Friday 1
Brave New World Notes
Chapter 1:
SETTING: Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center, Fertilizing Room
-gray, metallic colors and sterile environment provide irony in a place where life is created
-year of stability A.F. 632
-A.F. stands for after Ford
-Why is Ford idolized? (like Jesus) developed car-is this innovation important, or is it
merely the importance of technology in general spurred by his work
-World State’s motto-Community, Identity, Stability
Observations and Reactions:
“A troop of newly arrived students, very young, pink and callow, followed nervously, rather
abjectly, at the Director's heels. Each of them carried a notebook, in which, whenever the great
man spoke, he desperately scribbled. Straight from the horse's mouth.”
-students are Alphas, highest social class, yet can’t think for themselves
-What does this say about the leaders of society? Subtly undercutting their policies and
beliefs by portraying them as mindless drones?
-even copy down word “meanwhile”
-repetition throughout chapter-keeps mentioning note taking, pencils writing-does this serve a
specific purpose?
“Tall and rather thin but upright, the Director advanced into the room. He had a long chin and
big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not talking, by his full, floridly curved lips.
Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five?”
-shows unhuman-like quality of “humans”, don’t age normally? Or just hid well through
artificial means?
-produced inorganically, like robots, clones
-incubators hold ova in test tubes for weeks fertilization
-performed for the “good of society”
-creation of life a scientific process, missing key element: love
-goes through detailed process of how fertilization is carried out-many conditions need to be met
(temperature, salinity, nutrient broth), specific for each social class
Social Stratification:
1. Alphas
2. Betas
3. Gammas
4. Deltas
5. Epsilons
*3-5 undergo Bokanovsky’s Process-egg will divide making hundreds of human clones
“progress”, series of arrests of development (x-rays, alcohol, chilling)
"Bokanovsky's Process is one of the major instruments of social stability!"
-staff a small factory, but where is the individuality?
-mass production applied to bio
Friday 2
-talk of similar processes occurring in other places (Singapore, Mombasa) gives situation a more
nonfiction feel-uses real places
-possible future?
-Social Predestination Room, Embryo Store
“So many individuals, of such and such quality"
-ironic, not individuals
-Style not elaborate, author uses and isolates short sentences for emphasis
-Decanting Room-embryos travel on conveyor belts under specified harmful or beneficial
conditions
“Explained the system of labeling-a T for the males, a circle for the females and for those who
were destined to become freemartins a question mark, black on a white ground.”
-only 30% of females fertile-rest injected with hormones and sterile
-also predestine and condition, socialize human beings
“The lower the caste," said Mr. Foster, "the shorter the oxygen." The first organ affected was the
brain. After that the skeleton. At seventy per cent of normal oxygen you got dwarfs. At less than
seventy eyeless monsters.”
-condition humans at embryonic stage to conform, accept, and mold to specific environment
-problem: don’t need intelligence so mentally developed by ten, but physically mature by 18,
need to speed up development (to match an animal)
-refer to humans as “batches”
Chapter 2:
SETTING: Infant Nurseries, Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms
Observations and Reactions:
“(nurses) setting out bowls of roses in a long row across the floor. Big bowls, packed tight with
blossom. Thousands of petals, ripe-blown and silkily smooth, like the cheeks of innumerable
little cherubs, but of cherubs, in that bright light, not exclusively pink and Aryan, but also
luminously Chinese, also Mexican, also apoplectic with too much blowing of celestial trumpets,
also pale as death, pale with the posthumous whiteness of marble.”
-contrast to identicalness of humans
-more lifelike than human beings, but still pale as death
-babies carried out in wire-netted shelves! Like lab rats-merely experimental, many ethical
questions raised
-exposed to electric shocks with books and flowers to condition them (Deltas-wear khaki) to hate
instinctively hate books and flowers
-shouldn’t instincts be inherited? -these learned behaviors
-French and German dead languages (among others)
-communication degrading-loss of connections between human beings, becoming more and
more automated
Friday 3
-“parent” is a foreign concept to tour group, babies were once born
-subject broached with much awkwardness “most historical facts are unpleasant”
“The case of Little Reuben occurred only twenty-three years after Our Ford's first T-Model was
put on the market." (Here the Director made a sign of the T on his stomach and all the students
reverently followed suit.) "And yet..."
