Brave New World #4

Summary: Lenina has just gotten on the lift and Bernard is there. She very publicly discusses that they will be going on a date to New Mexico. Bernard is uncomfortable. And Lenina then leaves for her date with Henry, leaving Bernard with Benito Hoover who says that she is nice to have. Bernard is upset because he wants Lenina to be different but she isn't; she's like everyone else. He is feeling insecure about his caste postition because he is shorter than other people in his group. Mixing with lower classes reminds him that he is an outsider. He goes to visit his friend Helmholtz Watson. Watson has greater intelligence than most Alpha-Pluses so he too feels like an outsider. This is what makes the two men such good friends. They both realize that they are individuals, which is what sets them apart from everyone else.

My Interpretation: This chapter is still setting up the rest of the story. But we see that Watson and Marx are both different from others in their caste. They are individuals. We also see that Bernard is jealous of Watson because he is a lady magnet and he makes it a point of telling him about his date with Lenina to boast. I see that he is insecure in his social standing because he is a little shorter than the others.

Allusions: Benito Hoover- Italian WWII leader
Bernard Marx- Karl Marx communist party founder
Helmholtz Watson- American Psychologist

Irony:  In this world people openly discuss their unfaithfulness- situational irony; Asking someone who their mother is, is a dirty joke, mother is derogatory in this world- situational irony;

Vocabulary: ruminating- verb, to ponder; cordiality- noun, courteous and gracious; waylaid- verb, intercept or attack from ambush;

Vocabulary Words 10/30/14

Palliate 

verb 

to make less severe

Confiscate 

verb  

to seize

Inundate 

verb

to overwhelm

Deprecate 

verb 

express disapproval of

Exonerate 

verb 

free from blame or guilt

Capitulate 

verb 

to surrender unconditionally

Svelte 

adj

elegant and slender

Diurnal adj

of during the day

Canopy 

noun

a cloth hung over something

Patrimony 

noun 

something inherited by a male ancestor

Canopy and Patrimony

In the mossy green forest, towering trees hung over the hikers like a leafy canopy.

The patrimony left to the deceased man's family, was utterly disappointing to them; instead of a nice house they got a shack on a lot by the city dump.

Canopy- noun- cloth or blanket of something draped over an object

Patrimony- noun- estate inherited from one's father or ancestors

Brave New World Journal 3

Summary:  In this chapter it shows us that children are running around naked, engaging in erotic play. In this world it is quite normal. this is an example of situational irony because in today's world that is frowned upon and children are sheltered from such things. History does not matter and they take quotes from Henry Ford and use them out of context. At the end of the day Lenina Crowne is off work and getting ready to go out. She reveals to her friend Fanny that she has been in a relationship with Henry Foster for 4 months. Fanny is shocked and doesn't want her to get in trouble because in this world it is unheard of to be in a long relationship. You "try" different people all the time and are open about being unfaithful. Bernard really likes Lenina and doesn't want to be with other people. Bernard is an allusion to Karl Marx and the communist party and how they rebelled. the same way that he doesn't think the same way as everyone else in the world. This idea of being unfaithful is situational irony because in our world that isn't acceptable.


pneumatic- adj; filled with condensed air...

allusion: to no crosses, they became T's,

The Nine Year's war alluding to the 100 years war?

Foreshadow- when fanny tells Lenina to be careful otherwise she'll get in trouble?

Brave New World chapter 2 journal

Summary: In the second chapter The director shows the students the infant nurseries. They show how they condition babies by showing them books and flowers and then shocking them so they learn not to like those things. Lower Castes used to be conditioned to like nature and pretty things, but since they weren't consuming they had to change that. They explain the process of Hypnopaedia and how you can remember what it is that you learned, but you don't know what you learned. So that system is flawed.

This chapter gives an overview of this world and how it uses consumerism and kinda promotes it. There is Allusion to Henry Ford, who is pretty much god in this world because he came up with mass production, which pretty much paves the way for consumerism.

the word mother is derogatory in this world.

viviparous- adj; bringing forth live young that developed in the parent's body

Svelte and Diurnal

The young, svelte girl stood motionless on the stage after reciting the beautiful eight page poem in front of everyone.

Brittney's diurnal activities at school included slacking off and eating in class.

A Brave New World Reading Log Chapter 1

In chapter 1 the Director is giving students a tour of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. All the students take copious notes on what the director is saying. They will begin work the next day. The director doesn't tell them a lot of information, just tells them what they need to know to do their jobs correctly. What doesn't he want them to know? He explains how they surgically remove eggs from women and then dispose of any bad ones and only fertilize the good ones. They use a system called Bokanovsky's Process, which uses X-rays to make an egg keep dividing, giving us 96 copies of one person. This Hatchery basically takes eggs and then grows them into humans from inside test tubes. Everyone is created with a predestined social class that the creators get to decide. The people are conditioned to love whatever job they are given and the stupid people are born that way because the creators deprive them of oxygen.

I think that this new world is very strange and I want to know what made them think that mass reproduction of people was a good idea and why everyone has to be "bred" a certain a way.

Vocabulary: Bokanovsky's Process = using X-rays to make eggs keep dividing