As I mentioned on Sunday,
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, was my favorite of the books I read last month:
I thought it was brilliant, but also terrifying. As Reader Friend Erin put it, it's "eerily plausible." And the fact that it's plausible at all is what makes it terrifying, but also what makes it brilliant. Because, if you haven't read the book, Aldous Huxley writes about a future where human beings are bred in factories for the jobs they're to perform in their lives. Low-level workers (Deltas and Epsilons) are given just enough toxins, such as alcohol, while they're bottled to stunt their growth and impair their brain function so that they'll be happy to do whatever menial work they're assigned.
And there are no family units, no marriages or even monogamous relationships. One of the many mottoes in this brave new world is "Everyone belongs to everyone else." But, even though both men and women are not only encouraged, but expected, to sleep with as many partners as they can, it still feels like women are getting the raw end of the deal. For example, in one part of the book, the Alpha men are encouraging each other to "have" a certain Beta woman, saying things like, have you had Lenina yet? You really should have her. She's very pneumatic. But, the women don't have those same conversations; they aren't recommending which men are good to have. No, instead they remind each other to be had by as many men as possible because it's their moral duty.
Being as this book was written in 1932, I don't know how much of that was intentional by Huxley and how much was just due to the prevailing women-as-second-class-citizens thought of the time. I have a lot of faith in Huxley though, so I think it might have been intentional; it would be just like him to make the point that even in a future where everyone belongs to everyone else, women still belong to men.
Another thing that indicated women were seen as sex objects in this future are the clothes. Everything they wear is easy off. Zip! Zip! Zip! There goes the top, the velveteen shorts and the combination underclothes called camiknickers. Given the amount of talk about zippers in this book (people are being had by others quite a lot so there's a lot of zip, zip, zip going on), I thought I'd wear my zipper-front vintage dress:
I know it's no velveteen shorts, but I think the mod shape sort of fits the futuristic theme of the book.
And though it doesn't unzip all the way in the front, it's the most zippery thing I own:
My Michael Jackson jacket being at the cleaners and what not.
Also, I like this dress. The tiny studs on the trim make me happy:
And, blue, of course, always makes me happy:
To recap, this dress makes me happy and Aldous Huxley's writing makes me happy, but his vision of the future makes me sad:
You should still read the book though, if you haven't. Or even if you have years ago. I know I'll definitely be re-reading this.
What about you, Reader Friends? What did you read last month? Did it inspire you? If so, I'd love to have you link up below!
Happy Tuesday, All!
Gracey
