John+and+Mustapha+Converse


 * What?**
 * Mond and John first discuss religion. Mond takes a position of "God is not an entity, but a necessary concept" and then claims that his society has eliminated the need for a god. He claims that belief in God comes from fear of death and suffering, which is no longer part of this society.
 * John is affronted by Mond's opinion, he thinks that the belief in G od is a natural thing, and that people should believe even though they've been brainwashed.
 * Mond says that he thinks that there probably is a God, but that God is no longer compatible with society. God doesn't change, but men do, and he quotes a man named Cardinal Newman, who says independence is unnatural for men. Mond says "we've now got youth and prosperity right up to the end. What follows? Evidently, that we can be independent of God.... There aren't any losses for us to compensate....why should we go hunting for a substitute for youthful desires, when youthful desires never fail?"
 * John responds that Mond thinks there is no God. Mond says, "I think there quite probably is one." Now, in their future, he manifests himself as absence, under the fault of civilization.
 * John says its natural to believe in God when you're alone
 * No one is ever alone now John, duh.
 * John is quiet, and then begins to quote the Shakespearean play King Lear about God 'managing things, punishing, rewarding.'
 * Mond says the character from King Lear would be just like any other hormone gum chewing man of this time, now.
 * Mond says "Providence takes its cue from men." (Providence = the protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual power. synonym: fate)
 * Basically, Mond continues shooting down all of John's points: modern technology is an instrument to degrade God, value is according to the prizer, the civilization is degraded by pleasant vices, self-denial, chastity.
 * Finally Mustapha Mond shuts him up by saying "civilization has absolutely no need of nobility of heroism" (which are the two things john values the most). There is nothing to provoke those feelings now. "The greatest care is taken to prevent you from loving any one too much."
 * Mond: "Christianity without tears--that's what soma is"


 * Why?**
 * Shows the reader how much the society of the World State has changed from ours
 * Demonstrates to the reader John's resilience in his belief of his own morals
 * Offers the reader explanation as to the rationale of making the World State the way it is
 * In contrast, also offers John's perspective on what is wrong with the World State
 * Challenges the reader on the complicated morals introduced in this chapter
 * Gives examples to the reader of texts and specific ways of thinking that have been banned


 * How?**
 * Does not use narration to tell the conversation, instead directly writing out the conversation in its entirety
 * Does not contain much physical narration of either characters' gestures, instead sticking exclusively to their dialogue with very few exceptions
 * Does not have one character talk for half the chapter and the other the other half, instead having each character volley off of one another in a series of remarks
 * Does not go into the thoughts of either characters' heads, instead using only dialogue and a few physical gestures
 * Does not use made-up texts and figures, instead using real-life figures, such as the Bible