Blog # 2 - Brave New World Passages

“A the end of the room a loud speaker projected from the wall. […] ‘Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfully glad I’m Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. […] Oh now, I don’t want to play with Delta Children’” (35).

This passage takes place during a tour of the CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, where children are separated as embryos and then brain washed to fit society’s standards and to be happy with whom they are. As children they have lines in repetition, while they sleep describing the caste system of their society, and making sure that this caste system does not cause complaints. If a person is happy, then they will not complain or cause a disturbance in this peaceful, planned World. If there are no complaints, then the there are no problems. So as children, they learn to be satisfied with who they are and deem everyone else as ‘frightfully clever’ or ‘stupid’. The voice over the speaker says “I don’t want to play with the Delta Children,” which keeps the different caste systems from associating with another. If they never associate with the other, they will never be directly made fun or realize their true being. It is better to be separate and controlled. Every aspect of this society is broken up to simple pieces that are easy to maintain and control. This Brave New World is not a World of freedom, but one of supreme management and manipulation.



“Ending is better than mending; ending is better…” (57).

This is an example of one of the lines, repeated to the citizens of this World from birth so that they are unable to think for themselves and automatically respond to situations with what they have learned. There is no time for thought, thought is evil; thought is associated with independence and chaos. This will destroy their orderly World. “Ending is better than mending” expresses the need to throw things away when they are broken or useless. Nothing is worth repair; it is easier to get something new, something is better and to end the life of the ‘old’ product. If there is a problem, end the problem, do not fix it. If someone does not fit well in society, get rid of them; do not rehabilitate them into that society. There is an infinite amount of goods, and no need to hold on to things of the past that do not work correctly. This is how their world functions. People live to work so that they can buy goods and be happy. If people held on to their old gadgets and gismos, their would be no work, and this would lead to turmoil. Everything fits in to this Brave New World, everything has a purpose.



“‘There’s one thing we can be certain of; whoever he may have been, he was happy when he was alive. Everybody’s happy now’” (77).

Lenina and Bernard, two main characters, are on a date in a helicopter passing the area where people meet their end when this discussion occurs. The way the World is run makes sure that everyone is happy. The word happy does not have the same connotation as it does in the real present. Happy in Brave New World is satisfaction with society. There is no real thought or feelings behind ‘happiness’; Happiness is what the people think want, according to the government. Happy means nothing, but stability in society. There is no such thing as free thought or opinion, the World just is. This ‘happiness’ is guaranteed because they are brainwashed from the embryo and no nothing more then what they are told.


“And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always soma to give you a holiday from the facts” (213).

Soma is the equivalent of a drug in today’s society, but without the negative side effects. When anything uncomfortable might slip through the control of the government, the government still has power and provides the people with soma. Soma is a way to forget any problems, a way to prevent thought and to stop people from mending problems. If anything out of the ordinary happens, people do not freak out, they take soma. Therefore the people do not worry about the situation they are in and forgot about. Everything is okay. It is an escape from reality, an escape from their ‘happiness’ and discontent with issues.




“‘Did you eat something that didn’t agree with you?’ asked Bernard. The Savage nodded. ‘I ate civilization. […] It poisoned me; I was defiled. And then […] I ate my own wickedness’” (216).

The Savage, is John, who came from The Reservation; A place where people are not brainwashed and think for themselves. The word savage, brings up thoughts of unruliness and unhappiness. From the viewpoint of a civilized person, the people of The Reservation are animals who cannot control themselves nor be controlled. John is removed from The Reservation and placed in the Brave New World, where he lives unhappily. John says “I ate civilization […] It poisoned me.” He tried out this perfect utopia and was dissatisfied. He saw through the false sense of happiness and it did not agree with him. He was poisoned, ruined. The magical world he had created in his mind of what he thought was the ‘real world’ was nothing but a place made up of robots. Society ruins him. There is nothing good in the Brave New World, nothing personal. All meaning in crushed, and it ‘poisons’ him to the point of suicide.