BRAVE NEW WORLD STUDY QUESTIONS
English 11
J. Turner
CHAPTERS 4 TO 7
CHAPTER FOUR
1. Why does it embarrass Bernard to talk about sex in public? Isn’t that normal for
people in this world?
2. Why doesn’t Bernard like to take soma?
3. What are the respective reasons for Bernard’s and Helmholtz Watson’s feelings of
alienation? (Blue 57 to 63.)
CHAPTER FIVE
4. What do you think of the way dead bodies are recycled? Is this a good idea or does it
fail to give proper respect to human life? What does it say about this society?
5. What is the point of the description of the music including the “sexophones”, the
“scent and colour organs” and the “synthetic music”? Are any of Huxley’s attitudes
toward popular music still relevant today?
6. What is the song “that dear Bottle of mine” about?
Bottle of mine, it’s you I’ve always wanted!
Bottle of mine, why was I ever decanted?
Skies are blue inside of you,
The weather’s always fine;
For,
There ain’t no Bottle in all the world
Like that dear little Bottle of mine.
7. What is the “Solidarity Service” meant to represent?
CHAPTER SIX
8. Is privacy important? Or would it be okay to be as public and open as this world is?
What recent developments in technology and culture make it important to think
about the private/public distinction today?
9. In what way are we, like Bernard and Lenina, enslaved by our conditioning?
10. What is it about Lenina that makes it difficult for Bernard to respect her?
11. What is it about Bernard that makes it difficult for Lenina to understand him?
12. What are the attitudes of the warden and the pilot toward the “savages”?
CHAPTER SEVEN
13. Why aren’t people “old” in the “civilized” world?
14. Lenina isn’t used to facing ugly, sad, or even boring things without soma. What effect
do you think it would have on a person to always have the easy escape of soma?
15. What troubles did Linda have when she first started living in the Reservation?
16. What troubles does John have living in the Reservation?
HYPNOPAEDIC TEACHINGS
17. What different categories would you put the following “lessons” in?
18. What are the values of this society?
19. What benefits are there of these values?
20. How might you object to some of these values?

Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so
frightfully clever. I'm really awfuly glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard.
And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They
all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta
children. And Epsilons are still worse They're too stupid to be able to read or write.
Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I'm so glad I'm a Beta.

Every one belongs to every one else.

I do love new Clothes.

History is bunk.

No civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability.

All men are physico-chemically equal.

Ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches.

I do love flying.

One cubic centimetre cures ten gloomy sentiments.

A gramme is better than a damn.

What a hideous colour khaki is.

I’m glad I’m not a gamma.

Even Epsilons perform indispensible services.

Everyone works for everyone else. We can’t do without anyone.

Everybody’s happy now.

Never put off till tomorrow the fun you can have today.

When the individual feels, the community reels.

Progress is lovely, isn’t it?

Was and will make me ill. I take a gramme and only am.

Cleanliness is next to fordliness.

Civilization is sterilization.

Mending is antisocial.