• setting: Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, a.f. 632 (632 years "after Ford")
• the motto of the World State: "Community, Identity, Stability"
• a group of students follows the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning on a tour through a factory producing human beings and conditioning them for their future positions in the World State
• offspring is produced by removing ovaries surgically which produce ova that are fertilized
• every fetus is categorized into a particular caste in the World State
  
  • Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon
  • Gamma, Delta and Epsilon undergo a specific process (Bokanovsky Process) in which the egg is divided into 96 embryos developing into 96 identical human beings
  • as that process weakens the embryos, Alpha and Beta embryos do not undergo it
  • the Bokanovsky Process ensures social stability since it produces clones who perform identical tasks at certain machines
• Podsnap‘s technique: a method with which hundreds of related individuals can be produced from the ova and sperm of the same man and woman
• the record of this particular factory is over 16,000 siblings
• the whole process of hatching mimics the same conditions within a human womb
• 70% of the female fetuses are sterilized (they are called "freemartins")
• every fetus is treated accordingly to the requirements of their caste
  
  • oxygen deprivation and treatments with alcohol cause lower intelligence and smaller height (Gamma, Delta, Epsilon)
  • fetuses that are supposed to work in hot weather are heat conditioned
  • this process aims at making those human beings accepting their social status
• the Director and the employee Henry Foster introduce the nurse Lenina Crowne to the students
• she immunizes the fetuses that are supposed to work in the tropics with specific vaccinations
• Henry reminds her of their date on the rooftop that afternoon
• although Henry wants the students to see the conditioning of Alpha Plus Intellectual fetuses, the Director leads them to the Nurseries

Function

• implicit critique of the integration and enthusiasm of the technological advance
  
  • humans can be cloned, the ripening process of eggs is sped up, human beings can be conditioned prenatally
  • efficiency and profit dominate the human process of reproduction
  • dystopian environment: people are dehumanized by the government
  • higher castes keep some sense of individuality whereas lower castes are victims of anonymity and mechanization
• technology is prevalent in every aspect of living and can be regarded as a substitute for religion
  
  • the calender follows Henry Ford‘s introduction of the Model T
  • dates are preceded by a.f. (after Ford) and thus resembles the Christian calendar system beginning with the birth of Jesus (a.d. - Anno Domini)
• stability as the highest social goal
  
  • in order to stabilize the caste system, human beings are conditioned on a genetical, physical and psychological level
  • those human beings are made for loving their future social status
  • also, they are incapable of serving any other function