Brave New World Literary Devices

Explanation and Analysis—Caste System:

In Chapter 4, Huxley describes Bernard's envy of his fellow Alpha Plus citizens using simile:

How bitterly he envied men like Henry Foster and Benito Hoover! Men who never had to shout at an Epsilon to get an order obeyed; men who took their position for granted; men who moved through the caste system as a fish through the water—so utterly at home as to be unaware either of themselves or of the beneficent and comfortable element in which they had their being.

To Bernard, men like Henry and Benito move through life like fish through water: the system is built for them, and they do not struggle. Bernard is intensely jealous of these men because he is not complacent in the same way, and this jealousy is what drives him. To be clear, Bernard does not oppose this totalitarian society out of any sense of moral indignation or solidarity with the oppressed. He does not truly see what is wrong with it, except for the fact that it does not work in his favor. But the minute the tide turns, and Bernard momentarily experiences popularity due to his association with John, this antagonistic view of society melts away.

This passage reveals that Bernard perhaps cares more about his ability to fit in than he cares about justice or freedom. Tragically, Bernard lacks individuality and cannot see beyond his own desire for conformity. This is by design, as he has been conditioned from birth to spurn his individuality in favor of mass approval and validation. If Bernard had not been born appearing physically deficient for his caste, he would probably accept this totalitarian society just as much as the men he envies do.

Explanation and Analysis—Black Spirituality:

In Chapter 5, Bernard participates in a Solidarity Service with 11 of his fellow Alphas. This service is curious, primarily because its traditions and customs allude to those of the Black American Church. For instance, the service concludes with the following simile:

Tenderly the deep Voice crooned and cooed; in the red twilight it was as though some enormous negro dove were hovering benevolently over the now prone or supine dancers.

The excerpt compares the pre-recorded voice directing Bernard's Solidarity Service to a "negro dove," conjuring up the imagery of Black American music and spirituality. In addition to this direct reference, the interactive styles of praise and worship unique to Black American Christianity and Pentecostal churches are reflected in the traditions of this "Solidarity Service":

And suddenly the tearing point was reached. Her eyes staring, her lips parted, Morgana Rothschild sprang to her feet. ‘I hear him,’ she cried. ‘I hear him.’
‘He’s coming,’ shouted Sarojini Engels. ‘Yes, he’s coming, I hear him.’
Fifi Bradlaugh and Tom Kawaguchi rose simultaneously to their feet.

This deeply racist totalitarian state would likely consider the religious traditions of Black Americans "primitive" or "savage," just as the so-called "savages" in the novel (who live on a "Savage Reservation") are loosely modeled after real-life Native American people. But—like many other oppressive colonial regimes—the World State pilfers and appropriates the traditions of other cultures as a means of power and control.

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Explanation and Analysis—Words:

In his flashback during Chapter 8, John describes a tumultuous childhood, outlining his hate for his mother's lover. As he learns more words by reading Shakespeare, these words enable him to voice his frustration in heretofore unknown vocabulary. He uses simile to equate these new words to "drums and singing and magic":

Somehow it was as though he had never really hated Popé before; never really hated him because he had never been able to say how much he hated him. But now he had these words, these words like drums and singing and magic.

This passage forms a connection between a variety of art forms and the process of communicating and understanding emotion. If one is never provided words with which to articulate one's emotions and frustrations, it is difficult (perhaps impossible) to understand and analyze those feelings. Until he reads Shakespeare, John has no scaffolding for his emotional, internal life. Words, as well as music, provide that scaffolding—hence, why it is necessary for a totalitarian regime to restrict any such creative venture. Without the tools to communicate discontent, many people will simply languish, unaware of what it is they are lacking. Helmholtz Watson is a clear example of this: he has the instinct to create and communicate but not the tools.

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Explanation and Analysis—Birth:

In Chapter 8, John reflects on his past, describing his mother and his upbringing to Bernard. In one scene from this flashback, John recalls an instance from childhood where his mother yelled at him, using simile to describe her situation and her hatred of the "savage" society:

‘Turned into a savage,’ she shouted. ‘Having young ones like an animal… . If it hadn’t been for you, I might have gone to the Inspector, I might have got away. But not with a baby. That would have been too shameful.’

Linda rages angrily at her son, blaming him for being the reason she could not return to civilization. She uses simile to compare herself to an animal giving birth, demonstrating the alienation she feels from her own bodily functions on account of the totalitarian regime's conditioning.

Through this simile, Linda reveals an aspect of the World State's caste system that is crucial to maintaining the totalitarian regime's control: scorn and contempt for "lesser species," or non-human animals. By indoctrinating people to feel this way, the World State encourages disdain for the natural world (that is, the world outside of the regime) and, as such, encourages people's alignment with and dependence on human society. This hierarchy may not be so different from sentiments that readers encounter in everyday life: many people view non-human animals as lesser beings and metaphorically compare people to animals in order to insult them. Some scholars have argued that in order to prevent inequality, and discrimination in modern society, one must first counteract the idea that non-humans are lesser. Doing so eliminates a key linguistic tool of oppression.

