Brave New World – Notes and Quotes
Chapter 1
“Not philosophers, but fret-sawyers and stamp collectors compose the backbone of society” (2) - spoken by the DHC.
“’And that,’ put in the Director sententiously, ‘that is the secret of happiness and virtue – liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable [sic] social destiny (12)” .
Chapter 2
Notes on Symbolism on names: review handout.
“’[The Delta babies] will be safe from books and botany all their lives.’” (17) - DHC
“You can’t learn a science unless you know what it’s all about (21).’”
“’Moral education, which ought never, in any circumstances, be rational (21)’”- DHC - satirical tone by Huxley.
Chapter 3
Note: This chapter is a good example of juxtaposition to develop character and plot.
“’He let out the amazing truth…rigorously suppressed.” (27) (quote about the sexual “repression” of the past)
“’..you all remember that beautiful and inspired saying of Our Ford: history is bunk (29)’”.
“And home…group!” (p. 31) (quote about how the culture of the past – specifically family life – was overly emotional and intimate, squalid, etc.)
“Talking about her as though she were a bit of meat…Degrading her as so much mutton…He would have liked to go up to them and hit them in the face.” (39) – Bernard Marx
“The more stitches, the less ritches…Ending is better than mending...I love new clothes. “ (44) – hypnopaedic sleep propoganda.
“’Ford, how I hate them!’ Bernard Marx was thinking.” (45)
Chapter 4
Note: Again, nice juxtaposition of Helmholtz Watson and Bernard Marx; they are character foils for each other. Helmholtz is “a little too able” (p. 57) mentally while Bernard is physically less able than other Alphas.
Activity: Create a T-chart of Bernard and Helmholtz – or a web – showing their differences and similarities.
Bernard (p. 54) – “With eyes for the most part downcast…even more helplessly alone.
“Those who meant well behaved in the same way as those who behaved badly.” (p. 54)
*Excellent description of Bernard on p. 55-56. Question: How much is Bernard's identity shaped by how he's perceived by the rest of his society versus his own free will and choice to act the way he does?
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“The mockery made him feel like an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects” (p. 55-56.)
Helmholtz - “’Did you ever feel, ‘he asked, ‘as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out?’ (p. 59) - carries on to p. 60.
“’Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly – they go through anything.’” (p. 60)
Chapter 5
Notes on soma: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma
“Everyone works for everyone else. We can’t do without anyone.” (p. 64)
“Everybody’s happy now.” (p. 65)
Bernard – “Feeling as though it were time for him to do something, Bernard also jumped up and shouted ‘I hear him; he’s coming.’ But it wasn’t true….he also jiggled and shuffled.” (p. 72)
“For the Solidarity Service had given as well as taken, drawn off only to replenish.” (p. 74)
Bernard – “’Yes, I thought it was wonderful,’ he lied…he was as miserably isolated now as he had been when the service began..”(p. 74).
Chapter 6
Song link here: “Time to Pretend” by MGMT re: how Bernard likes to spend time alone. Play it as a journal topic, relate to the novel?
Re-read the conversation between Bernard and Lenina (p. 77-onward). Compare and contrast Lenina and Bernard.
Bernard: “’I’d rather be myself,’ he said. ‘Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.” (p. 77)
Lenina: “’A gramme is always better than a damn,’ she concluded with dignity, and drank the sundae herself.” (p. 77)
“[Lenina] thinks of herself that way. She doesn’t mind being meat” (80).
“Never put off until tomorrow the fun you can have today.” (81)
“I want to know what passion is…I want to feel strongly.” (p. 81)
“…the social body persists though the component cells change.” (84)
“’You don’t say so,’ Lenina said politely, not knowing in the least what the Warden had said, but taking her cue from his dramatic pause” (87).
Comment on the discriminatory overtones of Chapters 5-7.
Journal Question Options for Chapters 6-7:
1. Compare and contrast any two characters. Some possible character foils: Bernard and Helmholtz, Linda and John, Lenina and Bernard. Use specific examples and, if possible, quotes to support your ideas.
2. One of the major thematic topics of this novel is discrimination. Comment on the different types of discrimination in the novel thus far. What are some possible causes of this discrimination? Use specific examples and, if possible, quotes to support your ideas.
