Brave New World...Dystopian By Definition?

Well, I was looking over the vocabulary words and fell upon 'dystopia'.


dystopia- noun. a society characterized by human misery, as squalor [filth], oppression, diseases, and overcrowding.


This definition immediately called for a raised eyebrow. And not the one-eyebrow-Dwayne Johnson-kind either. The DOUBLE EYEBROW RAISE.

By this definition, is Huxley's society a dystopia? I say this because it's constantly being referred to as one; the summary on the back of the book, in this blog, everywhere, really.

I'm not questioning the credibility of anything if someone can clarify, but by definition only, it seems that it can't possibly be.

- Misery?
The people of Brave New World are rather cheerful, don't you think? While their happiness may not be that of the 'spiritually content' happiness that we're used to, I'd think you'd be out of line to refer to a large quantity of people within the soma-induced tripping world, as miserable.

- Squalor?
Squalor, as defined by the dictionary, is the 'condition of being squalid; filth and misery'. Again, by definition, this doesn't exactly parallel with Huxley's description of his society. Unless I read wrong or happened to miss, Huxley never describes an unclean world, as far as sewage, filth, and whathaveyou.

- Oppression?
Now, this may be the most debatable as far as being in relation to Huxley's world. Some may see the inhabitants as oppressed people, while others see them as free to an extent. Oppression is subjective, though, as the inability to run nude through the streets may be quite the injustice to some.

- Diseases?
I'm quite sure we all remember reading that the controllers wiped out all major diseases, right?

- Overcrowding?
Probably the only concern not addressed completely. The possibility of overcrowding is left open, unless, again, I missed something.

Again, I'm in need of clarification here. I'm not quite understanding why Brave New World is referred to as 'dystopian', when, by definition, it doesn't seem to match.

S.O.S.