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A Brave New World controversy

November 17, 2010 @ 2:33 am (Updated: 3:46 pm - 3/28/11 )

Something 10th graders at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle did was so upsetting to a student and her mom that it's resulted in a curriculum change at the school, and apologies from the principal.

What were they doing? Reading. Reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World as part of their language arts curriculum.

BraveNewWorldWhile the book is the center of a new controversy in Seattle, the debate about the fictional story has gone on for decades. The American Library Association ranks Brave New World as number 36 on the list of the top 100 books people have either banned or tried to ban.

Set in the year 2540, the book depicts a world in which everyone's life is predetermined. Boys and girls are conditioned at birth to fulfill already designated societal roles. As a result, everyone grows up happy. Or, almost everyone. The conflict in the novel arises when a few people try to fight the system that's running and ruining their lives.

Sarah Sense-Wilson's daughter was required to read the novel for a class at Nathan Hale. She is Native American, and her heart started to sink as she turned the pages to find more than 30 references to "savage natives."

"She was very upset and she said, 'Mom I need to tell you something, but I don't want you to get mad. There's a book I have to read in my class and it portrays Indian people as being savages and living on reservations,'" Sense-Wilson says.

She tried to read the book for herself.

"I was outraged when I read through the book. I had to keep putting it down because it was so hurtful," says Sense-Wilson. "It was traumatizing to read how Indian people were being depicted."

The text has a "high volume of racially offensive derogatory language and misinformation on Native Americans. In addition to the inaccurate imagery, and stereotype views, the text lacks literary value which is relevant to today's contemporary multicultural society," she wrote in a complaint earlier this year to Nathan Hale and district administrators.

How important is Brave New World for the 10th grade language arts curriculum at Nathan Hale?

The chair of the language arts department, Shannon Conner, defended the merits of the book calling it a "superb warning book about our future. Huxley cautions his future readers from becoming too reliant on, and compliant with, technology." But at the same time, the high school apologized and determined that the "cultural insensitivity embedded in this book makes it an inappropriate choice as a central text in our 10th grade curriculum."

They are no longer using the book. Sense-Wilson says she's "proud of" the way Nathan Hale has responded.

"They've really listened, they have invited us to be part of the school, they now have a a native club and they're extending themselves to really try to repair that damage," she says.

Why is this book still an issue? Sense-Wilson wants other high schools in Seattle to stop using it in their curriculum too. The Seattle School board is meeting this afternoon to discuss the use of the book Brave New World.

Sense-Wilson wants to make her position clear. She is not trying to ban the book.

"We are not about book burning and we're not radicals," she says. "We're not trying to in any way censor that book, we're just saying it does not belong in high school. It is not appropriate for the curriculum."

If the book is an important or interesting novel for teenagers, she suggests putting it in the library.

"Then if students want to go to the library and check that book out and read it for their own entertainment, that's fine," says Sense-Wilson. "Most of the kids I've talked to don't even like the book so I doubt it would even get an audience in the library."

Incidentally, any resident in the Seattle school district, or any parent or guardian of a child enrolled in the district, may challenge instructional materials schools use. The district has a 10-step process to determine if the complaint about a book or material is justified.

Update: Brave New World approved in Seattle high schools

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (68)


