The Brave New World: Brief Summary

This is a novel based on dystopian fiction. It starts inside a Hatchery and conditioning center in London where there is mass production of babies. These test tube babies are grown and then conditioned according to social classes they are part of. This society builds on the belief that everyone belongs to everyone else and this makes Lenina Crowne receives criticism for only having one partner. She decides to explore her options and meets Bernard Marx, and they take a trip to a savage reservation to see how humans behave without rules of society.

Lenina’s reaction is being horrified by the people dirtiness, their complex rituals and their clear signs of illness and aging. They were everything she had been taught to hate. What shocked both of them, even more, is a woman named Linda a member of their civilization who accidentally got trapped there for years. She had gotten overweight, dirty and was desperate to go back to civilization.

The couple acquires permission to take Linda and her son John to civilization. Linda and her son find it difficult to reestablish themselves in society. People avoid Linda with their thought focusing on the fact that she had given birth like an animal. Linda is not affected by this.

Johns experience was different. He did not fit in at the reservation because Linda did not acquire any essential skills and hence they were outcasts. He had however taught him how to read, and this made him feel like he was better than them. He also found out that the ideals and morals of the reservation were still with him.

The civilization finds john fascinating, and they constantly stalk him. Bernard always invites him to parties while Lenina, on the other hand, makes attempts to seduce him. Mustapha Mond, the Controller, tries to make John see that happiness is far better than freedom and art. John makes up his mind and decides to live by himself. The paparazzi still would not leave him alone. He ends up committing suicide.