Eton College
Boarding school in Eton, Berkshire, beside the Thames. In Brave New World its Upper School is where John and Bernard see how the World State educates.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | setting | John and Bernard tour the school: a Malthusian Drill, a film of Acoma penitents and a library of reference books. |
Brave New World — Aldous Huxley (1932)
Source: Brave New World · Original · Readwise highlight
At Eton they alighted on the roof of Upper School. On the opposite side of School Yard, the fifty-two stories of Lupton’s Tower gleamed white in the sunshine.
- Role: setting
- In the book: John and Bernard land on the roof of Upper School, opposite the fifty-two storeys of Lupton’s Tower, and are shown round by the Provost and the Head Mistress. They see a Malthusian Drill, a film of the Penitentes of Acoma that makes the boys laugh, the Hypnopaedic Control Room and a library of reference books only, while the Provost mentions the Slough Crematorium and death conditioning.
- Why it matters: The visit shows conditioning applied to the elite, and the boys’ laughter at the penitents pains John. A real school keeps its buildings but loses its purpose.
- Real vs. fictional: Eton, Upper School and Lupton’s Tower are real; the fifty-two-storey tower is not.