Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Monday, 19 November 2012
Discussion Questions chapters 8-10
1) What is strange about "Bye Baby Banting Soon You'll Need Decanting"? What is the allusion? (126)
2) Why does Linda hit John? What does she blame him for? Is this right? Is it understandable why she resents him?
3) What is your opinion of Pope? Why? Anything ironic about his name?
4) How did Linda teach John to read? What becomes John's bible? Is there anything ironic about this?
5) "Nay, but to live/ in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,/ stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love/ over the nasty sty". What is significant about this quote? (131)
6) Why does John try to kill Pope? What is Pope's reaction? How does Shakespeare influence these thought?
7) "He had discovered Time and Death and God" (136). What is significant about this quote?
8) How are John and Bernard alike?
9) "I did something that none of the others did. I stood against a rock in the middle of the day, in summer, with my arms out, like Jesus on the Cross." "What on earth for?" "I wanted to know what it was like being crucified." (137). What is significant about this quote?
10) At the end of chapter 8 the title of the book appears in a quote from the Tempest. This quote will be used throughout the book, but its meaning will change with each use. What is the meaning of the quote here? (137)
11) List the allusions to Romeo and Juliet in chapter 9. What ideas do they reinforce?
12) Why is the Social Predestination Room compared with a Hive in chapter 10?
13) How does Bernard turn the "Public example" on Tomakin?
14) Is there meaning (perhaps irony and an allusion) in John falling on his knees and saying (loudly) "My Father"? (151)
2) Why does Linda hit John? What does she blame him for? Is this right? Is it understandable why she resents him?
3) What is your opinion of Pope? Why? Anything ironic about his name?
4) How did Linda teach John to read? What becomes John's bible? Is there anything ironic about this?
5) "Nay, but to live/ in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,/ stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love/ over the nasty sty". What is significant about this quote? (131)
6) Why does John try to kill Pope? What is Pope's reaction? How does Shakespeare influence these thought?
7) "He had discovered Time and Death and God" (136). What is significant about this quote?
8) How are John and Bernard alike?
9) "I did something that none of the others did. I stood against a rock in the middle of the day, in summer, with my arms out, like Jesus on the Cross." "What on earth for?" "I wanted to know what it was like being crucified." (137). What is significant about this quote?
10) At the end of chapter 8 the title of the book appears in a quote from the Tempest. This quote will be used throughout the book, but its meaning will change with each use. What is the meaning of the quote here? (137)
11) List the allusions to Romeo and Juliet in chapter 9. What ideas do they reinforce?
12) Why is the Social Predestination Room compared with a Hive in chapter 10?
13) How does Bernard turn the "Public example" on Tomakin?
14) Is there meaning (perhaps irony and an allusion) in John falling on his knees and saying (loudly) "My Father"? (151)
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Discussion Questions Chapter 6 and 7
1) Chapter six is structurally broken into three parts. What is the chapter as a whole about (think theme) and what do each of the parts represent?
2) What does "a gramme is time save nine" mean? What is the allusion? (page 89)
3) In part 1 of chapter six Bernard wants to be alone with Lenina. How does she react?
4) "Talking? But what about?" Walking and talking -- that seemed a very odd way of spending an afternoon" (page 89). What is significant about this quote?
5) How is Bernard in rebellion against society? Why?
6) "All the same," Lenina insisted. " I do like him. He has such awfully nice hands. And the way he moves his shoulders -- that's very attractive...but I wish he weren't so odd." (page 94) Whats significant about this quote?
7) Who is Mustapha Mond? Who does the name allude to? Why do you think Huxley used this allusion in the book?
8) "Those who are born in the Reservation -- and remember, my dear young lady...remember that in the Reservation, children are still born, yes, actually born..." (102). What is significant about this quote?
9) What are you thoughts about Bernard being sent to Iceland? Is this revenge?
10) What do you think will happen in chapter 7.
11) A Brave New World is one of the most consistently banned books because according to censors "It challenges family values." Do you agree with this assertion? Why or why not?
12) Describe some of the things Lenina and Bernard see on the reservation and their reactions.