-like sign of the cross-Ford = to God
-Director says “Oh, Ford!”
-discovery of principle of sleep teaching, made years before rightfully applied
(hypnopaedia)
-found that you can teach moral education, not intellectual information
"Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully
clever. I'm really awfully 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 …"
-conditioning to believe what (government ?) wants them to believe
-brainwashing to be content within their caste level
-prevents discontent, rebellion, mechanism of control
-child’s mind easily impressionable
“The mind that judges and desires and decides-made up of these suggestions. But all these
suggestions are our suggestions!" The Director almost shouted in his triumph. "Suggestions
from the State."
-but individual believe this is their own thought
-happens today-media coverage has inherent bias, simply digest information
Chapter 3:
SETTING: garden outside Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center, June
Observations and Reactions:
-detailed descriptions of nature, birds and trees, but still presence of technology “murmer of bees
and helicopters”
“strange to think that even in Our Ford's day most games were played without more apparatus
than a ball or two and a few sticks and perhaps a bit of netting. Imagine the folly of allowing
people to play elaborate games which do nothing whatever to increase consumption. It’s
madness. Nowadays the Controllers won't approve of any new game unless it can be shown
that it requires at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games."
-games played with complicated technology to increase consumption-can’t excape grasp of
technology!
-mention of controllers-government figures?
“two children, a little boy of about seven and a little girl who might have been a year older, were
playing, very gravely and with all the focussed attention of scientists intent on a labour of
discovery, a rudimentary sexual game.”
-what is a sexual game?
-don’t partake in sex to reproduce anymore-is it just for fun?
Friday 4
-also “erotic play”, society does not repress sexual tendencies, but encourages them-why?
don’t need sex to increase population, perhaps it’s to relieve sexual tension and keep it from
building up once adulthood is reached
-shows more human/life-like side to clones
-shows lack of our degradation of innocence, not a game such young children should really be
aware of or understand
-talks about how sexual exploration once repressed in children-results were terrible
-boys express signs of contempt-jealousy? Like an older sibling vying for attention? – when
Director refers to children playing as “charming”
-interesting-a single voice protrudes into conversation between Director and tour-turns out to be
Resident Controller for Western Europe, Mustapha Mond
-odd interjections of story-change of scenery-introduced to Henry Foster and Assistant Director
of Predestination
-adds to confusion and barrage of information of scene-parallels information overload of
boys?, also mentions Director’s confusion
-back to garden
“He waved his hand; and it was as though, with an invisible feather wisk, he had brushed away
a little dust, and the dust was Harappa, was Ur of the Chaldees; some spider-webs, and they
were Thebes and Babylon and Cnossos and Mycenae. Whisk. Whisk-and where was
Odysseus, where was Job, where were Jupiter and Gotama and Jesus? Whisk-and those
specks of antique dirt called Athens and Rome, Jerusalem and the Middle Kingdom-all were
gone. Whisk-the place where Italy had been was empty”
-“History is bunk”
-parallel to Orwell’s 1984, in which the Party manipulated and changed past to fit personal
agendas
“There were those strange rumours of old forbidden books hidden in a safe in the Controller's
study. Bibles, poetry-Ford knew what.”
-censorship of knowledge, don’t want people knowing past or to develop intelligence, will
want to overcome system of control, will be unhappy?
-theme of sexuality pervades, scene with Lenina in Girl’s Dressing Room
-Ford=Freud
-foreign concepts: family, houses, monogamy, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, lovers,
romance
"But every one belongs to every one else," he concluded, citing the hypnopaedic
proverb.
The students nodded, emphatically agreeing with a statement which upwards of sixtytwo thousand repetitions in the dark had made them accept, not merely as true, but as
axiomatic, self-evident, utterly indisputable. “
-don’t think for themselves-brainwashed to believe these “truths”
-blindly follow authority
-promiscuity encouraged
-Lenina scolded by Fanny for having only Henry for 4 months
Friday 5
-Theme: importance of stability, “No civilization without social stability. No social stability
without individual stability.”
