Brave New World Roles Of Women

In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, a society is presented in which every aspect of life is tightly controlled and humans are more like lifeless machines. However, in this attempt at a utopian society, glimmers of humanity are shown through several characters in the novel. Though the characters surrounding the central action are male, two very important women are also portrayed. These two woman are used to not only dispute the sexism demonstrated by men, but also in response to the women’s rights issues at the time the novel was written. From the surface, one may conclude that Huxley simply includes women in the plot to balance the story. However, when further examined, the female characters, Linda and Lenina, are in many ways emotionally and intellectually above their male counterpart, John, who is Linda’s son and Lenina’s love interest.

Our first impression of Lenina can be rather misleading in that she is presented as a typical woman in the Brave New World. She comes across as very superficial, caring only about herself and the occasional men. In her conversation with a friend, Lenina speaks of “having Henry” (40) as if he isn’t even a person. Though she has been with him for an astonishing “four months” (40), she agrees with her friend who suggests she “ought to be a little more promiscuous” (43). From this opening conversation, Lenina seems to be incredibly shallow. However, when she enters the scene, Lenina is described as looking “like a pearl illuminated from within, pinkly glowing” (Huxley 38) which invokes as sense of innocence and value. This is the first clue that Lenina is not all how she seems, but rather a much deeper woman with desires and intelligence greater than she is given credit for. She is drawn to difference, something that is banned in her society. Lenina also recognizes pain, though not able to deal with it properly due to conditioning of the society. The final proof that Lenina is a person of intelligence and value is shown through her relations with John, with whom she falls in love. John himself is not even capable of true love due to his inferiority to Lenina.

This strength of female character greatly influences Lenina’s choices and in turn gives her the ability to be decisive and in control of her own life. From the beginning of the novel, Lenina is a character that many men are drawn to. However, she chooses one in particular, which exposes a deeper side of her personality. Bernard Marx is an outcast of society due to his differences in thinking and appearance. While his attracted to Lenina because of her beauty and his need to fit into society, Lenina is attracted to Bernard for different reasons. Her friend, Fanny, tries to discourage her from liking Bernard, but Lenina doesn’t “care about his repuation” (45) and says that she “rather likes his looks” (46). This attraction to a man who is an outcast demonstrates Lenina’s acceptance and curiosity in difference. No other character in the book shows such openness, especially no male character. However, as Lenina can recognize and accept difference, she also recognizes pain though not able to properly react to it.

When situations arise that Lenina does not know how to deal with, she resorts to a soma holiday to alleviate the stress. However this act of consuming drugs to take “take a holiday” (54) from emotional pain shows an awareness that no other character demonstrates. After her flight to Henry’s apartment, Lenina takes a soma in response to the conversation in the helicopter about the “Crematorium” and humans “finally and definitely disappearing” (75). Also, that same night after they go to the Westminster Abbey Cabaret, Lenina consumes soma again in response to the “safety inside with the fine weather and the perennial blue sky” (77) in the sheltered society of the Brave New World. She sees that her reality is fake and everyone around her is fake as well.

Soma provides an escape from this reality. Again, in Santa Fe with Bernard, Lenina takes soma when the “Warden of the Reservation” starts talking and giving “irrelevant information and unasked for good advice” (101). This again shows Lenina’s attempt to escape from the harsh reality of her brainwashed society. All the times that Lenina resorts to soma use, it is due to a recognition that her life and world are not perfect and in control, but rather full of people who have no grasp on real freedom and control. Though she does not directly fight the power that dominates society, her apperception of the problem exhibits a greater intelligence and understanding of the Brave New World.

Lenina’s final defining factor that separates her from the men in the novel, namely John, is her ability to love. It appears to be a mutual love between Lenina and John, but it is exposed later that John’s love for her is only because of his love for his mother. Lenina on the other hand immediately thinks that John is “such a nice-looking boy” with a “really beautiful body” (117). This is the beginning of her adoration of John. She wonders what it would be “like to make love to a Savage” (166) which makes her curiosity and interest in John obvious. Finally to her friend Fanny she admits that she “likes him” (166).

After many encounters, Lenina gets the courage, with the help of soma, to face John and attempt to seduce him. She goes to his room in a “white acetate satin sailor suit” (189) which is like the pearl imagery when Lenina is first introduced invokes a sense of innocence in her love for John. John cannot be with her due to his connection between her and his mother, Linda. However, it becomes obvious that Lenina has committed a serious crime in her world; she fell in love. This ability to understand and show her true emotions sets her apart from her entire society, which shuns love and monogamy. This especially sets her apart, and perhaps above, John who cannot express his love for her because it is a manifestation of his love for Linda.

As well as Lenina being a critical character in Brave New World, John’s mother Linda plays an essential role in the plot. Like Lenina, she is presented as inferior to other characters in the novel though in reality she is intellectually and emotionally above most of them. She is described as being “ragged and filthy” and also referred to as a “creature” (119). However, Linda shows many traits that make her superior to other men, and especially her son. From the stories of her son’s childhood, Linda is capable of a love that is unheard of to her former society. In the Brave New World, the word “parents” (34) is taboo to even say. When Linda becomes pregnant with John, her conditioning in the Brave New World tells her that her pregnancy is “too shameful” (127) and takes out this aggression on her son. It finally becomes clear that Linda is battling with her instincts that were forced upon her since birth, and her natural love for her son.

Her love for John eventually wins. After fighting with him and telling him that she “won’t be his mother”, Linda finally “put her arms around him and kissed him again and again” (127). Though originally from the secure and controlled world outside of the Reservation, Linda adapts to a life much different than she was decanted to live. Possibly because Huxley sympathizes with her plight, or more likely because she represents female strength, Linda is a character that demonstrates qualities that set her far above other members of the Brave New World society. Mainly her ability to love and to be a mother separates her from the rest of the characters. Both she and Lenina are able to recognize their love and act upon it.

In Brave New World, Huxley takes care to make certain characters, in this case women, appear to be weak and meaningless when they in reality are central contributors to the plot. There are several reasons why he may place so much importance on female characters. Lenina and Linda possess qualities that make them superior to men in the novel, such as the ability to recognize difference, pain and love. Perhaps Huxley himself valued women greatly for their intelligence and emotional depth. In the 1930’s when the novel was written, women’s rights had finally begun to take off which may have influence Huxley. Upon reading l, one can conclude that by writing a novel about a failed utopian society in which women have no value, yet are in reality superior to men, Huxley was voicing his personal opinion of the worth of women.