Category: BNW, chapters 6-9 (Page 1 of 2)

As we continue through chapters 6-9 of Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, we are exposed to a society that inhabits people, that are called savages by the people of the New World.  The New World is a place where in the words of Linda is, “…so clean, and no nasty smells, no dirt at all” (120).  Whereas in the Reservation, it’s pretty much an unsanitary place.  Where cleanliness is the least of the worries for the people living there.  But, there was one person that was able absorb knowledge from both societies.  John is the son of Linda, that was once a Beta-minus, who was raised in an estranged society with a mother that only possessed skills useful in the New World.  Therefore, John was able to develop skills taught from the New World and from the Reservation.

As a child, John was bullied a lot because of his appearance yet, he was able to feel superior compared to the rest of the children due to his ability to read.  Linda was able to teach John how to read through writings on the walls and overtime he was able to get better.  His mother didn’t know how to sew his ruined clothes, so this made him get bullied a lot.  During John’s reminiscence,  he mentioned, “‘Rags, Rags!’ the boys used to shout at him.  ‘But I can read,’ he said to himself, ‘and they can’t.  They don’t even know what reading is ‘”(121).  After this sudden realization that John went through, he was able to feel superior towards the other boys.  Because, reading was a skill that was taught in the New World, but does not exist in the Reservation.

John has had to “self-teach” himself about various traditions related to the reservation.  Due to his appearance, he was not allowed to experience various traditional practices that a normal adolescent from the Reservation goes through.  For instance, John mentioned, “they wouldn’t let me go with the others; they wouldn’t they wouldn’t tell me any of the secrets” (128).  It’s evident that in order for John to satisfy his curiosities, he had to experience these “secrets” on his own.  So he didn’t consume anything for 5 days and traveled to the  mountains so that he can find his sacred animal.  He contemplated suicide, which then led him to discover, “Time and Death and God”(127).  The Savages were not fond of his presence around them at a young age, which led to isolation and denying him of any form of exposure to these traditions.  If only they had accepted him, he wouldn’t have gone through all of these hardships just to fit in with his society.

Eventually, John was taught how to craft by Mitsima.  When John was fifteen, he was taken under the wing of Mitsima and taught how to craft objects using clay.  Given the circumstances, John  had to learn crafting through imitation.  “A moon, a cup, and now a snake”(125).  These were the words of wisdom and apparently the methods used to create a pot.  I assume that after months of practice creating pots, that is when Mitsima decided to teach John how to create weapons.  Mitsima was able to give John teachings of crafting after reaching a certain age.  I suppose that being an able bodied young man will earn you a place within the Reservation.

By developing skills taught from the New World and the Reservation, John can be seen as a diverse character.  Both societies seem to limit the teachings to their citizens.  On one hand we have the New World, which has a skills taught to a person based on their rank within their caste system.  Whereas, within the Reservation, their people are taught traditional teachings and secrets that will be considered useful during their existence.  Yet, John was able to receive knowledge from both societies and this can potentially make him more powerful compared to others from each individual society.

In next few chapters you find out that Bernard is actually the most “Human” out of his peers, based on his reactions to specific events and how he takes things that happen to him.  The place you see this the strongest would be when Bernard and Lenina travel to the reservation and encounter people still living under the old ways, people not part of their “Ford”. Bernard’s reaction to everything that they witnessed was of someone who was interested in the way of life, while Lenina’s was of disgust and fear. While Lenina questioning how people could live like this Bernard seemed to not even be phased by their lifestyle. “they’ve been doing it for the last five or six thousand years. So i suppose they must be used to it by now”. His tone is of someone who is more accepting of their nature, while Lenina is more denouncing. Another interesting exchange was when they both encountered the Elder of the reservation Lenina saw something she could barely comprehend, while Bernard saw someone who was just old. “That’s because we don’t allow them to be like that. We preserve them from diseases. We keep their internal secretions artificially balanced at a youthful equilibrium. We don’t permit their magnesium-calcium ratio to fall below what it was at thirty. We give them transfusion of young blood. We keep their metabolism permanently stimulated. So, of course they don’t look like that, Partly”. Lenina didn’t want to listen to his explanation because to her the sight was enough to distract her from the truth, her “conditioning” won’t let her. Bernards inability to fit in and “conform” is because he still thinks he doesn’t let his brainwashing control his thoughts on situations. Another Situation where Bernard showed his different personality from his peers was in the Director’s office, he was threatened with a transfer is he doesn’t conform and stop with his “lapse from a proper standard of infantile decorum”. They want him to conform and be the alpha he was conditioned to be. Bernard took this threat like it didn’t matter “Bernard left the room with a swagger, exulting as he banged the door behind him, in the thought that he stood alone, embattled against the order of things”. Bernard is by far the most Human character, in a story of Programed conditioned cyborgs.

