Brave New World Chapters 12 & 13

What does John tell Bernard to do when Bernard asks what he shall do due to the fact that John will not come out to meet the guests?

Go to hell

Who is at Bernard’s gathering to meet John?

The Arch-Community-Songster of Canterbury

What language does John yell in to express how he feels about the Arch-Community-Songster?

Zuni

What does John yell in Zuni?

Ai yaa takwa, Hani, and (with derisive ferocity) Sons eso tse-na

What did John do that Popé might have done after declining to attend Bernard’s event?

He spat on the ground

How do the men feel after learning that John will not come out?

They are furious at having been tricked into behaving politely to an insignificant fellow with an unsavoury reputation and heretical opinions. The higher their position in the hierarchy, the deeper their resentment.

What does the Arch-Songster say after learning that John will not come out?

To play such a joke on me, on me!

How do the women feel after learning that John will not come out?

That they had been had on false pretenses, had by a wretched little man who had had alcohol poured into his bottle by mistake, by a creature with a Gamma-Minus physique

Who was particularly scathing?

The Head Mistress of Eton

What did Lenina feel when she came to the party?

Anxious exultation

What was Lenina planning to tell John at the party?

That she likes him more than anybody she’s ever known

What does Lenina feel when Bernard announces that John will not be coming out?

All the sensations normally experienced at the beginning of a Violent Passion Surrogate treatment (a sense of dreadful emptiness, a breathless apprehension, a nausea, her heart seems to stop breathing)

Why does Lenina think John refused to come out?

Perhaps he doesn’t like her

What does the Head Mistress of Eton say and who is she talking to?

“It really is a bit too thick” to the Director of Crematoria and Phosphorus Reclamation

What is Fanny Crowne saying about Bernard?

It is true that he got alcohol poured into his test tube

Who does Fanny say told her about the alcohol in Bernard’s test tube?

Someone she knows knows someone who was working in the Embryo Store at the time

How many wounds is the tight balloon of Bernard’s happy self-confidence leaking from?

1,000

What food is being offered at Bernard’s party?

Carotene sandwiches, slices of vitamin A pate, champagne-surrogate

How does Bernard feel after his guests are talking bad about him?

Pale, distraught, abject, and agitated

Who leads the proceedings at Ford’s Day Celebrations?

The Arch-Community-Songster of Canterbury

What color is the Arch-Songster’s viscose waistcoat?

Purple

How did Lenina describe the Arch-Songster to Bernard?

Sweet

What did the Arch-Songster give Lenina as a memento of the week-end she had spent at Lambeth?

A little golden zipper-fastening in the form of a T

What did Bernard’s invitation cards say?

To meet the Arch-Community-Songster of Canterbury and Mr. Savage

What does Bernard repeatedly stammer to the Arch-Songster?

I’d so much hoped

What advice does the Arch-Songster’s deliver to Bernard in a sepulchral (serious, solemn, religious) tone?

Mend your ways, my young friend, mend your ways

What sign does the Arch-Songster make over Bernard?

The T

How does Lenina follow the Arch-Songster when he tells her to follow him?

Obediently, unsmiling, and, wholly insensible of the honour done to her, without elation

What does Bernard do after everyone leaves his party early?

He drops into a chair and covers his face and begins to weep. Then, a few minutes later, he takes 4 tablets of soma

How does Bernard feel after everyone leaves his party early?

Punctured and utterly deflated

What is John reading in his room?

Romeo and Juliet

What building do Lenina and the Arch-Songster step onto the roof of?

Lambeth Palace

Why does Lenina linger at the lift gates instead of immediately following the Arch-Songster?

To look at the moon

What is the title of the paper Mustapha Mond had just finished reading?

A New Theory of Biology

What does Mustapha Mond write about the paper he read?

The author’s mathematical treatment of the conception of purpose is novel and highly ingenious, but heretical and, so far as the present social order is concerned, dangerous and potentially subversive. Not to be published.

What does Mustapha Mond write about the author of the paper he read?

The author will be kept under supervision. His transference to the Marine Biological Station of St. Helena may become necessary.

Explanations in terms of purpose may easily decondition the more unsettled minds among the higher castes and make them do what?

lose their faith in happiness as the Sovereign Good and take to believing that the goal was somewhere beyond and outside the present human sphere.

What does the World State tell people the purpose of life is and what might the paper make people believe it is?

The World State wants people to think the purpose of life is the maintenance of well-being but the paper may make people think it is some intensification and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge

Does Mustapha Mond agree with the paper?

He agrees that is may be true but it is not admissible in the present circumstance

How many lines does Mustapha Mond draw under “Not to be published”?

2

“What fun it would be…

if one didn’t have to think about happiness!” (Mustapha Mond)

Oh! she doth teach the torches to burn bright…

It seems she hangs up on the cheek of night

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear…

Beauty too rich for use, for earth to dear

What does Lenina say she must do when the Arch-Songster pulls on her golden T?

“I think I’d better take a couple of grammes of soma”

How often does the minute hand of the electric clocks above Bernard’s bed jump forward with an almost imperceptible click?

Every 30 seconds

Where does Bernard work?

the Conditioning Centre

How does Bernard get to work?

He taxis

How does John feel toward Bernard now that he is not successful anymore?

Sympathetic (he is more like how he was at Malpais)

What does Bernard tell John as a reason for him being the same as he was at Malpais?

He is unhappy

What does Bernard tell John he likes?

The sort of false, lying happiness he was having

What does Bernard admit to himself and John?

