"You like it? Our Golden Age? Yes?"

"I cannot remember much of the chorus. I was still in the same position when it came to an end, and too unsure of myself to relax my grip and join in the applause. But I saw Frazier and Castle on either side of me clapping energetically--and Fergy, beaming with pleasure and pride, bowing to right and left and turning to shake his clasped hands at the chorus. Once, as he bowed, he looked straight at me, out over his glasses, like some sort of dream gargoyle, and I imagined that if he could speak to me, it would be in a strange accent, and his words would be:
'You like it? Our Golden Age? Yes?'" (page 85)

This closing paragraph to chapter 11 was amazing to me. It has a humorous, yet slightly disturbing quality. Throughout the book thus far, the visitors have been fed the secrets to Walden Two's success, but it has been in a somewhat persuasive manner. It is as if, in order for the social structure to be successful it must be first believed that it can be successful. This is seen in Frazier's character when he seems to find self worth when he "astonishes" the visitors, and gets agitated when he falters. In this paragraph, Burris experiences more of the bedazzlement, as he is awed and confused by the performance.

Other than that, I have my reservations about how this society could cause such a significant alteration in human nature, or if there really is that much a difference between this "attitude of constant experimentation" and progress in general. But this can be discussed at the end of the book, I suppose.

David