Cranston High School West Library: Perentin - Brave New World

The Question we begin with is:

What did Aldous Huxley correctly predict that is evident in our world today, and where did he miss the boat?
 

1. Eugenics – Define the aspects of  eugenics, investigate where and how the study began, who has used the ideas throughout history, and what part of it exists in society today? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

​Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• Investigate the role eugenics plays in the novel, and what is its purpose?
• What is it called in the novel and how does it work?
• Why do you think Huxley chose this idea to center his novel around? What kind of message is he relaying?

2. Hedonism – What is hedonism, where and how did it first emerge, who has used the ideas of hedonism in history, and what part of it exists in society today? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• What role does hedonism play in the novel?
• How is hedonism used as a form of control in the novel?
• Why does Huxley choose to take the idea of hedonism so far? What is his message?

3. Socialism – What is socialism and what is its intent? Where did it begin? How successful has it been? Has it transformed? Where does it still exist? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• What elements of socialism exist in the novel?
• What conditions in the novel are necessary for socialism to work in the new world?
• What is Huxley’s message about socialism?

4. Communism - What is communism and what is its intent? Where did it begin? How successful has it been? What is the difference between communism and socialism? Democracy? Where does it still exist? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• What elements of communism do you see in the novel?
• What elements of democracy do you see in the novel?
• What is Huxley’s message about communism?

5. Utopia– What is Utopia? Where did this idea come from and how has it been used in history? What is the difference between Utopia and dystopia? Where do we still see elements of Utopian thought in our society today? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• Why is Brave New World a dystopian novel instead of a utopian one?
• What does Mustopha Mond say about why his “utopia” works? Do you agree?
• What is Huxley’s message about “utopia?”

6. Bioengineering – Where is the field of bioengineering today? At what stage of  development was bioengineering when Huxley wrote this book? What technology has been a game-changer in bioengineering, what can we potentially do in the future? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• What role does bioengineering play in the novel?
• What did Huxley accurately and/or inaccurately predict about our bioengineering abilities?
• What is Huxley’s message about bioengineering?

7. Legal and illegal drug abuse – What illegal drugs are most popular today, and which economic/social classes are most likely to take these drugs? What are they used for? Same questions for legal drugs. Who abuses them and how? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• How are drugs use portrayed in the novel?
• If soma were real, what type of drug would it be most like?
• What is Huxley’s message about drug use?

8. Designer drugs – what are designer drugs and how did they emerge? Where do they come from? Which, where do, when do people use designer drugs? What are the dangers of designer drugs? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• Why would Soma be considered a designer drug?
• What are the similarities between what we call designer drugs today, and soma?
• What message does Huxley intend to convey through the addition of soma in the novel?

9. Aldous Huxley – What was his life like? Timeline? What experiences in his life are evident, or influences his writing, especially of Brave New World? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• What parallels do you see between events in Huxley’s life and the novel?
• Where did Huxley get the desire to create a dystopian novel?
• Do any characters of settings come from his life and if so, how does he use them in the novel?

10. Classical Conditioning and Pavlov’s dog – Who is Pavlov and his dog? What experiment/s did he do and what did he discover about humans? What is the history of government/other conditioning? How are people conditioned today? What are we conditioned to do, and who is in charge of this conditioning?  Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• What conditioning techniques work in the novel that we see working on ourselves today?
• What is Huxley’s message about conditioning?

11. Present-day propaganda and subliminal messages – Research what today’s advertising uses to convince us to consume and conform, and what government uses to control us. Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• What subliminal messages were present in the novel?
• How were characters manipulated by propaganda and messages?
• What role does consumerism have in the novel, and what is Huxley’s message about it?

12. B. F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning – Who was B.F. Skinner and what experiment/s did her perform? What did he discover? How does Operant conditioning play a role in our lives today? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• What conditioning techniques work in the novel that we see working on ourselves today?
• What is Huxley’s message about operant conditioning?

​ 13. Economic and social caste systems – What is a caste system and which countries have had these systems, or still do have them? What does the economic and social classes look like presently in the United States? How has our democratic, capitalist society developed into a sort of caste system? How are the castes/classes maintained in this country?  Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• How is the idea of a caste system used in the novel?
• How do the people in the new world identify members of castes?
• Having been a Brit, what was Huxley’s message about castes, at least when he wrote it?
• What would he say about our society today?

14. Male-female and gender roles – What role does male-female gender play in the work world today? How about in society as a whole? How have these gender roles changed over the past 60 -70 years? What are some of the current gender bias battles being fought? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

 

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• How does Huxley define male and females in the novel?
• Is the society he created somewhat like the one we live in today in terms of gender, or much different? Explain?
• What do you think would surprise Huxley about gender roles in Western society today?

15. Civilized vs. Savage – What are the histories and current contexts of these two words? For what purposes have they been used in the past, and to what ends? What are their denotations and connotations? How have these words impacted the world we live in today? Find interesting LOGOS – facts, study results, and statistics, as well as PATHOS – anecdotes and real-life examples.

Also be prepared to answer questions related to the book such as:

• Why did Huxley choose these words for the two different “worlds” he depicts in the novel?
• What did he want his readers to connect with these words?
• What is his final message about the differences between the civilized and the savage?

 

• The paper you produce must have 3 secondary sources plus the primary one—Brave New World  for a total of 4 sources minimum.
• All sources must be authoritative; that is, they MUST be scholarly. You may not use sources outside of the library databases or library books unless approved by the teacher in writing. Avoid using .com, .net, .org type websites outside the school databases. Sources that are a full-length chapter or article in a book or periodical pertaining to your topic will be more helpful.
• You may not use anything from Wikipedia or any encyclopedia. You may not use any material from Spark Notes, Cliff’s Notes, Pink Monkey, or any other commercially prepared study guide of that nature. Other unacceptable sources include plot summaries such as Bloom’s “Plot Summary,” Foster Masterplots, and Schmoop.com.
• Your final essay must be 4 full pages typed (7  pages max.), not including the Works Cited page which should be the last page of your paper.

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No login needed from school. Off campus? Email sevje@cpsed.net for password.