Introduction

Use this Real-Life Lens Plan to help students appreciate and explore Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Students will examine the novel’s settings, themes, actions, and characters through the lens of human nature. What human behaviors and emotions do the characters display? What happens when the World State modifies human traits and conditions human behavior? How are the humans of the World State different from the humans on a Savage Reservation? How are both sets of humans alike? What is the author saying about the state of being human?

Materials

  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
    Buy Now

Introduce the Lens

To activate students’ thinking, choose one or two of the following resources to use in an engagement activity. Have students read or watch and discuss the content. Encourage students to jot down notes, or record class notes on the board for future reference.

Now pose the following Big Idea Questions to the class:

What traits and behaviors distinguish human beings from other species?

Which human traits are inherited, and which human traits are learned?

Engagement Activity

1. Have students write quick initial responses to the questions.

2. Discuss the questions either as a class or in small groups. Encourage students to list human traits that are inherited and human traits that are learned.

3. Prompt students to consider the relationship between nature (genetic inheritance) and nurture (socialization) in forming the human personality.

4. Following discussion, give students time to revise their initial responses, and ask volunteers to share their ideas with the class.

CCSS

Introduce the Driving Questions

Begin by having students write their own questions about the lesson topic. Encourage them to think about what they already know about human nature and what they’re interested in exploring further.

Hand out the Driving Questions Worksheet. Review the questions as a class. Students should enter initial answers to the questions before and as they read Brave New World. They will revisit the questions and revise their answers following the lesson activities, classroom discussion, and completion of the text. Remind students to support their responses with text evidence.

Integrate the Driving Questions into your classroom discussions. Use them to help guide students’ thinking about the Big Idea Questions.

1. What human traits and behaviors are genetically programmed by the World State?

2. What methods does the World State use to condition human behavior?

3. What cultural activities, such as religion, sports, or entertainment, do people in the World State enjoy?

4. What human faults or behaviors do the characters display in spite of their programming and conditioning?

5. How is the culture of the World State different from the culture of a Savage Reservation?

6. How do the humans from the World State and the humans on the Savage Reservation view each other?

7. What happens when a person raised on the Savage Reservation visits the World State?

CCSS

Introduce the "Through the Lens" Activity

Activity: Categories for Anthropologists

In this activity, students will envision themselves as anthropologists who visit human societies that differ from their own. 

Ask students to volunteer examples of remote places and societies on Earth that they have heard about and want to visit. Then invite students to envision themselves as anthropologists studying these societies in a formal manner. Prompt them to list areas that an anthropologist might study, such as language, gender roles, family structures, rituals, and customs.

Form small groups of three to five students. Assign a different remote place to each group. Have students discuss and write down what they know or have heard about human culture in that location. Students should also list additional information they would need to gather to get a complete picture of the culture of their assigned remote place.

Have a spokesperson from each group share the group’s notes with the class. Prompt whole-class discussion with questions such as: What traits or behaviors do the people in the remote place probably share with all humans, including people in our society? What traits or behaviors are probably different from ours?

Before moving on, explain that students will explore Huxley’s view of what human nature will be like in the distant future, in a world in which every aspect of life is scientifically controlled. Invite them to think like anthropologists as they observe and evaluate the societies in Brave New World.

To extend this activity, you can assign research projects in which groups research the information they didn’t have about their remote place and present their findings back to the class.
 

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Scaffold the activity by having students define inherited traits and learned, or acquired, traits. To make sure they can distinguish between the two, have them list examples of inherited traits, such as hair and eye color, facial features, and DNA, and acquired traits, such as specific languages, religious customs, and ideas about polite and impolite behavior.

Increase difficulty

Have students envision themselves as anthropologists of the future, visiting human colonies on other planets or in places on Earth that are uninhabitable today. Have them jot down ideas about language, communication, social structures, and other elements of human society in those places. As with the actual remote places, have students describe traits or behaviors that people share with all humans, including people in our society. Encourage students to ask themselves how a visitor from Earth would recognize whether the fictional people were human beings or not.

Introduce the Final Project

Before moving on, introduce the final projects to the class (see below for details). Have students choose the project they will complete and encourage them to keep their project in mind as they read the text. Facilitate the formation of project groups if necessary.

Assign the Midpoint Activities

Activity 1: Character Traits in the World State

Students will discover, analyze, and compare the traits of the Alpha and Beta characters in the World State. Students will:

-Compare the Alpha and Beta castes in terms of genetic programming and conditioned behaviors.

-Identify characters in Brave New World who belong to the Alpha and Beta castes.

-Find instances in which the chosen characters act in accordance with, or at odds with, their programming and conditioning.

-Complete the Character Traits in the World State Worksheet to compare the castes and characters point by point.

-Write short essays comparing Alpha and Beta characters or castes, using details from the worksheet for supporting details and examples.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have students work in pairs and assign one caste to each partner. Have partners check each other’s citations of supporting details to ensure accuracy. Allow students to make oral rather than written comparisons.

Increase difficulty

Have students work in small groups to prepare similar charts for the Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon castes. Characters from these castes do not have names, so students should list details of their appearances and occupations instead. Students’ essays should include an analysis of the roles of the lower castes in the functioning of the World State.

Activity 2: Effects and Outcomes

Students will review and analyze key scenes from the first nine chapters and then make predictions about how the situations set up in those scenes will develop in the remainder of the text. Students will:

-Select and reread scenes from the first nine chapters. Students can select from the list below or find their own scenes.

-Make notes about the characters and interactions in the scenes they have selected, being sure to record any cause-and-effect relationships noted in the text. Students should also record what the scene, especially dialogues and other interactions, reveals about the characters.

-Use their notes to make predictions about what will happen to the characters from their scene in the rest of the novel.

-Return to their predictions when they have completed the novel and confirm or correct their predictions.

Suggested scenes for students:

Chapter 1: The Director and Mr. Foster introduce students to the Fertilizing Room.
Chapter 2: The Director demonstrates how the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Room functions.
Chapter 3: Mustapha Mond, the Controller, joins the Director and the students.
Chapter 4, part 2: Bernard Marx converses with Helmholtz Watson.
Chapter 5, part 2: Bernard Marx attends a Solidarity Service.
Chapter 6, part 1: Lenina Crowne and Bernard Marx go on their first date.
Chapter 7: Lenina Crowne and Bernard Marx meet John.
Chapter 8: Bernard Marx asks John to go to London.
Chapter 9: John observes Lenina as she takes a soma-holiday.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have students work in small groups. Assign one of the scenes listed above to each group. Have students break the scene into smaller segments and select one segment to read out loud. For example, break the lecture in Chapter 1 into the following shorter scenes:

  • The Director explains how the Alpha and Beta incubators work.
  • The Director explains Bokanovsky’s Process for the Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon castes.
  • Mr. Foster explains how the embryos are genetically programmed.
  • Lenina, Mr. Foster, and the Director encounter each other at work.

After their oral reading of the short scene, have students work together to prepare an oral analysis of the material, including any causes and effects and what the scene reveals about the characters.

Increase difficulty

Extend the activity by having students work in small groups to present staged readings of scenes for the entire class. Performers may read from the text but should also use gestures and mannerisms appropriate for the characters. Challenge students to discover human traits that are specific to each character. For example, the Director basks in the admiration of his students. Mr. Foster enjoys the chance to show off his knowledge in front of the Director. Lenina Crowne assumes that being patted by the Director is part of her job. After each performance, have students provide the class with the textual evidence that inspired their interpretations of the scenes. Then have them predict future plot developments.

Final Projects

Students will work on their final projects after they have finished reading Brave New World. For Project 1, students work in small groups and then write independently. For Project 2, students can work either independently or with others

Final Project 1: A Tale of Two Cultures

Students will make detailed, text-supported comparisons between the human cultures of the World State and the Savage Reservation. Students will:

-Work in small groups to find textual evidence throughout the novel about human culture in the World State and on the Savage Reservation. Students should examine such social factors as religion, customs, gender roles, marriage, families, and moral values as well as technology-based factors such as housing, transportation, communication, and public health.

-Work independently to write short essays that describe and analyze the advantages, disadvantages, costs, and benefits of the two cultures. Students can choose either an explanatory essay that compares the two cultures or a persuasive essay that promotes one of the cultures.

-Exchange their essays with partners and then edit or revise in response to peer feedback.

-Present their final essays to the class in oral or printed form.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Assign each group a topic for comparison. Direct their attention to specific parts of the text where the information can be found. Here are some examples:

  • Compare the addiction to soma in the World State with the addiction to alcohol on the Savage Reservation. Compare both the effects of these addictive substances and public attitudes toward their use.
  • To compare educational systems, reread Chapter 2 and Chapter 8. In Chapter 8, look for evidence of how older people on the Savage Reservation pass on their knowledge.
  • To compare belief systems and rituals, study the Solidarity Service in Chapter 5, part 2 and the ritual dance on the Savage Reservation in Chapter 7.
Increase difficulty

To present their findings, have students develop visual aids that show parallels between the cultures of the World State, the Savage Reservation, and our current culture. Instruct students to include the visuals in their final written or oral presentation.

Final Project 2: What the World State Looks Like

Students will work in small groups to create multimedia materials that illustrate and describe the human culture of the World State. Students will:

-Design, draw, write, and produce original multimedia materials that help readers visualize the World State. Students may choose any medium, such as PowerPoint slides, video brochures with or without audio, and digital collages. However, all content must be supported with evidence from the text. See the lists below for creative ideas at various difficulty levels.

-Distribute or present their materials to the class.

-Write a short project summary detailing how they made their choices for their materials, including what elements from the novel they drew from.

Suggested projects:

-Draw a travel poster that urges people to visit the World State. Incorporate one or more familiar World State slogans, such as “Everyone belongs to everyone else” or “Everybody’s happy now.”

-Use a digital drawing program to draw a flow chart that shows the process of reproduction and infant care in the World State. Use information from Chapters 1-3.

-Create a collage showing some of the games and sports in the World State, such as Centrifugal Bumble-puppy, Musical Bridge, and Obstacle Golf (Chapter 3), Riemann-surface tennis and Escalator Fives (Chapter 4, part 1), and Escalator Squash, Electromagnetic Golf, and Women’s Heavyweight Wrestling (Chapter 6, part 1). Use details from the text as starting points. Add other details from your imagination.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Assign a project and a medium to each group based on skill level.

Suggested projects:

  • Chapters 1 and 2: Draw a picture of the Director lecturing his students. Include speech bubbles.
  • Chapter 4, part 1, or Chapter 5, part 1: Draw a picture of something Lenina and Henry can see from their helicopter.
Increase difficulty

Extend the activity by having students imagine visiting the Asian, American, or African branches of the World State. Have them produce posters, panoramic views, maps, and other visual materials that show how World State culture has adapted to places outside Europe.

Assess the Assignments

Use the Rubric for Student Assessment to evaluate student work on the lesson assignments.

Distribute the Student Reflection Worksheet. Guide students through the self-assessment and reflection questions.

Contents Downloads
Introduction Materials Introduce the Lens Introduce the Driving Questions Introduce the "Through the Lens" Activity Introduce the Final Project Assign the Midpoint Activities Final Projects Assess the Assignments