-must shorten interval between desire and consummation (fulfillment)
“Fortunate boys!" said the Controller. "No pains have been spared to make your lives
emotionally easy-to preserve you, so far as that is possible, from having emotions at
all."
-no emotions, what is the point of life if you can’t experience it freely?
Ectogenesis-creation of life outside uterus
“Liberty to be inefficient and miserable. Freedom to be a round peg in a square hole."
-Malthusian belt=means for population control, contained contraceptives, named after Robert
Malthus-hypothesized that…
“(unchecked) population growth always exceeds the growth of means of subsistence. Actual
(checked) population growth is kept in line with food supply growth by "positive checks"
(starvation, disease and the like, elevating the death rate) and "preventive checks" (i.e.
postponement of marriage, etc. that keep down the birthrate), both of which are characterized by
"misery and vice". Malthus's hypothesis implied that actual population always has a tendency to
push above the food supply. Because of this tendency, any attempt to ameliorate the condition of
the lower classes by increasing their incomes or improving agricultural productivity would be
fruitless, as the extra means of subsistence would be completely absorbed by an induced boost in
population. As long as this tendency remains, Malthus argued, the "perfectibility" of society will
always be out of reach.” (followed link)
-destruction of Nine Years’ War
-reference to Shakespeare
-end of chapter very disjointed, every line has a different context
-3 story lines going on, nonlinear, hard to determine which conversation belongs to which
situation at times
Chapter 4:
SETTING: the lift outside the changing rooms, roof of factory, plane, College of Emotional
Engineering, Bernard’s home
“The liftman was a small simian creature, dressed in the black tunic of an Epsilon-Minus
Semi-Moron.”
-social classification defines persons, always mentioned when describing an “individual”
-soma-COME BACK TO THIS, drug of some sort that eases problems? Transports taker to new
world “holidays”?
“The machine shot vertically into the air. Henry accelerated; the humming of the
propeller shrilled from hornet to wasp, from wasp to mosquito;”
-compared to natural organisms, a replacement?
Friday 6
-Bernard Marx (mentioned in last chapter)-brings in struggle to fit in, doesn’t blend with others
of his caste, physical inadequacy
-is flying the only mode of travel? Used for very short distances, are cars obsolete? Would be
ironic due to the deity status of Ford
-Hemholtz Watson share same problem with Bernard-but on opposite spectrum, is too able
-Theme: individuality is uncomfortable, need to feel part of group
Chapter 5:
SETTING: Stoke Poges Club House, helicopter, Henry’s apartment, Westminster Abbey Cabaret
Observations and Reactions:
The approaches to the monorail station were black with the ant-like pullulation of lowercaste activity
-low caste likened to ants, constant degradation of status
-helicopter puts them physically above lower groups
-use dead to create phosphorus to feed plants, even after death humans only used to serve society
“dancing in another world-the warm, the richly coloured, the infinitely friendly world of
soma-holiday”
“Swallowing half an hour before closing time, that second dose of soma had raised a
quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds.”
-everyone is happy when they are alive, not allowed to feel pain or understand situation
-Which is better-living a life of blissful ignorance or living a life with real emotions that can
be utilized to truly experience the world?
"Do you know what that switchback was?" he said. "It was some human being finally
and definitely disappearing. Going up in a squirt of hot gas. It would be curious to know
who it was-a man or a woman, an Alpha or an Epsilon.... " He sighed. Then, in a
resolutely cheerful voice, "Anyhow," he concluded, "there's one thing we can be certain
of; whoever he may have been, he was happy when he was alive. Everybody's happy
now."
-disturbing, desensitized to life/death, holds no meaning, no remorse for one who has died
-appearance of soma again-taken at every meal?
-required by authority?
-suppressant, depressant?
The Sixteen Sexophonists were playing an old favourite: "There ain't no Bottle in all the
world like that dear little Bottle of mine."
-citizens “bottled” from physical decanting to end of life-segregated by sex, caste, etc.
