Reading Questions

introduction chapters 8-10
chapters 1-3 chapters 11-13
chapters 4-7 chapters 14-18
Questions about the Introduction top

1. What does Huxley's use of "remorse" refer to?
2. What choice was the savage given in the original book and what third choice should Huxley have offered him?
3. What was Huxley's obvious failure in predicting the future?
4. What (advantages, disadvantages) does science offer life?
5. What purpose do the rulers of Brave New World have for the society?
6. What needs for social change does Huxley suggest have to be done to bring about his brave new world?
7. What two possibilities does Huxley offer the world of the future?

Questions to chapters 1-3 top

1. Give a one or two word description of the mood in the opening scene.
2. At what place does the book begin?
3. Why is there a need for identical beings?
4. Give one of the techniques for developing embryos.
5. Why is love of nature sometimes abolished?
6. What do the initials A. F. in the date stand for?
7. What did the controller find wrong with the viviparous system of birth?
8. Why is Bernard Marx an oddball?

Questions to chapters 4-7 top

1. What is the purpose of Lenina's first conversation with Bernard in the lift?
2. What did Henry Foster and Lenina do after work?
3. What do Bernard and Helmholtz have in common?
4. What does soma do?
5. Compared to today's society, what is a Solidarity Service?
6. What does Lenina's and Bernard's first outing (date?) demonstrate about the two of them?
7. What and where is the Reservation?
8. Identify 'Linda' and 'John.'

Questions to chapters 8-10 top

1. What service did Linda provide in the pueblo?
2. How did John develop his reading skills?
3. Give three events John recounted as stages in his growing up.
4. Why does Bernard want to take John and Linda back to "civilization"?
5. Why does John want to go to London, the outside world?
6. Why was Bernard about to be demoted and exiled to Iceland?
7. What did Bernard do about the director's proposed punishment?

Questions to chapters 11-13 top

1. Why was John and not Linda important to society in London?
2. Why was Helmholtz saddened by Bernard's boasting of sexuality?
3. How has John's tour of BNW matched/not matched what you think he imagined society to be?
4. What was Lenina's purpose in taking John to the feelies? Why didn't he cooperate?
5. Why do Helmholtz and John become interested in each other and why do they exclude Bernard?
6. Why does John refuse Lenina's advances?

Questions to chapters 14-18 top

1. What two memories did Linda's death cause John to have?
2. What crusade does the savage undertake at Park Lane Hospital?
3. How was the Delta riot put down?
4. Why can't the world be peopled by Alpha's?
5. Is going to an island really a punishment or a reward? EXPLAIN
6. What did Mustapha Mond give the Savage?
7. Where did John escape to? What destroys his solitude, first and finally?
8. Why does John commit suicide?