The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also features glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.The new world in CliffsNotes on Brave New World is not a good place to be. Readers have used the word "dystopia," meaning "bad place," to describe Huxley's fictional world.
But your experience studying this novel won't be bad at all when you rely on this study guide for help. Meet John the Savage and enter Huxley's witty and disturbing view of the future. Other features that help you study include
Character analyses of major players A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters Critical essays A review section that tests your knowledge A Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Internet sites Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides."
I was lost in the beginning of the original novel and left it for a while. Then I found these study notes series for students. It condensed the plot and the characters brilliantly and it encouraged me to complete the magnificent novel. I think I will use the "cliff notes" series again in the future.
I read this solely for the reason the book reprimanded me at least seven times to not read it for, but alas :D It made me want to read Brave New World for its themes and some specific dialogues, but did in no way take away from the horrified stance I have taken towards the plot and descriptions :D
Okay, I confess, I cheated. I wanted to read this book, but I want to read a LOT of books, so I just read the cliff notes to see if this would be a book I would want to read in it's entiretiy later. It was a great story! Very interesting and very weird. Two different worlds are presented to show the danger of extremes. In the "new" world everything is clean and sanitary. There is no illness, old age, or even birth. Everyone is happy (due to drug use) and socially compliant. But there is no free will, no choices, no adventure, no love. In the "savage" world things are durty and animalistic, but people live and love and experience. It's an interesting look at Pleasure vs. Pain and Freedom vs. Safety. I will probably not read the real book after reading the cliff notes. A lot of the story seemed to center around sex. And although I like sex, I am not a fan of reading about it. A lot of the compare and contrast in the book involved how the two cultures veiwed sexual intamacy. The new world had made it casual, clean, safe, and everybody was doing it with everybody else and no one was getting pregnant. In the savage world things were more traditional in that it only occurred within relationships and was passionate and resulted in childbirth. In the end the savage hero kills himself because he is so ashamed and overwhelmed by his new world girlfriend's extreme sexual advanced towards him. Very interesting, but weird.