Linda, John’s mother, decanted as a Beta-Minus in the World State, originally worked in the DHC’s Fertilizing Room, and subsequently lost during a storm while visiting the New Mexico Savage Reservation with the Director many years before the events of the novel. Despite following her usual precautions, Linda became pregnant with the Director’s son during their time together and was therefore unable to return to the World State by the time that she found her way to Malpais.
Having been conditioned to the promiscuous social norms of the World State, Linda finds herself at once popular with every man in the pueblo (because she is open to all sexual advances) and also reviled for the same reason, seen as a whore by the wives of the men who visit her and by the men themselves (who come to her nonetheless). Her only comforts there are mescal brought by Popé as well as peyotl. Linda is desperate to return to the World State and to soma, wanting nothing more from her remaining life than comfort until death.
The Arch-Community-Songster, the secular equivalent of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the World State society. He takes personal offense when John refuses to attend Bernard’s party.
The Director of Crematoria and Phosphorus Reclamation, one of the many disappointed, important figures to attend Bernard’s party.
The Warden, an Alpha-Minus, the talkative chief administrator for the New Mexico Savage Reservation. He is blond, short, broad-shouldered, and has a booming voice.
Darwin Bonaparte, a «big game photographer» (i.e., filmmaker) who films John flogging himself. Darwin Bonaparte became known for two works: «feely of the gorillas’ wedding», and «Sperm Whale’s Love-life». He had already made a name for himself but still seeks more. He renews his fame by filming the savage, John, in his newest release «The Savage of Surrey». His name alludes to Charles Darwin and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Dr. Shaw, Bernard Marx’s physician who consequently becomes the physician of both Linda and John. He prescribes a lethal dose of soma to Linda, which will stop her respiratory system from functioning in a span of one to two months, at her own behest but not without protest from John. Ultimately, they all agree that it is for the best, since denying her this request would cause more trouble for Society and Linda herself.
Dr. Gaffney, Provost of Eton, an Upper School for high-caste individuals. He shows Bernard and John around the classrooms, and the Hypnopaedic Control Room (used for behavioural conditioning through sleep learning). John asks if the students read Shakespeare but the Provost says the library contains only reference books because solitary activities, such as reading, are discouraged.
Miss Keate, Head Mistress of Eton Upper School. Bernard fancies her, and arranges an assignation with her.
Others
Freemartins, women who have been deliberately made sterile by exposure to male hormones during foetal development but are still physically normal except for «the slightest tendency to grow beards». In the book, government policy requires freemartins to form 70% of the female population.
Of Malpais
Popé, a native of Malpais. Although he reinforces the behaviour that causes hatred for Linda in Malpais by sleeping with her and bringing her mescal, he still holds the traditional beliefs of his tribe. In his early years John attempted to kill him, but Popé brushed off his attempt and sent him fleeing. He gave Linda a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare. (Historically, Popé or Po’pay was a Tewa religious leader who led the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 against Spanish colonial rule.)
Mitsima, an elder tribal shaman who also teaches John survival skills such as rudimentary ceramics (specifically coil pots, which were traditional to Native American tribes) and bow-making.
Kiakimé, a native girl whom John fell for, but is instead eventually wed to another boy from Malpais.
Kothlu, a native boy with whom Kiakimé is wed.
Background figures
These are non-fictional and factual characters who lived before the events in this book, but are of note in the novel:
Henry Ford, who has become a messianic figure to the World State. «Our Ford» is used in place of «Our Lord», as a credit to popularising the use of the assembly line.
Sigmund Freud, «Our Freud» is sometimes said in place of «Our Ford» because Freud’s psychoanalytic method depends implicitly upon the rules of classical conditioning, and because Freud popularised the idea that sexual activity is essential to human happiness. (It is also strongly implied that citizens of the World State believe Freud and Ford to be the same person.)
H. G. Wells, «Dr. Wells», British writer and utopian socialist, whose book Men Like Gods was a motivation for Brave New World. «All’s well that ends Wells», wrote Huxley in his letters, criticising Wells for anthropological assumptions Huxley found unrealistic.
