Flashback of the Future

"Lenina suddenly remembered an occasion when, as a little girl at school, she had woken up in the middle of the night and become aware, for the first time, of the whispering that had haunted all her sleeps." - pg 74

Lenina is becoming a more prominent character. While she is mostly a parrot for the 'whisperings' injected in her ear since childhood, it is obvious she has a few misgivings about how her society works. First, she was frustrated with the assumption that a four month relationship with one man is absurd. Later, she stood up for Bernard and refused to accept that he is less than an Alpha. Now, while she is on a date with Henry Foster, she has anecdotal flashback to her childhood. She woke one night to remember how phrases were repeated over and over during her sleep, a method called hypnopaedia. The effects of this treatment are apparent as Lenina and other characters often repeat one phrase several times during conversations.

This anecdote reveals a strange trait about Lenina and the people of her society. A few, if not most, know everything about hypnopaedia. They know they were conditioned. Perhaps they have never seen it in person and are not aware of the details of it, but their society is not a mystery or a secret. This proves the extent of how well the conditioning worked. It also demonstrates one of the creepiest qualities of the futuristic world: they know but do not resist their caste system. Lenina's anecdotal flashback opens a potential crack for those with solid misgivings to fight the caste system and the society built by whispers under pillows.