-time sounded out as “Ford, ford, ford…”
-whole world, system revolves around him, why? Still not been clarified
Friday 7
Man, woman, man, in a ring of endless alternation round the table. Twelve of them
ready to be made one, waiting to come together, to be fused, to lose their twelve
separate identities in a larger being.
-community, but in a different sense
-Bernard’s Solidarity Service Day
Again twelve stanzas. By this time the soma had begun to work. Eyes shone, cheeks
were flushed, the inner light of universal benevolence broke out on every face in happy,
friendly smiles.Even Bernard felt himself a little melted. When Morgana Rothschild
turned and beamed at him, he did his best to beam back.
-compared to 1984, 2 Minutes Hate sessions, Winston, like Bernard, can’t seem to conform
(but tries)
-group mentality, dangerous
"Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun, Kiss the girls and make them One. Boys at 0ne with girls at
peace; Orgy-porgy gives release."
-Ford “coming”, tension building (some of the descriptions seem to have a sexual
connotation)
-Morgana’s eyebrow repeatedly mentioned
-What is the purpose?
Chapter 6:
SETTING: Lenina’s memories, Director’s office, New Mexico Reservation
Observations and Reactions:
"Talking? But what about?" Walking and talking-that seemed a very odd way of
spending an afternoon
-human interaction, but no meaningful, all superficial, need a virtual activity to occuply time,
or sex
in spite of his misery absolutely refused to take the half-gramme raspberry sundae
which she pressed upon him. "I'd rather be myself," he said. "Myself and nasty. Not
somebody else, however jolly."
-said by Bernard, wants to resist controls
-Bernard talks about real freedom
"Don't imagine," he said, "that I'd had any indecorous relation with the girl. Nothing
emotional, nothing long-drawn. It was all perfectly healthy and normal."
-opposite of today’s classification of an indecent relationship
-appears in Director’s recounting of past
-not socially acceptable, past should not be remembered
-idea that progress is lovely-but undercut by Bernard’s skepticism, leads reader to question the
benefits of progress
Friday 8
"remember that, in the Reservation, children still are born, yes, actually born, revolting
as that may seem . . ."
-society moved away from personal intimacy (family)
-I don’t understand why families have been eliminated, but the emphasis on “community” is
so pervasive
-Bernard to be sent to Iceland, despite bad new 4 grams of soma bring him around completely
Chapter 7:
SETTING: Malpais reservation
Observations and Reactions:
-Indians a stark contrast to Bernard and Lenina
-in touch with nature, apparent in clothing (and lack thereof)
"Old?" she repeated. "But the Director's old; lots of people are old; they're not like that."
"That's because we don't allow them to be like that. We preserve them from diseases.
We keep their internal secretions artificially balanced at a youthful equilibrium. We don't
permit their magnesium-calcium ratio to fall below what it was at thirty. We give them
transfusion of young blood. We keep their metabolism permanently stimulated. So, of
course, they don't look like that. Partly," he added, "because most of them die long
before they reach this old creature's age. Youth almost unimpaired till sixty, and then,
crack! the end."
-artificiality of every aspect of life, don’t even age naturally
-contrast to old Indian
-persistent drum beat
-signifies the abundance of life in the “savage” world, beating heart echoing over land and
through Bernard and Lenina
-sacrifice to Jesus and Pookong
-white young man on reservation-John, Linda and the Director’s son, again theme of the isolation
that comes with individuality
-Malpais (bad country in Spanish-a coincidence?)
-find the Director’s “woman”?-named Linda-at the reservation, Beta, grown fat and wrinkled
with age-shows the possible outcome of humans of “civilized” places without drugs
Chapter 8:
SETTING: John’s childhood memories on the reservation
Observations and Reactions:
-memories of mother sleeping with lots of men from reservation, wives beating her, not knowing
how to weave cloth
-shows contrast between both worlds, clash of ideals and beliefs
old men of the pueblo would talk to them, in those other words, of the great Transformer of the
World, and of the long fight between Right Hand and Left Hand, between Wet and Dry; of
Friday 9
Awonawilona, who made a great fog by thinking in the night, and then made the whole world out
of the fog; of Earth Mother and Sky Father; of Ahaiyuta and Marsailema, the twins of War and
Chance; of Jesus and Pookong; of Mary and Etsanatlehi, the woman who makes herself young
again; of the Black Stone at Laguna and the Great Eagle and Our Lady of Acoma. Strange
stories, all the more wonderful to him for being told in the other words and so not fully
understood. Lying in bed, he would think of Heaven and London and Our Lady of Acoma and
the rows and rows of babies in clean bottles and Jesus flying up and Linda flying up and the
great Director of World Hatcheries and Awonawilona.
