Monday, August 25, 2014

Is Imagery evident in Brave New World?

Yes, Huxley relies heavily on imagery to describe both the World State and the Indian Reservation. Imagery is description that uses the five senses of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. To effectively convey an alternate universe, as Huxley does, it is important that readers are able to imagine it clearly. Huxley therefore gives us what we need to visualize living in the New World State, where everything is clean, bright, new, and sterile—but sometimes not much fun. He doesn't just tell us about how the babies are conditioned, for example, but shows it to us with the vivid use of imagery. For instance, right before a group of babies is about to be conditioned to hate nature through use of a loud siren and electric shock, Huxley sets the scene in full detail:

The Director opened a door. They were in a large bare room, very bright and sunny; for the whole of the southern wall was a single window. Half a dozen nurses, trousered and jacketed in the regulation white viscose-linen uniform, their hair aseptically hidden under white caps, were engaged in setting out bowls of roses in a long row across the floor. Big bowls, packed tight with blossom. Thousands of petals, ripe-blown and silkily smooth, like the cheeks of innumerable little cherubs ...

We can easily visualize the bright, clean setting, the nurses in white, and the beautiful rose blossoms set in bowls, which sets up a sharp contrast to the way the babies will soon be treated.
Likewise, a religious ceremony at the Indian Reservation is described using vivid imagery:

Then the old man lifted his hand and, startingly, terrifyingly, there was absolute silence. The drums stopped beating, life seemed to have come to an end. The old man pointed towards the two hatchways that gave entrance to the lower world. And slowly, raised by invisible hands from below, there emerged from the one a painted image of an eagle, from the other that of a man, naked, and nailed to a cross. They hung there, seemingly self-sustained, as though watching. The old man clapped his hands. Naked but for a white cotton breech-cloth, a boy of about eighteen stepped out of the crowd and stood before him, his hands crossed over his chest, his head bowed.

The detailed description highlights the contrasts between the two worlds, which will collide in John the Savage when he comes to the World State.

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