End of BNW Work in Two Parts

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley

Chapter 10-end

PART ONE (TWO TRANSCRIPTS)

Roles:

Choose one of the following major roles: Helmholtz Watson from the Falkland Islands; Bernard Marx from Iceland; Mustapha Mond; Lenina Crowne.

Choose one of the following minor roles: a Delta at the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying; a policeman who helped subdue the crowd at the soma riot; Primo Mellon, representative of The Hourly Radio; Darwin Bonaparte, the Feely Corporation’s most expert big game photographer; Henry Foster; another perspective that you think would yield interesting perceptions of John.

Audience:

The board of World Controllers who will use testimony about John the Savage’s behavior to determine why his experience in the World State ended the way it did.

Format:

Transcriptions of formal testimony in front of the board of World Controllers, one from a character who knows John well and another from a character who knows John less well. (Write the testimony as if the characters are speaking. You can blend them together or do one at a time.) Each “transcription” should be ten or more sentences, should include details from the text, should offer analysis (from the character’s point of view) of John’s behavior and actions, and should include at least three underlined vocabulary words.

Topic:

Perceptions of John from two perspectives that might help the controllers understand John’s life and end. What did John do and why did he do it? (You might even have the characters judge John’s behavior and actions, or speculate about whether or not another outcome was possible for John if he or others had made different choices.)

PART TWO: A LETTER TO ALDOUS HUXLEY

Role: Yourself

Audience: Aldous Huxley

Format: Letter. Include details, analysis, and evaluation.

Topic: What do you see in Huxley’s Brave New World? (Link its message to details and technique.) What does it have to say about modern life that is relevant in 2010? (Link Huxley’s vision of the future to aspects of modern life in 2010 and to the future you foresee. Does he get anything wrong? Does he miss anything important? Explain.) How effective is the way that Huxley presents his vision of future and satire of the present? (Think of the description of setting, presentation of characters, unfolding of events, use of allusion and puns, etc. Is Huxley’s use of literary elements effective? How so? How not?) The main purpose of the letter is to analyze and constructively evaluate what you see in Brave New World and to communicate your vision to Aldous Huxley.

Chapter 5 part 3 through Chapter 9

Imagine you have spent several days observing rituals and daily life in Malpais, New Mexico in the year 632 A.F. You have also met John, Linda, Pope, Mitsima, as well as Bernard and Lenina. Write a diary entry or letter to someone describing your day. Be sure to describe rituals and daily life. What values and beliefs can be inferred from the rituals and life there? (You might also compare these to rituals and daily life in the World State.) Be specific. You must quote a Malpais inhabitant at least once. (You might also talk about your encounters with and/or observations of some of the characters who appear in these chapters.) Be sure to also include personal feelings and ideas about life in Malpais.


Post your responses in the comment box. (You might even make reference to what your peers have already written in the comment box.) Due by class time on Monday, February 8.

Chapter 4 to Chapter 6 part 2: Bernard in the World State

A scene is a passage in a work of literature that occurs in one place at one time.

What is the most important scene in chapter 4 (page 57) through chapter 5 part 2 (page 99) of Brave New World?

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Describe the scene with detail including any of the following literary elements: characters, setting, events, allusions, puns. Then analyze how the scene is significant.

(In other words explain how the scene contributes to the satirical, dystopian society; or in other other words (wink, wink) how the scene fits in with Huxley making fun of where he thinks modern life is heading.)

Post your response in the comment box.