BNW II

BLOG topic: Compare and contrast the social conditioning of Lenina (through hypnopaedia especially) and John (through Shakespeare's works especially). How are both characters unable to understand each other because of their social conditioning?

One major difference between the two is volunteerism. Lenina involuntarily was conditioned to act according to the hypnopaedia that the Human Conditioning deparment controls. John, on the other hand, voluntarily read Shakespeare and seems to be almost crazy with his interpretations of the works. Both can rattle off quotes from their conditionings, but at the same time, both repeat with little comprehension or justification. The two are unable to fully understand one another because their conditioning is mutually exclusive of one another. The patterns and truths implanted in each other's brains are completely different, if not opposite in many instances. Their values clash (the love of Shakespeare is romanticized, the love of hypnopaedia is open), and their lifestyles are extreme (the religious whipping, the alcohol, the soma, the technology, etc.). The philosophy behind each civilization allow for little compromise between the two, ultimately showing the clash, and later exclusion of John in BNW.