Writing task 4: reading and education
core question: what should an educated person read?
in brave new world, the citizens of the world state can read, at
least the alphas and betas, but they read very little. most of their
education is delivered through hypnopaedia, or sleep teaching.
deltas and below are conditioned to dislike books. linda, who is a
beta minus, brings one book to the reservation, the chemical and
bacteriological conditioning of the embryo: practical instructions
for beta embryo-store workers, which is a job manual. she gives
it to john and teaches him to read. later popé brings him the
complete works of shakespeare, which he found in an old chest in
the antelope kiva. john's education consists of those two books plus
whatever mitsima taught him about making pots, bows, and other
crafts.