13) Compare the spiritual ritual on the reservation with the "orgy-porgy" ritual in society? Doe they serve the same purpose? Why or why not?
14) There are allusions to Macbeth on page 116 and 117 - find and list them.
15) "Linda had come from the Other Place long ago, before he was born, with a man who was his father" (118). What is the significance of this?
16) How is Linda described? What might this mean?
17) John is an allusion to John the Baptist. What might this mean?
18) List three things Linda says in her long monologue at the end of the chapter.
2) What does "a gramme is time save nine" mean? What is the allusion? (page 89)
3) In part 1 of chapter six Bernard wants to be alone with Lenina. How does she react?
4) "Talking? But what about?" Walking and talking -- that seemed a very odd way of spending an afternoon" (page 89). What is significant about this quote?
5) How is Bernard in rebellion against society? Why?
6) "All the same," Lenina insisted. " I do like him. He has such awfully nice hands. And the way he moves his shoulders -- that's very attractive...but I wish he weren't so odd." (page 94) Whats significant about this quote?
7) Who is Mustapha Mond? Who does the name allude to? Why do you think Huxley used this allusion in the book?
8) "Those who are born in the Reservation -- and remember, my dear young lady...remember that in the Reservation, children are still born, yes, actually born..." (102). What is significant about this quote?
9) What are you thoughts about Bernard being sent to Iceland? Is this revenge?
10) What do you think will happen in chapter 7.
11) A Brave New World is one of the most consistently banned books because according to censors "It challenges family values." Do you agree with this assertion? Why or why not?
12) Describe some of the things Lenina and Bernard see on the reservation and their reactions.
13) Compare the spiritual ritual on the reservation with the "orgy-porgy" ritual in society? Doe they serve the same purpose? Why or why not?
14) There are allusions to Macbeth on page 116 and 117 - find and list them.
15) "Linda had come from the Other Place long ago, before he was born, with a man who was his father" (118). What is the significance of this?
16) How is Linda described? What might this mean?
17) John is an allusion to John the Baptist. What might this mean?
18) List three things Linda says in her long monologue at the end of the chapter.
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
A Brave New World
Chapters 1-2: Discussion Questions
1. What is the setting of the book or, at least, these chapters? Do you find any importance in this?
2. What is the World State’s motto? How does chapter 1 and the discussion of the Hatchery fit this motto? (Note: the motto is a motif and the entire society is structured around it).
3. “The overalls of the workers were white and their hands gloved with a pale corpse-coloured rubber…”
Discuss your interpretation of this quote. Why overalls? Are overalls an allusion to something?
4. These two chapters introduce three important characters: D.H.C, Henry Foster, and Lenina Crowne. Who are there? Henry Foster and Lenina Crowne names have meaning beyond the text. Their names allude to historical persons. Find these out. Also note: All the major characters in BRAVE NEW WORLD have facebook pages. Look these up as the facebook pages does give you information about the character.
5. “Straight from the horses mouth into the notebook…He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth…” “Consider the horse.”
What is your interpretation of this quote? What is the comparison? Note, references to animals and nature reoccur throughout this novel. Why? Especially in a novel where human life is controlled (or created and then controlled) since before birth.
6. What is the Bokonovsky’s Process? How does this process fit the ideal of “Community, Identity, Stability?”
7. Define peritoneum.
8. “Like chickens drinking, the students lifted their eyes towards the distant ceiling.”
What is significant about this quote?
What is the Predestination Room? What is meant by predestination in this book? Does this idea, introduced so early in the book, alert you to anything? How would you feel if your life were predestined?
9. What is the Predestination Room? What is meant by predestination in this book? Does this idea, introduced so early in the book, alert you to anything? How would you feel if your life were predestined?
10. How are Epsilons formed?
11. “…that is the secret of happiness and virtue—like what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny.”
12. How are babies conditioned to like and dislike things in the Nursery?
13. Why are some castes (note look up the word) made to dislike books and flowers?
14. Why is parent a dead word? (Look up the word viviparous). Why are the terms mother and father considered “smut” or “unpleasant facts”?
