Storytelling in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

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"Fanny Crowne's a nice girl too," said the Assistant Predestinator.

In the nurseries, the Elementary Class Consciousness lesson was over, the voices were adapting future demand to future industrial supply. "I do love flying," they whispered, "I do love flying, I do love having new clothes, I do love …"

"Liberalism, of course, was dead of anthrax, but all the same you couldn't do things by force."

"Not nearly so pneumatic as Lenina. Oh, not nearly."

"But old clothes are beastly," continued the untiring whisper. "We always throw away old clothes. Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending, ending is better …"

"Government's an affair of sitting, not hitting. You rule with the brains and the buttocks, never with the fists. For example, there was the conscription of consumption."

"There, I'm ready," said Lenina, but Fanny remained speechless and averted. "Let's make peace, Fanny darling."

"Every man, woman and child compelled to consume so much a year. In the interests of industry. The sole result …"

"Ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches; the more stitches …"

"One of these days," said Fanny, with dismal emphasis, "you'll get into trouble."

"Conscientious objection on an enormous scale. Anything not to consume. Back to nature."

"I do love flying. I do love flying."

"Back to culture. Yes, actually to culture. You can't consume much if you sit still and read books."

"Do I look all right?" Lenina asked. Her jacket was made of bottle green acetate cloth with green viscose fur; at the cuffs and collar.

"Eight hundred Simple Lifers were mowed down by machine guns at Golders Green."

"Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending."

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Though out of context the above excerpt from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World may seem like senseless rambling, in context it is a prime example of excellent storytelling. These short snippets of several conversations are parts of various plot lines that the story has been telling in no particular order. The decreasing length of the paragraphs of each plot line, and the increasingly rapid switches from conversation to conversation come to a head as intensity mounts. While there is definite confusion over who is speaking in some cases, the reader is fully absorbed in the plot line. For this reason, I believe Huxley shows masterful use of variation in order to keep the readers attention. The short, choppy trains of thought produce an emotional response from the reader comparable to being out of control, as he or she can no longer follow the plot line as easily as before. While this may stress out some readers, I found the effect enjoyable because it made me to realize that what was being stated was not as important as what I felt in response, allowing me to act as a participant in the story telling process.