Brave New World美丽新世界 -final words文字稿

Plot

The novel opens in London in A.F. 632 (AD 2540 in the

Gregorian Calendar

). The

vast majority of the population is unified under

the World State

, an eternally

peaceful, stable global society where the population is

permanently limited

to no

more than two billion people, meaning goods and resources are plentiful and

everyone is happy. Natural reproduction has been done away with and children

are created,

birth, people are genetically designed to fit into one of five

castes

, which are

further split into

predetermined positions within the social and economic strata of the World State.

Fetuses chosen to become members of the highest castes,

allowed to develop naturally and are given stimulants while maturing to term in

in situ

chemical interference to

cause

arrested development

in intelligence and physical growth. Each Alpha or

Beta is the product of one unique fertilised egg developing into one unique

fetus

.

Members of lower castes are not unique but are instead created using

Bokanovsky's Process

one ovary to produce thousands of children. To further increase the birthrate of

Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons,

Podsnap's Technique

ovary to mature simultaneously, allowing the hatchery to get full use of the ovary

in two years' time. The majority of people in the World State come from these

castes. The production of such specialised children bolsters the efficiency and

harmony of society, since these people are deliberately limited in their cognitive

and physical abilities. It also restricts the scope of their ambitions and the

complexity of their desires, thus rendering them easier to control. All children are

educated via the

hypnopaedic

process, which provides each child with

caste- appropriate subconscious messages to mould the child's lifelong self-image

and social outlook to that chosen by the leaders and their predetermined plans for

producing future adult generations, as well as stopping the lower caste citizens

from wanting to be more than they were grown to be.

To maintain the World State's

Command Economy

for the indefinite future, all

citizens are conditioned from birth to value consumption with such platitudes as

instead of fixing the old one, because constant consumption and near- universal

employment to meet society's material demands is the bedrock of economic and

social stability for the World State. Beyond providing social engagement and

distraction in the material realm of work or play, the need for

transcendence

,

solitude

and spiritual

communion

is addressed with the ubiquitous availability and

universally endorsed consumption of the drug

soma

.

Soma

is an allusion to a

ritualistic drink of the same name

consumed by ancient

Indo-Aryans

. In the book,

soma

is a

hallucinogen

that takes users on enjoyable, hangover-free

was developed by the World State to provide these inner-directed personal

experiences within a socially managed context of State-run

organisations; social clubs. The hypnopaedically inculcated affinity for the

State-produced drug, as a self- medicating comfort mechanism in the face of stress

or discomfort, thereby eliminates the need for religion or other personal

allegiances outside or beyond the World State; the book describes it as having

the advantages of Christianity and alcohol, none of their defects.

Recreational sex

is an integral part of society. According to the World State, sex is a

social activity, rather than a means of reproduction and, as part of the conditioning

process, is encouraged from early childhood. The few women who can reproduce

are conditioned to use birth control, even wearing a

Malthusian

belt,

cartridge

belt

holding

contraceptives

The maxim

a

romantic relationships are rendered obsolete because they are no longer needed.

Marriage, natural birth, parenthood, and pregnancy are considered too obscene to

be mentioned in casual conversation. Thus, society has developed a totally

different idea of relationships, lifestyle and reproductive comprehension.

Spending time alone is considered an outrageous waste of time and money, and

wanting to be an individual is horrifying. Conditioning trains people to consume

and never to enjoy being alone, so by spending an afternoon not playing

Golf,

In the World State, people typically die at age 60

[14]

having maintained good health

and youthfulness their whole life. Death is not feared; anyone reflecting upon it is

reassured by the knowledge that everyone is happy, and that society goes on.

Since no one has family, they have no strong ties to mourn.

The conditioning system eliminates the need for professional competitiveness.

People are bred to do their jobs and to enjoy them so they never desire another.

There is no competition within castes, since each caste member receives the same

workload, the same food, housing, and

soma

rationing as every other member of

that caste. There is no desire to change one's caste, largely because a person's

sleep-conditioning reinforces each individual's place in the caste system. To grow

closer with members of the same class, citizens participate in mock religious

services called Solidarity Services, in which twelve people consume large quantities

of

soma

and sing hymns. The ritual progresses through group hypnosis and

climaxes in an

orgy

.

In geographic areas nonconducive to easy living and consumption, securely

contained groups of

the reservations of land established for the

Native American

population during the

colonisation of North America. These

including self- mutilation and religion, a mere curio in the outside world.

