Brave New World Chapter 5

1. What would Michael Pollan (Remember? The Omnivore's Dilemma) say about the first paragraph in Chapter 5?

Michael Pollen would say that the World State was trying to get rid of the issues of the Omnivore's Dilemma by having the 'Internal and External Secretion Trust' was deciding what the people were eating. Since the buildings name has trust in it you can deduce that the people in the World State trust what ever this building produces. Since it is taking in cattle to used for their hormones for milk and their raw materials. There materials are then processed in the factory at Farnham Royal. The society does not seem to have any play or interest in this act. This gives the reader the impression that they just accept what is given to them to eat. The way it is written almost makes the meat of the cow seem unimportant, since it is just compared to 'raw materials'. Michael Pollen would look at this as that they do not have a huge abundance of food in from of them to chose, and that healthy food is already laid out in front of them.
2. Do you see any similarities with World State views death as compared to the Hindus? How does Lenina's remembrance of hypopedia compare with Plato's Republic?

The world state uses crematoriums in order to create 'phosphorus recovery from the bodies. This way peoples bodies are useful in making plants grow after they are gone. "Fine to think we can go on being socially useful even after we're dead. Making plants grow" Henry says this and it is similar to the Hindu idea of being reborn, and having a purpose in the existing world after death. Also they do not fear death and just see it as a cycle. Lenina remembers one night when she woke up to the sleepers talking in her ear and she realized that she was under the influence of these things but there was nothing she could do about it. This connects to Plato's republic because of the cave idea in which the people are 'whispered' thoughts while they are all chained down and viewing certain things. Here the people are not chained down but they are asleep, making them just as unable to respond or react as if they were chained down.
3. What do you think of Lenina's and Henry night out on the town?

I found their night to be extremely odd. It want odd because they went to listen to music, but it was odd because they went there just to feel. It created a fake atmosphere that took them further away from their reality. "But Lenian and Henry had what they always wanted...They were inside, here and now-safely inside with the fine weather, the perennially blue sky." Their night wasn't a night to experience something new or get to know each other better but just to be lost in a 'somma holiday' in which they would have further detachment from real feelings.
4. Why do you think Huxley uses the word "pneumatic" to refer to some female characters?

He uses this to refer to them as machine like and having no feelings.
5. What is Solitary Service and what are Bernard's feelings towards it?

Solitary Service is when a group of people come together to 'worship' Ford and wait for his coming. It is also a giant orgy where they all take soma and 'become one'. Bernard does not really like it. Hes sees it as an obligation rather than something he would enjoy doing. He fakes hearing Ford and the whole time he can only focus on the girls unibrow rather than the ceremony. Afterwards he does not feel connected and whole like everyone else, but instead he feels lonely and empty.