Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, is set in a utopian society where humans are bred to belong to different classes. The highest class is Alphas, which are bred to be the most intelligent and good-looking members of society, while lowly Epsilons are made for labor. Life in this society is only about pleasure without any deeper meaning. Soma is used to keep those in this society happy and passive. Our main character in the beginning of the novel is Bernard Marx, an Alpha who is awkward and unpopular, unlike the others in his class. He is attracted to Lenina Crowne, and together they make a strange discovery that could change their society forever.
Brave New World was very divisive among those who I talked about it with. Many of them detested the book, while others quite enjoyed it. I found myself somewhere in the middle. I found the world very interesting, and I liked the symbolism and writing in the book as well. The world was explained well and I enjoyed reading about the morality of this world and how it differs from today. This book is very successful at predicting the future from when it was written. The ending is also very strong. The characters, however, are not very likable or easy to root for. Brave New World is more about the world than the characters, at least in my opinion. The middle section of this story is slow, and the structure of the novel as a whole is strange. This book is definitely not one of my least favorites, but it didn’t stand out to me among the many dystopian books I needed to read for English class.