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Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Religious Leaders:
In Chapter 3, while the Director is speaking to his students, a World Controller named Mustapha Mond arrives. The students become incredibly excited, as does the Director. All of them flock to Mond, ready to hang on his every word. During this scene, Huxley uses allusion to depict Mond's nearly god-like power:
His fordship Mustapha Mond! The eyes of the saluting students almost popped out of their heads. Mustapha Mond! The Resident Controller for Western Europe! One of the Ten World Controllers. One of the Ten … and he sat down on the bench with the D.H.C., he was going to stay, to stay, yes, and actually talk to them … straight from the horse’s mouth. Straight from the mouth of Ford himself.
In the last line of this passage, Huxley alludes to Henry Ford, famous innovator of the American production line assembly system for cars. Ford himself did not create anything new, necessarily—rather, he pioneered the systems of uniform mass production that dominate in this consumption-centric dystopia. In such a society, Ford has effectively become a stand-in for God, as evidenced by the fact that characters will exclaim "Oh Ford!" instead of "Oh God!" if they are upset or surprised. The students in this scene place Mond on a kind of pedestal, equating his position in the social hierarchy to that of Ford. Much like a god, Mond has total control over the people under his dominion, down to the cellular level.
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Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Bernard's Fame:
In Chapter 11, Bernard takes John on a tour of Eton, accompanied by its attractive Headmistress. While on tour, Dr. Gaffney arrives and begins to discuss the operation of Slough Crematorium and the concept of death conditioning. This is an entirely new concept for John, who is unused to this society and its lack of concern for the seriousness of death. From the reader's perspective, this way of thinking about death, human individuality, and value is likely also jarring—the reader, like John, was not raised with this propaganda. Thus, when Bernard takes the time to flirt with the Headmistress in the midst of this conversation, it reads as situational irony:
‘Just returned,’ explained Dr. Gaffney, while Bernard, whispering, made an appointment with the Head Mistress for that very evening, ‘from the Slough Crematorium. Death conditioning begins at eighteen months. Every tot spends two mornings a week in a Hospital for the Dying. All the best toys are kept there, and they get chocolate cream on death days. They learn to take dying as a matter of course.’
One might expect Bernard to be horrified, by modern societal standards, but he isn't. He has no care or respect for the dead, because he doesn't need to—he can set up a date in the midst of a discussion about death without batting an eyelash. Such is the difference propaganda makes, even when dealing with as heavy and universal a topic as death.
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Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Brave New World:
The novel's title, "Brave New World," is an allusion to The Tempest by Shakespeare. The phrase "brave new world" is spoken by the character Miranda: "O, wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world / That has such people in't!"
At the beginning of The Tempest, the audience learn that Miranda has spent most of her life cut off from civilization, on an island with only three other people: her father, an enslaved man named Caliban, and a spirit named Ariel. She is not aware of the wider world. By the end of the play, however, she finds herself married to Ferdinand, a sailor shipwrecked on their island. The above quotation from The Tempest is from the play's final act, following Miranda's marriage. She uses the phrase "brave new world" unironically, as she is genuinely excited to experience what the world has to offer beyond her island. Huxley's use of the phrase, though, is ironic: the dystopian "brave new world" he envisions in this novel is harrowing rather than exciting.
Chapter 15 of the book alludes to The Tempest directly, formalizing this connection between the novel's title and Miranda:
"Now, suddenly, they trumpeted a call to arms. ‘O brave new world!’ Miranda was proclaiming the possibility of loveliness, the possibility of transforming even the nightmare into something fine and noble. ‘O brave new world!’ It was a challenge, a command."
Importantly, the character of John in Brave New World is deeply interested in Shakespeare. In fact, Shakespeare's written works serve as a kind of guiding force for the young man, helping him contextualize and describe the world around him. Given his experiences in this horrific "brave new world," he interprets the passage differently than perhaps intended: as a call to change this dystopian world rather than an expression of excitement or appreciation of it.
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Chapter 16
Explanation and Analysis—Alphas:
In Chapter 16, Mustapha Mond attempts to justify the totalitarian World State's caste system, reasoning that a society made up of independent thinkers equipped with freedom would not function, simply because no Alpha would willingly do the work of the lower castes without complaining. This is a clear instance of dramatic irony, given the reader's own probable experience in the modern world:
"‘We believe in happiness and stability. A society of Alphas couldn’t fail to be unstable and miserable. Imagine a factory staffed by Alphas—that is to say by separate and unrelated individuals of good heredity and conditioned so as to be capable (within limits) of making a free choice and assuming responsibilities. Imagine it!'"
Mond explains why a society of Alphas could not exist, yet the reader knows that it does exist, in contemporary society. The "society of Alphas" he describes is simply a group of non-genetically-engineered human beings who have not had their growth deliberately stunted. The irony in this passage highlights the fact that instead of solving the workforce problem by using innovation and industry to automate menial tasks, freeing people to pursue other things, this totalitarian regime harms its citizens. The people of this society have essentially been turned into machine cogs instead of simply creating machines.
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