CONCLUSION

CHAPTER : 5

CONCLUSION

Aldous Huxley is one of the foremost novelists of the twentieth century

whose consciousness evolves with every new novel he pens. He is a keen

observer of people and things around him. In his novels, he presents the

conflict of the modern man who is torn between love and lust and who, more

often than not, succumbs to the temptation of lust before realizing that lust is

'physical' and love is 'spiritual'. He is, forever, looking for perennial human

values like compassion, understanding, love, truthfulness, sincerity, kindness

and humility. He aims at realizing goodness in its purest form, love in its

noblest form, and truth in its profoundest form.

Huxley, on the social plane, believes in a close co-operation between the

individual and the environmental order. He shows a marked preference for

individual freedom as against determinism, a faith in democracy as against

totalitarianism, a profound love for a decentralised form of social – political

economy as against a centralized one. On the spiritual plane, he believes in

achieving "self transcendence while yet remaining a committed social being"1.

His spiritual thought shows a marked leaning towards the Hindu idea of Tat-

Tvam-Asi (God as Transcendent and Immanent) as against Judeo–Christian

concept of God as Transcendent alone. He attempts to seek a fusion of the

Eastern spirituality and the Western scientific thought.

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 This ideal vision did not come to Huxley easily. His path was beset with

many ups and downs, conflicts and misgivings, struggles and temptations, and

illusions and disenchantments. His poetry, which turned out to be an

unconscious preparation for his novels, explicitly presents, as Charles Holmes

has rightly said "the baffling structure of his mind and soull".2

Huxley's mind was disturbed by contraries, and his writings reflected the

schism of the modern man. The divided allegiance recoils on the individual and

is always a source of inner tension. The clash and self – division in the

individual, "born under one law to another bound"3 between 'is' and 'ought to

be', the willing spirit and the weak flesh, the ideal and the real, beauty and

ugliness, permanence and transience, is sometimes explicitly and more often by

implication present both in his poetry and fiction.

Huxley's all – inclusive mind has analysed the various manifestations of

the perversive sex act. He believes that sex gives rise to dualism in the human

beings and degrades the noble elements in man. He regards sex as evil when it

manifests itself in the form of physical addiction. It forces the mind to identify

itself with mere physical sensation, and obstructs it from reaching beyond its

purely animal existence. He criticises the fleeting satisfaction of merely

physical love and longs for harmonious relationship in love. He also exposes

the religious conception of love and shows its hypocrisy, and at the same time,

he derides the free unrestrained love of modern time. He sees that 'religious'

love is too exclusive, too unrestrained. He feels that the sexual instinct has to

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be restrained because physical indulgence is no solution; on the contrary, it

erodes the mental and moral fibre of man. He longs for the idealistic type of

love which would involve a free flow of mind and body, enriched by

tenderness and warmth.

The present study seeks to analyse the aspects of Huxley's consciousness

as it evolves through his novels of the early, middle and later phases. Initially,

he is a satirist who takes upon himself the responsibility of satirising the antics

of the people of his time as he does it in his maiden novel 'Crome Yellow'. His

second and third novels 'Antic Hay' and 'Those Barren Leaves' are an open

debate on sex wherein he expresses his dislike of mere sex act. His fourth novel

Point Counter Point is as novel of ideas and has the projection of Huxley

himself in the person of Philip Quarles.

Huxley's novels of the middle phase include his crowning achievement

'Brave New World' and 'Eyeless in Gaza' and 'After Many a Summer'. Set

in future, Brave New World' deals with contemporary issues. Eyeless in Gaza,

yet again, points out the futility and triviality of sensuality. And After Many a

Summer deals with Jo stoyte's stupid attempt to stop time and recover youth.

Huxley's novels of the last phase include 'Time Must Have a Stop',

'Ape and Essence', 'The Genius and the Goddess' and 'Island'. 'Time Must

Have a Stop' deals with the life of angelic – faced Sebastian Barnack whose

father resents his resemblance to his mother's beauty. 'Ape and Essence' is an

attack on the rise of large – scale warfare in the twentieth century. 'The Genius

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and the Goddess' deals with Rivers' account of his entry to Henry's house and

his love affair with his wife Katy. 'Island' is Huxley's utopian counterpart to his

work Brave New World.

Huxley started his journey as a novelist with 'Crome Yellow' (1921)

which is the story of a house party at 'Crome', an allusion to Garsington Manor,

home to Lady Ottoline Morrell, a house where such great writers as Huxley

himself and T. S. Eliot used to sharpen their literary wits and write. The novel

mainly satirises the fads and fashions of the time. It deals with actual events

and there is also a brief reference to the yet unpenned 'Brave New World'.