CHAPTERS 7-9: THE SAVAGE RESERVATION
Chapter 7
Focus on: satire and irony. Discuss following example and review examples in previous chapters.
“’But cleanliness is next to fordliness,’ [Lenina] insisted.
‘Yes, and civilization is sterilization,’ Bernard went on concluding on a tone of irony the second hypnopaedic lesson in elementary hygiene” (94)
Focus on: allusions:
Literary/historical allusions: Reference to Macbeth (p. 100), Jesus, Pookong (rain god for the “savages” – possible allusion to the Chinese temple in Indonesia) on p.100-101.
Drugs (p. 103) – mescal (mescalin) and peyotl (peyote)
Focus on: discrimination and cultural misunderstanding. John isn’t accepted by the Indians because he’s white; Linda refers to the Indians as uncivilzed because their customs are different from BNW (e.g. monogamy, etc.) on p. 103-105.
Ch. 8-10 Discussion/Journal Questions:
1. What are some benefits to being different from mainstream society? Give some specific examples (personal, historical, literary, etc.) What are the drawbacks of being “normal” according to mainstream society? Give some specific examples (personal, historical, literary, etc.)
2. Why does the DHC have good reason to worry that Bernard could lead others “astray”? Provide evidence from the novel to back up your thinking.
3. Describe one (or more) other talented leaders from history or other works of literature that have used their powers for evil rather than good.
4. The DHC says: “murder kills only the individual – and, after all, what is an individual?” (128) Agree or disagree with this statement.
5. The BNW society is fascinated by John because he is a “savage” and very different from the average person. How do we see this fascination with novelty, difference, or even “freaks” in our society? How might this fascination further a disconnect in society?
Ch. 11
6. Huxley writes that success helped Bernard feel more included in society “as any good intoxicant should do” (136). What does Huxley seem to be saying about why people take intoxicants (such as drugs and alcohol)? Do you agree or disagree with his position?
7. Find examples of racism, discrimination and/or cultural misunderstanding in Chapter 11. What does Huxley seem to be saying about society (whether BNW’s or his own) by including these examples?
Chapter 8
Focus on: discrimination and cultural misunderstanding; John and Linda as character foils. Good webbing activity.
Linda makes the Indian women angry because she sleeps with their husbands, doesn’t know how to weave, calls them “beastly savages” (p. 108).
“Savage” – discuss this term; the “noble savage”
“’Why did they want to hurt you, Linda?’ [John asks.]
“’I don’t know. How should I know?...They say those men are their men.’” [Linda replied.] – p. 129
*John - interestingly, is able to blend the good of both cultures in his mind as a young boy – p. 111. Yet later on, due to his mother’s culturally unacceptable behavior, he is an outcast, so he fights back and tries to separate himself by reading.
“It was fairly easy, if [John] thought hard enough about the reading, to pretend that he didn’t mind when they made fun of him…The more the boys pointed and sang, the harder he read.” (112.)
John and Linda: their discussion on p. 112 – 113 shows the differences in their characters (i.e. Linda has a certain degree of knowledge but no intellectual curiousity versus John who wants to understand how things work.)
“It was the same thing with everything [John] asked about. Linda never seemed to know. The old men of the pueblo had more much definite answers.” (113).
Focus on: allusions:
Literary/historical allusions:
Allusion to Hamlet (p. 113, 115) – how does this relate to the story of John, Linda and Pope?
Allusion to The Tempest (p. 120-121)– how does this relate to John going to BNW?
John and Bernard: their discussion on p. 118-121 shows how, in spite of their different upbringings, they both feel like outsiders in their homes. John says: “’If one’s different, one’s bound to be lonely.’” (119) Both, perhaps through their differences, are able to be more open-minded: they are able to see the hypocrisies and problems in their own cultures and begin to appreciate the differences in different cultures.
Discussion/Journal Questions:
- What are some benefits to being different from mainstream society? Give some specific examples (personal, historical, literary, etc.)
- What are the drawbacks of being “normal” according to mainstream society? Give some specific examples (personal, historical, literary, etc.)
Chapter 9
Focus on: discrimination and cultural misunderstanding; John and Linda as character foils. Good webbing activity.
