Brave New World Chapter 2

1. How do babies sent to the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms develop an "instinctive hatred of books and flowers?" Why were Deltas exposed to such treatment?

Babies develop a hatred of flowers and books through shock and horror treatments. The doctor would bring the babies into the room with flowers and books, the babies would go to the flowers and books and the operator to press a lever which would set of sirens and cause the babies to cry and become scared and confused. After crying they would then continue and electrically shock the babies. Therefore when they turned the shocking off and the books and flowers re-appeared, the babies would not go towards them because of they were scared and did not want to go through what they had already previously.

2. What is a State Conditioning Center? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?

"Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre." Conditioning in this term basically means brainwashing babies to believe things that are false and not believe in the truth. This is connected to Plato's republic because in the cave they were their believed truths, the shadows, were not the truth and the only reason they thought it was the truth was because they did not know any better. The conditioning is basically the same thing because they are brainwashing the babies to believe that flowers and books are bad and associated with terror and shock.

3. What is hypnopaedia? Why wasn't it used for Science? What was it used for? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?

Hypnopedia is the principle of sleep teaching. It was not used for science because after the experiment with Tommy it was proven that it could not be used as an instrument of intellectual education. It was proven false because although they forced the phrase about the nile river into Tommy's head, he could not use any intellect from. He could repeat the phrase over and over again if someone hinted at it but he could not deduce information from it. For example when he was asked "what is longest river in Africa" he replied, "I don't know." even though the sentence that was brainwashed into his head clearly states the answer. Plato's Republic plays into this because the shadows on the wall were representations of everyday objects and if asked what they were the person could say anything but if they were asked about the things on the walls they could describe them in perfect detail.

4. How does the Caste system work in the World State? What are the similarities and differences between this

and the Hindu Caste system?

Alpha (work the hardest and wear grey)
Beta (work hard)
Gammas (stupid and wear green)
Delta (wear khaki)
Epilson (stupidest)

Hindu Caste System:

Brahmins (priests)
Kasatrayas (landowners/warriors)
Vaisyas (merchants)
Sudras (farmers)
Hrijan (untouchables)

They both have the "higher ups" and the lowest class.
In Hinduism, if you have good dharma and fulfill your civic duty in society you can move up in the caste system but in Brave New World, you are stuck as what you were made and there is no escaping it.

5. What does the Director mean when he says, "Not so much like drops of water....rather, drops of liquid sealing wax."?

He is talking about a child's mind and the adult mind. In this conditioning centre they are teaching the babies how to live, not only in childhood but also as an adult. They are teaching them not to mix with others and to stay with their caste of people who were created like them. In the hatchery, the different caste's do not mix with one another and that is not only in the centre. That is how the rest of their lives will be because that is how they have been taught, they will remain with their caste and that is the way it will be because they do not know of anything else.