Brave new world ch 16 summary
Brave New World – Summary of Each Chapter
Brave New World
Summary – A regular on the AP reading list, Aldous Huxley’s
Brave New World
is a dystopian novel that asks what a society is willing to trade for stability and peace. It’s a book that hasn’t lost its relevance. Ninety-two years after its publication, its presentation of the pacifying effects of drugs, sex, and media seems prescient. Whether you’re getting ready to read it for a class, or you’ve seen one of the made-for-TV films, this summary will give you the main points so that you can really appreciate Huxley’s chilling indictment of utopianism.
Related Reading
A quick overview: Firstly, the book presents a world in which individuals are produced and conditioned according to caste (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon). Alphas are athletic, intelligent, and conditioned for independence and leadership, while Episons are referred to as “semi-morons’ and are used for menial labor. The book focuses on four main characters, Bernard Marx, his sometimes sexual partner Lenina, Helmholtz, and John (“the Savage”).
Brave New World Summary
Brave New World Chapter 1 Summary
Chapter one introduces the C
Brave New World Chapter 16 Summary
More on Brave New World
The three men are brought into the Controller's study and told to wait for his fordship.
Helmholtz, amazingly, seems to be in good spirits. He tries joking around with Bernard, but Bernard is having none of it. Bernard goes to pout in the corner.
John, on the other hand, wanders around the office examining Mustapha's various relics. He finds a book by Our Ford—
My Life and Work
—but he judges it to be rather dull.
Finally, Mustapha enters. He shakes hands with all three men and then addresses John: "So you don't much like civilization."
John admits this is true, which terrifies Bernard (only because he's afraid of it reflecting on poorly on him as John's friend).
When John says he at least likes the nice trinkets, like Synthetic Music Boxes, Mustapha responds by… quoting Shakespeare! In this case, a line from
The Tempest
about "a thousand twangling instruments."
John is in awe; Mustapha admits that Shakespeare is banned and that few here have read his works. But, since he gets to make the rules, he gets to break them. Seriously—the man who controls the world is operating on playground logic.
At John's
Brave New World - Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis
Chapter 16 Summary
The three are taken to the World Controller's office. Mustapha Mond enters and shakes hands with all three of them, but it's John he addresses. He says he understands John doesn't like civilization. John, taken off-guard by the good-humored intelligence of the Controller's face, replies truthfully. He doesn't.
John admits there are some nice things about civilization, and is surprised when Mustapha Mond quotes Shakespeare. The Controller admits he's one of the few who knows about the books; since he makes the rules, he can break them with impunity.
John asks why the books are prohibited, and Mond says they haven't any use for old things here, especially when they're beautiful. Beauty is attractive, and they want people to be attracted by new things. Besides, they couldn't understand stories like
Othello
and
Romeo Juliet
. John asks why they couldn't write new stories like...
(read more from the Chapter 16 Summary)
This section contains 1,233 words
(approx. 4 pages at 400 words per page)
View a FREE sample
The police deposit Helmholtz, Bernard, and John in Mustapha Mond’s office. When Mond arrives, he says to John, “So you don’t much like civilization, Mr. Savage.” John agrees that this is true, but says that there are some things that he does appreciate. One of these is the sound of music he constantly hears. Mond’s reply includes a quote from The Tempest: “Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about my ears and sometimes voices.” John is pleased to discover that Mond is familiar with Shakespeare.
Mond makes it clear that Shakespeare’s works are forbidden in the World State. When responding to John’s questions, he says that this type of literature is forbidden for many different reasons. One reason is that beautiful things, including literature, tend to be enduring. This means that people will continue to appreciate them even when they are old. When a society is based on consumerism, as the World State society is, it needs its citizens to want to consume new things. Newness is an important concept and must be seen as more significant than something’s intrinsic value. Another reason is that World State citizens would be unable to understand Shakespeare. This is bec