Brave New World Flashcards
What is the slogan for World State? What does it mean exactly?
Community, Identity, and Stability
- Community talks about devotion to group and no individuality
- Identity talks about the cast system and the levels of people of importance
- Stability talks about how there are no emotions
Explain the conditioning exercise that the Delta infants at the Centre experience. What is the purpose of the “lessons”? How does the World State use its children to create the world it wants?
- They teach infants to hate books and flowers by ringing loud alarms when they crawl toward them and then shocking them, making them think they are bad.
- This discourages behavior that might destabilize society. They don’t want the cast system to be screwed up by having Deltas that are smarter than Alphas.
3.
What has happened to the unit of the family in Brave New World? Why has World state gotten rid of mothers and fathers?
- They got rid of it because it can cause emotions, which can lead people to become unhappy.
- There was no need for mothers and fathers because they started genetically engineering babies and they are now basically hatched. They now come from one embryo, which each one is used to make 95 people.
What is soma? What purpose does it serve in society.
- It is a drug that people us to make themselves happy and get rid of their emotions.
- They use it before they have sex. The government use soma to calm and control its citizenry. It sedates, calms, and distracts people from realizing that there’s actually something very, very wrong—namely, that the citizens of the World State are enslaved.
How does Lenina’s character change through the course of the story? How is she a perfect example of how this society can’t work?
- Over time, Lenina falls in love with John. Her new emotions go against her conditioning. The fact that she experiences new emotions throughout this experience makes her actions and thoughts more like those of an individual, creating a sense of inner conflict.
2.
What is hypnopaedia? Why is it used?
- It is sleep teaching, it is a form of subliminal reinforcement whereby hypnopaedic slogans such as “a gramme is better than a damn” are played while the individual is asleep.
- It is used to “condition” its population to accept promiscuity, use and abuse soma, and “brainwash” them to accept the values and tenets of their society. While awake, the individual will spout off these slogans automatically and behave however the controllers want them to behave.
The story begins with Bernard as the protagonists. He is defiant towards his society and it seems as though he will be the hero if the story. Why is he NOT the hero of the story? Who really is?
- He is a lovesick, frustrating, and, by the end of the book, he is a fucking pussy. His true self becomes evident after his popularity skyrockets from his connections to John. He seizes the power he once used to hate. By the end of the book, he proves himself to be a hypocrite.
- John is the real protagonists
How does death conditioning work? Why does the World state do this?
- They bring children to the death hospital and give them candy and treats.
- They do this so children think that death is a happy thing and to make sure they enjoy dying.
Analyze the role of solitude plays in the novel. Bernard wants to be alone often and john intentionally seeks out a life of being alone towards the end of the novel. Is solitude a positive or negative experience for the characters in the novel?
It is a negative experience because the don’t fit into their society and show signs of depression and sadness, not happiness like everyone else.
Analyze the role of sexuality in the novel. Is promiscuity ultimately satisfying for the characters in the novel? Are women in the novel empowered or harmed by promiscuity? Is John’s view of sexuality preferable to Lenina’a, or is it just as harmful?
- in BNW, sexuality is used as a form of release, an outlet, and as entertainment- not as a form of procreation.
- Promiscuity is celebrated, the people in their society are conditioned to believe that “everyone belongs to everyone else.”
- Harmed, women are constantly see as objects and are compared to meat.
- Personally, I thing john’s is better, but both views are still not normal
Analyze the character of john as a Christ figure, especially towards the end of the novel. what do you think the author intends John to symbolize?
- John escapes the lighthouse at the end of the novel, beats himself badly, and stands with his arms outstretched against a large rock in the crucifix position. john punishes himself for the world just as Jesus sacrificed himself. Also, John is the outcast of BNW. just like Jesus, John is different from those around him. He refuses soma and random sex and doesn’t worship Ford.
- i think that he symbolizes the old world/our world
