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A Summary of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

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A Summary of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
Chapter 4:
At the start, Bernard was embarrassed when Lenina tells Bernard in front of a dozen coworkers that she accepted his invitation to see the Savage Reservation. He wanted to discuss this privately but this confuses Lenina and she decided to saunter of to meet Henry. Bernard feels terrible now because Lenina seemed to behave like someone who is afraid of discussing her sexual life in public. Ordering a pair of Delta-Minus attendants, he betrays his insecurity about his size. Bernard contemplates his feelings of alienation and becomes irritable.
He visits his friend, Helmholtz Watson, a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering. Helmholtz is an extremely intelligent, attractive, and properly sized Alpha Plus who works in propaganda. Some of Helmholtz’s superiors think he is a little too smart for his own good. The friendship between Bernard and Helmholtz springs from their mutual dissatisfaction with the status quo and their shared inclination to view themselves as individuals. Once together, Bernard boasts that Lenina has accepted his invitation, but Helmholtz shows little interest. Helmholtz is preoccupied with the thought that his writing talent could be better used than simply for writing hypnopaedic phrases. His work leaves him feeling empty and unfulfilled. Bernard becomes nervous, jumping up at one point because he thinks, wrongly, that someone is listening at the door.
Unknown Words:
Rapturous- Filled with or characterized with great joy
Soma- (in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World ) a narcotic drug which produces euphoria and hallucination, distributed by the state in order to promote content and social harmony.
Vivacious- Happy and lively in a way it’s attractive
Hypnopaedic- principle of sleep teaching
Chapter 5:
After a game of Obstacle Golf, Henry and Lenina fly in a helicopter over a crematorium where phosphorous is collected from burning bodies for fertilizers. They drink coffee with soma before heading off to the Westminster Abbey Cabaret and drank another dose before they return to Henry’s apartment. Although repeated doses of soma made them oblivious to the world around them, Lenina remembers to use her contraceptives.
Every other Thursday, Bernard would drop by and take part in a Solidarity Service at the Fordson Community Singery. Participants sit twelve to a table, alternating between men and women. The participants would pass a cup of strawberry ice cream soma and take another soma tablet with it. They work themselves into a frenzy of exultations and the ceremony would end with a sexy orgy, leaving Bernard feeling more isolated than ever.
Unknown Words:
Pollulation- The act or process of polluting or the state of being polluted, especially the contamination of soil, water, or the atmosphere by the discharge of harmful substances.
Deturgescence-State of relative dehydration maintained by the normal cornea that is necessary for transparency
Diminuendo- a decrease in loudness
Delirium- an acutely disturbed state of mind that occurs in fever, intoxication, and other disorders and is characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence of thought and speech.
Chapter 6:
Lenina convinces Bernard to attend a wrestling match. He behaves gloomily the entire afternoon and, despite Lenina’s urging, refuses to take soma. During the return trip, he stops his helicopter and hovers over the Channel. She begs him to take her away from the rushing emptiness of the water after he tells her that the silence makes him feel like an individual. Eventually he takes a large dose of soma, and has sex with her.
The next day, Bernard told Lenina that he didn’t really want to have sex with her and he would have preferred to act more like an adult. Then, he goes to the director to get his permission to visit the Reservation. When the Director presents his permit, he revealed that he took a trip there with a woman twenty years before. Realizing he has been revealing too much, the Director criticize Bernard for his anti-social behavior and threatens to exile him to Iceland. Bernard leaves the office feeling proud because he was considered a rebel.
Lenina and Bernard travel to the Reservation and then present themselves to the Warden to get his signature on the permit. Bernard suddenly remembers that he left the scent tap on at his apartment, an oversight that could end up being extremely expensive. He endures the Warden’s seemingly endless speech and then hurries to phone Helmholtz to ask him to turn off the tap for him. Helmholtz has bad news: he tells Bernard that the Director is planning to carry out his threat of exiling him to Iceland. Bernard is no longer proud and rebellious now that the Director’s threat has become a reality. Instead, the news crushes and frightens him. Lenina persuades him to take soma.
Unknown Words:
Haggard- Looking exhausted or unwell
Indecorous-violating generally accepted standards of good taste and propriety
Infantile-childish

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