Written in 1931 and published the following year, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a dystopian—oranti−utopian—novel. In it, the author questions the values of 1931 London, using satire and irony to portray afuturistic world in which many of the contemporary trends in British and American society have been taken toextremes. Though he was already a best−selling author, Huxley achieved international acclaim with thisnow−classic novel. Because Brave New World is a novel of ideas, the characters and plot are secondary, evensimplistic. The novel is best appreciated as an ironic commentary on contemporary values.The story is set in a London six hundred years in the future. People all around the world are part of atotalitarian state, free from war, hatred, poverty, disease, and pain. They enjoy leisure time, material wealth,and physical pleasures. However, in order to maintain such a smoothly running society, the ten people incharge of the world, the Controllers, eliminate most forms of freedom and twist around many traditionallyheld human values. Standardization and progress are valued above all else. These Controllers create humanbeings in factories, using technology to make ninety−six people from the same fertilized egg and to conditionthem for their future lives. Children are raised together and subjected to mind control through sleep teachingto further condition them. As adults, people are content to fulfill their destinies as part of five social classes,from the intelligent Alphas, who run the factories, to the mentally challenged Epsilons, who do the mostmenial jobs. All spend their free time indulging in harmless and mindless entertainment and sports activities.When the Savage, a man from the uncontrolled area of the world (an Indian reservation in New Mexico)comes to London, he questions the society and ultimately has to choose between conformity and death.