Brave New World Response #5

After reading these four chapters, I was more interested in the story. At the beginning of the book, I wasn’t so fond of it. But now I guess it got a little easier to understand, and I’m enjoying it.

In chapter 10 I found it ironic how the Director was going to fire Bernard and send him away to exile because of his weird actions. When all along the director was the one that committed something that their people were completely against. He made someone a mother, something that their people were foreign to. Being parents was laughed at among their people. Instead of him firing Bernard, he quit because of his embarrassment and his disloyal ways to what his people stand for.

One thing that caught my attention within these four chapters was the relationship between Lenina and John. Lenina seems to have strong feelings for John. In chapter 13 Lenina is talking to her friend Franny. She states “but he’s the one I want” (pg.171). Franny then says “Don’t think about him….take soma” (pg.171). “I do…But in the intervals I still like him. I shall always like him” (pg.171) states Lenina. But she is not alone. John seems to have feelings for her as well. Although, they are both unsure if the other likes them back as well. In this chapter Lenina goes to see John to confess how much she likes him. She takes half a gramme of soma upon arriving at John’s room. When she arrives, he seems to not look happy to see her. It’s because he was expecting someone else. Nevertheless he is happy, because now he can confess his love for her. Lenina tries to kiss John, but instead he starts talking about proving his worth to her. By this he wants to bring her the skin of a mountain lion. Lenina is confused to why he is acting this way. He’s pretty much telling her he would do anything to show her how much he loves her. He starts talking about marriage, how where he’s from people get married. “For always. They make a promise to live together for always” (pg.174) stated John. At this point Lenina is horrified by the idea. But she still likes him, and continues to throw herself on him. At this point Lenina is trying to seduce him by taking off her clothes and trying to touch on him. Now John is the one that’s horrified. He’s confused at her weird actions, so he calls her a whore. Obviously Lenina and John come from different worlds. Where certain things are acceptable, and others aren’t. For Lenina, in her world if you like someone you then express it through sex. For John, in his world if you like someone you prove your worth then you get married. That why when they would try to “seduce” each other, the other was confused to why they would take that kind of action.

I found it funny that when Bernard finally started to get a good reputation, he allowed it to go to his head. He bragged about how many women he had within a week. He didn’t think much of his new found popularity. He thought that being John’s “guardian” would help his popularity stay afloat. But in the end, John was behind the reason why his popularity didn’t last long.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *