Study Questions
1. What are the only new games the Controllers now approve? Why?

2. Who is the stranger who appears and startles the Director?

3. Why is Bernard Marx upset with Henry Foster’s talk?

4. What has been advised for Fanny Crowne to relieve her depression?

5. What other name is Our Ford known by? When is this name used?

6. What does Controller Mustapha Mond talk about that shocks the students?

7. Why is Fanny worried about Lenina’s dating habits?

8. Why is Bernard shunned by most people?

9. What is the purpose of Lenina’s Malthusian belt? Why must she wear it?

10. What is soma?

Answers
1. Any new games must use more equipment than any other games that exist. People must consume manufactured goods.

2. The stranger is Mustapha Mond, the Resident Controller for Western Europe. He is one of ten Controllers for the entire world.

3. Henry’s locker room talk about women, the feelies, and sexual activity—and his specific references to Lenina—upset Bernard.

4. Fanny has been advised to have a Pregnancy Substitute for three months. It should keep her healthy for three or four years.

5. Our Ford was also known as Our Freud when psychological matters were being discussed.

6. Mond makes numerous references to words like mother, father, nursing babies, families, and all words that have become smutty.

7. Fanny tells Lenina that she has been seeing Henry Foster exclusively for too long. She is even more shocked when Lenina shows interest in Bernard Marx. She advises Lenina to get out and sleep with more men.

8. Even though he is an Alpha-Plus, Bernard is shorter and more slightly built, not normal. He also enjoys being alone. Rumor says he had too much alcohol added to his blood surrogate when he was bottled.

9. Lenina’s Malthusian belt contains a plentiful supply of contraceptives. Since she is a freemartin, she is capable of becoming pregnant, which would be the ultimate shame and disgrace.

10. Soma is a constantly available drug, which is euphoric, narcotic, and pleasantly hallucinogenic. People use it in their free time or in moments of stress to supply dream trips and to keep them happy always.