Today we are going to read chapter 15 and then start:
Assignment: Draw a picture of an important scene, or a picture of an image that represents a greater idea in the book. Be sure to include a short-written component explaining why you chose to create your visual representation.
Possible things to write about:
-Meaning of the title (as a symbol)
- How people and why people are controlled
- World Stat's motto: Community, Identity, Stability (and how it works in the novel)
- The purposes of the numerous sayings such as "Ending is Better than Mending" (think consumerism)
- Setting as symbol
- The book is a cautionary tale against?
- Soma
- Shakespeare (how he is used/reference and what those references mean)?
- Caste system
- Meaning of John and Lenina's relationship
- FORD
Quotes about FORD
"in this year of stability, A.F. 632" (Ch. 1)
"the time of Our Ford"(Ch. 3)
"You all remember that beautiful saying of Our Ford's: History is bunk." (Ch. 3)
"Ford's in his flivver. All's well with the world." (Ch.3)
"Don't keep his Fordship waiting." (Ch. 3)
"The introduction of Our Ford's first T-model ... [was] chosen as the opening date of the new era." (Ch. 3)
ponder the quotes, and then ask them what on earth all this Ford business is about. You can use the questions below to help guide your discussion if you like.
What do all of these quotes have in common?
Who is Ford? When did he live? What did he do?
What's a flivver, and what do you think that expression means?
What seems to be Ford's significance in this society?
What do you make of phrases like "Our Ford" and "his Fordship"?
Here are a couple of questions you can ask if you need to encourage your students to probe a little further.
If Ford has more or less replaced God in this society, as suggested by the phrases "Our Ford" and "Ford be praised," what qualities, virtues, or morals must this society value most?
Did anyone find out if Ford really claimed that "History is bunk"? What's the story behind that quote? Why do you think Huxley referenced it?
Why couldn't Huxley have chosen someone like Edison, who was credited with numerous technological advances, to be the deity figure of Brave New World?
