I’m reading Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World for the first time, and am completely stuck on a particular passage because I have no idea what it could possibly mean!
It says:
“And in effect the sultry darkness into which the students now followed him was visible and crimson, like the darkness of closed eyes on a summer's afternoon. The bulging flanks of row on receding row and tier above tier of bottles glinted with innumerable rubies, and among the rubies moved the dim red spectres of men and women with purple eyes and all the symptoms of lupus. The hum and rattle of machinery faintly stirred the air.”
What on earth is he talking about? People don’t fit in jars, they’re not purple eyed red ghosts! I thought maybe this was some sort of metaphor for the embryos, but what do the symptoms of lupus have anything to do with embryos?? If it’s meant to be taken literally, I’m totally lost, and if it’s meant to be a metaphor I have no idea what it’s supposed to convey.
Does anyone have ideas?
I’m not reading this for school, just to clarify. I’m an adult.
by Starlight-Edith
6 Comments
No idea. I’ve read and listened to this book and I still had trouble with it
It’s been 30+ years since I read the book, but it sounds like they’re going into a dimly lit bottling factory where all of the workers are sickly due to long hours in the dim factory.
I have no idea what this means but now I have an urge to read this book
The jars are filled with embryos.
Remember that Huxley did drugs. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was having a moment because of that.
Genetic engineering