The hero of the novel, Denis Stone, is Huxley himself and his arrival at

Crome resembles Huxley's visit to Lady Ottoline Morrell's house Garsington

Manor during World War I. In the novel, Denis is trying to write a novel with a

predictable plot, in this also he resembles his creator who was also a budding

author at the time. The common strand that runs through the people of both

Crome and Garsington is that they are all interested in art and novel things.

They are cultured and sophisticated. They show interest in books and literature.

However, characters like Denis and Scogan, despite being intellectuals,

seek unpleasant sensation and betray a strong desire for an escape from

responsibility, moral obligations of society, family, marriage and ordinary

morality. They also show heartlessness, delight in sexual promiscuity and the

pursuit of physical ephemeral pleasures. In doing so, they represent the very

mindset of the people of their time who were immoral, sensual and escapists –

be they educated or illiterate.

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 In the early phase of his novel writing, Huxley concentrates on the free

sex acts prevalent in London through his second novel 'Antic Hay' (1923). It

deals with a group of bohemian, artistic and intellectual class. This 'novel of

ideas' establishes Huxley's reputation as an iconoclast and expresses a mood of

sad disenchantment. Therefore, it was condemned as propagating cynicism and

immorality because of its overt debate on sex. It was banned for a while in

Australia and burnt in Cairo.

The hero of the novel Theodore Gumbril, following Coleman's advice,

wears the false beard and disguises himself as "The Complete Man" so that he

may overcome his shyness and approach and accost women boldly and

directly. However, being a man of habitual melancholic mood, he faces the

problem of revealing his real nature to the women he forms friendship with.

This clearly shows how modern man puts on disguise in order to get access to

women of their choice and establish carnal relationship with them. But at the

same time, Gumbril's reality is exposed, as is the case with every false face.

Gumbril is torn between his love (Emily) and lust (Viveash). He submits

to lust before realizing the true power and greatness of love. He finds love to be

ideal and lust to be physical and prefers spiritual to the material.

Huxley, in the novel, also upholds that artists should contribute to the

welfare of the society wherein they live and should not indulge themselves in

mental luxuries. But they fail in their attempts simply because they ponder over

everything intellectually rather than neutrally and as realists.

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 Like Antic Hay, Huxley's next novel 'Those Barren Leaves, (1925)

too, is based on the conflict between love and lust. Francis Chelifer believes in

Platonic love and tries to resist his baser instincts. He thinks that Barbara is a

'pure woman', but she proves to be a Lady Casanova who always craves for

new sexual relations and experiences. His relationship with her does not bring

him any kind satisfaction and fulfilment.

This novel criticises natural scientists for ignoring the aesthetic, moral

and religious experiences in human life. These valuable experiences provide us

with endless information about nature, human nature and the world. He is

against materialism and his characters reveal their disillusionment with the

same and are, forever, in quest of idealism.

The type of idealism Huxley presents appears to be mystical and

Vedantic. He believes that the spirit is the foundation of the world. Calamy,

through the example of his hand, proves that everything in the universe is

connected with every other thing through an internal and all – pervasive

relation. Calamy's departure to the mountain for meditation changes Thriplow's

attitude towards earthly life and she wishes to repent for the sins she has

committed against the Holy Ghost.

However, the novel is mainly a satire on the elite who are gathered in an

Italian villa in order to relive the memories of the Reniassance.

Huxley's last novel of the early phase 'Point Counter Point' (1928)

seems to be preaching so many things at the same time that critics fail to judge

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its real nature. However, written after the first decade of the World War I, it

shows Huxley's development as a social and political thinker who is concerned

about the welfare of mankind and it also brings to the fore the fact that Huxley

is an experimenter in literary form.

The novel is different from different points of view. If Philip Quarles,

Huxley's projection, is the hero, the novel becomes reductio ad absurdum of

the novel of ideas, if Maurice Spandrell is the hero, then the novel is a

continuation of Huxley's earlier commentaries on the degeneration of British

culture in the wake of the World War I. But if Mark Rampion is the hero, it

becomes a significant event in Huxley's literary career – a transitional closing

of Huxley's earliest identifiable literary phase but which also previews the next

phase into which Huxley was already moving.

The novels of the middle phase in the career of Aldous Huxley mark

their beginning with the publication of his masterpiece Brave New World

(1932). This novel is set in London of A. d. 2540 (632 A.F. in the book). It

anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep – learning that

combine to change society. The future society includes the ideals that form the

basis of futurology. This book was answered by Huxley himself with a re-

assessment in an essay, Brave New World Revisited (1958) and with his last

novel Island (1962).

