ESSAY QUESTIONS FOR
BRAVE NEW WORLD
1. Discuss the relationship between science, religion and political power in the
World State.
2. What are Mustapha Mond’s arguments against freedom? Is there any validity
to his arguments? Is there a “winner” in Mustapha Mond's debate with John?
3. It seems undeniable that most members of the New World are happy;
however, some members, such as Helmholtz and Bernard Marx, are highly
critical of the quality of their lives. What, then, is wrong with the quality of
life in the World State? Discuss the relationship between truth and happiness
and the use of soma?
4. Is John really freer than the members of the World State? Is he as imprisoned by his own
conditioning as Lenina is by hers? And if he is conditioned, then how do his actions and
behavior reflect that?
5. How are the castes distinguished from each other? What is their purpose?
Do you think they reflect any aspect of contemporary society or are they
simply a hypothetical consequence of a society like the World State?
6. It could be argued that true happiness can only exist in a world where there
is suffering. Art can only be created where there is great suffering. Note that
in the World State Shakespeare is unknown. His words of great poetic
power have been replaced by trite and banal hypnopaedic phrases, and that
Beethoven’s majestic music has been replaced by synthetic elevator music,
and Godard’s films replaced by cheap and tawdry “feelies.” Can great art
be produced in a culture whose sole aim is happiness? How does the World
State’s emphasis on happiness, conformity and sensual pleasure at the
expense of thought rob the individual of his soul? Can great art ever be
created in such a society? Are there similarities between the World State
and our own society in the early 21st Century?
BRAVE NEW WORLD
1. Discuss the relationship between science, religion and political power in the
World State.
2. What are Mustapha Mond’s arguments against freedom? Is there any validity
to his arguments? Is there a “winner” in Mustapha Mond's debate with John?
3. It seems undeniable that most members of the New World are happy;
however, some members, such as Helmholtz and Bernard Marx, are highly
critical of the quality of their lives. What, then, is wrong with the quality of
life in the World State? Discuss the relationship between truth and happiness
and the use of soma?
4. Is John really freer than the members of the World State? Is he as imprisoned by his own
conditioning as Lenina is by hers? And if he is conditioned, then how do his actions and
behavior reflect that?
5. How are the castes distinguished from each other? What is their purpose?
Do you think they reflect any aspect of contemporary society or are they
simply a hypothetical consequence of a society like the World State?
6. It could be argued that true happiness can only exist in a world where there
is suffering. Art can only be created where there is great suffering. Note that
in the World State Shakespeare is unknown. His words of great poetic
power have been replaced by trite and banal hypnopaedic phrases, and that
Beethoven’s majestic music has been replaced by synthetic elevator music,
and Godard’s films replaced by cheap and tawdry “feelies.” Can great art
be produced in a culture whose sole aim is happiness? How does the World
State’s emphasis on happiness, conformity and sensual pleasure at the
expense of thought rob the individual of his soul? Can great art ever be
created in such a society? Are there similarities between the World State
and our own society in the early 21st Century?
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