Brave New WorldMOST MISSED STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS

1. What is the very first indication that Brave New World is a futuristic novel?

Reread the first paragraph on the first page of the novel

6. In what way is Huxley's presentation of the Director satirical?

the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues

What is Huxley making fun of?

8. What are some actual scientific principles presented? What seems to be a problem the society has "all but solved" (Pg. 15)?

Part 1: think of things science was working on in Huxley’s time (and/or is working on in our time) inferred info

Part 2: quote on p15

10. What social problems have been eliminated in Brave New World? Explain.

What problems did society suffer from in Huxley’s time(and/or ours) that no longer appear in the novel?

15. Why can hypnopaedia be used to inculcate more beliefs and emotional attitudes but cannot be used to learn science?

Read pp 25-26Part 1: why DOES it work on beliefs

and emotional attitudes?Religion is based on…

Part 2: why WON’T it work on science?

17. What about the population did Huxley get wrong? 

Population – number of people in a given area

19. Huxley seems to be using the dialogues of Lenina, Fanny, Bernard, and Henry to comment on the lecture or commentary of Mond. What contradictions do you see between what Mond says and what the others are expressing?

Mond is speaking as if all the problems of the past are gone. Hmm. Consider if this seems true based on the other conversations.

22. Why does so much effort go into conditioning people to be consumers? What aspect of his own society is Huxley satirizing?

Another two-parter. Break it down and answer both.

24. Huxley has introduced two characters that stand in opposition to the new world. Identify them and explain what you see as the significance of these characters.

Key word here is OPPOSITION.Identify AND explain significance

2nd Study GuideMOST MISSED QUESTIONS

#28 What is ironic about Lenina's comment, "And you feel so small when you're on the ground at the bottom of a hill"? (Pg. 109)

Consider her importance (or lack there of) in the New World

Consider the importance (or lack there of) of each person on the reservation.

#29 In what ways is Huxley's description of Lenina's reaction to the Indian Reservation satirical? What makes Lenina seem foolish? How might this apply to our attitudes today?

Break it down.Answer each part.Use the last part of the question to clue

you into answering the rest.

#31 Explain the irony in Linda's speech about life on the Reservation.

Irony: Broadest class of figures of thought that depend on presenting a deliberate contrast between two levels of meaning;

the discrepancy between what is said and what is meant,

what is said and what is done, what is expected or intended and what happens, or what is meant or said and what others

understand.

#33 Compare John and Bernard.

What is the same?What is different?

#37 What is ironic in Chapter 10?

Hint: there is more than one example, so give as many as you find

#43 …At the end of Chapter 13, we are told Lenina's response to John's remarks about marriage is genuine shock. What do you find ironic about this? What idea about love is suggested to you by these contradictions?

#44 In the middle of Chapter 12, Huxley describes the Controller rejecting a paper called "A New Theory of Biology." The Controller will not allow the paper to be published …What do you think is Huxley's point in this section?

Look for his message – goes beyond the novel

#46 Do you think Bernard has less character than most people would in his circumstances? Remember that he is undersized for his caste and has suffered persecution as a result.

Read carefully: “…less character than most people…”

Not just in the New World What is character? (Hint: think moral

character)

#48 At this point in the novel, what behavior of Bernard, John, and Helmholtz is unorthodox?

What are they each doing in chapter 13?

Unorthodox: unusual, nonconformist, archaic

#49 We are told that people in the new world do not experience passion, so they have to be given treatments… What conclusion can you draw from these facts?