In its first chapters, the novel describes life in the World State as wonderful and

introduces Lenina Crowne and Bernard Marx. Lenina, a hatchery worker, is socially

accepted and comfortable with her place in society, while Bernard, a psychologist,

is an outcast. Although an Alpha Plus, Bernard is shorter in stature than the

average of his caste

—

a quality shared by the lower castes, which gives him an

inferiority complex. His work with sleep-teaching has led him to realise that what

others believe to be their own deeply held beliefs are merely phrases repeated to

children while they are asleep. Still, he recognises the necessity of such

programming as the reason why his society meets the emotional needs of its

citizens. Courting disaster, he is vocal about being different, once stating he

dislikes

soma

because he'd

that he was accidentally administered alcohol while incubated, a method used to

keep members of lower classes short.

Bernard's only friend is Helmholtz Watson, an Alpha Plus lecturer at the College of

Emotional Engineering (Department of Writing). The friendship is based on their

similar experiences as misfits, but unlike Bernard, Watson's sense of loneliness

stems from being too gifted, intelligent, handsome, and physically strong.

Helmholtz is drawn to Bernard as a confidant: he can talk to Bernard about his

desire to write poetry.

The Reservation and the Savage (Chapters 7

–

9)

Bernard is on holiday at a Savage Reservation with Lenina, located in

New Mexico

.

They are treated to what at first appears to be a quaint native ceremony. The village

folk, whose culture resembles the contemporary Indian groups of the region,

descendants of the

Anasazi

, including the

Puebloan

peoples of

Acoma

,

Laguna

, and

Zuni

, and the Ramah

Navajo

, begin by singing, but the ritual quickly becomes a

passion play where a village boy is whipped to unconsciousness.

Soon after, the couple encounters Linda, a woman who has been living in Malpais

since she came on a trip and became separated from her group, among whom was a

man to whom she refers as

Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, Thomas. She became pregnant despite

adhering to her

shame at pregnancy was so great that she decided not to return to her old life, but

to stay with the

the Savage) who is now a young man.

Conversations with Linda and John reveal that their life has been hard. For over 20

years, they have been treated as outsiders: the native men treated Linda like a sex

object while the native women regularly beat and ostracised her because of her

promiscuity, and John was mistreated and excluded for his mother's actions and the

color of his skin. John was angered by Linda's lovers, and even attacked one in a

jealous rage as a child. John's one joy was that his mother had taught him to read,

although he only had two books: a scientific manual from his mother's job, which he

called a

been banned in the World State for being subversive). Shakespeare gives John

articulation to his feelings, though, and he is especially interested in

Othello

,

Romeo

and Juliet

, and

Hamlet

. At the same time, John has been denied the religious rituals

of the village, although he has watched them and even has had some religious

experiences on his own in the desert.

Old, weathered and tired, Linda wants to return to her familiar world in London, as

she misses living in the city and taking

soma

. John wants to see the

world

block Thomas from his plan to reassign Bernard to Iceland as punishment for his

asocial beliefs. Bernard arranges permission for Linda and John to leave the

reservation.

John also seems to have an attraction to Lenina, as while Bernard is away, getting

the permission to move the savages, he finds her suitcase and ruffles through all of

her clothes, taking in the smells. He then sees her

soma

-induced

comatose state and stares at her, thinking all he has to do to see her properly is

undo one zip. He later tells himself off for being like this towards Lenina, and seems

to be extremely shy around her.

The Savage visits the World State (Chapters 10

–

18)

Upon his return to London, Bernard is confronted by Thomas, the Director of

Hatcheries and Conditioning, who, in front of an audience of higher-caste Centre

workers, denounces Bernard for his asocial behaviour. Bernard defends himself by

presenting the Director with his long- lost lover, Linda, and unknown son, John. John

falls to his knees and calls Thomas his father, which causes an uproar of laughter.

The humiliated Director resigns in shame.

Spared from reassignment, Bernard makes John the toast of London. Pursued by the

highest members of society, able to bed any woman he fancies, Bernard revels in

attention he once scorned. The victory, however, is short-lived. Linda, decrepit and

friendless, goes on a permanent

soma

holiday while John, appalled by what he

perceives to be an empty society, refuses to attend Bernard's parties. Society drops

Bernard as swiftly as it had taken him. Bernard turns to the person he'd believed to

be his one true friend, only to see Helmholtz fall into a quick, easy camaraderie with