Brave New World: Allusions and Unique Terms
In his fictional novel Brave New World, Huxley makes many allusions, or references to real-life people, places
or concepts. But he also invents his own terminology, and there are many new terms and concepts with which
you should become familiar before reading and for reference as you read the novel.
Allusions
Character/Concept
Bernard Marx
Lenina Crowne
Benito Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Malthusian belt,
Malthusian Drill
conditioning and NeoPavlovian
Ford
George Bernard Shaw
Freud
Helmholtz Watson
Mustapha Mond
Mond
Brave New World
Allusion to
Karl Marx, founder of Marxism, Socialism
Russian revolutionary and founder of the communist party Vladimir Lenin
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and 31st U.S. President
Political economist Thomas Malthus, an early proponent of birth control for
population regulation
Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov and his conditioning experiments (Pavlov’s dogs)
Henry Ford, creator of Model T Ford and modern assembly-line work
Irish writer and socialist George Bernard Shaw
Austrian psychiatrist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud
John B. Watson, American psychologist, founder of behaviorism, together with
Rosalie Rayner conducted controversial “Little Albert” experiment
Founder of modern Turkey, Mustapha Kemal Atatürk
monde—“world” or “people” in French
From Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Miranda says:
“O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!”
The Caste System
Alphas
Betas
Gammas
Deltas
Epsilon
Top of the caste system; top intellects; tall; wear grey (very few Alphas; all are men)
Managers; above average intelligence; wear blues, reds and mulberry
Workers; low intelligence; wear green
Low workers; very low intelligence; wear khaki
Near brainless workers; short; wear black
Terms
A.F.
Bokanovsky Group
Bottling
Centrifugal BumblePuppy
D.H.C.
decanting room
ectogenesis
Annum Ford, After Ford
identical twins which have been created by a single egg divided numerous times
through Bokanvosky’s Process
process by which embryos are grown
a game in which children throw a ball onto a rotating disk that throws the ball back
in a random direction, and is meant to be caught
The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
a room where the babies are removed from the bottles
a process by which embryos are grown outside of a womb, in this case, they are
feelies
hypnopaedia
Malthusian belt
Neo-Pavlovian
Conditioning
Nine Years’ War
orgy-porgy
phosphorus recovery
pneumatic
Podsnap’s technique
pregnancy substitute
Savage Reservation
Solidarity Service
Soma
soma holiday
viviparous
grown in bottles
similar to modern movie-theaters; viewers are able to feel the emotion and smell the
smells of the movie in front of them
one step of the conditioning process by which while sleeping, babies and children
listen to repeated messages about morals and their place in society, and are
completely conditioned to live and breathe these messages
a belt that dispenses contraceptives
loud noises, flashing lights and electric shock used on babies to condition their likes
and dislikes
the war that enabled the Ten World Controllers to take over power
a chant and dance of a Solidarity Service; sexual in nature
the process in which phosphorus is recovered from cremated bodies to be used in
fertilizer
“air filled” or well-endowed
a process of ripening thousands of eggs at the same time so that they can be born
when needed
an injection that tricks the body into thinking it is pregnant, controlling hormones
a dumping ground for savages, or people who were naturally born
a religious service with a strong sexual content
a legal drug without side- or after-effects; makes people “happy” when needed
to be drugged up with soma for a long period of time
bearing live young rather than eggs