Everyday Conditioning

“The swiftest crawlers were already at their goal. Small hands reached out uncertainly, touched, grasped, unpetaling the transfigured roses, crumpling the illuminated pages of the books. The Director waited until all were happily busy. The, “Watch carefully” he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal. The Head Nurse, who was standing by a switchboard at the other end of the room, pressed down a little lever. There was a violent explosion. Shriller and even shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded. The children started, screamed; their faces were distorted with terror.” (Huxely 20-21)
This is how the community in Brave New World “conditions” the newborns. In this particular instance the babies are given electric shock therapy. They are presented with flowers and books and once they begin to play with the books and flowers they are shocked, this process is repeated many times so that the lesson is imprinted into their minds.
Today in the real world we are also conditioned, although it is nowhere near as extreme. We are conditioned in the sense that we are lead to believe that money is essential. We are told to do well in school so that we may make more money. How smart we are is shown in our grades which in itself aren’t an accurate representation of intelligence. We are told that in order for us to make lots of money we have to go to a good college. College cost money, so once we finish college we owe someone money, and the only way to pay off that money is to spend the majority of your life working. Even if someone doesn’t go to college they might buy a car or a house. Either way the average person owes money. In this sense we are conditioned.