Huxley's Brave New World is often compared to Orwell's 1984 as the more accurate of the two forecasts. Orwell imagined a world of repression and restriction, of utter slavery and ignorance imposed from on high; Huxley wrote of a self-subjugated people ignorant by choice and deadened to reality through endless consumption of synthetic stimulants and entertainment.
See? readers will say. Huxley's predictions came true, while Orwell's turned out to be just dystopian fantasy.
It's not a fair comparison. Besides, Orwell's predictions did come true, just not in the West. The conditions of 1984 are chillingly similar to those endured in Communist bloc nations, while Huxley's was certainly the more accurate scenario in Western Europe and the Americas. Our society really is coming apart at the seems, and we really have done it to ourselves because we're so addicted to enertainment and mindlessness.
Many readers also see the Shakespeare-quoting Savage as the hero of the novel. This is one thing they have right, though it also reveals the inherent humanism of the author; the Savage (or, Noble Savage) is a romantic soul, a free spirit, and it is only by remaining "true to himself" and to the Western tradition that he succeeds in overcoming the evil around him.
Christian readers know this is a pipedream. Being true to ourselves means more sin and evil; it is only by submitting to Christ and His Law that we can hope to improve the world or anyone in it. Yet Huxley's vision of the future is as accurate today as when he first published the novel in 1932, and Brave New World is just as enjoyable (and creepy) to read as its initial audience found it to be.