Analysis of Dialogue
Within Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the author uses many literary devices to convey an underlying meaning to the story. Among the prominent devices used, there is dialogue. Although many pieces of literature contain dialogue, Brave New World uses the tool especially well in order to depict the world that Huxley wanted. For example, in the beginning of the book, when we are first learning about the society that the novel encompasses, dialogue between a prominent character, The Director, and another influential character, Henry Foster, give background information as a sort of informational prologue to the story, as the plot does not evolve until near the middle. “The surrogate goes round slower; therefore passes through the lung at longer intervals; therefore gives the embryo less oxygen. Nothing like oxygen shortage for keeping an embryo below par.” This somewhat surprising recount on how the Centres control the “hatching” and maturation of foetuses conveys how people are put into their castes, and leads into the other ways that the Centres affect foetuses in order to give them specific characteristics. This early depiction of a dystopian society that is marketed to the community as a utopia becomes more fully fledged when we learn how a “not normal” person is treated within the society. Near the end of this novel, Aldous Huxley uses more choices in dialogue to convery messages, including but not limited to, the theme of the book. Particularly when Helmholtz and Mustapha Mond are talking, and when Mustapha banishes Helmholtz to an island, Helmholtz reacts very differently than you would expect. Helmholtz loves it, and through conversation with Mustapha, we learn that the World Controller himself agrees that the key to happiness is loving yourself as an individual. Later, when Bernard and Helmholtz are both gone, John and the Controller talk. They talk about God and religion, why people can’t have it, as well as how individual happiness brings about social instability. All these major themes in the book come to a head in this one simple* conversation, and all through dialogue.