From the very beginning of the novel satire is present in the most critical of contexts. We are told by Aldous Huxley how humanity is manufactured. He describes to the reader, how life has lost its meaning with the imagery of death. Throughout the novel a complex satire on humanity itself, is presented building up to a very intense climax. By the end of Brave New World satire gives us a clear understanding about Aldous Huxley's ideas and fears about what the future holds should it be interfered with too much by man.
When we venture into the world of Utopia, the parody of religion and Utopian society's morals are very evident from the start of the book. Within the first chapter Huxley demonstrates the concept of bottled babies, going into vast depth about the pre-destined lives of generations to come. This is marvelled at by students during a tour around the famous "hatcheries" where all these test tube babies are produced. As a means of introducing the forthcoming satire, Huxley incorporates Utopias motto "Community, Identity, Stability" as an inversion of the slogan used during the french revolution "Liberate, Egalite, Fraternite" Using such a motto in Brave New World aims to arouse suspicion in the reader. Upon reading the first few chapters, we soon get the idea that this land of Utopia is slightly bittersweet.
The characters make frequent reference to "Our Ford." This ford they speak about is their god and an idol. within their social structure, they embrace the idea of modernism, because "history is bunk." To support this newly found religion of technology, they make the sign of the "T." This refers to the first Ford model ever made, the model "T" this is a parody of the sign of the cross which goes by a similar shape and follows a similar gesture.
Further into the novel, historical artifacts are parodied to support the ongoing satirical features associated with religion. One of the main characters (Lenina) goes along with another significant character, (Henry Foster) to the "Westminster Abbey Cabaret." Currently, the Westminster church is one of three old sacred churches in England, and the Westminster is particularly famous for having grand events such as royal weddings. In Utopia, the people have turned it far from being a church, it has been used in their favour as a place for celebrating their culture of consumerism and behaviourism, or more importantly, their views on sex. As Henry and Lenina enter, we hear about a couple instruments (re-worded as a way of supporting their interests with sex) including sexophones and scent and colour organs. The idea behind organs featuring scent and colour is that they become interactive. The novel describes this in great detail; music which builds up to a great intensity before coming to a severe climax. It is almost as if rather than describing a song, Huxley is describing the physical/sexual interactions between two people. (Lenina and Henry specifically.) The next building to be jeopardised in Huxley's novel is Ludgate hill, a famous place in London for the roman temple St. Paul's Cathedral. Ludgate Hill also features a Gaol, a graveyard and a Railway. The Singery which is another building used for Utopias sex/technology culture is described as looming over Ludgate Hill. This implies that their new found culture is superior to Ludgate hill and any of its religious/historical/morality ties. The Singery is a place for "Solidarity Services" on a fortnightly basis, Utopians visit this singery (a parallel to weekly church service) and meet in groups of twelve to perform sexual acts with each other. Rather than praying to a Lord, they pray to their "Ford" and take the "Soma and strawberry ice cream" The drug soma (a combination of caffeine, cocaine and alcohol) is the equivalent of the bread or flesh of Christ, while strawberry ice cream not only supports their frivolous consumerism but is also in likeness of the wine or blood of Christ. During these prayers and distribution of the soma and strawberry ice cream, toasts are made as they sit in a circle. Although it may not have been the intention of the author to use the circle in such a way, shapes with no definite end such as circles have previously been regarded as evil in ancient cultures.
Overall the whole idea of using satirical and ironic features in the book Brave New World is to jeopardise the way society is heading and to demonstrate the possible consequences the future may hold based upon the small choices we make today. In comparison to the first impression made of Utopia, it is now seen to be a place that is simply wrong in every possible way. In order to get this idea across, Huxley has used satire to make parallels between religion and social interaction right down to humanity itself.