Though the novel is set in future, it deals with the contemporary issues

of the early 20th century. The Industrial Revolution had changed the entire

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world. Mass production had made cars, telephones and radios comparatively

cheap and widely available throughout the developed world. The political,

cultural, economic and sociological upheavals of the Russian Revolution of

1917 and the World War I were resonating throughout the world as a whole

and the individual lives of the majority of people.

This World State is ruled by certain commands which every citizen must

follow for the smooth and successful functioning of the society. They follow

the dicta like 'ending is better than minding' and 'more stitches less riches' etc.

Recreational sex forms the integral port of she society. Sex is a social activity

rather than a means of reproduction. Marriage and pregnancy are considered

obscene. Soma (ritualistic drink consumed by ancient Indo-Aryans) is

universally consumed as a drug. There is no competition within castes in this

society.

This novel is more a revolt against utopia than against Victoria. Though

the work was initially criticised, it fetched fame for Huxley later on.

Huxley's next novel, Eyeless in Gaza (1936), deals with the life of

motherless Anthony Beavis and his sensual relationship with a rather 'border

line' woman and her daughter. But, Later on, he comes to realise that sexuality

is a kind of mesh from which it is difficult to come out. His relationship with

Helen and Mary Amberley ends in disgust and disappointment. This novel also

points out the fact that knowledge is a prison and there is something that is

supreme beyond this discursive reasoning. However, he prefers to dwell in that

prison.

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 Huxley, in the novel, projects the 'free woman' of the 20th century who

submits to physical passion and ends up with abortion and hypodermic syringe.

Mary Amberley represents the worst kind of sexual depravities. She says,

"One's always doing the things one doesn't want stupidly, out of sheer

preversity".4

The novel shows that Huxley is deeply influenced by the Hindu view of

life and mysticism and holds that OM represents God and is all – pervasive.

The soul is different from the body. God is timeless and omnipresent. He

writes:

I am not my body, I am not my sensations, I am not

even my mind; I am that I am. I om that I om. The

sacred word OM represents him. God is not limited by

time For the one is not absent from anything, and yet is

separated from all things...5

Huxley's next novel of the middle phase 'After Many a Summer

(1939) is the story of a Hollywood millionaire who fears his imminent death. It

is, in fact, Huxley's observation of American culture, particularly what he saw

as its narcissism, superficiality and obsession with youth. The central theme of

the novel is the struggle between the forces leading to bondage and those which

are striving for liberation. Jo Stoyte, the protagonist, is an embodiment of all

deadly sins. He has stocked his castles with innumerable treasures and he has

all the pleasures which life can offer him. But he is caught in the dilemma of

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life and death and his heart is gripped by the fear of death. Through his attempt

to get longevity through the experiments of Dr. Obispo and Jeremy Pordage, he

only strengthens the forces of bondage and perpetuates evil in the world.

Propter laughs at the experiments cynically. He points out that eternal

life is to be found not in prolonging one's life in the mundane world – which

would not only lead to a permanent possibility of sensation – but in

experiencing a timeless goal. He asserts that good exists in a timeless world

and each individual should direct his potentialities in realizing that state of

consciousness instead of wasting his time in transitory pursuits. He also points

out that good exists only at the spiritual level.

'Time Must Have a Stop' (1944) belongs to the last phase of Huxley's

novel writing career. It is an account of the life of Sebastian Barnack who is a

gifted poet in his adolescence. He is very handsome with an angelic face

framed with curls. He does not like his baby – like looks and their contrast with

the serious, poetical genius he regards himself to be. His father, a comical dour,

stern and uncompromising lawyer, espouses socialist politics and secretly

resents his son's resemblance to his late wife, a beauty with fickle ways.

Barnack senior denies his son every material advantage, even a proper set of

evening clothes. Then Sebastian is sent to Italy to visit uncle Eustace who treats

him well and provides him everything he wants. But unfortunately he dies. But

while taking care of the dying man he is profoundly changed by the old man's

kindness and spirituality. Bruno effects a transformation in him, helping him

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achieve profounder vision, awareness, maturity, love and compassion for

others. Bruno's effect on the young man is still felt, as an epilogue indicates,

years later into Sebastian's life, when post – war, and missing a leg, he still

writes poetry.

Like other novels of Huxley, this novel also discusses themes like

female sexuality in the 20th century, conflict between the senses and the spirit,

consequences of incompatible marriages and men's struggle between bondage

and liberation.

Huxley's next novel 'Ape and Essence (1948), like Brave New World',

is set in a dystopia. It is a satire on the rise of large – scale warfare and

warmongering in the twentieth century and presents a pessimistic view of the

politics of mutually assured destruction. The novel extensively uses surrealist

imagery depicting human beings as apes who, as a whole, will inevitably

commit suicide.

