The first chapter of Brave New World plunges us headlong into Huxley’s futuristic dystopia. We’re told the motto of the “World State”: “community, identity, stability”, before joining a a group of schoolchildren as the Director of Hatcheries shows them around– we see the process by which human beings are grown (since sexual reproduction is outlawed) and conditioned for the their pre-determined role in society.

Towards the end of the chapter, we’re introduced to two important characters– Mr Foster and Lenina Crowne.