Note that student work varies significantly from one assignment to the next, even within the
same mark range. The intent behind providing samples such as this one is to guide
students in recognizing key criteria of assignments and in assessing their own work.
SAMPLE QUOTATION ANALYSIS – EXCELLENT
*************************************************************
Strengths:
• Explanations are focused and well-supported with numerous excerpts (thinking).
• You make a sound connection with the Director's future predicament, including
essential considerations of irony (thinking).
Tips for Improvement:
• Place more emphasis on the overall irony of the novel while opening the discussion of
theme in order to delineate the Director's position and a more insightful commentary
(thinking).
************************************************************************
‘It is better that one should suffer than that many should be
corrupted. Consider the matter dispassionately, Mr. Foster, and you will
see that no offense is so heinous as unorthodoxy of behaviour. Murder
kills only the individual – and, after all, what is an individual?’ With a
sweeping gesture he indicated the rows of microscopes, the test-tubes, the
incubators. ‘We can make a new one with the greatest ease – as many as
we like. Unorthodoxy threatens more than the life of a mere individual; it
strikes at Society itself. Yes, at Society itself,’ he repeated. (133)
In this passage, taken from Brave New World, the Director of the Hatchery and
Conditioning Centre is addressing Mr. Foster as the two of them await Bernard Marx's
arrival in the Fertilizing Room. The Director is rationalizing Bernard's imminent exile.
The Director reveals his heartlessness through his tone, diction, and overall
communication technique. By saying, "Murder kills only the individual – and, after all,
what is an individual?" he rhetorically expresses his opinion that an individual is of no
significance. To "murder" and to "kill" are two very dark and horrible crimes, but the
Director speaks of them in a desensitized manner, as if taking a person's life is no offence
at all. In addition, when he "indicated the rows of microscopes, the test-tubes, the
incubators", the Director demonstrates his disregard for the well-being of individuals by
suggesting that the creation of human lives is only part of a massive and ongoing
scientific experiment. Of course, during a scientific experiment the interests of the
experimenter are given priority while damage sustained by the object of the experiment
does not elicit any kind of compassion. Furthermore, the Director's heartlessness is
shown in the irony of how he makes harming an individual seem like a positive thing. He
accomplishes this effect by associating the presence of unorthodoxy with the
endangerment of society. In doing so, he justifies his cruelty by making it appear that he
supports the stability of Society – the highest value of the World State – through the
elimination of individuals. Therefore, the Director demonstrates his heartlessness through
his varied use of language.
The Director also indirectly reveals the following theme: the good of society
needs to be balanced with the good of individuals, as society is made up of individuals.
The Director explicitly favours a uniform society, but the problems of this vision become
readily apparent through a connotative understanding of his statements. When the
Director states, "it is better that one should suffer than that many should be corrupted", he
implies that Bernard's undergoing suffering is a positive experience because it protects
society – the more important component of the situation. However, an implicit problem is
evident here in that no limit to the number of individuals suffering is hinted at. It does not
seem to matter to the Director which individual suffers, either. The Director reiterates the
value distinction between the individual and society when he rhetorically asks, "what is
an individual?" Mr. Foster's silence is telling in this instance, as he is not permitted to
confer any value to a single person. Balanced interests are not possible when raising a
competing side to an argument is forbidden. In fact, Henry Foster does not even seem to
be aware of a perspective other than that of the Director. Individuals are further lowered
in value when the Director asserts, "we can make a new one with the greatest ease – as
many as we like". His choice of the words, "make" and "ease", shows the lack of value
that he feels towards individuals by implying that they are mere creations of "Society", to
be produced or disposed of on a whim, that is, without serious thought. He compares
individual human beings to mass-produced objects. Because they are available in bulk,
the significance of one seems minimal, especially when a replica can so easily be
recreated. While citizens of the World State readily accept this logic, its underlying
assumptions may also be readily seen as problematic. If the society is comprised of a
collection of individuals who have no intrinsic value and are readily disposable, the value
and sustainability of such a society is put into question. When the Director repeats the
phrase, "at Society itself", the effect connotes that he himself is being "struck" at. The
irony of all the Director's persuasive talk is that within a few minutes of his speaking to
Mr. Foster, the Director himself becomes an affront to "Society" through his dramatically
discovered paternal status, and consequently, a not-so-eager proponent of individual
suffering. Upon the discovery of John's biological roots, the Director is powerless to
defend his own unorthodoxy, leaving him no better option than self-imposed exile. Thus,
the Director's predicament illustrates an important truth: it is important to see individuals
as valuable, despite their differences, to the workings of a functional society.
Work Cited
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1994.