In many cases when you read a novel you may find comparisons between the "fictional" society and your realistic one. The author may concsciously or unconsciously create similarities between these two worlds. The novelist can forsee the future and write according to this vision.
Brave New World, a novel by Aldous Huxley was written at a tine in history when war had ravaged much of the nation, Depression was blanketing society, and people's wills were being put to the test. Science had become an overwhelming force for better or for worse. People had witnessed science saving and preventing millions of lives with vaccinations and such, but on the contrary, had also witnessed it kill with horrifying "factory-like" efficiency in WW I (the age of machine guns and chemical warfare). Brave New World is not intended to be a happy book, it is more Huxley's way of describing what he believes is coming to us. He is basically saying, "This is our future". Huxley's writings are known for dealing with conflicts between the interest of the individual and the interests of society. Brave New World addresses this conflict in a fictional future (approximately 500 years into the future) in which free will and individuality have been sacrificed to achieve complete social stability.
Brave New World also dramatizes the conflict between scientific Theory and religion. Science is portrayed as religion as the "manifestations of self-evident truths". Henry Ford is used as the religious outlet for the World State. He represents a religion that allows the World State rulers to rob the people of their individuality in the name of progress and stability. This worship serves as a metaphor for the dangers of using science to produce and justify sweeping ideology governing social relations. I do not believe that Huxley is criticizing religion directly, but instead targeting those who use it to justify unequal social relations.