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Explanation and Analysis—Maggots:

John has an extremely disconcerting experience in the hospital while visiting his mother on her deathbed. Young Delta children are brought into the hospital during his visit as a part of their conditioning. They unsettle John with their uniformity and lack of personal boundaries, pestering him with questions about Linda. Huxley combines simile, extended metaphor, and imagery to describe this behavior in Chapter 14:

Their uniform was khaki. All their mouths hung open. Squealing and chattering they entered. In a moment, it seemed, the ward was maggoty with them. They swarmed between the beds, clambered over, crawled under, peeped into the television boxes, made faces at the patients.

While Linda is suffering on her deathbed, these children view her only as a curiosity — an oddity, perhaps, to be consumed and digested. The scene's visual imagery—"Their uniform was khaki. All their mouths hung open"—suggests a writing, grey mass of detritivores, operating with one mind and one goal. In their khaki pants, these children even have maggot-like coloring.

In Chapter 15, Huxley extends this figurative language to adult Deltas, the "twins," who similarly consume his "grief and repentance" following his mother's death:

Twins, twins… . Like maggots they had swarmed defilingly over the mystery of Linda’s death. Maggots again, but larger, full grown, they now crawled across his grief and his repentance. He halted and, with bewildered and horrified eyes, stared round him at the khaki mob.

This so-called civilization has erased any semblance of personal boundaries, to the point that its citizens are enabled to behave like thoughtless, animalistic opportunists, refusing to forgo their own pleasure or curiosity out of respect. The reporters in Chapter 18 behave similarly, swooping in like scavengers to sensationalize John's suffering and unusual behavior for their broadcast. The death of individuality in this society is also the death of solitude, and the imagery of death in these scenes affirms that.

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Explanation and Analysis—Maggots:

John has an extremely disconcerting experience in the hospital while visiting his mother on her deathbed. Young Delta children are brought into the hospital during his visit as a part of their conditioning. They unsettle John with their uniformity and lack of personal boundaries, pestering him with questions about Linda. Huxley combines simile, extended metaphor, and imagery to describe this behavior in Chapter 14:

Their uniform was khaki. All their mouths hung open. Squealing and chattering they entered. In a moment, it seemed, the ward was maggoty with them. They swarmed between the beds, clambered over, crawled under, peeped into the television boxes, made faces at the patients.

While Linda is suffering on her deathbed, these children view her only as a curiosity — an oddity, perhaps, to be consumed and digested. The scene's visual imagery—"Their uniform was khaki. All their mouths hung open"—suggests a writing, grey mass of detritivores, operating with one mind and one goal. In their khaki pants, these children even have maggot-like coloring.

In Chapter 15, Huxley extends this figurative language to adult Deltas, the "twins," who similarly consume his "grief and repentance" following his mother's death:

Twins, twins… . Like maggots they had swarmed defilingly over the mystery of Linda’s death. Maggots again, but larger, full grown, they now crawled across his grief and his repentance. He halted and, with bewildered and horrified eyes, stared round him at the khaki mob.

This so-called civilization has erased any semblance of personal boundaries, to the point that its citizens are enabled to behave like thoughtless, animalistic opportunists, refusing to forgo their own pleasure or curiosity out of respect. The reporters in Chapter 18 behave similarly, swooping in like scavengers to sensationalize John's suffering and unusual behavior for their broadcast. The death of individuality in this society is also the death of solitude, and the imagery of death in these scenes affirms that.

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Explanation and Analysis—The Reporters:

In Chapter 18, John is set upon by a large group of reporters after they discover his hiding place in the English countryside. The book uses simile to characterize the reporters' behavior:

"Three days later, like turkey buzzards settling on a corpse, the reporters came."

This figurative language extends to later in the chapter, describing the reporters as vermin:

"After a time the vermin evidently became bored and flew away; for hours at a stretch the sky above his head was empty and, but for the larks, silent."

These comparisons are apt ones: the reporters are "like turkey buzzards" in the image they present, flying far above John before descending on him like they might a dead animal. On a metaphorical level, the way the reporters act is akin to that of buzzards. They are opportunistic predators, and their attitude—in line with this society's valuing of sensationalism and mindless consumption—is extractive. They want something from John, a sensational story or a scandal, and they are willing to do anything to get it—including consuming him wholly and entirely. If John is a carcass, the reporters want to pick him apart until there is nothing more to extract.

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Brave New World

Aldous Huxley

Brave New World: Similes 6 key examples