MIRANDA
a hypertext of Huxley's Brave New World

Questions for Chapter III

1) What is "Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy" and why do games like this exist in BNW?
Do we have games like this today?

2) What was your response to the "rudimentary sexual games" played in this chapter? Why did you respond this way?

3) Why might Huxley include this scene? Does this reveal a positive or negative view of sexuality?

4) How would you describe contemporary American attitudes towards sexuality?

5) How have our sexual values been shaped? What research has been done on child sexuality?

6) Who is Mustapha Mond? What is the significance of his name?

7) Note that Mond's first statement includes Ford's dictum "history is bunk": why did Ford say this and why does Mond repeat it?

8) What place does history have in our lives?

9) Why might some wish to ignore or supress historical knowledge?

10) How do attitudes towards history differ in Orwell's 1984 ?

11) What is our contemporary attitude towards family?

12) What is the origin of the "nuclear family"?

13) What are the chief criticisms of this institution in BNW? Do you find any of them valid?

14) Why is Freud brought into this discussion?

15) What is "the machine" Mond refers to?

16) What is the connection between "social stability" and "sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment"?

17) Note the format of the last part of this chapter - what is Huxley doing here?
What is this style called, where did it come from and what is its purpose?

18) "Has any of you been compelled to live through a long time-interval between the consciousness of a desire and its fulfilment?" Discuss the significance of Mond's words for BNW and their relevance to today.

19) What do we learn about "The Nine Years' War"? Can you calculate when it began? (A.F. 141 = A.D. ?)

20) What hypnopaedic maxims do we learn in this chapter? Any modern equivalents?

21) Discuss / Explain these phrases as they relate to the novel & contemporary society:
"Malthusian belt"
"Conscription of Consumption"
"Elementary Class Consciousness"
"Soma"