Student Question
What is the deity's name in Brave New World?
Quick answer:
In Brave New World, the deity is named Ford, after Henry Ford, symbolizing industrialism and efficiency. The society worships Ford, reflecting their values of production and consumption, similar to how traditional societies worship deities. This is evident in their use of terms like "Our Ford" and "A.F." (After Ford) to mark time. The novel critiques modern society's focus on materialism, suggesting it leads to a loss of humanity.
The name of the deity is Ford, named after Henry Ford, the father of modern industrialism.
A deity is a god. Instead of saying God, they say Ford. Time is measured in A.F. years (After Ford). Henry Ford, inventor of the Model T and the assembly line, is often consider the father of modern industrialism and therefore it makes sense that the society of the future would worship him. You can tell that Ford is the deity from the phrases such as “our Ford” and “Oh, Ford” in swearing. It is also used as a title, as in “his fordship.”
"You all remember," said the Controller, in his strong deep voice, "you all remember, I suppose, that beautiful and inspired saying of Our Ford's: History is bunk. History," he repeated slowly, "is bunk." (Ch. 3)
In this society, materialism is everything. Games are design to be complicated. Relationships are simple. Everything...
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is about pleasure and consumption, and knowing your place. A tightly ordered society based on carefully ordered predetermined genetic destiny means that society operates like Ford’s assembly line. Things are simple, because there are no surprises.
Huxley’s message is clear. While we as a society grow to worship modernization and efficiency above all else, we do so at the expense of personalization. If we care more about consuming, we begin to lose touch with our humanity.
By using a real person that readers would know and recognize, Huxley was making sure that readers would get his point about the dangers of creating an assembly line out of people and turning human beings into robots. When we lose our religion, and turn consuming into our religion, we begin to lose touch with the things that make us human in the first place. We care more about pleasure and feeling good, and less about doing good and being good.
What is the name of the deity in Huxley's Brave New World?
You may want to view Science as the God in BNW, at least science as applied to the manufacturing process. It is personified in Henry Ford who revolutionized the manufacturing process of things as the scientists in BNW have revolutionized the creation of "beings" and the products (such as soma) that make their life what it is. It is interesting to note that the trip through the hatchery in some way mirrors the assembly line that Ford made famous.
The scene that makes this clearest occurs in Chapter 5. Their solidarity service is clearly modeled after the Catholic Mass. There are 12 people there (12 Apostles). Soma tablets (their Eucharist) are placed on the table (altar), and they have a cup of "strawberry" (wine/blood colored) soma ice cream. They pass the cup around (the Last Supper) and sing a Solidarity Hymn just as is done in Church. All of this begins when the President (priest/presider) opens the cermony with the sign of the "T" (Ford) instead of the sign of the cross.
So you can select Ford (since they mark their time by him as our society does with the birth of Christ) or Science (the science of society). Brave and Stranger New World.
there is no deity in Mustapha Mond's Brave New World only the historic Henry Ford. Henry Ford was the creator of the Model-T automobile and the creator of the assembly line process. The inhabitants of BNW deify Ford by referring to the passing of time as B.F. (before Ford) and A.F. (After Ford). This is similar to our own use of B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (after Death). For example in chapter one:
The date, A.F. 632, is not clarified yet, but the emphasis on the assembly-line production of people gives a clue to the meaning of the F. The practice of assembly-line production in factories was only about 15 years old when this novel was written, but today’s reader is so accustomed to assembly-line production that this point goes almost unrecalled. At the time of original publication, the assembly-line production of human beings was probably much more difficult a prospect to comprehend.
The deity, then, in BNW is Ford and they worship production, effeciency, and material consumption for the stability of society. They also make the sign of the "T"--another subversion of traditional Christianity. Hope this helps..