Crome Yellow is often read as a satirical novel on account of its biographical side and the portion of it, which is used as an ironical reproduction of the author’s own experiences among his peers from the Bloomsbury group. Yet, Huxley’s first masterpiece is much more than a fictionalized record of his own youth and life. The book, in fact, is an ingenious piece of writing which combines many inventive and shrewd literary components. Starting with the plot, it is necessary to point out the fact that Huxley had included very little to no plot development in his work. Many critics, at the time, had consequently questioned the validity of calling such a book a novel at all, and yet most of them agreed on the brilliancy of both author and work.
Instead of focusing on the storyline, Huxley rather chose to develop his characters’ mental and psychological states. Accordingly, the book follows Denis Stone first through his journey, and then during his vacation in Crome. The progress of the young poet is divided into many spheres to highlight the complexity of human beings. One of these is the constant conflict between shadow and persona. When Denis was ushered into the country home of his friends, for instance, the narrating comments about the furniture of the house convey his thoughts about, “the long gallery, with its rows of respectable and (though, of course, one couldn’t publicly admit it) rather boring Italian primitives…” The very diction of this passage accentuates the division between true self and the mask one wears for the sake of public acceptance, which ultimately leads to the state of alienation oppressing almost all the characters in the book.
Fear is a one benchmark of the novel. It is present in many forms. Denis, for one, is paralyzed at the very thought of expressing his feelings to Anne. He travels all the way to Crome with the intention of confessing his love and gaining her affection. Yet, once on the spot, he becomes the slave of his fears. In this manner, Denis prefers the uncertainty of an ambiguous relationship with Anne to a definite rejection. The same applies to the other characters with a slight alteration in the source and basis of anxiety. Henry fears the future and faces the anxiety of individuation. Priscilla dreads the meaninglessness of life and the insignificance of her own person. Mary abhors sexual repressions, yet at the same time is a victim of it. These are but examples to illustrate the powerful ways in which Huxley introduces the interminably different variations of fear within a small circle of seemingly stable and healthy human beings.
It is important to remember that Aldous Huxley was strongly influenced by the works of the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, who is often regarded as the father of existentialism. Accordingly, his creative book is immersed in existential themes varying between the fear of death, alienation, isolation, and the meaninglessness of life. The different characters illustrate each of these concerns in a way that allows the reader to bond with them on the expense of the plot itself. At the end of the book, the reader is often at a loss when asked to identify the conflict and the crisis of the novel. At the same time, however, the richness of the mental and psychological progress of the characters permits him to gain a deep insight which extends to the entire human kind.
