Study Questions Chapters 1-3 Chapter 1 1. Describe the setting for the opening chapter of Brave New World. In what city and year does this novel take place? Chapter 1 1. Describe the setting for the opening chapter of Brave New World. In what city and year does this novel take place? It is inside the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center. The atmosphere is stark and clinical. A.F. 632 Chapter 1 2. What is the motto of the World State? Chapter 1 2. What is the motto of the World State? Community, Identity, Stability Chapter 1 3. Explain what is happening at the Hatchery and Conditioning Center. Chapter 1 3. Explain what is happening at the Hatchery and Conditioning Center. The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning is conducting new students through the Center. They are learning about artificial reproduction and the hatching of the eggs. Chapter 1 4. Describe Bokanovsky’s process. Chapter 1 4. Describe Bokanovsky’s process. One egg is made to “bud,” resulting in as many as 96 identical embryos. Chapter 1 5. What are the five castes of the World State? Chapter 1 5. What are the five castes of the World State? Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon Chapter 2 1. What two objects are the babies being conditioned to dislike? Chapter 2 1. What two objects are the babies being conditioned to dislike? They are books and flowers. Chapter 2 2. Why does the State condition the masses to dislike the country? Chapter 2 2. Why does the State condition the masses to dislike the country? They do not consume any goods if they simply enjoy natural pleasures in the country. Chapter 2 3. Explain how hypnopaedia works. Chapter 2 3. Explain how hypnopaedia works. Children are taught State-prescribed moral and social principles through sleep-teaching, three times a week for 30 months. Chapter 2 4. What does the child’s mind and, later, the adult’s become? Chapter 2 4. What does the child’s mind and, later, the adult’s become? The child is the sum of all of these suggestions made through hypnopaedia. Chapter 3 1. What is the requirement for any new games? Why is this so? Chapter 3 1. What is the requirement for any new games? Why is this so? They must require at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games to increase consumption. Chapter 3 2. Explain the State’s attitude toward sex. How does the State regard marriage? Chapter 3 2. Explain the State’s attitude toward sex. How does the State regard marriage? Citizens are expected to be promiscuous. Children are taught erotic play to free them of any sense of guilt or repression. They feel that marriage, monogamy, and romance keep a society from being stable because they cause an exclusiveness, a narrow channeling of impulse and energy, which focus upon the individual only as a part of the whole community. Chapter 3 3. “Ending is better than mending.” “The more stitches, the less riches.” How do these sayings express the economic views of the State? Chapter 3 3. “Ending is better than mending.” “The more stitches, the less riches.” How do these sayings express the economic views of the State? Mending, repairing any goods, is contrary to constant consumption, the economic basis of the World State. Chapters 1-3 1. What is AF. 632? What can you infer about this society from such a designation? Chapters 1-3 1. What is AF. 632? What can you infer about this society from such a designation? After Ford 632 – this society worships production, materialism. Chapters 1-3 2. How many individuals can be produced from one egg and one sperm? Chapters 1-3 2. How many individuals can be produced from one egg and one sperm? 96 Chapters 1-3 3. What is the purpose of the processes that take place in the Social Predestination Room? Chapters 1-3 3. What is the purpose of the processes that take place in the Social Predestination Room? The fetuses are chemically and otherwise treated to suit them for a certain social caste and job. Chapters 1-3 4. What is the point of conditioning the masses to hate nature? Chapters 1-3 4. What is the point of conditioning the masses to hate nature? A love of nature does not keep factories busy. Chapters 1-3 5. What kinds of things do the children hear while they are asleep? Chapters 1-3 5. What kinds of things do the children hear while they are asleep? messages that convince them they are very happy Chapters 1-3 6. Who is Mustapha Mond? What does he say about history? Chapters 1-3 6. Who is Mustapha Mond? What does he say about history? Western European Controller; It’s bunk Chapters 1-3 7. Describe Lenina Crowne. Chapters 1-3 7. Describe Lenina Crowne. A young and attractive woman who works at the Hatcheries and Conditioning Centre, Lenina is “having” Henry Foster exclusively. Chapters 1-3 8. What is “wrong” with Bernard Marx? Chapters 1-3 8. What is “wrong” with Bernard Marx? He is a bit small for an Alpha, likes to be alone, doesn’t like to hear Lenina discussed as if she were a mere piece of meat. Chapters 1-3 9. What is soma? Chapters 1-3 9. What is soma? A drug with no side effects which provides an escape from reality