This is a book review I completed for World Literature summer homework at Prairie Ridge High School.

Pg. 1-86

A group of students receive a tour of a scientific- building from a director as the story begins. Wandering from machine to machine, students furiously take notes as the director describes the process they are witnessing. This scientific building is actually a giant human cloning factory, producing thou-sands upon thousands of identical humans similar to manufacturing products on an assembly line. The director describes how these engineered humans go through a process similar to human gestation in-side a bottle, where they are custom designed to fit their caste and future occupation. Additionally, the director emphasizes on optimizing these humans to become as useful and productive as possible as soon as possible, including reducing maturation periods to a handful of years.

As the tour continues, the director shows how the manufactured humans are trained at a very young age. A demonstration is shown where human infants of the lower three castes are lined up and told to retrieve some books. As the babies crawl to the books, a severe electric shock and loud sirens terrorize them. The director explains that this allows the infants to make a correlation between books and discomfort, which makes them dislike education and ultimately prevents them from ?wasting? their time studying to become better people, as members of their caste need not learn as much as members of a higher caste. Similarly, infants of the higher two classes are told using a voice recording that they must achieve more than the lower three castes, thus programming and conditioning the infants, but this time using a process called hypnop?dia instead of pain correlation.

Further into the tour, a comparison is made between the time of the setting of the book and the current setting of the reader. As the students watch the manufactured infants engage in erotic behavior, the director explains that a long time ago, in a previous period where natural human reproduction occurred, sexual activity during childhood was considered inappropriate and unacceptable. I believe the analogy made between the differences of what was and is considered inappropriate gave insight into what cultural taboo really is. The students receiving the tour were educated similarly to how the manufactured humans are educated, and they are told how to live life correctly. I personally believe that taboos are rarely linked to what is really ethically right or wrong, and is more influenced by what others claim is embarrassing or private. Seeing as these manufactured humans feel no shame exhibiting sexual behavior, the same can happen in modern-day times. Conclusively, this concept can be used as methods of revolution, when extreme changes occur within the population of Earth. Also, when misused, eras like Hitler?s can rise as people?s beliefs are changed entirely, and they are unable to tell the difference between what is really right or wrong.

I was intrigued by the emphasis placed on how the human production described was very similar to an assembly line, and picked up a possible hidden meaning behind the implications. Although the book was published in 1932, there may have been arguments regarding human cloning and unnatural reproduction back then. By stressing the significance of the inhumane assembly lines, the author makes a powerful stance against mass production of humans, as they lose their individuality, personal characteristics, and idiosyncrasies. Although the simulation of human birth greatly resembled actual gestation (the bottles with humans planted inside were taken down a belt measured by meters, with meters being equivalent to the days inside the uterus), the treatment the bottles received did not fulfill the nurturing care and love a human deserves when developing from an egg.

Pg. 87-171

Following up on plans mentioned earlier in the book, Bernard Marx and Lenina go on their scheduled date. During the outing, Bernard is severely embarrassed by Lenina acting so freely and publicly about her sexual life. After partaking in various activities together, like traveling via helicopter, playing obstacle golf, having a drink of coffee, and attending a wrestling, match, Bernard and Lenina eventually have sex. A day afterward, Bernard states that he never had an intention to have sex with her that night and prefers to act in a more mature and orderly manner. The couple then goes to the Reservation, and learns that the director has plans to exile Bernard to Iceland.

After reading about Bernard?s experiences, I think that he feels out of place in the caste system of his time. Concluding from his reactions to particular incidents, Bernard prefers the older and more professional way of life than the new system of human manufacturing. As shown by his reaction to Lenina’s demands, Bernard is a shy man that likes to take things slowly and steadily. Interpreting his response to Lenina’s sexual desires, Bernard has a more modern-day conventional style of dating and getting to know people. However, although he did not wish to comply with Lenina’s longings, Bernard proceeded to satisfy Lenina nonetheless. This made me realize that the problem of peer pressure and outside influences still affects and will probably always affect how humans respond to situations where they are unsure of what action to take.

Also in this section, a new character named Helmholtz Watson is introduced. Falling in the alpha caste, he is described as one of the most perfect humans alive. Holding the occupation of lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering, he is extremely intelligent and attractive. Although Helmholtz excels beyond others in his caste, he disapproves of the new method of human production through assembly lines. He has a desire to prove that one can surpass what they are trained to do during production, and repetitive replays of recordings cannot defeat the power that comes with self-innovation. Meanwhile, he easily fulfills what alpha caste members are expected to do.

I believe that Helmholtz resembles a powerful human in our modern day that brings changes through advancement of ways. Although living in the age of castes and unnatural human production, Helmholtz has a firm opinion about the situation at hand, and strongly opposes to it. People like these in our modern day, good or bad, have brought changes to our world. By being able to live in the moment and plan for a future at the same time, people like Helmholtz have successfully improved the way of life. Although the book declares that this process was upgraded from regular human reproduction, I think that Helmholtz sees the flaws of lack of individuality from using this process, and he does not believe the improvement really is an advancement. These days, developing children and teenagers see people like this as icons. Being both conforming and rebellious at the same time, these idols act as influential leaders controlling their followers and leading them in the direction they believe is best.

Pg. 172-268

A new character named John comes into play and holds a large significance in this section. Bernard and Lenina first meet John in the Reservation, where he states that his mother comes from outside the Reservation. After introducing his mother, Linda, to Bernard and Lenina, they soon discover that there was never an intention for John to be born. According to Linda, the contraceptive malfunctioned, and John was born inside the Reservation; afterward, Linda was too ashamed of herself to leave the Reservation with a child, so she stayed. The distress and depression caused Linda to abuse soma, a drug said to have the same effects as modern-day addictive drugs, bringing a sense of temporary bliss and happiness, but with no side effects.

After learning about soma, I had a question: How could a substance cause someone to artificially feel a wave of intense pleasure, but not have any negative side effects? Essentially, modern-day drugs cause severe detrimental psychological side effects because they produce an unnatural feeling of delight normally unobtainable by regular means. As users become dependent on this feeling, their bodies desire more of the euphoric feeling, causing their minds to become stressed when not experiencing the exhilaration. Assuming that soma has the effects it is advertised to have, and has nonexistent side effects, it made me think that the only way this could happen is if the manufactured humans? minds were also altered psychologically. Similar to how the bottled babies were trained to be in particular castes, and customized to complete particular tasks better than any other individual of their breed, their minds may have been ?upgraded? from the emotional and seemingly weak humans we are now to unchanging and unaffected robot-like creatures.

Continuing on the idea of soma, this is an excerpt from the book: ?And there?s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears?that?s what soma is.? This description of soma?s abilities extends upon the original comparison it was made to modern-day drugs. Not only does it make one feel a rush of happiness, it also fast-forwards the endurance one requires to become a respectable person. By speeding up the ?moral training,? one may be able to achieve a high social status without placing much effort into their self-image.

Additionally, the idea of making someone more patient and long-suffering contradicts the firm castes the people must be a part of. Essentially, soma will make anybody a higher-class person if taken enough. By creating this substance, the original conditioning the babies receive when they are developing becomes useless, as they would be able to gain status using external influences.