BNW Chapter 13

1. What does Lenina mean when she says, "For Ford's sake John, talk sense. I can't understand a word you say. First it is vacuum cleaners; then its knots. You're driving me crazy." (p. 191)?

Lenina means that she does not understand what he is talking about, because he wants to grow old with her and is quoting romantic Shakespeare at her. She doesn't understand that he wants more than just sex, that he wants to have a life with her, because those concepts don't exist in the World State.

2. How does John react when Lenina makes advances towards him?

John reacts very badly when Lenina makes advances towards him. He becomes very angry, slaps her and calls her a whore, and when she locks herself in the bathroom, he starts reciting King Lear's speech on the evilness of women.

BNW Chapter 12

1. In what ways does Bernard remind you of Dr. Treves or the nightwatchman in The Elephant Man?

Bernard reminds me of Dr. Treves because he is trying to introduce John, a savage, a freak (like John Merrick), into conventional society. He is also like Dr. Treves because he believes that what he is doing is the best for John. However, Bernard is also like the nightwatchman, in that he wants to show John off for his own benefit, to make him more successful and popular.

2. Why does John have to use Zuni to express how he feels?
John has to use Zuni to express how he feels because there are no adequate words in English to describe how he feels.

3. Why does Lenina feel "a sense of dreadful emptiness, a breathless apprehension, a nausea." (p. 174)?
Lenina feels a"sense of dreadful emptiness, a breathless apprehension, a nausea," because she is worried that John doesn't like her, because he is not coming to the Party. It is evident that Lenina has strong feelings for John.

4. Why doesn't Mustapaha Mond want "A New theory of Biology" not to be published? Does the work remind you of anything that we have studied recently?
Mustapha Mond doesn't want "A New theory of Biology" to be published because it is "heretical," and "dangerous and potentially subversive " to the social order. The work reminds me of the idea of Creationism and the messages of the Bible, that what we do on Earth is determines what our afterlives will be like.

5. Do you agree with Bernard's belief in the "principal functions of a friend" as described on p. 179? Why does he feel this way toward John and Helmholtz?

I do not agree with Bernard's belief in the "principal functions of a friend," because although it is nice to have a friend to vent and rant to, that should not be a main reason why you have a friend, but simply a bonus. Also, it seems to me, cruel that one would inflict symbolic punishment on a friend instead of an enemy. Bernard feels this way towards John and Helmholtz because they are accessible to him, and they give him superiority over others, or at least John does. Both Helmhotz and John "forgive and forget," as friends would do.

6. What does Helmholtz think of Shakespeare?

Helmholtz is delighted at Shakespeare, because it presents such foreign concepts to him, in a way which makes him laugh. He does not understand some of the social commentary that Shakespeare is making.

BNW Chapter 11

1. Why is Dr. Shaw glad "to have had this opportunity to see an example of senility in a human being." (p. 155)?

Dr. Shaw is glad "to have had this opportunity to see an example senility in a human being," because he can study the a human who was born into the World State, but was forced to abandon the ways of the World State for those on the reservation, and he can study the way this has affected her, but also the way returning to the World State and it's standards, affects her, which he can see through the amount of soma she is taking, will kill her within two months.

2. Why are people saying behind Bernard's back that, "He won't find another Savage to help him out a second time." (p. 157)?

People are saying behind Bernard's back that, "He won't find another Savage to help him out a second time," meaning that his success at finding a Savage will not last, and he will go back to being odd, and depressed, unlike everyone else around him. His success with John, and the excitement to from Society to study the oddity who proclaimed the ex-Director to be "my father!," will eventually end, as John is either returned to the reservation or integrated into the World State.

3. Why do the Eton students in the Beta-Minus Geography room laugh at the religious activities of "savages"? Why do you think it significant that there are no twins at Eton? Do you think that is still true today?

The Eton students in the Beta-Minus Geography room laugh at the religious activities of the "savages," because it seems so ridiculous and foreign to them that they can not take it seriously, or understand it at all. I think it is significant that there are no twins at Eton, because there must be individual thinking, not thinking as a whole group. This is so that Etonians can react separate of each other in unexpected emergencies. I think that today, everyone thinks individually, whethe s/he is a twin or not. Twins may have similar ideas, however, in this day and age, everyone is there own person, and completely different from those around them.

4. How do children in the World State learn about Death?

Children in the World State learn about Death starting at eighteen months old, and spends two days a week at the Hospital for the Dying. They keep all the best toys there, and they are given chocolate ice cream on death days. This way "they learn to take dying as a matter of course"

5. Why do lower-caste workers receive daily Soma rations? Do we do this today?
Lower-caste workers receive daily Soma rations for completing their day's work. Today, this is like giving a child a snack of cookies everyday after s/he gets home from school as a sort of reward for going to school.

6. Why does John tell Lenina that, "I don't think you ought to see things like that." (p. 169)?

John tells Lenina that "I don't think you ought to see things like that," because he thinks the film was "base," and "ignoble." He finds the film horrible because of the Beta-blonde's becoming a mistress to all of her rescuers, and the perhaps because of the racial allegations the film presented.

BNW Chapter 10

1. Why does the director feel that Unorthodoxy is worse than Murder? What does the Director want to do with Bernard Marx?

The Director feels that Unorthodoxy is worse than Murder because Murder kills only the individual, and individuality is an almost non-existent concept in the World Order. However, Unorthodoxy, "strikes at Society itself," meaning that Unorthodoxy affects many, and changes the, which affects the goal of uniformity of the World Order.

2. What surprise does Bernard bring to the Director?

The surprise that Bernard brings to the Director is Linda. Grown old, "deformed," and ugly, living on the reservation, the Director does not recognize her and calls her a "monstrous practical joke." Bernard also brings John, who calls the Director "my father," to his great humiliation.