Study Questions
1. What is the World State’s motto?

2. Why is the Director leading the students through the
Hatchery?

3. What is the year? When would this be, using our present dating system?

4. How are people classified?

5. What is the Bokanovsky Process?

6. How are the bottled embryos moved during their gestation periods?

7. Why are some females allowed a normal, sexual development? What percentage?

8. What had happened when the maturation process had been shortened?

9. How does the introduction of Henry Foster give a businesslike feeling to the Hatchery procedure?

10. What does Lenina’s reaction to the Director’s familiarity show about their relationship?

Answers
1. The motto is “Community, Identity, Stability.”

2. The Director always personally takes new students through the Hatchery because he is very proud of his position.

3. The year is A.F. 632; by using the date that Henry Ford opened the Highland Park, Michigan factory, the date is 2546 A.D.

4. People are classified using the first five letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. Alpha is the highest class.

5. The Bokanovsky Process causes the budding of one fertilized egg. Up to 96 identical humans can be produced. Only the lower classes receive the Process.

6. The bottled humans are moved eight meters a day for 267 days on an assembly line.

7. The Hatchery needs a supply of female ova (eggs) for the fertilization process. Thirty percent of the female embryos are thus allowed to mature.

8. When the maturation process was shortened, the individual was mentally and socially stuck at a childlike level, unable to perform simple adult tasks.

9. Henry Foster is like an accountant. He deals with facts and figures, rather than emotions.

10. Lenina does not seem bothered by the Director’s advances. However, she does blush and her smile is referred to as deferential, which may mean submissive rather than agreeable.