Brave New World Literature and Writing Quotes

Thought: Notice that abstract ideas like "passion" are whisked away along with literature and history. In this novel, literature is a reflection of the range of human emotions – which is exactly what makes it dangerous to a society in which the only feeling permitted is a sort of passive contentedness.

Thought: It would seem from this and other related passages that history is dangerous to this society because it offers people an alternative. If the citizens aren't even aware of such notions as "freedom" and "truth," they can't miss them. They can't be discontented.

Thought: Helmholtz's outlet for his individuality and his sense of human passion is writing. For John, it is Shakespeare. Mustapha, we find out later, once felt the same way about science. Bernard, on the other hand, seems to have no outlet – this may be why he ultimately ends up a weak character.

Thought: Here we get some insight as to why literature is important for John: it helped him have a positive sense of his own individuality. This is particularly interesting the light of the new world, where individuality is an antiquated, taboo concept.

Thought: Shakespeare helps John to understand his feelings about Linda and her lover(s). The texts give words to what previously were unvoiced emotions.

Thought: Interesting – John claims that fictional characters make Popé seem more real – how is this possible?

Thought: Now we see the results of John mixing up notions of religion, fiction, and science: all are equally real (or equally unreal) in his mind. So why marvel at a technological advancement that pales in comparison to a fictional one?

Thought: Shakespeare is outlawed in this society for the same reasons that make John likes it so much (in this case, the fact that interacting with a text is a solitary activity).

Thought: It is fitting that Helmholtz's first poem has to do with solitude. This is what John likes about Shakespeare, after all – that reading it is a process of self-examination and discovery.

Thought: For Helmholtz, Shakespeare isn't just about the language – it's about the subject matter. As he said earlier, one can only write piercingly if one is writing about things that matter. He recognizes from this passage that the text is doing just that – it's writing about passion, danger, and emotion.

Thought: As unique as Helmholtz is, Huxley doesn't let us forget that he, too, is a product of the World State's conditioning. One of the tensions we see as his character evolves is the question of whether or not he will be able to overcome this limitation.

Thought: In this passage, it seems as though Helmholtz's position is an impossible one. He wants to write about something passionate, but all the big issues (sex, lust, jealousy, family, love) are inaccessible to him. He suspects there's something else to write about – some other passion that he could understand – when in fact his society has engineered him to find all passions smutty or ridiculous.

Thought: The phrase "brave new world" changes many times throughout the course of the novel; John says it first with awe, later with disgust, and finally with defiance – of course, this reflects his changing perspective of the World State.

Thought: It's interesting that John finds himself at first ineloquent, given that he's had so much experience with the greatest works of literature. But this raises an important question: does John think for himself, or does he simply regurgitate Shakespeare's words? He certainly uses Shakespeare as a safety net here…

Thought: We're thinking that Helmholtz laughs here because, in all likelihood, he's probably the guy who wrote the phrase "Ford helps those who helps themselves." And if not, at least we see that he's laughing at the absurdity of his own profession – the writing of inane hypnopaedic phrases.

Thought: John isn't "interested" by this book because there is nothing of passion or poetry in it.

Thought: This Shakespeare connection is a hint that these two men (Mustapha and John) have more in common than we might first suspect.

Thought: Does Mustapha's argument about happiness make sense here? It seems as though he's basing everything on the claim that "happiness" is only possible in a state of ignorance…

Thought: Helmholtz is still focused on the content of his writing. His maxims, the feelies – all his work is essentially "told by an idiot" because it doesn't address anything real. At the same time, Helmholtz still is not capable of understanding real passion. How, then, does he expect to write anything different?

Thought: Notice that Helmholtz rises from his "pneumatic chair." We've seen the word "pneumatic" used over and over in Brave New World (fifteen times, actually, and you can hear us discuss it in depth in Lenina's character analysis), but regardless of your interpretation we can all agree that it has much to do with the World State. When Helmholtz rises from his pneumatic chair, he's also rising away from Mustapha's world. Nifty, isn't it?

Thought: This is an odd line for John, and a lot of scholars use it to establish the fact that John doesn't actually understand the Shakespeare he reads – he just quotes it.