The word "decorum" means that a person behaves properly for polite society. In Huxley's A Brave New World, adults behave properly by acting "infantile," or like children, in social circles. When the Director tells Bernard Marx in chapter 6, "If ever I hear again of any lapse from a proper standard of infantile decorum, I shall ask for your transference to a Sub-Centre," the Director is telling Bernard to act more like a child...
The word "decorum" means that a person behaves properly for polite society. In Huxley's A Brave New World, adults behave properly by acting "infantile," or like children, in social circles. When the Director tells Bernard Marx in chapter 6, "If ever I hear again of any lapse from a proper standard of infantile decorum, I shall ask for your transference to a Sub-Centre," the Director is telling Bernard to act more like a child socially (115). This includes dating many different women, taking the drug soma, and going to Feelies without any complaint.
For example, one way Bernard doesn't comply with the social standard is when he goes on a date with Lenina and he doesn't eat ice cream tainted with soma. He does not want to take soma because it would drop his inhibitions and make him forget to act like an adult. He wants to act like an adult because he feels like everyone else is too shallow to understand and experience life more profoundly, and he's right. From the time children are very little they are encouraged to play naked together so that when they are adults, they will continue to behave promiscuously. If people started acting like adults, then they might get the crazy idea to create monogamous relationships and have families, completely changing their culture.
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