15. What is sleep-teaching or hypnopaedia? What is moral education?
16. What are some differences between Betas, Deltas, Gammas, Epsilons? (Note: where do the names come from? Allusion.)
17. “Till at last the child’s mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child’s mind. And not the child’s mind only. The adult’s mind too—all his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides—made up of these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions!” The Director almost shouted in his triumph. “Suggestions from the State.
What is significant about the above quote? How does it relate to the State Motto?
18. “Oh, Ford!” - the director shouts this at the end of chapter 2. Who is Ford? Why is he important (think allusion).
1. What is the setting of the book or, at least, these chapters? Do you find any importance in this?
2. What is the World State’s motto? How does chapter 1 and the discussion of the Hatchery fit this motto? (Note: the motto is a motif and the entire society is structured around it).
3. “The overalls of the workers were white and their hands gloved with a pale corpse-coloured rubber…”
Discuss your interpretation of this quote. Why overalls? Are overalls an allusion to something?
4. These two chapters introduce three important characters: D.H.C, Henry Foster, and Lenina Crowne. Who are there? Henry Foster and Lenina Crowne names have meaning beyond the text. Their names allude to historical persons. Find these out. Also note: All the major characters in BRAVE NEW WORLD have facebook pages. Look these up as the facebook pages does give you information about the character.
5. “Straight from the horses mouth into the notebook…He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth…” “Consider the horse.”
What is your interpretation of this quote? What is the comparison? Note, references to animals and nature reoccur throughout this novel. Why? Especially in a novel where human life is controlled (or created and then controlled) since before birth.
6. What is the Bokonovsky’s Process? How does this process fit the ideal of “Community, Identity, Stability?”
7. Define peritoneum.
8. “Like chickens drinking, the students lifted their eyes towards the distant ceiling.”
What is significant about this quote?
What is the Predestination Room? What is meant by predestination in this book? Does this idea, introduced so early in the book, alert you to anything? How would you feel if your life were predestined?
9. What is the Predestination Room? What is meant by predestination in this book? Does this idea, introduced so early in the book, alert you to anything? How would you feel if your life were predestined?
10. How are Epsilons formed?
11. “…that is the secret of happiness and virtue—like what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny.”
12. How are babies conditioned to like and dislike things in the Nursery?
13. Why are some castes (note look up the word) made to dislike books and flowers?
14. Why is parent a dead word? (Look up the word viviparous). Why are the terms mother and father considered “smut” or “unpleasant facts”?
15. What is sleep-teaching or hypnopaedia? What is moral education?
16. What are some differences between Betas, Deltas, Gammas, Epsilons? (Note: where do the names come from? Allusion.)
17. “Till at last the child’s mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child’s mind. And not the child’s mind only. The adult’s mind too—all his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides—made up of these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions!” The Director almost shouted in his triumph. “Suggestions from the State.
What is significant about the above quote? How does it relate to the State Motto?
18. “Oh, Ford!” - the director shouts this at the end of chapter 2. Who is Ford? Why is he important (think allusion).
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
A Brave New World chapter 3
Today I want you to look back through chapter 3 and discuss how the structure of the chapter reinforces the main idea.
1. - what is the structure of the chapter? How is the chapter written?
2. - why do you think the chapter is written like this?
3. - what does the chapter force you to do as the reader?
4. - what's the main point here?
5. Who is your favorite character so far? Why?
1. - what is the structure of the chapter? How is the chapter written?
2. - why do you think the chapter is written like this?
3. - what does the chapter force you to do as the reader?
4. - what's the main point here?
5. Who is your favorite character so far? Why?
Monday, 5 November 2012
Brave New World
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!
O brave new world,
That has such people in it!
Chapters 8 & 15 The Tempest (V, i)
-- EXPLAIN the title
-- List the main characters
-- List any and all allusions
-- Write a paragraph of your person response to the book so far
How beauteous mankind is!
O brave new world,
That has such people in it!
Chapters 8 & 15 The Tempest (V, i)
-- EXPLAIN the title
-- List the main characters
-- List any and all allusions
-- Write a paragraph of your person response to the book so far
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