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Brave New World Chapter 5 - 9
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Review of Chapter 5 The golf course closes
Lennina and Henry fly over the crematorium chimney to his apartment roof. They go to dinner and dance until closing. Bernard leaves Helmholtz’s apartment and goes to a solidarity meeting It breaks into mass moaning during the pseudo- religious “orgy-porgy.” Review of Chapter 5
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Weeks pass and Lenina is convinced Benard is “odd.”
She looks forward to her “holiday” at the Zuni Reservation After spending some time together, Lenina and Bernard realized (too late)they are missmated. Benard stops at the Channel to peer into the dark, foamy water-for which Lenina is distraught. They fly back to his apartment At their meeting the next day on the roof, Lenina is complete agreement with the propaganda of Utopia accepting it without question. She is alarmed to learn that Bernard is “distant” from the utopian norm and is “freethinker.” Benard seems to long to feel passion and regrets intimacy with Lenina, who he believes to be his intellectual inferior Bernard petitions the Director for a vacation pass and the Director threatens to send him to Iceland if he rejects utopian policies. That evening, Bernard gives Helmholtz a “slanted” account of his encounter with the Director Although Lenina is tempted to break her vacation date, she boards the rocket from New Orleans to Santa Fe for the night. The next morning, the reservation warden sign their permit to vist the reservatin and embarrasses Lenina with comments bout births among Indians In a panic at the thought of being exiled, Bernard phones Helmholtz and learns that the Director has begun arranging Bernard’s punishment Lenina gives Bernard four soma tablets and they take a plane from the hotel to Malpais. Review of Chapter 6
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They arrive among the Zuni and Lenina recoils from pueblo life (old age, sickness, filth, insects.)
Like pre-utopian breeders, Zuni women give birth and breastfeed their babies. Lenina witnesses a primitive snake ritual and reaches for some which she has forgotten After a ceremony in which priests whip John, Lenina and Bernard are greeted by John and introduced to his mother, Linda, an unkept, obese, former native of Utopia. They learn that Linda was lost on a mesa and left behind. She took up the Zuni lifesstyle Linda recounts how different the reservation is from the Utopia she remembers. She was/is an unwelcome outsider who is considered promiscuous and escape mentally though mescal and peyote—hallucinaogens derived from cactus. Review of Chapter 7
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John is considered an outsider because of his parentage.
He reads a collection of Shakespeare’s plays which he received from Pope, Linda’s lover. Bernard identifies with John’s despair and suggests that Linda and John should visit Utopia by accompanying Bernard on the trip back. John, who is attracted to Lenina, cheerfully anticipates the journey. FORESHADOWING NOTE: Bernard is also anticipating his acceptance and reversal of punishment by bringing back the two from the reservation that definitely has connections to the Director. Review of Chapter 8
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Back at the rest-house, Lenina takes an 18-hour drugged rest.
Bernard is still sleepless and at 10am the next morning, Bernard flies to the post office. He calls Mustapha Mond to announce his find—a Utoopian woman and er son who have reverted to primitive ways. At 2:30, John is in Lenina’s room to watching her sleep when Bernard returns Review of Chapter 9
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The Solidarity Service
Ford, we are twelve; oh, make us one, Like drops within the Social River; Oh, make us now together run As swiftly as thy shining Flivver Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun, Kiss the girls and make them One. Boys at one with girls at peace; Orgy-porgy gives release. This song is sung during the Solidarity Service attended by Benard in Chapter 5. It gives an example of the banal “religion” the World State uses to keep its members in conformity with societal rules. The song’s silly wording helps emphasize the triviality of the ceremony. It also contrasts with the snippets of Shakespeare that John quotes later in the novel. The theme of anonymity is a metaphor for the whole of World State society, whose aim is to create humans that are as indistinguishable from each other as machines made on an assembly line. The repeated calls to “Ford” also point out the connection to the assembly line. Finally, the last stanza’s “orgy-porgy gives release,” like the Violent Passion Surrogate, the Pregnancy Surrogate, and soma, is a signal that the World State has not been able to entirely annihilate human nature. There is still some need for release, some need to experience strong emotions that has not been entirely wiped out through conditioning. The Solidarity Service is one of many mechanisms the World State uses to channel strong emotions in such a way that they present no threat to the power of the State. The Solidarity Service
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Theme: The consumer society
It is important to understand that Brave New World is not simply a warning about what could happen to society if things go wrong, it is also a satire of the society in which Huxley existed, and which still exists today. While the attitudes and behaviors of World State citizens at first appear bizarre, cruel, or scandalous, many clues point to the conclusion that the World State is simply an extreme—but logically developed—version of our society’s economic values, in which individual happiness is defined as the ability to satisfy needs, and success as a society is equated with economic growth and prosperity.
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Satire is a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society, by using humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule. It intends to improve humanity by criticizing its follies and foibles. A writer in a satire uses fictional characters, which stand for real people Community Sing—Church of England Satirical References
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What is the philosophy of Marxism
Review the following short video on Marxism, which the politics is based upon. Marxism
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Characters given names from individuals in the World State’s past
Bernard Marx—Bernard Shaw (few ancient writers left uncensored) and Karl Marx (theorist of Marxism--the political and economic philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in which the concept of class struggle plays a central role in understanding society's allegedly inevitable development from bourgeois (middle class) oppression under capitalism to a socialist and ultimately classless society. Lenina Crowne: Crowne is a phrase referring to the monarch/monarchial government. Lenina is from Vladimir Lenin—Russian radical overthrow of a monarchy Benito Hoover: Italian fascist Benito Mussolini and Herbert Hoover, early 20th century president of the US. Ford: a replacement for the word Lord or God. The starting date for their calendar is the date Henry Ford introduced the Model T alluding to the details to the religious level in which mass industry is treated in BNW. Characters given names from individuals in the World State’s past
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Brave New World Comparison
Reproduction: the way that we reproduce isn't always natural. Many couples use implantation methods (infertile couples, gay couples, and sometimes single individuals). Consumer Mindset: think of Amazon anything you want; anytime you want, commericals, ads promoting the new car, food, house, phone Altering Drugs for Happy Consciousness—from marijuana to Zoloft Technological Advancement—internet, cell phone, everything made to make it easier Repetition of slogans through commercials, songs, replay news Distraction of problems through sports, music, media, movies Lack of individuality thinking—classics in literature (meant to make you think –the novel BNW seldom taught, emphasis on test taking, going to college, memorization of facts vs. philosophical inquiry Artificial Intelligence—the permission to give everything over to a mechanical intelligence so we can remain absolve ourselves from decision-making or having a voice. Brave New World Comparison
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Quiz 1. Why is soma a necessity in Brave New World
2. What purpose does the Solidarity Service serve? 3. Why is the Director upset after he tells Bernard about his own visit to the Reservation when he was young? 4. Why do you think Huxley chose a Native American reservation as an example of a more primitive civilization? 5. What book was very important in teaching John to read? 6. Why do you think Huxley chose this text? 7. Define stoicism 8. Define innocuous. 9. Define precipice. 10. Define incredulity. Short Paragraph: Explain the philosophy, briefly, of Marxism. Quiz
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The End
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