Ivan Pavlov, whose conditioning techniques are used to train infants.
William Shakespeare, whose banned works are quoted throughout the novel by John, «the Savage». The plays quoted include Macbeth, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Measure for Measure and Othello. Mustapha Mond also knows them because as a World Controller he has access to a selection of books from throughout history, including the Bible.
Thomas Robert Malthus, 19th century British economist, believed the people of the Earth would eventually be threatened by their inability to raise enough food to feed the population. In the novel, the eponymous character devises the contraceptive techniques (Malthusian belt) that are practiced by women of the World State.
Reuben Rabinovitch, the Polish-Jew character on whom the effects of sleep-learning, hypnopædia, are first observed.
John Henry Newman, 19th century Catholic theologian and educator, believed university education the critical element in advancing post-industrial Western civilization. Mustapha Mond and The Savage discuss a passage from one of Newman’s books.
Alfred Mond, British industrialist, financier and politician. He is the namesake of Mustapha Mond.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first President of Republic of Turkey. Naming Mond after Atatürk links up with their characteristics; he reigned during the time Brave New World was written and revolutionised the ‘old’ Ottoman state into a new nation.
Sources of names
The limited number of names that the World State assigned to its bottle-grown citizens can be traced to political and cultural figures who contributed to the bureaucratic, economic, and technological systems of Huxley’s age, and presumably those systems in Brave New World.
Soma: Huxley took the name for the drug used by the state to control the population after the Vedic ritual drink Soma, inspired by his interest in Indian mysticism.
Malthusian belt: A contraceptive device worn by women. When Huxley was writing Brave New World, organizations such as the Malthusian League had spread throughout Europe, advocating contraception. Although the controversial economic theory of Malthusianism was derived from an essay by Thomas Malthus about the economic effects of population growth, Malthus himself was an advocate of abstinence rather than contraception.
Bokanovsky’s Process: A scientific process used in the World State to mass-produce human beings. Specifically, the «Bokanovsky Process» is a method of producing multiple embryos from a single fertilized egg, creating up to 96 identical individuals. This technique is central to the society’s efforts to maintain social stability and control, as it allows for the creation of a standardized, docile workforce.
It’s part of the larger theme in the novel of dehumanization and the reduction of individuality in the pursuit of a controlled, stable society. It is thought that the process’s name is a reference to Maurice Bokanowski, a French Bureaucrat who believed strongly in the idea of governmental and social efficiency. Complementing this, Podsnap’s Technique accelerates the maturation of human eggs, enabling the rapid production of thousands of nearly identical individuals. Together, these methods facilitate the creation of a large, standardized population, eliminating natural reproduction and traditional family structures, thereby reinforcing the World State’s control over its citizens.
Reception
Upon its publication, Rebecca West praised Brave New World as «The most accomplished novel Huxley has yet written», Joseph Needham lauded it as «Mr. Huxley’s remarkable book», and Bertrand Russell also praised it, stating, «Mr. Aldous Huxley has shown his usual masterly skill in Brave New World.» Brave New World also received negative responses from other contemporary critics, although his work was later embraced.
In an article in the 4 May 1935 issue of the Illustrated London News, G. K. Chesterton explained that Huxley was revolting against the «Age of Utopias». Much of the discourse on man’s future before 1914 was based on the thesis that humanity would solve all economic and social issues. In the decade following the war the discourse shifted to an examination of the causes of the catastrophe. The works of H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw on the promises of socialism and a World State were then viewed as the ideas of naive optimists. Chesterton wrote:
After the Age of Utopias came what we may call the American Age, lasting as long as the Boom. Men like Ford or Mond seemed to many to have solved the social riddle and made capitalism the common good. But it was not native to us; it went with a buoyant, not to say blatant optimism, which is not our negligent or negative optimism.
Much more than Victorian righteousness, or even Victorian self-righteousness, that optimism has driven people into pessimism. For the Slump brought even more disillusionment than the War. A new bitterness, and a new bewilderment, ran through all social life, and was reflected in all literature and art.