-John a hybrid-educated on both worlds-which one does he prefer?
-John learning to read-asks mother questions about Other Place, she can’t answer most of them-confirms
idea that civilized people live ignorance, only learn what is necessary for them to complete specific role in
community
"But how do you make chemicals, Linda? Where do they come from?"
"Well, I don't know. You get them out of bottles. And when the bottles are empty, you
send up to the Chemical Store for more. It's the Chemical Store people who make them,
I suppose. Or else they send to the factory for them. I don't know. I never did any
chemistry. My job was always with the embryos. It was the same with everything else
he asked about. Linda never seemed to know. The old men of the pueblo had much
more definite answers.
"The seed of men and all creatures, the seed of the sun and the seed of earth and the
seed of the sky--Awonawilona made them all out of the Fog of Increase. Now the world
has four wombs; and he laid the seeds in the lowest of the four wombs. And gradually
the seeds began to grow . . ."
-what is wisdom?
-funny that “savage” people would have more knowledge than civilized
-who characterizes a civilized vs. uncivilized group?
-The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
-importance of literature in the development of the mind
-help give John the words and ideas to hate Pope and understand his situation
-theme of solitude
-causes pain
-people in Brave New World rarely experience it-allows for individual interpretation of
events and ideas, dangerous
-comes when people are different from others, don’t fit with crowd
Ex: John not allowed to participate in Indian ceremonies because he is white
“He had discovered Time and Death and God.”
-if pain is experienced, people try to find a way to explain it, turn to a source for comfort in
an imperfect world
-is this the function of religion?
"O wonder!" he was saying; and his eyes shone, his face was brightly flushed. "How
many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is!" The flush suddenly
deepened; he was thinking of Lenina, of an angel in bottle-green viscose, lustrous with
youth and skin food, plump, benevolently smiling. His voice faltered. "O brave new
Friday 10
world," he began, then-suddenly interrupted himself; the blood had left his cheeks; he
was as pale as paper.”
-name sake of book
-John says without ever seeing Other Place
-(dramatic) irony-John doesn’t know the constraints that will be placed on him the new world
Chapter 9:
SETTING: rest house, Santa Fe
Observations and Reactions:
-Bernard making plans to ruin Director?
-going to bring Linda and John back to civilized world
-greatly enjoyed sense of importance and power when making arrangements with officials
-John’s growing obsession with Lenina
-but shows restraint in his passions, really “uncivilized”?
-actually experiences passion and love-not just lust for flesh
-doesn’t objectify her like a piece of meat, but marvels in her beauty and respects her modesty
Chapter 10:
SETTING: Bloomsbury Center, back in London
Observations and Reactions:
"This hive of industry," as the Director was fond of calling it, was in the full buzz of work.
Every one was busy, everything in ordered motion.”
(from link):
Insects that live cooperatively in colonies and exhibit a division of
labor among distinct castes. ex. termites, ants, bees, some wasps.
A social insect colony described as a multicellular animal, individual
Superorganism members of the colony are similar to individual cells in an animal
Social Insects -
-people related to insects, lack of identity and super industrialized, regimented means of
living
-unfamiliar development of infants and children, supervised, but not with love and nurturing, just
hypnopaedic lessons and pasteurized external secretion
-contrast between sterility and graveness of environment and happiness of workers-unnatural,
induced by artificial means
-do they really know how to feel? Just cover up emotions with soma
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
Friday 11
-complete disregard for individual rights-sacrificed for the betterment of society, but there
must be some figurehead or leader profiting, humans corrupt by nature
-Director’s secrets revealed
Bloated, sagging, and among those firm youthful bodies, those undistorted faces, a
strange and terrifying monster of middle-agedness, Linda advanced into the room,
coquettishly smiling her broken and discoloured smile, and rolling as she walked, with
what was meant to be a voluptuous undulation, her enormous haunches.
