Alienation

• alienation is contrary to the total conformity that prevails the society of the World State
• Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson and John are all alienated
• Bernard estranged from the society of World State because of his small size and his divergent attitude as well as his not fitting in with the position he occupies
• Helmholtz feels the same way for opposite reasons as he is too intelligent to be an Alpha Plus
• John feels alienated because of various reasons: the Indian society rejects him and even more, he is unwilling and also not able to be a part of the World State - he is in fact part of two worlds that conflict each other
• alienation is a driving force in the novel since it provides the protagonists with their primary motivations
• alienation on a biological level: ovaries are removed from the female body in order to support technological reproduction

Sex

• a lot of references to sex can be found in Brave New World
• the World State controls its members with regard to sexual conventions and reproductive rights
• two-thirds of all women are sterilized and the rest needs to use contraceptives - also, ovaries are surgically removed when the World State needs to produce more humans
• the act of sex itself is controlled by being rewarded socially for promiscuity and lack of commitment
• the difference in values between the World State and the humanity in Shakespeare‘s plays is portrayed by the conflict between John‘s desire for love and Lenina‘s desire for sex

Pneumatic

• the word "pneumatic" is constantly used
• it has two meanings: it describes a chair filled with air pockets as well as a woman having a well-rounded figure
• Lenina‘s sexual partners (Henry Foster and Benito Hoover) often use that word to describe what she‘s like to have sex; Lenina refers to herself as "awfully pneumatic", patting her legs saying so (Chapter 6, p. 80)
• with regard to Lenina, her balloon-like and bouncy flesh is meant
• by using the same word to describe a woman and a chair, Huxley attempts to emphasize the fact that human sexuality has been degraded to the level of a consumer‘s goods