Allusion to Romeo and Juliet p. 125-126.
Chapter 10
Focus on: social caste system; theme of the power of the individual; discrimination and cultural misunderstanding.
Journal Question: The DHC, in reference to Bernard, says that “his intellectual eminence carries with it moral responsibilities. The greater the man’s talents, the greater his power to lead astray” (128). Choose either one of the following questions to respond to vis-à-vis this quote:
- Why does the DHC have good reason to worry that Bernard could lead others “astray”? Provide evidence from the novel to back up your thinking.
- Describe one (or more) other talented leaders from history or other works of literature that have used their powers for evil rather than good.
- Further on in the passage, the DHC says: “murder kills only the individual – and, after all, what is an individual?” (128) Agree or disagree with this statement.
Chapter 11
Focus on: changing characters of Bernard, John, and Lenina; power dynamics.
Note: a list of Shakespeare allusions in BNW is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quotes_from_Shakespeare_in_Brave_New_World
“Eternity was in our lips and eyes” (134) – from Antony and Cleopatra (I, iii)
John claims that Ariel from The Tempest can put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes but this is actually a line spoken by Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (II, ii)
Journal Questions:
1. The BNW society is fascinated by John because he is a “savage” and very different from the average person. How do we see this fascination with novelty, difference, or even “freaks” in our society? How might this fascination further a disconnect in society?
2. Huxley writes that success helped Bernard feel more included in society “as any good intoxicant should do” (136). What does Huxley seem to be saying about why people take intoxicants (such as drugs and alcohol)? Do you agree or disagree with his position? Justify your response.
3. Huxley incorporates many allusions to Shakespeare throughout the novel. Why do you think he chose The Collected Works of Shakespeare to be the one book that John has access to (versus any other well-known book such as the Bible, etc)? What point do you think Huxley might be trying to make?
- Activity: Find 2 examples of racism, discrimination and/or cultural misunderstanding in Chapter 11. What does Huxley seem to be saying about society (whether BNW’s or his own) by including these examples?
Juxtaposition between Bernard and Helmholtz (136).
Bernard: “The days passed. Success went fizzily to Bernard’s head, and in the process reconciled him (as any good intoxicant should do) to a world which, up until then, he found very unsatisfactory” (136). This passage shows the weakness in Bernard’s character, how unlike Helmholtz, he ultimately has wasn’t the recognition of BNW all along.
John: On p. 138-139, Bernard discusses John’s character with Mustapha Mond, commenting on the fact that John seems unimpressed with BNW, that “civilized infantility [is] too easy, or not expensive enough” (139). Comment on this idea.
The Provost of Eton comments that because the upper-caste children only come from one egg, this makes education “more difficult , of course. But as they’ll be called upon to take responsibilities and deal with unexpected emergencies, it can’t be helped”(140)
Lenina: “[‘All the attention] is wonderful, of course. And yet in a way,’ she confessed to Franny, ‘I feel as though I were getting something on false pretences’” (144).
John: “He was obscurely terrified lest she should cease to be something he could feel himself unworthy of” 147). What does this quote say about John?
Chapter 12
Focus on: juxtaposition of characters; increasing isolation of John, Lenina, and Bernard; greater characterization of Mustapha Mond.
“The men were furious at having been tricked into behaving politely to this insignificant fellow with the unsavoury reputation and heretical opinions. The higher their position in the hierarchy, the deeper their resentment” (151). This quote begins how quick the upper echelons of BNW are quick to turn on Bernard when he can’t produce the “savage”.
Important character juxtaposition between Bernard, Lenina, and John – pp. 154- 155.
Greater characterization of Mustapha Mond in this chapter – see extended quote on pp. 154-155.
John quotes “The Phoenix and Turtle” by Shakespeare in his conversation with Helmholtz159-160: “Let the bird of loudest laydown besidest me, On the sole Arabian tree, Herald sad and trumpet be”
Journal Questions – Respond to one of the following quotes:
1. “But once you began admitting explanations in terms of purpose – well, you didn’t know what the result might be. It was the sort of idea that might easily recondition 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. Which was, the Controller reflected, quite possibly true. But not, in the present circumstances ,admissible” (154-155).