Brave New World

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. How did the interwar period’s rapid social and technological changes impact art, literature, and culture? What role did interwar anxieties play in shaping contemporary science fiction?

Teaching Suggestion: These questions work best with students who have studied the interwar period previously. For those who haven’t, exploring the attached resources may provide the knowledge needed for discussion.

• This Crash Course: European History video explains WWI’s lasting social, political, and technological impacts in Europe.
• This article from the International Encyclopedia of the First World War explores the role of the war in changing social values and norms.

Short Activity

Suppose you could modify a government or other social institution to focus on the core values you think are most important. What values should that institution have? Choose a set of 1-3 values, and then write a plan for the government or social institution to implement these values. Will the government or institution have to sacrifice anything to promote your core values? Is this sacrifice acceptable or unacceptable? Explain your reasoning.