Please identify the literary devices of allusion, mood, and tone in Brave New World.  

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missy575 | High School Teacher | (Level 1) Educator Emeritus

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Your original question contained 3 questions. It had to be edited as we can only answer one per entry.

Allusion is an easily identifiable device in Brave New World. The names of characters, buildings and religions take on allusionary meanings. There is a Marx character, a Watson character, and a Hoover character. Ford is referenced as a profanity. The title is taken from Shakespeare's The Tempest when a sheltered female character experiences something brand new: men. Perhaps the most alluded are Sigmund Freud and Shakespeare's work. The Freud character is manifest in John the Savage.

Mood and tone are so closely related that we will discuss them together. Mood is the feeling developed within a reader. Tone is the attitude given by the author. The tone is sarcastically pessimistic. He paints this society that lives according to scientific advancement, but allows the reader to see the flaw because he knows we read from a perspective that would reject over-reliance on science... or would we? The mood feels morally disappointing. Readers are left with the feeling that they do not want this society and that lends to an author's purpose. Huxley wanted mankind to think about the possibility and probability that science would advance so far that it could deceive the people.


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mdteacher1 | Middle School Teacher | (Level 1) Adjunct Educator

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Thanks for your question. "Mood" or "tone" (the words are interchangeable) is the author's way of using language to express her or his "attitude" or "feelings" about a topic or subject Contemporary's Completed GED (2002). If you were to read: war is the scourge of the earth and those who start them should be banned from our midst. From this example, you pick up the author's mood: he does not like warmongers or those who start wars.

Allusion may certainly be made in your writings. Allusions are references to some other work or story. I remember watching the Disney animated movie Hercules (1997) some years back and thinking how it made references (allusions) not only to Greek mythology and modern day cities like New York city, but also to the Christian faith Matt. 1:18 (Revised Standard Version). For example, Hercules like the baby Jesus was born under unusual circumstances grew up with a sense that He was not on earth for any ordinary purpose, and then had supernatural abilities (Hercules, 1997). Well, this is what I saw and then there were the references (allusions) to things like when Hercules and his faithful horse, Pegasus went to the city. They were advised by Hercule's trainer, Phil, "Don't look anyone in the eye,") (Hercules, 1997). It is said that this advice is given to people traveling to big cities like New York city-- no offense to New Yorkers. I like New Yorkers ; in fact my family made friends with a family from New York city at Walt Disney World in Florida last summer.

You asked about characters and foil in your original question. Characters foil other characters in a situation like the characters in Huckleberry Finn or the Tom & Jerry cartoon characters Short (2011). Foil characters are like alter-egos to the main character(s). They are often the opposite in character than the main character(s). The main character may be sullen and withdrawn, but the main character is upbeat and outgoing. Hope this helps.


Disney Interactive (Producer), & Clements, R. & Musker, J. (Directors). (1997). Hercules. USA. Retrieved from http:/ and

Short, K (2011, August). How to write a foil character. eHow. Retrieved from

Eacott, P. (2002). Contemporary's complete GED: Comprehensive study program for the high school equivalency examination. Chicago: McGraw-Hill.

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