Brave New World Vocabulary/Background Info/Lit Terms Chapters 1-3

Chapter One  pallid : very pale  callow : young and not experienced  zealous : very enthusiastic  gamete : sexual reproductive cell, as a sperm or egg  viviparous : bringing forth living young, as mammals do. [ viv (life) + parer (bring forth]  deft : skillful  decant : to pour out of a container  caste : social class separated from others by hereditary rank or profession or wealth.  superfluous : not needed or wanted  topsy-turvy : upside-down  II. Background

Background/Lit terms (1)  II. Background Info:  Henry Ford : popularized the assembly-line method of production when he produced the affordable automobile, the Model T. Henry Ford is like a god to the people of this society. The calendar years are marked for after his birth: A.F.—After Ford. Also, the character Henry Foster, who is very fond of efficiency and figures, has a name that is an allusion to Henry Ford.  III. Literary Terms: these will be the terms that we use to discuss the novel. Please know them for our discussion and your tests and quizzes. o dystopian: dys (bad) + top (place). Dystopian stories have a society that to the characters in the story is a perfect place, a utopia, or at least, it was an attempt at utopia. Typically, in order to achieve utopia, the society in the story has sacrificed something too large (e.g., humanity, individuality, freedoms). Dystopian stories allow us to see an absurd result of a current tendency of our own society (e.g., our desire for equality, our reliance on technology, and so forth)  allusion : a brief reference to a person, event, or place, or to a work of art.

Chapter Two  aseptic : free from living germs  cherub : type of angel; an attractive child  posthumous : occurring after death  indefatigable : never showing signs of getting tired

Background/Lit terms (2)  II. Background Info: o Pavlov: Ivan Pavlov is known for his findings on conditioned reflex. He would give dogs a steak while ringing a bell. The dogs would salivate when they smelled the meat. He would do this repeatedly: show the dogs the steak and ring the bell. Eventually, he just rang the bell. The dogs would still salivate even though there was no meat. The dogs were conditioned to respond a certain way (salivate) to ringing a bell.  III. Literary Terms: these will be the terms that we use to discuss the novel. Please know them for our discussion and your tests and quizzes.  Satire : a type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions.

Chapter 3  muse : to think about something deeply  apparatus : equipment designed to serve a specific function  incredulity : the feeling of not believing [ in (not) + cred (belief)]  surreptitious : done secretly  axiomatic : generally believed to be true  truculent : aggressively hostile  promiscuous : having sexual relations with a lot of different people  grimace : pained facial expression  indignant : angry at something unjust  hypnopedia : teaching during sleep [ hypno (sleep) + ped (child)]  ectogenesis : development outside the body, as of an embryo in an artificial environment  copulate : engage in sexual intercourse

Background Info (3)  II. Background Info:  Trotsky: Leon Trotsky ( ) was a Russian revolutionary and communist theorist. He wasousted by Stalin.  Marx : Karl Marx ( ) was the founder of modern communism. He wrote the Communist Manifesto along with Friedrich Engels. In the novel, Bernard Marx is named after Marx.  Malthusian: Thomas Robert Malthus ( ) was an economist who wrote “Essay on the Principle of Population.” In this essay, he discusses the catastrophe that will happen if human population outgrows the earth’s resources. He argues that population increase will eventually bring wars and decrease pay for labor. He also argues that people will have to work harder to get resources. Essentially, Malthus proposed that there is a threshold to populations. If earth’s population goes beyond this threshold, then people will experience catastrophes. The Malthusian Belt in the novel is a belt that provides constant birth control so that the women in society don’t get pregnant. Population is controlled by the Controllers for the sake of stability.

Lit Terms (3)  III. Literary Terms: these will be the terms that we use to discuss the novel. Please know them for our discussion and your tests and quizzes.  Foil : a character who acts as contrast to another character. Question: In what ways is Fanny Crowne the foil of Lenina Crowne?  Situational Irony : there is a difference between what is expected to happen and what really happens. This occurs in the novel when we see behavior or actions in this society that goes against the expected behavior of our own times. Example: ____________________________________________________