Universitat de València Press

Sensorial and Intellectual Signs in Brave New World
Signs and Culturemes in Brave New World

The Literary Anthropology approach to Narrative was mapped out by Fernando Potayos in 1977.
I think this methodology is very useful in order to know much more things about Narrative. We can use these systems in order to analyse, in a deeper way, how the narrative text works.

In the first diagram, you are going to find an example for each category. Obviously, its practical aim
deals with the basic knowledge of this methodology and how to apply it to the narrative text. In the second diagram, you will find new topics to talk about in relation to this novel.  


SENSIBLE SIGNS
 
  • HUMAN SOMATIC SYSTEMS
    • SOUND
      • Verbal language: "Her voice was thick and hoarse like somebody else´s voice"
      • "and suddenly a Voice,a deep strong voice , more musical that nay merely human voice ,richer,warmer,more vibrant with love anf yearning and compassion , a wonderful , mysterious,supernatural voice spoken from above their heads. Very slowly ,´oh Ford,Ford,Ford ,´it´s said diminishigly and on a descending scale."
      • Paralanguage : "The screaming of the babies suddenly change its tone."
      • Other sound : "There was a silence; then, clearing his throat ´Once upon a time´, the director began..."
    • MOVEMENT
      • KINESIC
        • Gestures :"Mustapha Mond leaned forward , shook a finger at them..."
        • Manners :"`Yes,´said Mustapha Mond ,nodding his head ,`you may well shudder´¨
        • Postures :"When they had arrived and were comfortly strechted out on the pneumatic sofas in Bernard´s room...
      • PROXEMICS-ORIENTATION
        • "Like aphides and ants, the leaf-green Gamma girls, the black Semi-Morons swarmed round the entrances , or stood in queues to take their places in the monorail trams-cars"
    • CHEMICAL
      • "By this time soma had begun to work.Eyes shone,cheeks were flushed,the inner light of universal benevolence broke out on every face in happy,friendly smiles."
    • DERMAL
      • "Again?´Fanny´s kind,rather moon-like face took on an incongruous expression of pained and disapproving astonishment."
  • OBJECTUAL SYSTEMS
    • BODYADAPTORS
      • NUTRITIONAL
        • FOOD
          • "Five khaki twins ,each with the stump of a long éclair in his right hand , and their identical faces variously smeared with liquid chocolate,were standing in a row ,puggily goggling at him."
        • DRINK
          • "The loving cup of strawberry ice cream soma was passed from hand to hand and, with the formula ,´I drink to my annihilation´,twelve times quaffed."
      • PSEUDO-NUTRITIONAL
        • DRINKS;TOBACCO
          • " He sat down and lit a cigarette."
        • NARCOTICS
          • "Only a drink of mescal every now and then , when Popé used to bring it."
        • MASTICATORIES
          • " ´The day´s soma ration´,Bernard answered , rather indistinctly , for he was masticating a piece of Benito Hoover´s chewing gum."
      • CLOTHES,HEADGEAR,FOOTWEAR
        • "Lenina pulled at her zippers -downwards with a double-handed gesture at the two that held the throusers,downwars again to loosen her undergarment.Still wearing her shoes and stockings , she walk off towards the bathrooms."
        • "A green-and-white jockey cap shaded Lenina´s eyes;her shoes were bright green and highly polished.Green corduroy shorts and white-viscose woollen stockinds turned down below the knee."
      • JEWERLY & OBJECT ADORNEMENT
        • "And round her waist she wore a silver-mounted green morocco-surrogate cartridge belt,bulging (for Lenina was not freemartin) with the regulation supply of contraceptives."
      • PAINT,COSMETICS,PERFUMES
        • " A blast of warmed air dusted her with the finest talcum powder.Eight different scents and eau-de-Cologne were laid on in the little taps over the wash-basin."
      • EAT,DRINK & SMOKING UTENSILIS
        • " He rose , put down his glass , brushed from his purple viscose waiscoat , the crumbs of a considerable collation,and walk towards the door."
      • WRITING TOOLS and WRITING
        • "Each of them carried a note-book , in which, whenever the great man spoke , he desperately scribbled"
        • "Reponds by budding". The pencils were busy."
        • " With a piece of charcoal she drew pictures on the wall - an animal sitting down, a baby inside a bottle; then she wrote letters."
    • OBJECTADAPTORS
      • FOOD AND DRINK
        • " She drank and passed the cup to Bernard."
      • DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTS
        • " Lenina walked after him , out of the room.The other guests followed at a respectful interval.The last of them slammed the door."
      • OCCUPATIONAL IMPLEMENTS
        • "They hurried out of the room and returned in a minute or two,each pushing a kind of tall dumb-waiter laden, on all its four wire-netted shelves,with eight-month-old babies , all exactly alike (A Bokanovsky Group)..."
        • "The Controller skipped the next sentences and just about to turn the page in search of something more interestingly concrete, when his eyes caught by a series of quite extraordinary phrases."
      • ANATOMICAL FURNITURE
        • "Standing on a chair to get a better view some one upset two tes-tubes full of spermatozoa."
  • ENVIRONMENTAL
    • DECORATIVE OBJECTS & VISUAL ARTS
      • "The savage meanwhile wandered restlessly round the room,peering with a vague superficial inquisitiveness at the books in the shelves,at the sound-track rolls and the reading-machine bobbins in their numbered pigeon-holes."
    • NON ADAPTORS ARTIFACTS
      • "The hands of all the four thousand electric clocks in all the Bloomsbury Center´s four thousand rooms marked twenty seven minutes past two."
    • TV,FILM,PRESS,BOOKS,GRAPHIC ARTS
      • "At the foot of every bed , confronting its moribund occupant , was a television box.Television was left on , a running tap, from morning till night."
      • " Going to the Feelies this evening , Henry?´enquired the Assistant Predestinator.´I hear the new one at the Alhambra s first-rate.There´s a love scene on a bearskin rug, they say it´s marvellous every hair of the bear reproduced.The most amaizing tactual effect.´"
      • "In the basement and on the lower floors were the presses and offices of the three great London newspapers -The Hourly Radio, an upper caste sheet,the pale green Gamma Gazette,and,on khaki paper and in words exclusively of one syllable the Delta Mirror."
      • "The Chemical and bacteriological conditioning of embryo.Practical instructions for Beta-Embryo-Store Workers ; The imitation of Christ ; The varieties of Religious Experience by Williams James."
    • VEHICLES
      • "The air was drowsy withthe murmur of bees and helicopters"

      • "There´s the Red Rocket ´said Henry ´just come in from New York!.Looking at his watch,´seven minutes behind time,´he added , and shook his head.´These Atlantic Services -´they´re really scandalously unpunctual´."
  • BUILT
    • ARCHITECTURE
      • "A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories."
      • "The various Bureux of Propaganda and the College of Emotional Engineering were housed in a single sixty-story build In Fleet Street."
    • Other Structures
      • The hangars were staffed by a single Bokanosvky group."
    • MUSIC
      • "´Damn, I´m late´ Bernard said to himslef as he first caught sights of Big Henry, The Singey Clock. And sure enough as he was paying off his cab , Big Henry sounded the hour.´Ford´sang out an inmense bass voice from all the golden trumpets ´Ford,Ford,Ford...´nine times."
    • Town and settelment layout
      • "On the north the view was bounded by tha long chalk ridge of the Hog´s Back from behind whose eastern extremity rose the tower of the seven skyscrapers which constituted Guilford."
      • "Five hundred and sixty thousand square kilometers ,divided into four distinct sub-Reservations ,each surrounded by a high-tension wire fence."
  • MODIFIED
    • LANDSCAPING
      • "The channel wound between precipitous banks, and slating from one wall to the other across the valley ran a streak of green - the river and its fields."
      Agricultural Forms: Not found
       
    • NATURAL 
      • terrain : At their feet lay a straggle of low buildigns, a criss-cross of walls, and on three sides the precipices feel sheer into the plain.
      • flora : there were ash trees near the lighthouse and, for arrow shafts, a whole copse full of beautifully straight hazel saplings.
      • color : he looked out over the bright sunrise world which he had regained the right to inhabit.
      • light : Naked in the warm June sunshine...
      • climate : the skies above them were silent and desert. 
  • FAUNA
    • ANIMAL
      • Domesticated : Not found
      • TAMED
        • "Two famine-stricken dogs were nosing obscenely in the barbage at its doors."
      • WILD
        • Pumas,porcupines and other ferocious animals

    CULTUREMES

    Poyatos defines this unit as : "any portion of cultural activity sensorially or intellectually apprehended in signs of symbolic values, which can be divided up into smaller units or amalgamated into larger ones"
     
    • RELIGION 
      • God(s) & Mythology
      • Thoughts & Beliefs
      • Festivals & Household 
      • Celebrations
      • Ritual 
      • Socioreligious events, etc
    • SOCIETY 
      • Structuration
      • Relationships & Roles
      • Moral values
      • Aesthetic symbols
      • Ritual & etiquette
      • Family & Marriage
      • Household tasks
      • Child rearing 
      • Educational systems
      • Culture-bound diseases
      • Interactive styles
      • Leisure time activities
      • Display of happiness & grief
      • Sports
      • Chronemics, etc.
      • Politics
      • Ideology & Attitudes
    • FOLKLORE AND THE ARTS
      • Language & Sayings
      • Literature
      • Popular beliefs
      • Music & Dance
      • Performances
      • Celebrations
      • Games
      • Painting & plastic arts
      • Children passtimes
    • MAN-ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPS
      • Calls, treatment,etc

    Diagrams Copyright by © Fernando Poyatos, 1988



    Academic year 1997/1998
    © a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
    © Jose Fco. Saiz Molina
    Universitat de València Press

    Page maintained by :  Jose Fco.Saiz Molina
    Last Updated : 05/11/99


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