The first few chapters of the book had me engrossed. The detailed explanations on how babies in this futuristic world were created and how they were conditioned fascinated me. Also, the division of the society into the 5 castes didn’t surprise me. It is human nature to divide a society according to the skills and capabilities of the people in a certain group. I was pleased that Huxley decided to use this ideology in his book. Also, children being brought up in state conditioning centres meant that conformity was obsolete. They are all taught the same morals and the different castes could only desire a certain type of job for which they recieved the same amount of food, housing and other neccesities. I reckon Huxley was trying to bring across that the world state practised communist ideologies.

I found the conditioning methods used by the world state slightly disturbing. I find myself grimacing at morals such as “promiscuity is a citizen’s duty” and “everyone belongs to everyone”. Also, the world state has been rationing a hallucinogen called soma to keep its citizens happy. ormiscuity and drug abuse is encouraged just so that everyone can be “happy”. The savage, John, pointed out that the citizens were not truly living but were just caught up in an endless pursuit for happiness. I’m sure many people who read this book will be able to relate to this statement. All of us are caught up in an endless pursuit of happiness, just that in Huxley’s world, this was taken a step further.

The intitial storyline did not really interest me much, I can tell Huxley was drawing inspiritation from Shakespears Romeo and juliet to show the growing passion between the savage, John, and the alpha minus, Lenina. Lenina, who was brought up completely in this futuristic society and John who was brought up as an outcast, as a normal human. When John is brought into the city and starts talking about true love and passion, Lenina finds herself wanting to experience these things she had never heard of before. I found this amusing, promiscuity is encouraged but none of the citizens know what is true love. I was more intriqued by the communist ideologies on the film that were taken to the extreme. Huxley did a great job illustrating a modern world where family and love have been rendered irrelevant. Overall I did find the book interesting even though it was difficult to comprehend at some segments.