Brave New World - by Aldous Huxley - Year 11 by visionsofeu https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m Chapter 1 en-us 2019-04-29 14:56:51 UTC 2022-04-18 22:36:28 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f469-1f4bb.png About the author - a biography https://www.biography.com/writer/aldous-huxley (written) visionsofeucities https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046092 BNW was published in 1932.


- interview where Huxley describes today's world around 60 years ago
https://youtu.be/4xUyHA0h2jU (28 min)

- an Interview about BNW https://youtu.be/oIgjujAI6eE (6 min)




CHARACTERS
The DIRECTOR of Hatcheries and Conditioning

The Director is a little bit of a plot device, which is why there isn't too much to say about him. In the first few chapters, he's a great excuse for Huxley to talk all about the World State and basically ease us, as readers, into the world he's created. The Director's lecture to his students amounts to Huxley explaining to us what the deal is. After that, his whole horrible relationship with Linda is basically just the backstory to explain John's existence.

The Director is still a real character. He is basically a typical, high-level Alpha who, unlike Bernard or Helmholtz, remains completely content with the status quo. However, like Henry Foster, he shows moments of humanity under the veneer of conditioned acceptance.

There's a conversation throughout the book when he talks about Linda, which quite clearly shows  that there were emotional, even monogamous elements to their relationship.

Suspicion is confirmed when the Director gets seriously defensive about this very fact, insisting that "it was all perfectly healthy and normal." That's when he goes all strict-teacher on Bernard, essentially threatening him with a lifetime worth of detentions (a.k.a. Iceland) if he doesn't shape up. That the Director is so upset over Bernard's seemingly emotional attachment to Lenina is very likely because the Director himself had such a relationship with Linda.

HENRY FOSTER
The life of a typical upper caste male living in the World State. But most of all, Henry is obsessed with numbers. When we first meet him in the Hatchery, Henry explains in horrible detail the way conditioning works. It's not a pleasant moment, and what sticks with us most is the way it's all so mathematical. 

Birth and growth, which we think of as the most natural, unchecked, beautiful processes in the world, have been harnessed and made scientific, exact. And it's Henry's character that reminds us of this, again and again. Even when Lenina goes to join him at the helicopter, we see that "'four minutes late' [is] all his comment," and when they see the red rocket, Henry notes that it's "seven minutes behind time." The man is obsessed with precision.

LENINA CROWNE
What is it with Lenina? First Foster, then Bernard, then John: everyone is obsessed with this woman, and honestly, it's a little hard to see why. She's not really unique, or interesting, or challenging, or even particularly intelligent. As best we can tell, she's just "uncommonly pretty."

Huxley's explanation is that Lenina is "pneumatic." We should take a closer look at this word, because Huxley uses it multiple times in his novel. The official definition is basically "full of air," but this description can be metaphorical. It seems to mean that she's busty, curvy, and all-around sexy. But if that's the case, why does Huxley use this completely odd word? 

It may be meant to  have a double meaning. Lenina's body may be all cushiony, but she's pneumatic mentally, too; as in, the girl is full of air.

]]> 2019-04-29 14:56:51 UTC https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046092 SETTING visionsofeucities https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046093  Huxley establishes in Chapter 1 that the year is A.F. 632. We are told in Chapter 3 that the introduction of the first Ford Model-T was year "zero" for this calendar.
It is the Future.

Huxley creates an incredibly elaborate and nuanced setting for his novel. He provides details about everything from technology (vibro-vacuum massage, scent organ) to professions (Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, World Controller) to down-time activities (Centrifugal Bumble-puppy), and from the cityscape (the seven skyscrapers twinkling over Guildford) to individual buildings (The Internal and External Secretions Factory, The Hounslow Feely Studio).

In essence, the more disturbing the setting and the more complete the picture, the more effective the novel.
 If Brave New World creeps you out, Huxley did his job well. All this elaborate detail, while sometimes outlandish, makes the idea of a "World State" plausible  in our minds. We start to see how a society like this might function, down to the smallest detail.
There are  details that allow Huxley to parody our own world so effectively:. Christianity has crosses; they have Ts. We say, "Thank God!"; they say "Thank Ford." We play mini-golf; they play Obstacle Golf. 

Finally, as far as a specific setting goes, there's a clear dichotomy between the Savage Reservation and the civilized world. The two landscapes act as a foil, although settings aren't characters.]]> 2019-04-29 14:56:51 UTC https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046093 THEMES visionsofeucities https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046095 Relevant themes are focused throughout the book.

Learn about Chapter 1 here
https://quizlet.com/_6ianvc

and about other themes here
https://quizlet.com/_6iasai


]]> 2019-04-29 14:56:51 UTC https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046095 VOCABULARY visionsofeucities https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046096 Here is the PDF of the book, by courtesy of The Gutenberg Project

https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/huxleya-bravenewworld/huxleya-bravenewworld-00-h.html

CHAPTER 1
When reading you don't always need to know the translation of all words in order to have the gist and grasp the meaning.
-  Take this paragraph:

"On Rack 10 rows of next generation's chemical workers were being trained in the toleration of lead, caustic soda, tar, chlorine. The first of a batch of two hundred and fifty embryonic rocket-plane engineers was just passing the eleven hundredth metre mark on Rack 3. A special mechanism kept their containers in constant rotation. 'To improve their sense of balance,' Mr. Foster explained. 'Doing repairs on the outside of a rocket in mid air is a ticklish job. We slacken off the circulation when they're right way up, so that they're half starved, and double the flow of surrogate when they're upside down. They learn to associate topsy-turvydom with well-being; in fact, they're only truly happy when they're standing on their heads.'

COLLABORATE / WRITE
1 What's the gist of this paragraph?
2 Which words do you actually find crucial to know the translation, so you understand the paragraph? Why?
3. Check your knowledge here
https://quizlet.com/393811303/live
https://quizlet.com/_6igqqv






]]> 2019-04-29 14:56:51 UTC https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046096 ANALYSIS visionsofeucities https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046098 A form of biological reproduction produces certain types of humans in batches of 96 identical copies. 
A social "caste" structure separates the citizens into five groups, the result being that any given individual is little more than a faceless, colour-coded member of a larger group. 
Certain characters in the novel grow uncomfortable with this idea, either being downright disgusted by it, or for one reason or another find that they just don't fit the mold. They seek to understand their individuality through isolation, self-exploration, and even self-flagellation.


]]> 2019-04-29 14:56:51 UTC https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046098 QUOTES visionsofeucities https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046100 Match the Quotes with their meaning/theme.

SCIENCE
https://quizlet.com/_6ianvc

POWER
https://quizlet.com/_6ia0qc

SUFFERING and IDENTITY
https://quizlet.com/_6ia6tr


]]> 2019-04-29 14:56:51 UTC https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/355046100 TASKS (WRITTEN / ORAL) visionsofeucities https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/1305905496 Adapt the previous model for your presentation or create your own.]]> 2021-03-13 20:12:24 UTC https://padlet.com/visionsofeucities/bm83sof83f4m/wish/1305905496