Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Modern classics Ed. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006. Print

Similar to 1984 is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.  This classic text is used in classrooms, and while it is also not classified as YA lit., it is being read by young adults in school and out.  Many of the YA novels in this blog reveal influences from Brave New World so it receives treatment here.  Here is the SparkNotes summary for this great novel.
Summary: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bravenew/summary.html

Dystopia: This novel contains all of the dystopian elements I have pointed out as well.  The main character, Bernard Marx, fails to fit in to his society, and feels discontent uncharacteristic of a member of one of the upper strata in the society.  Everything is controlled by the government: embryos in test tubes are scientifically altered to have certain characteristics, and children are raised in ways to fit their predetermined class status.  This theme of scientific alteration is a huge dystopian theme found in YA novels such as Across the Universe.  People are often given Soma, a drug similar to LSD which makes them complacent and provides powerful trips of pleasure.  People's everyday lives are lacking in sensation, so the government sanctions these Soma "orgy porgies" in order to control its people.  Control through drugs is also found in Blood Red Road and Across the Universe.  The social class setup in Across the Universe also looks very similar to Brave New World where people are forced into a class and occupation from birth.  

An unlikely hero arises in this novel. John, a man born on an island isolated from the control of the government, used as a tourist attraction, is taken back to civilisation from his island.  He recognizes the tyranny of the government and is unable to fit into the class system set up there.  He rebels against this control, committing suicide when he realizes he does not fit in.  Like 1984, Brave New World ends without the glimmer of hope found in the YA novels, but again the message for the reader is made even more profound by this fact.  The people in Brave New World are lost, but the reader is not, unless he/she allows these travesties to become reality.  

This book is also widely read in schools, and contains themes comparable to 1984, while it might be a bit easier to read and a bit less powerful.  Again, I would recommend using a YA novel to bridge the gap between this loftier literature and students' daily lives.  With characters that students' can identify with, the YA novels become gateways to these more difficult texts where the dystopias are taken even further and are more devastating