Brave New World Vocab Flashcards
9 Year’s War
A long, tumultuous world war that lasted for 9 years. It caused total economic and physical destruction and the world was in chaos for a long time. This instability lead to the absolute obsession of stability in forming the World State Society.
Alpha
The highest caste in BNW; they are the most intelligent, the strongest, and the leaders of the World State Society . They wear grey.
A.F.
After Ford; the year/ time period in which the story takes place.
Beta
The second highest caste who can interact with Alphas, but not Deltas or Epsilons. They wear mulberry.
Bokanovsky’s Process
A method of producing many identical eggs from a single egg, which are then placed in “test tubes” to prepare for biological conditioning. This creates a society of multiple sets of identicals.
Caste System
A five-tiered class system of BNW - Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, Epsilon
Decanting
BNW term for birth
Deltas
Mostly factory workers and laborers. They wear khaki.
Ectogenesis
A growth process in an artificial environment; the human growth process in BNW.
Epsilon
The lowest caste in society. malformed and unintelligent.they wear black.
Feelies
A BNW version of a movie theater in which World State members go to watch movies that also engage ALL of their senses. They are also watched while strongly under the influence of soma.
Ford
Henry Ford, the 1920s automobile manufacturer who is credited with creating the assembly line process and mechanization of output. The god of BNW society.
Freemartin
A sterile women; most women in BNW society.
Gamma
The middle caste in BNW; they wear green.
Hypnopedia
Sleep teaching in which all members of BNW society receive ethical and social structural lessons in their sleep to condition them to maintain social stability.
Malpais
The name of the Savage Reservation in New Mexico.
Malthusian Belt
A belt worn by NON-freemartin woman that contains contraceptives.
Mescal
Alcohol. Linda completely depended on it when she was on the Savage Reservation( because no soma)
Mother/Father
Dirty and obscene words in the World State- an unfortunate artifact of history and something that the World State looks down upon.
Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning
Infant training using shock therapy.
Orgy-Porgy
A ritual sex orgy
Phosphorus Recovery
A process by which the dead are cremated to recover 99% of the phosphorus which is then reused as raw material or in fertilizer to fuel the BNW society.
Pneumatic
Used to describe a women with a full, shapely figure.
Podsnap’s Technique
A method of speeding up the process of maturing eggs to become decanted more quickly than the traditional 9 months gestational period.
