Babies sent to the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms develop an "instinctive hatred of books and flowers," through the terrifying process, where when the see the flowers and the books, and suddenly loud noises and explosions go off, and they are electrically shocked. This is done over two hundred times, so that every time they see either a book or flower, they will subconsciously remember the experience they had as infants, and instinctively hate the two. Deltas were exposed to this treatment because if the "lower class" hated nature, then they were much more likely to work efficiently in the factories.
2. What is a State Conditioning Center? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?
A State Conditioning Center is the place where the babies are "raised," or rather where they are conditioned for the society A Brave New World is set in. They are not with the people, aka their parents, who bore them. It does remind of Plato's republic, where it was suggested that children who were of a different metal, should not be allowed to stay with their parents, so that the metals would not taint each other.
3. What is hypnopaedia? Why wasn't it used for Science? What was it used for? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?
Hypnopaedia is "sleep-teaching." It wasn't used for Science because "you can't learn a science unless you know what it's all about." In hypnopaedia, each person is taught facts, but they do not know what those facts mean. Tommy could recite the fact about the longest river in Africa, but when asked what the longest river in Africa was, he could not say what it was. He did not know the science of the fact, and could not rationalize it from the fact from-which he had been taught. Hypnopaedia was used for "moral education which ought to never, in any circumstances, to be rational," and the Director describes it as "the greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time."This reminds me of the ideal in Plato's Republic, that children ought not to be taught that the gods were imperfect and did things such as steal, lie, and cheat, because then they would rationalize that if they were to be like the gods, then they would have to steal, lie, and cheat too, and so the ideal of a Just City, would be ruined. From both books, one can see the connection to the ideal that moral education should not be rational.
3. How does the Caste system work in the World State? What are the similarities and differences between this and the Hindu Caste system?
In the World State, the Caste system is organized into levels, like the Hindu Caste system. Each level is given a Greek Letter name. The highest level is Alpha, then Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc. The Alphas are the most clever and smartest, the most enlightened are are allowed to receive the most knowledge. This is similar to the Hindu Caste system, in that those on the highest level, the Brahmin (priests), are the most enlightened, and are preparing for moksha. However, in the World State Caste system, those who are born into one level of the Caste system do not come from those in the same level, nor do they ever reach a higher level, which is different than in the Hindu Caste system. Also, similar to the Hindu Caste system, in the World State Caste system, each level has their obligation, or Dharma, to their society.
4. What does the Director mean when he says, "Not so much like drops of water....rather, drops of liquid sealing wax."?
When the Director says, "Not so much like drops of water....rather, drops of liquid sealing wax," he means that the information they constantly bombard the children engulf them into those ideals, rather than covering them, but bombarding them so much, that someone decides to rebel.
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