How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
When we sing hymns, the Hymn of Brotherhood, and the Hymn of Equality 7-2521, and the Hymn of the Collective 0-0009 Spirit. The sky is a soggy purple when we return to the Home. Then the bell rings and we walk in a straight column to the City Theatre for three hours of Social Recreation. There a play is shown upon the stage, with two great choruses from the Home of the Actors, which speak and answer all together, in two great voices. The plays are about toil and how good it is. Then we walk back to the Home in a straight column. (1.33)
"Recreation" and social gatherings in Equality 7-2521's society are an opportunity for indoctrination, for forcing into everyone's minds the values of the society. It's the same thing every day – everyone is just reminded over and over again of how noble it is to work for their fellow men. It's as if society worries that people wouldn't naturally believe this if it weren't the only thing they heard.
Quote #5
Thus must all men live until they are forty. At forty, they are worn out. At forty, they are sent to the Home of the Useless, where the Old Ones live. (1.34)
People in Equality 7-2521's society don't live very long at all. Why is that? Answering this question involves some speculation. Is that because they have primitive medical technology? Is it because they're worked too hard? Or is it because they're unhappy?
Quote #6
And each of the men have one of the women assigned to them by the Council of Eugenics. Children are born each winter, but women never see their children and children never know their parents. (2.13)
Equality 7-2521's society controls sex. People only have sex once a year, with a stranger assigned to them by the Council of Eugenics, and then they never see their kids. No families here; "society" raises the children. What's unclear is whether the Council of Eugenics puts people together because it tries to breed the best genetic results (which is what eugenics means). It's hard to imagine the society has the technology to do that. You also might wonder if having exceptional individuals is a good or bad thing?