For a long time, man has wished for a long-lasting peaceful and perfect world. As a result, Utopian literature appears, beginning from Plato’s conceiving of an ideal society in Republic to its peak when More offers the public a picture of such a society in his masterpiece Utopia. Nevertheless, in the 20th century, especially after the Second World War, many scholars have given up their imagination of Utopia and turned their attention toward its opposite form—dystopia: the criticism and satire of current reality and the discussion of the hidden defects of Utopia. Thus, there exists the relationship of inheritance and evolution between Utopian writings and Dystopian literature. Brave New World, as one of the Dystopia Trilogy, written by Aldous Huxley, focuses on the real social problems of “the World State”, the modern Utopia. Technology has increasingly penetrated into human’s daily life in every aspect. Issues about ethics of science and technology has provided constant warnings for both scientists and common citizens. Human beings are frequently confronted with such a question “whether advancement in science and technology leads to the alienation of humanity.” If there is no perfect society, where will human beings head for finally? These are the topics the novelist is concerned about. This thesis will focus on the detailed analysis of the fate of main characters and social systems portrayed by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World so as to demonstrate the inhuman and irrational nature of “the World State” under its manifestation of “stability, advancement and happiness”, thus deconstructing Utopian fantasy of the novel, illustrating its Dystopian theme and at the same time inquiring about the possibility of establishing a more ideal society.

Hanyue Kuang. Deconstructing Utopia: Discussion of the Theme of Brave New World. Frontiers in Art Research (2022) Vol. 4, Issue 6: 54-65. https://doi.org/10.25236/FAR.2022.040611.

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