The Controller, one of the ten men who run the World State, represents a combination of past and present, convention and rebellion. A man of two worlds, Mond is familiar with the history that others are forbidden to know, and so his thinking ranges both inside and outside the present social order. The maker of the rules, as he says, can break them as well, if he wishes.
Only Mond’s extraordinary power keeps him safe from whispers of his dangerous knowledge and collection of unorthodox books. He is untouchable but not unreachable. With Helmholtz and John, Mond discusses the unspoken assumptions of the society they find so constricting, even confessing his own youthful experiments in challenging authority. Mond knows the nature of the malcontent—he once was one—but he is committed to keeping the society stable. He uses his power for others’ happiness, he explains, not his own.
During his lectures, Mond expresses his unique views on the themes of freedom, happiness, civilization, and heroism. His dry delivery contributes much to the satiric tone of the novel. In his intellect and wit, Mond is the character who most resembles Huxley himself.
