Brave New World Setting Analysis

In a novel, details of surroundings set the stage for every moment the characters experience. Whether they are on a life-altering journey or simply in their own backyard, things like region, geography, and climate can drastically alter a reader’s perception of the story. Each of these individual topics combine and work together to build a frame for the tale. Setting can be used to establish details within a plot because it triggers events, adds depth to characters, and builds suspense. Brave New World and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde hold perfect examples of exactly how much setting can contribute to a story. Location often prompts an occurrence that advances the plot. A blizzard is much more appalling if the author sets it in the tropics than if it were in Alaska. In Brave New World, Lenina and Bernard’s trip to savage New Mexico prompts them to meet John and his mother. The difficulty they undergo travelling to and from the reservation accentuates the differences between the uncivilized west and their utopia. The drastic difference of the two places also represents the extreme contrast between the characters. Character development is another subject that is supported by the story’s setting. Stigmas of certain places, distances, and climates can share a depth to the characters that …show more content…
Leaving a reader wondering about certain loose ends allows them to create their own creative ideas of what could’ve happened to their favorite character. Brave New World displays this technique with Bernard and Helmholtz. Towards the end of the book, it is learned that the two are to be exiled to the Falkland Islands, a distant place with supposed bad weather. Helmholtz’s request suggests that it has “...a lot of wind and storms…” (Huxley 1923 229). The last heard from them is their goodbye to John. The many miles between the men at the end of the novel makes a person wonder how the characters ended