How is sarcasm used in Brave New World?

One of the most important uses of sarcasm is the changing tenor of John the Savage's tone in quoting the words "brave new world" from Shakespeare's The Tempest. When he first gets to the World State, John uses the term with complete sincerity, just as Miranda does in the play. But as he begins to see below the surface of this society, he starts to use the quote sarcastically. For example, one day he is taken on a tour and sees mass groups of identical twins. This so bothers him that he finds himself repeating Miranda's words to himself but twisting them to express his disgust: "Oh brave new world, that has such people in it." His sarcastic use of the words marks his growing disillusion with a state that puts superficial happiness and stability ahead of individualism.

Again, as he is surrounding by masses of identical twins in khaki at his mother's death, he uses the term "brave new world" sarcastically to express not wonder, but horror and dismay.

How is sarcasm used in Brave New World?

"Ending is better than ending" is one of my favorite official platitudes from that novel, and it, as with so many, is replete with sarcasm in the form of irony, all directed toward the culture of the reader rather than toward the characters in the novel.

A link to questions and answers about this topic in Brave New World provides some specific answers.  Jamie addressed this a while ago with this answer: 

"From Chapter 3: "Imagine the folly of allowing people to play elaborate games which do nothing whatever to increase consumption. It’s madness. Nowadays the Controllers won’t approve of any new game unless it can be shown that it requires at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games." This quote encompasses all three of your criteria: humor, sarcasm, and mockery. It's meaning is that if we don't consume, the government doesn't improve and the society doesn't "win." (Sound familiar in this post 9/11 world??)

From Chapter 17: "Christianity without tears— that’s what soma is." This is an example of mockery. Huxley does not believe that religion should be without some sadness and guilt. "Soma" removes these uncomfortable feelings, making religion watered down and unreal."

Follow the Brave New World links for more information.

What are three examples of humor, sarcasm, and mockery in Brave New World?

Because the world we live in has shifted to be more like the one depicted in Brave New World, we tend to miss some of what would have been laugh-out-loud humor in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

For example, our world relies on a high level of consumption—a level that seems perfectly normal to us, as it does the citizens of the World State. However, England in the 1930s would have had far fewer consumer goods. It would have seemed absurd to people, even in the upper classes, not, for instance, to mend their clothing. Clothing was too expensive to throw or give away because of a rip or a tear. Therefore, they would have found over-the-top, nonsensical comedy in the idea of being conditioned to think that

Ending is better than mending. The more stitches the less riches. . . .

It would be like, in our culture, recommending abandoning a car and buying a new one over a flat tire.

Second, sexual mores were much stricter in the 1920s and 1930s than today. We would probably—at least in dominant society, and not in a religious subgroup—experience little shock over Lenina's conditioning to have multiple sex partners. However, that idea was more startling years ago, and Huxley is, to some extent, mocking the "cutting edge" sexual practices of Bohemian groups like Bloomsbury, a collection of writers and artists who did not behave monogamously. The average reader then would have found Lenina's confusion over John's rejection of her as a strumpet humorous, because, of course, a decent woman would not throw herself sexually at a man. Likewise, John's anguish over dishonoring Lenina because of his sexual desire for her is comic given the sexual ethics of the World State. In sum, their different sexual mores lead to comic misfires.

Further, Huxley mocks Lenina's debased idea of "poetry" when she tries to seduce John, the Shakespeare lover, by quoting the inane line, "Hug me until you drug me, honey." While John exalts her as a goddess, she shows herself to be a shallow fool.

Finally, Huxley mocks industrial society and its worship of the efficiency of uniformity in his depiction of the groups of up to 96 identical twins, which so horrify John.

What are three examples of humor, sarcasm, and mockery in Brave New World?

From Chapter 2: "Moral education, which ought never, in any circumstances, to be rational." I would say that this is both humorous and mockery. If anything, morals ought to be soundly rational so that people can understand why rules are made and what "social good" they engender.

From Chapter 3: "Imagine the folly of allowing people to play elaborate games which do nothing whatever to increase consumption. It’s madness. Nowadays the Controllers won’t approve of any new game unless it can be shown that it requires at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games." This quote encompasses all three of your criteria: humor, sarcasm, and mockery. It's meaning is that if we don't consume, the government doesn't improve and the society doesn't "win." (Sound familiar in this post 9/11 world??)

From Chapter 17: "Christianity without tears— that’s what soma is." This is an example of mockery. Huxley does not believe that religion should be without some sadness and guilt. "Soma" removes these uncomfortable feelings, making religion watered down and unreal.