John’s earliest memories involve his mother’s relationships with Indian men — especially Pope, who also introduces Linda to the powerful hallucinogenic drug mescal (which she finds similar to soma). John also remembers how the Indian women beat Linda, because she felt no sexual restraints with their men. As John grows, […]
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Lenina soon discovers that she has forgotten her soma, so she must experience the Indian village of Malpais as an unmedicated reality. In quick succession, she and Bernard witness old age in the figure of an ancient Indian, Indian mothers nursing their babies, and a hedonistic ritual dance that fuses […]
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In a flashback to their first date, Lenina and Bernard quarrel when he hovers their helicopter over the English Channel so that they can observe the power of Nature. Bernard wants an adult — and emotional — relationship with Lenina, not just the mindless sex that consummates their first date. […]
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They fly to Westminster Abbey Cabaret, where they dance the evening away to the Malthusian Blues. Despite the soma they consume, Lenina remembers her contraception in preparation for a night of pneumatic sex. The second half of the chapter follows Bernard as he flies past the chiming Big Henry — […]
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As Lenina and Henry take off in their helicopter for the date, their trip offers a panoramic view of London and its suburbs. It unfolds as a miniature version of this futuristic world — from Charing-T Tower to Hounslow Feely Studios to the Obstacle Golf Course. The second half of […]
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This chapter also introduces Mustapha Mond — Resident Controller for Western Europe and one of the Ten World Controllers. Mond figures in the novel as a kind of enlightened dictator (“his Fordship”), who understands this brave new world, as well as the old world before Ford. As the chapter dissolves […]
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The D.H.C. oversees a demonstration of “Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning.” Nurses expose a group of babies to books and flowers and then add a violent explosion, alarm bells, shrieking sirens, and finally an electric shock. This experience, notes the D.H.C., will “unalterably” condition the reflexes of the babies so that they will […]
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As the chapter begins, the Director of the Centre (the D.H.C.) conducts a group of new students, as well as the reader, on a tour of the facility and its operations — a biological version of the assembly line, with test-tube births as the product. They begin at the Fertilizing […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 1Character List – Page 4
John the Savage The son born of parents from the brave new world but raised in the Savage Reservation, John represents a challenge to the dystopia. He is the character closest to being the hero of the novel. Lenina Crowne A technician, attracted by Bernard, in love with John. A […]
Read more Character List – Page 4About Brave New World
Historical Background The Russian Revolution and challenges to the British Empire abroad raised the possibility of change on a world scale. At home, the expansion of transportation and communication — the cars, telephones, and radios made affordable through mass production — also brought revolutionary changes to daily life. With the […]
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