Brave New World Terms and Allusions for Understanding

A.D. Anno Domini Latin for Year of our Lord

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon The first 5 letters of the Greek alphabet

Big Ben Commonly refers to London’s 4-sided clock tower (although it is actually the bell that sounds within)

Charing Cross District in Westminster, London, so named as the place where Edward I placed the last of a series of crosses for his deceased wife Eleanor of Castile

English Channel The arm of the Atlantic that runs between Great Britain and France

Eugenics The belief that the human race can be improved through selective breeding, e.g. encouraging reproduction by persons thought to have desirable traits, and discouraging those thought to have genetic defects or undesirable traits.

Henry Ford and the Model T Innovator of using the moving assembly line to mass produce cars. Introduced in 1908, the Model T was his first car to be produced this way.

Herbert Hoover 31st President of the United States. Before becoming president, as the head of the American Relief Administration, he helped to feed millions of starving Europeans, because the ravages of war, and even extended aid to Soviet Russia. Was president during the stock market crash of 1929, but was seen as not doing enough to help the American people.

Vladimir Lenin Leader of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Worker’s Party (a socialist party), led the October Revolution, which put his party into power. Known for his mercilessness with the opposition and his disregard for the sufferings of his countrymen.

Thomas Malthus A British economist of the late 1700s/early 1800s, especially concerned with over- population Malthusian: Relating to Malthus or to his theory that population, unless checked (as by war or disease), tends to increase at a faster rate than its means of subsistence.

Mal Pais Spanish for “bad land” or “bad country”

Karl Marx German philosopher, wrote The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels.

Benito Mussolini Fascist dictator of Italy from , forming an alliance with Hitler’s Germany. At one point, he was a fervent socialist, but changed his political beliefs.

Ivan Pavlov Russian physiologist who is known for his work with classical conditioning. He ran experiments with dogs where he presented them with meat powder which resulted in salivating. He then presented them with the powder while ringing a bell, resulting in an association between meat and the sound of the bell. Finally, just by ringing the bell, the dogs would salivate. He was backed by the communist Soviet government.

Predestination The idea that God, or another force, has already decided an individual’s outcome; fate, destiny.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s idea of a “noble savage” The innate goodness of uncivilized man that has not been corrupted by civilization.

George Bernard Shaw Irish playwright, and prominent member of the Fabian Society (a British socialist organization)

Satire A literary work holding up human vices and follies to expose, ridicule, or scorn, with the goal to ultimately bring about change.

Soma A plant with hallucinogenic properties that was consumed during spiritual rituals by the Indo- Aryan peoples of Central Asia, about 4,000 years ago.

Leon Trotsky Trotsky was a key figure in the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia, second only to Vladimir Lenin in the early stages of Soviet communist rule. But he lost out to Joseph Stalin in the power struggle that followed Lenin's death, and was assassinated while in exile.

Utopia Coined by Sir Thomas More, author of Utopia, describes an ideal country. It is a place of perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions. From Greek, meaning “no place”

Dystopia Often, what in conception was thought of as a utopia, turns out horribly wrong. An imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives.