Oh my Ford, those poor Pavlovian babies! (Brave New World- 2)

"'The case of Little Reuben occurred only twenty-three years after Our Ford's first T-Model was put on the market' (Here the Director made a sign of the T on his stomach and all the students reverently followed suit.)" (Page 25, Brave New World)

Everything is starting to make a little more sense now. So, to begin, this chapter had 2 main allusions that I picked up on. For example, the title of the fifth floor of the Hatchery was "Infant Nurseries. Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms". This "Neo-Pavlovian" room is an allusion to the Pavlov's Dog experiment. In the Pavlov's dog scientific experiment, dogs were conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell expecting that the bell was a signal that food was on the way. Similar to this, the infants were brought out and shown books and flowers. The babies love the books and flowers and shriek with pleasure. But, alarms ring and the babies are shocked electrically as they try to crawl towards the books and flowers. Undoubtedly, the babies are scared. The Director tells the students that after undergoing this process several times, the babies will develop a hatred of books and flowers. This is important because the hatred of these items relates to the caste system developed in the "perfect society" that these workers create. This creates the same trained response that the Pavlov's Dog experiment created, thus an allusion is presented.

Another allusion presented in chapter 2 was the connection to Henry Ford and religion. In chapter 1 it was noted that the time was A.F. 632. I was curious as to what A.F. stood for when reading chapter 1. But, it is explained in the second chapter that A.F. stands for "After Ford" which is an allusion to A.D. (Anno Domini), meaning "In the Year of our Lord". So, from this allusion, it is apparent that this society views Henry Ford as the focus of their religion and beginning of their world. Also, when "Our Ford" is mentioned, the Director and students make "the sign of T" on their stomach, similar to Catholics who make the Sign of the Cross. The indirect reference between two different religions is made apparent through this simple gesture.

The two allusions serve to add more to the "perfect society" that these people are trying to create. By establishing a method to create the perfect caste system and also showing the importance of "Our Ford", two fundamental principles of their world are presented to the reader. We, as the reader, are able to pick up on things that relate to the society in which we live. By relating in this way, the book is able to make a little bit more sense and it also helps to show the direction in which the book may head.