Brave new world chapter 16 summary
Chapter 16
Summary:
The three men enter Mustapha Mond's office. Helmholtz chooses the best chair in the room while Bernard seeks out the worst, hoping that this self-inflicted punishment will make things easier for him. Mustapha arrives and asks the Savage if he likes their civilization. John does not, but he adds that it does have some nice things like the floating music. Mustapha quotes Shakespeare to him: "Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about my ears and sometimes voices." The Savage is thrilled that someone else knows Shakespeare. Mustapha indicates that although he forbids reading things such as Shakespeare, he can break the rules since they are his rules.
When asked why he censors old things like Shakespeare, Mustapha replies that society no longer needs them. People are happy now and would not even understand the old things. When Helmholtz argues that something like
Othello
is what he has always wanted to write, Mustapha says that he will never write it because tragedy and raw emotions lead to social instability. At the same time, creating works of art is not possible without tragic elements within society. The challenge in their civilizatio
Chapter 16 Notes from Brave New World
Brave New World Chapter 16
The three meet with his fordship World Controller Mustapha Mond in his study. Bernard is gloomy and pessimistic; Helmholtz is laughing aloud; and the Savage is restlessly pacing. He reads some of Mond's autobiography. Mond walks in and addresses the Savage directly, asking him if he likes civilization. Bernard is horrified when the Savage gives Mond the honest answer of no. During the course of their conversation, Mond makes an allusion to an image from a Shakespeare play, and the Savage lights up with pleasure, until Mond reminds him that only he, the World Controller, who makes the laws, can break them. Mond explains that Shakespeare is prohibited because it is old, and particularly because it is beautiful, and people should be attracted to new things, not old things. They discuss Othello, another Shakespeare play, and Mond explains the impossibility of such a play's existence: to have tragedy you need social instability and dissatisfaction.
"
Our world is not the same as Othello's world. You can't make flivvers without steel-and you can't make tragedies without social instability. The world's stable now. Peo
Brave New World - Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis
Chapter 16 Summary
The three are taken to the World Controller's office. Mustapha Mond enters and shakes hands with all three of them, but it's John he addresses. He says he understands John doesn't like civilization. John, taken off-guard by the good-humored intelligence of the Controller's face, replies truthfully. He doesn't.
John admits there are some nice things about civilization, and is surprised when Mustapha Mond quotes Shakespeare. The Controller admits he's one of the few who knows about the books; since he makes the rules, he can break them with impunity.
John asks why the books are prohibited, and Mond says they haven't any use for old things here, especially when they're beautiful. Beauty is attractive, and they want people to be attracted by new things. Besides, they couldn't understand stories like
Othello
and
Romeo Juliet
. John asks why they couldn't write new stories like...
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Brave New World Chapter 16 Summary
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The three men are brought into the Controller's study and told to wait for his fordship.
Helmholtz, amazingly, seems to be in good spirits. He tries joking around with Bernard, but Bernard is having none of it. Bernard goes to pout in the corner.
John, on the other hand, wanders around the office examining Mustapha's various relics. He finds a book by Our Ford—
My Life and Work
—but he judges it to be rather dull.
Finally, Mustapha enters. He shakes hands with all three men and then addresses John: "So you don't much like civilization."
John admits this is true, which terrifies Bernard (only because he's afraid of it reflecting on poorly on him as John's friend).
When John says he at least likes the nice trinkets, like Synthetic Music Boxes, Mustapha responds by… quoting Shakespeare! In this case, a line from
The Tempest
about "a thousand twangling instruments."
John is in awe; Mustapha admits that Shakespeare is banned and that few here have read his works. But, since he gets to make the rules, he gets to break them. Seriously—the man who controls the world is operating on playground logic.
At John's