Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

The World State

In most dystopian literature, the government is going to be the antagonist. In the case of Brave New World, the World Controllers have reduced man to little more than an infant, or possibly a baboon. They wield the rather disturbing power of soma and hypnopaedia, which means they control not only actions but thoughts. As an antagonist, the World State is atypical because it doesn't have a face or embodiment. There's Mustapha Mond, but he doesn't really strike us as the antagonist type; he's intimidating, but certainly not malevolent. If this is also true of the subjugating power that is this brave new world, then maybe the World State isn't exactly an antagonist either. It's complicated. What do you think?