Friends who can be turned upon so slight a provocation into persecuting enemies are worthless

Despite his acknowledgement that John is right about the worthlessness of friends who could be turned upon so slight a provocation into persecuting enemies, what does Bernard still nourish alongside his genuine affection?

A secret grievance against John and meditates a campaign of small revenges against him

Who is it useless to nourish a grievance or plot revenge against?

The Arch-Community-Songster, the Chief Bottler, or the Assistant Predestinator

Why is John accessible for blame?

He is a victim

What does Bernard think one of the principal functions of a friend is?

To mildly and symbolically suffer the punishments that we should like, but are unable, to inflict upon our enemies

Other than John, who is Bernard’s other victim-friend?

Helmholtz

Why does Bernard feel resentful toward Helmholtz for forgiving him so easily?

Because the forgiveness came easily from him and was not helped by soma so he found it humiliating

What does Bernard do at his first meeting with Helmholtz after their fight?

He pours out the tale of his miseries and accepts consolation

Why did Helmholtz come into conflict with Authority (the principal)?

He taught his class rhymes using one he wrote about being alone in order to make them feel

What course was Helmholtz giving when he shared his rhyme?

Advanced Emotional Engineering for Third Year Students

How many lectures does Helmholtz’s course have?

12

What number lecture in Helmholtz’s course teaches rhymes?

7

What is the rhyme lecture in Helmholtz’s course called?

On the Use of Rhymes in Moral Propaganda and Advertisement

What did the Principal threaten to do to Helmholtz?

Fire him

How many warnings against solitude have Helmholtz’s students had?

At least a quarter of a million

How does Helmholtz’s rhyme make him feel?

Happy, like he is beginning to have something to write about and is beginning to be able to use the power he feels he has inside of him

Why is Bernard jealous?

Helmholtz and John immediately got along well with each other and Helmholtz is already closer with John than Bernard is

What does Bernard do to stop his jealousy?

He uses his will and he takes soma

At what meeting with John does Helmholtz recite his rhymes on Solitude?

3

At what line does Helmholtz start?

sole Arabian tree

At what line does Helmholtz smile with sudden pleasure?

thou shrieking harbinger

At what line does blood rush up into Helmholtz’s cheeks?

every fowl of tyrant wing

At what line does Helmholtz turn pale and tremble with an unprecedented emotion?

defunctive music

Let the bird of loudest lay…

on the sole Arabian tree, Herald sad and trumpet be

Property was thus appall’d, That self was not the same…

Single nature’s double name

Neither two nor one was call’d, Reason in itself confounded

Saw division grow together

What rhyme poem does John read from?

The Phoenix and the Turtle

What does Bernard say about John’s poem to get revenge on Helmholtz and John for liking one another more than they liked him?

Orgy-Porgy, It’s just a Solidarity Service hymn

How many meetings does it take for Helmholtz to threaten to kick Bernard out for interrupting?

2 or 3

Who does John imagine when reading Romeo and Juliet?

Himself as Romeo and Lenina as Juliet

What seems ridiculous to Helmholtz about Romeo and Juliet?

Getting into such a state about having a girl

What does Helmholtz say about Shakespeare?

He makes their best propaganda technicians look absolutely silly

What scene of Romeo and Juliet is Helmholtz restless in?

Last scene of Act 3: Capulet and Lady Capulet begin to bully Juliet to marry Paris

Why does Helmholtz start uncontrollably laughing when Juliet says to delay the marriage for a month or a week or make the bridal bed in that dim monument where Tybalt lies?

Because the mother and father are forcing the daughter to have some one she didn’t want and the “idiotic” girl not saying that she was having some one else whom she preferred.

What specific words and reference in John’s tremulous tone of anguish make Helmholtz laugh?

“sweet mother” and Tybalt lying dead but not cremated and wasting his phosphorus on a dim monument

What does John do because Helmholtz is laughing?

He is not happy so he closes the book and locks it away in its drawer

Why does Helmholtz say Shakespeare is such a marvellous propaganda technician?

Because he had so many insane, excruciating things to get excited about. You’ve got to be hurt and upset; otherwise you can’t think of the really good, penetrating, X-rayish phrases

What does Helmholtz say that makes John wince?

Who’s going to get excited about a boy having a girl or not having her?

What does Henry Foster ask Lenina in the twilight of the Embryo Store?

If she would like to come to a feely that evening

What does Henry ask Lenina when she declines his date offer?

If she is going out with someone else or if she is feeling ill?

A doctor a day…

keeps the jim-jams away

Where does Henry suggest Lenina go and why?

To the doctor because she might need a Pregnancy Substitute or an extra-strong V.P.S. treatment

What mistake does Lenina make because Henry distracts her?

She doesn’t give an embryo its sleeping sickness injection

How long after Lenina forgets to give the embryo its injection does it die?

22 years, 8 months, and 4 days

Who would the embryo without the injection grow up to be?

A promising young Alpha-Minus administrator at Mwanza-Mwanza

What did the embryo end up dying of once it had grown up?

trypanosomiasis (the first case for over half a century)

Where is Lenina an hour after her conversation with Henry?

In the Changing Room

How many men has Lenina been with to try to get her mind off of John?

Dozens

“Nothing can be achieved…

without perseverance” (Fanny)

When Fanny is telling Lenina to act on John, who is she compared to?

A Y.W.F.A lecturer giving an evening talk to adolescent Beta-Minuses (her voice is a trumpet)