Gidion
ERWC
2-17-15
Brave New World Ch. 1-3 Reading Questions
Chapter 1
1. The hatchery and conditioning center prepares embryos for human life and takes the place of
human pregnancy. Embryos and infants are conditioned through verbal and non-verbal systems
to fit into their social caste assigned during social predestination.
2. When the Director says particulars, as everyone knows, make for virtue and happiness, he
means having specific knowledge of a job allows you to focus and understand what you are
doing, making you happier as you are aware you are contributing to society. When he says
generalities are intellectually necessary evils, he is trying to explain that while it is necessary
to have a general knowledge of things for basic comprehension (allowing for specific
knowledge of your role), those who think too much on generalities (such as philosophers) do
not contribute to the society as they spend so much time thinking they can't spend enough time
working.
3. Bokanovsky's Process is a cloning procedure where an embryos continually divide to create
more identical embryos. This allows the government to control the population and mass
produce humans.
4. Social Predestination is the phenomenon of placing an embryo into a social caste (Alpha, Beta,
Delta, Gamma, or Epsilon) at the beginning of its development and then conditioning it during
the embryo phase and early childhood to fit into the mold of the social caste it has been
assigned.
5. The hatchery purposely keeps some embroys from developing high intelligence so the
developed humans are smart enough to do low-intelligence labor, but not intelligent enough to
question authority or rebel.
6. There was nothing in this chapter that specifically helped me with my research.
7. The D.H.C. Takes students through the Hatchery and Conditioning Center, explaining the
hatching and conditioning process to both the students and the reader.
8. I am somewhat confused when the author brings in specific numbers. For example, when Mr.
Foster speaks of statistics I get confused and am unable to visualize what he is trying to explain.
I am also waiting on an explanation as to why all the students are male, but hopefully this will
be addressed later in the book.
Chapter 2
1. Delta babies are conditioned to be afraid of books and roses so they do not waste time reading
or exploring the countryside, thus becoming more dedicated to their work as they don't have