-something so natural described with such disgust
The word (for "father" was not so much obscene as--with its connotation of something at
one remove from the loathsomeness and moral obliquity of child-bearing--merely gross,
a scatological rather than a pornographic impropriety); the comically smutty word
relieved what had become a quite intolerable tension. Laughter broke out, enormous,
almost hysterical, peal after peal, as though it would never stop. My father--and it was
the Director! My father! Oh Ford, oh Ford! That was really too good.
-father not as detestable as mother, double standard (to some extent exists in reality)
-people don’t believe the monstrosity
-test tubes of early life broken out of surprise-such unnecessary waste of life
Chapter 11:
SETTING: London
Observations and Reactions:
And Linda, for her part, had no desire to see them. The return to civilization was for her
the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday,
without ever having to come back to a headache or a fit of vomiting, without ever being
made to feel as you always felt after peyotl,
-after experiencing savage world, chose to return to the civilized one
-which one would I choose?-savage one with truth and life and pain, or civilized one with
virtual realities posed as truths and controls on the individual
-such high dosages will shorten life, but Dr. Shaw and everyone else thinks it’s fine
-John is the only one who raises objections-actually thinks of worth of individual beyond
the product they can produce
-fame and status as a corruption of morals and virtues
-Bernard finally achieves normalcy escapes from his isolation
-feels compelled and comfortable to complain about the problems with civilized world
-receives much attention, esp. from women-revels in it
-BUT people do not respect him behind his back-prophesy a bad ending
-John does not show amazement at the conventions and advancements of new world, but rather
compares them to feats of creators of his world, don’t measure up
One hundred and seven heat-conditioned Epsilon Senegalese were working in the
foundry. Thirty-three Delta females, long-headed, sandy, with narrow pelvises, and all
within 20 millimetres of 1 metre 69 centimetres tall, were cutting screws. In the
assembling room, the dynamos were being put together by two sets of Gamma-Plus
Friday 12
dwarfs. The two low work-tables faced one another; between them crawled the
conveyor with its load of separate parts; forty-seven blonde heads were confronted by
forty-seven brown ones…
-perfect example of lack of individuality
the Savage frequently goes to see her and appears to be much attached to her--an
interesting example of the way in which early conditioning can be made to modify and
even run counter to natural impulses (in this case, the impulse to recoil from an
unpleasant object)."
-disagreement between the meanings of natural and what is unnatural-all a matter of
perspective
-I would say things from savage world are natural, while Bernard would say things from
civilized world are natural-all depends on acculturation
"Our library," said Dr. Gaffney, "contains only books of reference. If our young people
need distraction, they can get it at the feelies. We don't encourage them to indulge in
any solitary amusements."
-reading books allows for isolation and results in the possibility for people to interpret
material and arrive at their own conclusions
-free thought is too dangerous
-death conditioning=desensitizing of death, over exposed so that it becomes normal, even receive
special treats on death days
-love developing between Lenina and John
''Hug me till you drug me, honey;
Kiss me till I'm in a coma;
Hug me, honey, snuggly bunny;
Love's as good as soma."
-but do they want the same thing?
-difference in perception of love
dazzling and incomparably more solid-looking than they would have seemed in actual
flesh and blood, far more real than reality, there stood the stereoscopic images
-virtual reality even more clear than reality
-aides to the blending and confusion of the two with citizens (as does soma)
-how can they tell what is real and what is not?