The novel is divided into two sections – Tallis, the name of the novel's

character most like Huxley himself, and the script – the screenplay titled 'Ape

and Essence' which Tallis had submitted to the studio.

In a way, Ape and Essence seems to be a sequel to Brave New World.

Here, Huxley visualises a complete disaster for mankind which is the result of

the application of science and technology to our culture on a huge scale. He has

portrayed a society which has survived after the World War III. In this society

man has been reduced to a level below the animal. However, Huxley believes

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that despite the destructive effect of science human spirit will continue to

struggle against scientific forces. His strong belief in the individual existence

emerges through the relationship of Dr. Poole and Loola.

Huxley's penultimate novel 'The Genius and the Goddess' (1955) is

the fictional account of John Rivers, a student physicist in the 1920s who was

hired out of college as a leboratory assistant to Henry Maartens family. In

1921, Rivers is employed as a lab assistant to Henry Maartens. The story opens

in 1951. John Rivers is talking to a friend about his relationship with the

Maartens family. In 1921, Rivers is employed as a lab assistant to Henry

Maartens after receiving his Ph.D. Henry Maartens is a Nobel Prize winning

physicist but he is socially awkward. Rivers is liked by the family and he

begins to live with them. He falls in love with his Genius' (Henry) wife Katy

(his Goddess) in whom he sees 'the face of a goddess disguised as a healthy

peasant girl'.6 Katy's daughter Ruth is also in love with Rivers but he does not

return it.

Rivers is torn between his love for Katy and his loyalty to his master

Henry. His sexual union with Katy fills him with remorse and he finds himself

"two people" at the same time – one belonging to the goddess and the other, to

the genius. His sense of remorse refuses to forsake him but the assurance to

Katy that he is "too noble to be a party of deception"7 makes him realise that

his act was only for the good of both his master and his mistress as he notices

that

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 "Love and sleep has smoothed her face and the body

which yesterday had moved so wearily, at the cost of

so much painful effort, was now as softly strong, as

rich with life as it had been before her mother's illness.

She was a goddess once again...".8

Huxley's last novel Island (1962) deals with the character of will

Farnaby, a cynical journalist who is shipwrecked on the fictional island of Pala.

It is Huxley's utopian counterpart to 'Brave New World' and is often paired

with George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-four'. The novel explores many of the

ideas and issues that attracted Huxley's attention in the post World-War II

decades viz., overpopulation, ecology, modernity, democracy, mysticism,

entheogens and somatotypes.

A central element of Palanese society is restrained industrialization,

undertaken with the goal of providing fulfilling work and time for leisure and

contemplation. Here, progress means a selective attitude towards technology.

The Palanese embrace modern science and technology to improve medicine

and nutrition, but have rejected widespread industrialization. Huxley viewed

this selective modernization as essential for his 'sane' society. The novel also

shows Huxley's love for peace through which he aims at realizing the kingdom

of God on earth where justice, love, understanding and compassion are all –

pervasive. He believes that education, psycho-analysis and religion are some of

the methods for the realization of these ideals. The Palanese hold that education

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should be directed towards the realization of human potentialities. They opine

that education must develop the personality of the child in contact with nature.

In view of the above, it is clear that Huxley's consciousness underwent a

number of changes through the three phases of his novel writing. Initially he is

a shy guy like Denis Stone in 'Crome Yellow', a novice with no entity. He had

to face cruel criticism for his second novel 'Antic Hay' which was banned in

Australia and burnt in Cairo. But his crowning achievement 'Brave New World'

has established his reputation as one of the greatest novelists not only of the

20th century but the whole history of English Literature. As a writer, he

basically deals with human relation – both physical and spiritual and comes to

the conclusion that lust burns man to death whereas love purifies his soul. In

his novels he presents a real picture of the twentieth century European people

who essentially live on the material plane which is the reason of much of their

suffering. He offers solution to them by advising them to be spiritual in their

dealings. In his concept of spirituality and mysticism he shows deep influence

of Hindu view of life and Vedanta.

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 REFERENCES

1. Julian Huxley (ed.) Aldous Huxley. A Memorial Volume, Chatto &

Windus, London, 1965, p. 24.

2. Charles M. Holmes "The Early Poetry of Aldous Huxley," Texas studies

in Literature and Language, Vol. VIII. No. 3 (Fall, 1966), p. 391.

3. Point Counter Point, see title page.

4. Aldous Huxley, Eyless in Gaza (1936) London, Chatto & Windus, p.

443.

5. Ibid., p. 134.

6. Aldous Huxley, The Genius and the Goddess (1955) London, Chatto &

Windus, p. 30.

7. Ibid., p. 10.

8. Ibid., p. 73.



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