A question for anyone who has read Brave New World?

Question

I am reading Brave New World right now and I am kind of confused...if they don't give birth in this new society than how was Linda able to give birth to John?

Also just a side question about the book...What are some reasons why it is important for high school students to read the book Brave New World?

Answer 1

Like Jose said, they people in this society are still anatomically correct humans. They can still get pregnant and bear children. Once she is out of the society she has no other outside influences about childbirth and probably doesn't know which herbs to eat for a contraceptive, so what was naturally going to occur, happened. (At least I think... its been a while since I've read it, so these things may be out of chronological order.)

All high schoolers should read this book! It demonstrates the importance of the individual and encourages people to think for themselves. High school is a hard time for being an individual... everyone is still deciding on who they want to be, so they all generally copy off of a few accepted normal behavioral models (jocks, geeks, band nerds, preps, hip-hops, and whatnot.) While reading this book will not change anyone's life, it provides a lot of good ideas and food for future thought.

I actually didn't read this in high school... I just read it a year or so ago, and I thought this was an incredible piece of work. I couldn't put it down! Hope you are enjoying it.

Answer 2

Because in Brave New World there are two societies. One the 'Brave New World' were the babies are created in the bottling plants, and the other the 'reservations' which i suppose you could compare to native american colonies. In the reservations society goes on as we would consider as normal, though in the context of the brave new world it is considered savage and backward. Think of the comparason i made with the native Americans here.

I'm not sure why it is important to study it in high school. I'm English so never did, though i guess it is important as a piece of literature because it is a dystopian novel that predates 1984 and therefore the plot and theme are somewhat unique. Like 1984, the message also resonates with todays society.

Answer 3

Just a correction: some of the women are sterilized ("freemartins"), but many woman aren't and can potentially get pregnant. To prevent pregnancy they use the "Malthusian belt" stocked with contraceptives, just like our modern day birth control pill (which wasn't invented in Huxley's time). Even though Linda was using the pills, she got pregnant. I don't think Huxley really gives a reason. It was just a freakish accident.

As a side note, the modern Pill is pretty effective but if it's not taken properly (or you run out of it!) you can still get pregnant.

Answer 4

Like the other people have said, most of the women in the new world are able to give birth, they are just conditioned to think it is wrong to do so. To them, mother is the worse curse word someone could say.

Answer 5

They can gave birth as any other female. The thing is that most of them don't want to because government already take charge about it and because society rejects it