat like this, is still the right way of life-unique and unpredictable. Life would no longer be worth living if everything about the human being were forced, turning everyone and everything into a robotic dystopia. Because of the bizarre opinions and views on the Reservation, I find it almost as though Huxley is being mock-serious about the whole matter; however, that exactly is what turns this into a serious subject. Our world continuously changes and things that have been wrong before are okay now. Listening to Huxley’s message, we should ask ourselves, “What’s happening to the world?”