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  • wongton wrote...
    Controversy? I think not!
    November 19, 2010 6:00 am
    There are numerous novels in our society to-date that have dealt with controversial issues centred on race, religion and culture. Should this be the basis on which some - perhaps offended by the material - declare these novels banned? Most certainly not! In the case of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the issues that are raised go beyond the mother's assumption that the "savage reservation" conveys Native American history in a negative light. The fact of the matter is that the novel was written as an insight as to what could potentially happen to society. Moreover, the parallels made between the savage reservation and our own society far outweigh the controversy that the mother is led to believe. Yes, those living on the reservation may be deemed "savages", but this title is merely used to depict the extent to which the World State digresses. Whereas knowledge, literature and emotions are banned in the World State, these aspects are free to prosper on the savage reservation, thereby allowing for a natural state for human activity. Essentially, the savage reservation is set up to counter the strict regulations of the World State and to offer us, as a reader, a notion in the novel to relate to. As such, I stand by my argument that Huxley's Brave New World should be kept in classrooms and libraries alike. If this mother's rash actions were to be taken on all novels that had differing views and controversy, there would certainly be many great works missing from our bookshelves.
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  • Dekoningk wrote...
    Misreading
    November 19, 2010 6:04 am
    The entirety of this article deals with an argument based on a total misreading of the purpose – the motivation behind – Huxley’s novel. Should Brave New World have been anything other than a heavily satirical comment on where humanity should not, let me stress not, go the mother’s arguments that it promotes racism, among many other misguided beliefs: a predetermined class model for society, deflection of unhappiness onto drug use, and rampant promiscuity would be valid. However, it is just this use of every idea conceivable to offend the audience that should tip the reader off to the opposite view held by the author from his characters. Something Sarah Sense-Wilson does not realize; that she and BNW are not opposed. BNW does not promote racism; it uses it as a tool to further impress the warning against our society’s technological evolution devolving our moral fibre that this book ultimately is. It would be difficult to sit through three or more chapters of the labeling of native peoples, wrongfully, as ‘savages,’ but this discomfort should be handled carefully through education as to why the book is in fact denouncing racism as well as every other view the BNW ‘civilized’ hold instead of the knee-jerk reaction of trying to ban it for a label considered out of context.
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  • SamCho wrote...
    Missing the Point?
    November 19, 2010 7:12 am
    The argument Mrs.Wilson presents is absolutely absurd. It is true that Aldous Huxley's Brave New World has parts to it where the language or the concept may seem a bit vulgar and crude; however, one must ask the question "did Huxley just want to publish a novel where he aimlessly used vulgar language to hurt his audience?" The answer is obviously NO!!! Before Mrs.Wilson criticizes the book, she must ask this question to herself for it seems that she is completely missing Huxley's true intentions. All Huxley was trying to do was present a dystopia that would make people think about the status quo of their own society. He wanted his audience to realize that the society depicted in the novel was wrong and that people must work to not turn their own society into one in the Brave New World. Unable to understand the true implications of the book, Mrs.Wilson seems myopic.
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  • paul44 wrote...
    A Savage Compliment
    November 19, 2010 11:27 am
    I would like to say that I understand Sense-Wilson's argument that she and her daughter feel offended by derogatory terms being used against their culture, but it was not Huxley's intention to state that the First Nation's people are considered "savages" in our modern world. One first has to consider that Brave New World was written in 1932 - a time very different from ours when it comes to people's rights, cultures, taboos, etc. Once that is realized, I would like to bring attention to the fact that these "savages" are not specifically "Indians" - as referred to in the book - but people embodying our entire generation's way of living. The "disgust" is shown referring to the fact that the "savages" love, have relationships, have children, mend in their clothes, and live in nature. The disgust comes from the perspective of Huxley's characters of the future he foresaw would occur if we continued on the trend that they were living in the early '30s. These are people he saw were in the wrong mindset to live: they are created in test tubes under control of the government, have their beliefs and opinions conditioned since 'birth'. Huxley is saying that we should be careful of our future so we do NOT end up like this as a society. I think that the problem was a misunderstanding of Huxley's motivation to write the book, and in perspective of the story. In my opinion, this usage of "savage" is complimentary to me, stating that I have freedom of my decisions.
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  • Cooper J Eaton wrote...
    Censorship
    November 22, 2010 12:08 pm
    As the son of a librarian, before jumping at the throat of Aldous Huxley, I would like to address the definition of censorship: according to Mirriam-Webster.com: 2censor verb cen·soredcen·sor·ingˈsen(t)-sə-riŋ, ˈsen(t)s-riŋ Definition of CENSOR transitive verb : to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable ; also : to suppress or delete as objectionable (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/censoring?show=0&t=1290459284) and for good measure: Censorship is suppression of speech or other communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship) So when I read the quoted transcription of Ms. Sense-Wilson stating "We're not trying to in any way censor that book, we're just saying it does not belong in high school," I should hope it is safe to say that she might not understand the repercussions of her statement and her reactions to the insensitivity of Huxley regarding her personal feelings.
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  • tlmbrt wrote...
    We need
    December 8, 2010 10:23 pm
    to stop interpreting everything so LITERALLY, and stop being so HYPERSENSITIVE and politically correct. Just take the book in it's proper context as a work of fiction! To quote Ms. Sense-Wilson: "High volume of racially offensive derogatory language and misinformation on Native Americans. In addition to the inaccurate imagery, and stereotype views, the text lacks literary value which is relevant to today's contemporary multicultural society". This pure liberal gobbledy-gook meaning it doesn't fit their utopian one-world views and must be eliminated and suppressed!
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  • tyler23 wrote...
    new mexico
    December 9, 2010 8:36 pm
    I just want to point out that while the majority of the book takes place in London, the reservation is actually in New Mexico, thus the "savages" are indeed American. That being said: as has already been stated, Huxley was making a point about the state of "civilized society" and was in no way intending to slight the people who (at the time the book was published) were considered separate from that society (and thus dubbed "savages"). The term is hurtful, yes, but we all must face the ugliness of history.
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  • irony wrote...
    book should not be taught unless the proper context
    February 14, 2012 7:01 pm
    in this case the aweful immorality society is slipping into.
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