How we cite our quotes: (Chapter, Paragraph)
Quote #1
And then one day Mayor Prentiss decided to burn all the books, every single one of them, even the ones in men's homes, cuz apparently books were detrimental as well. (2.12)
Burning books is incredibly manipulative—if you want to control people, take away their education. If people aren't educated they aren't as well equipped to think for themselves, which makes them much easier to control. Books give people ideas and imagination, which makes them individuals, rather than a controlled group.
Quote #2
The Church is why we're all here on New World in the first place, of course, and pretty much every Sunday you can hear Aaron preaching about why we left behind the corrupshun and sin of Old World and about how we'd aimed to start a new life of purity and brotherhood in a whole new Eden. (2.42)
It's a really manipulative move to justify your actions on religion. Aaron's lie is based in truth, because people did come from the Old World originally to start over and live a more peaceful life—but that was before Mayor Prentiss took over. He's still beating this lie into people's heads, making them feel like it's in their best interest to obey him.
Quote #3
Men's minds are messy places and Noise is like the active, breathing face of that mess. It's what's true and what's believed and what's imagined and what's fantasized and it says one thing and a completely opposite thing at the same time and even tho the truth is definitely in there, how can you tell what's true and what's not when you're getting everything? (4.33)
Okay. Let's just take a second and take a look at why it's probably not so difficult to take advantage of these people: The Noise has made people desperate for order—so desperate, that they'll probably do anything to find it. These people can't sort things out for themselves because they hear so many things all the time. This chaos is the perfect recipe for some bad guy to manipulate the world.