MIRANDA
a hypertext of Huxley's Brave New World

Questions for Chapter XVI

1) When Mustapha Mond says "you can't make tragedies without social instability " what does he mean? Does this apply to other artistic forms?

2) The Controller hints that if it were up to him, he'd prefer to have truth as the central value of society, as opposed to happiness. If the Brave New World is a world where happiness is the primary value, then what would a world look like where truth (or some other value) reigned ? What do you think are the reigning values in our society?

3) What is the "Cyprus experiment"? Is this scenario believable? Why do we assume competitiveness and non-cooperation? Are these traits inborn or conditioned?

4) What was the main conflict in the Cyprus experiment, and what does intelligence have to do with it?

5) Why does Mustapha Mond refer to science as: "an orthodox theory of cooking that nobody's allowed to question "?

6) John Savage complains that the feelies are "told by an idiot" where does this phrase come from and what is its significance in the original context?