-John passes up opportunity for sex
Chapter 12:
SETTING: Bernard and the Savage’s apartment
Observations and Reactions:
-high citizens (such as Arch-Community-Songster) only gave Bernard the time of day because of
his connection to the Savage
-people worth only what they can offer to society, after that they may be discarded
Friday 13
-another allusion to Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet
"A New Theory of Biology" was the title of the paper which Mustapha Mond had just
finished reading. He sat for some time, meditatively frowning, then picked up his pen
and wrote across the title-page: "The author's mathematical treatment of the conception
of purpose is novel and highly ingenious, but heretical and, so far as the present social
order is concerned, dangerous and potentially subversive. Not to be published." He
underlined the words. "The author will be kept under supervision….sort of idea that
might easily decondition the more unsettled minds among the higher castes--make
them lose their faith in happiness as the Sovereign Good and take to believing, instead,
that the goal was somewhere beyond, somewhere outside the present human sphere,
that the purpose of life was not the maintenance of well-being, but some intensification
and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge.
-Censorship of intellectual material, creativity and free thought stifled
-happiness and participation in the community is at stake
-Bernard gains insight to the inadequateness of false happiness and fake friends through John’s
words
-notice how John has lost his name in this “civilized” world, referred to only as the Savage
-yet the Savage seems to be the only one grounded in truth, decency, real education, and
respect for fellow men
As though I were beginning to be able to use that power I feel I've got inside me--that
extra, latent power. Something seems to be coming to
-Hermholtz chastised by Authority for writing about solitude and presenting it to his students
-Hermholtz and John form a friendship-both individuals trying to escape the oppression of
Authority
-read R & J together, Hermholtz does not take it seriously
-shows the pervasiveness of conditioning on one’s character
Chapter 13:
SETTING: London, Savage’s apartment
Observations and Reactions:
-foreshadowing change: tells of future disease occurring because sleeping sickness injection not
administered, happiness dissolving?
-John going mad-starting to behave like a savage, quoting Shakespeare, beats Lenina
-calls her a whore
Chapter 14:
SETTING: Park Lane Hospital for the Dying
Observations and Reactions:
-nurse unaccustomed to visitors feeling sad about death, horrified that patient is a “mother”
-constant barrage of media and distractions (tv, perfume, music) to keep the mind busy, prevent
personal reflection
when she told him those stories about the Other Place, outside the Reservation: that
beautiful, beautiful Other Place, whose memory, as of a heaven, a paradise of
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goodness and loveliness, he still kept whole and intact, undefiled by contact with the
reality of this real London, these actual civilized men and women
-idealized picture not ruined by reality
-do citizens themselves see the reality?
Twin after twin, twin after twin, they came--a nightmare. Their faces, their repeated face-for there was only one between the lot of them--puggishly stared, all nostrils and pale
goggling eyes. Their uniform was khaki
-no identity within community, share appearance and ideas with everyone else
-importance of media as an influencer (doesn’t necessarily go with this chapter, but a recursive
theme throughout story
-Linda dies, John sobs, nurse worries that his displays will undo the death-conditioning of
children
-no individual is that important to merit such sorrow
-children rewarded with chocolate éclairs, perverse display in the face of a deceased person
Chapter 15:
SETTING: hospital
Observations and Reactions:
He woke once more to external reality, looked round him, knew what he saw--knew it,
with a sinking sense of horror and disgust, for the recurrent delirium of his days and
nights, the nightmare of swarming indistinguishable sameness
-unnatural quality of sameness, variation inherent in nature, somehow discarded in new world
-like cells of a solitary body, all work towards same purpose
"O brave new world!" Miranda was proclaiming the possibility of loveliness, the
possibility of transforming even the nightmare into something fine and noble. "O brave
new world!" It was a challenge, a command.
-foreshadowing John’s role in changing the terrible path mankind is on?
"I come to bring you freedom," said the Savage, turning back towards the twins. "I
come . . ."
-John attempts to throw out supply of soma, but thwarted
-use of nonlethal weapons (soma sprayers) to incapacitate and calm crowd
-use of “voice” to pacify Deltas brainwashing
Chapter 16:
SETTING: Controller’s study (Mustapha Mond)
Observations and Reactions:
-My Life and Work by Henry Ford
-seems to be regarded as a bible
"Almost nobody. I'm one of the very few. It's prohibited, you see. But as I make the laws
here, I can also break them (has read Shakespeare)
-injustice of tyranny
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-prohibited because it’s old-no use for old things
-disregarding of history can be dangerous, may repeat mistakes
-sacrifice between stability and high art-too though provoking?
Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as
instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against
misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal
overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
-spoken by Controller, knows the emptiness of present life
His conditioning has laid down rails along which he's got to run. He can't help himself;
he's foredoomed. Even after decanting, he's still inside a bottle--an invisible bottle of
infantile and embryonic fixations. Each one of us, of course," the Controller meditatively
continued, "goes through life inside a bottle.
-citizens of Brave New World are contained in their own sphere of existence, don’t
experience anything outside their caste, doomed to walk the same path as others within their
group
-determined for them in Pre-Determining Room, no free will, or simply an illusion of free
will, all decisions pre-made, or at least all lead down the same path
-Cyprus experiment (link not working-follow up on to find out significance)
-population modeled after an iceberg
-change is feared “a menace to society”-progress thought to have a perverse effect on stability
-what is progress? Is all of it good or bad? Certainly examples of both-might partly have a
point
-“Science” within the civilized world is arbitrary, an orthodox system of truths that aren’t
questioned (cooking simile)
-how much of today’s science is arbitrary?
-the punishment of being sent to an island is actually more of a reward-will be with people that
also question the beliefs of orthodoxy, individuals who don’t to conform to community life
-happiness or truth
“truth’s a menace, science is a public danger”
-draw parallels to 1984, the Party dumbs down technology, destroys innovations, to keep groups
warring with each other
Ford himself did a great deal to shift the emphasis from truth and beauty to comfort and
happiness. Mass production demanded the shift
-shift from highest regard of science, progress, truth, and beauty to comfort and happiness
-catalyzed by mass production
-shift of ideals culminated by Nine Years’ War-use of anthrax-causes an acute infectious
disease
-Hermholtz chooses Falkland Islands-ultimate stand against comfort and happiness, all for sake
of better writing
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Chapter 17:
SETTING: Controller’s study
Observations and Reactions:
-God existed before Nine Years’ War
-means belief in God?
-created society focused around serving happiness to create a life that God could not give
them?
-suppression of religion and affiliated lit: (Holy Bible, The Varieties of Religious Experience,
The Imitation of Christ)
-from past
-not relevant to today’s man, God’s change (Jesus to Ford?)
Ideas put forth by Maine de Biran:
-we are God’s property
-independence was not made for man-unnatural state
-aging is a sickness
-older people turn to God not due to fear of death, but because passions have subsided and can
more clearly view life
-With immortal youth and prosperity of modern world, God no longer needed and man can be
independent
God isn't compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness.
You must make your choice. Our civilization has chosen machinery and medicine and
happiness
-John torn-unhappy because he was alone in Malpais, now happy because he can never be alone
in the new world
-lasting civilizations need pleasant vices
-reasoning behind the current organization of society (refer back as needed-too long to include)
Christianity without tears--that's what soma is
-life now is almost too easy, all problems abolished
“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom,
I want goodness. I want sin”
-stated by John-wants right to unhappiness
-whatever allows him to live life freely
Chapter 18:
SETTING: outside of London
Observations and Reactions:
There was a silence. In spite of their sadness--because of it, even; for their sadness
was the symptom of their love for one another--the three young men were happy. "
-obtained true happiness despite superficial sadness
-Savage chooses hermitage in old lighthouse between Puttenham and Elstead
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-reminds me of a monk escaping the vices of today’s world through isolation and self
discipline
-returning in a sense to his Indian roots-supports the argument of nurture over nature (born
from a civilized mother, yet turned “savage”
-days filled with self punishment and hard labor-enjoyable
-interestingly, doesn’t become savage until he is exposed to the civilized community
-has society driven him mad?
-Darwin Bonaparte-reporter-records John’s self-punishment
-significance in the name?
-contemplation of death-striking resemblance to Hamlet and the agony experienced by him after
the death of his father and Ophelia (only it’s Linda with John)
-becomes a public spectacle, like an animal at a zoo
-orgy of atonement, beats Lenina
-does he kill her?
-impressionability of civilized people, follow his example and beat each other in rhythm
-John never finds peace or direction