use of technology to control society theme

Question 1

warns

Answer 1

of the dangers of the state having control y using new and powerful technology

Question 2

example of this theme

Answer 2

the control of reproduction through technological and medical intervention, including the removal of ovaries, the Bokanovsky process and hypnopaedic conditioning

Question 3

entertainment machines

Answer 3

creation of complicated entertainment machines that generate both harmless leisure and the high levels of consumption and production that are the basis of the World State’s stability

Question 4

soma

Answer 4

an example of medical, biological and psychological technologies that BNW criticizes most sharply

Question 5

progress and science

Answer 5

The State talks about progress and science, what it really means is the bettering of technology instead of increasing scientific exploration and experimentation

Question 6

the state uses science

Answer 6

as a means to build technology that can create a seamless, happy, superficial world through things such as the “feelies”

Question 7

censoring

Answer 7

the state censors and limits science as it sees science and the search for truth, as threatening to the State’s control

science is knowledge - technology is what you can do with that knowledge

Question 8

world stability

Answer 8

“the world’s stable now. People are happy”

Question 9

soma quote

Answer 9

“if anything should go wrong, there’s soma”

“christianity without tears - that’s what soma is”

Question 10

population

Answer 10

set at 2000 million, with 10,000 surnames

everything’s organised through biological engineering

Question 11

the first chapter

Answer 11

expresses concerns about state interference in reproduction, which reflects the anxieties of the late 19th century society

Question 12

influenced by ideas

Answer 12

of the time, of the science of reproduction to create the perfect offspring

social darwinism

Question 13

freuds theory applied to BNW

Answer 13

The government conditions people to have powerful super-egos that actually encourage, rather than inhibit, gratification of id impulses. As a result the ego is diminished and people do not have to cope with conflicting emotions.

Question 14

he is criticising the

Answer 14

propaganda, censorship and other forms of control left after WW1

Question 15

its architecture

Answer 15

is futuristic - pink glowing glass buildings, viscose and acetate are materials of preference and taps flow with perfume

Question 16

winston and Bernard

Answer 16

at the “religious” ceremony Bernard is unable to feel the ecstasy that the others do and fakes it just as Winston cannot get into the spirit of the “Two Minutes Hate”

Question 17

set in

Answer 17

AF632, somewhere in the 26th century, and postulates advanced technology extrapolated from the contemporary

Question 18

like THT

Answer 18

this book supposes a catastrophic war has caused society to re-mould

Question 19

usually in science fiction

Answer 19

the human spirit is triumphant or science is able to save the day - Huxley offers us no such optimism in this novel

Question 20

link to Swift’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels’

Answer 20

it presents an ‘ideal’ society, like Lilliput, and then proceeds to show what is wrong with it

Question 21

satirises science

Answer 21

even though scientific advancements have been made, the world’s far from being a better place - it has encouraged the dehumanisation of men and women

Question 22

Mond points out that science and art are disruptive

Answer 22

if we consider Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection, it is clear that science can indeed in disruptive