33 pages 1 hour read

Island

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1962

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Summary and Study Guide

Overview

Island is a 1962 novel by Aldous Huxley. It tells the story of Will Farnaby’s experience on an isolated island called Pala. The novel is written in third person limited omniscient point of view focused on Will’s perspective. While recovering from injury on the island, Will discovers a world that is starkly different from his native England and Western civilization. Through his time on the island, Will changes from a cynical and indifferent Westerner to a man who embraces the Palanese alternative to the West’s exploitative capitalism.

Many readers have seen Island as a counterpoint to Huxley’s famous dystopian novel, Brave New World. Island is a utopian novel. It presents new ways of seeing the role of government where greed, envy, power, and dominance are not primary motivating forces. Among the parallels between the two novels are the societal impacts of widespread drug use; sexuality and procreation; education; and religion.

Island is written for Western audiences. Much of its significant sequences take the form of philosophical arguments in which the people of Pala offer counterpoints to Will’s—and by extension Western culture’s—assertions, claims, and preconceived notions. Whereas in Brave New World, Huxley examines the ominous end result of modern Western governance, Island offers alternative ideas and solutions for the West to avoid the dystopian future of Brave New World.

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