Just as when you thought things cannot go wrong as you’re continuing to read a story like “Brave New World”, it turns out that things just got deep. If there’s one thing that makes a story go deep, it’s the character itself. After reading Chapter 6, the mood of each character shows their inner aura. One character that has a really dark aura around him, while the other character has an aura that may contain darkness and it may continue to grow. These two characters are the Director and Bernard. So the question is, how can we tell that these two characters have those kind of auras?

Let’s start off with the Director. The way how you would see him after reading his quotes in chapter 6, you probably see him as an antagonist in the story. For example, he knows the idea of Bernard’s, which was “to have a look at the savages” (94). And then he starts talking to Bernard a sad and dark story about a girl he was with back in New Mexico for his summer holiday. After he told the story, the Director then “Started into a guilty realization of where he was; shot a glance at Bernard, and averting his eyes, blushed darkly; looked at him with sudden suspicion and, angrily on his dignity” (95). These types of actions definitely shows that he is a psychopath and only a villain can do these kinds of performance.

And as for Bernard, he would have to be a confused boy who thinks that having hatred to the people and only believing himself is a way of happiness. For example, during the time when he was talking to Lenina, he started “stopping  his propeller and hovering on his helicopter screws within a hundred feet of the waves” (89). In which case, it made the weather go even worse and darker. After he turned off the current, he said to her “It makes me feel as though I were more me, if you see what I mean. More on my own, not so completely a part of something else. Not just a cell in the social body” (90). As we see what Bernard did and how he felt about it, this shows that he would need to quickly learn that believing only yourself is not the true answer and he can have the chance to change the aura that he has right now, or else he’ll probably end up like the Director.

Through the things we readers see into these characters right now, their auras are determined of the path they choose. As the Director had made his chose of his aura, he will stick with it permanently. But the question for Bernard, however, is “Will he change his aura, or will he never change it forever?”

As it’s been touched on in class, the people of Brave New World use a drug called soma in order to attain some sort of escape. The drug is widely used in almost all social situations, like here when Bernard and Lenina end up attending a Woman’s Wrestling match as part of their first date:

“In a crowd,” he grumbled. “As usual.” He remained obstinately gloomy the whole afternoon; wouldn’t talk to Lenina’s friends (of whom they met dozens in the ice-cream soma bar between the wrestling bouts); and in spite of misery absolutely refused to take the half gramme-raspberry sundae which she pressed upon him. “I’d rather be myself,” he said. “Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.” (p. 89)

Soma acts as a crutch in this society not only for escape for one’s self, but also escape from any related human interaction. Even at a public gathering with Lenina’s “friends”, they are all partaking in the drug. And rather than wanting to enjoy each other’s company watching the moon over the ocean, Lenina insists on how dreadful it is while not feeling the affects of soma.

The “savages” at the reservation do not rely on an escape from human interaction, rather they embrace the concept. Even Bernard is evident of this, as he saw it happening when they entered the reserve and were seeing a mother breast-feeding her child:

“What a wonderfully intimate relationship,” he said, deliberately outrageous. “And what an intensity of feeling it must generate! I often think one may have missed something in not having had a mother. And perhaps you’ve missed something in not being a mother, Lenina. Imagine yourself sitting there with a little baby of your own….” (p.107)

And during the whole time they are at the reserve, neither of them are on soma. Bernard being reliant on his own determination doesn’t need it while Lenina (like a drug-abuser) is relapsing from not having it. Her conditioning with soma also contributes to the fact that she can’t deal with deep emotional human connections. There are numerous examples of this, she takes the drug when not wanting to deal with another person.

The only sign of cope I observed from her while on the reserve, was when she would link whatever she was witnessing back to norms of her society:

It reminded her reassuringly of the synthetic noises made at Solidarity Services and Ford’s Day celebrations. “Orgy-porgy,” she whispered to herself. These drums beat out just the same rhythms…Queer – yes. The place was queer, so was the music, so were the clothes and the goitres and the skin diseases and the old people. But the performance itself – there seemed to be nothing specially queer about that. (p.108)

Though she sees a barbaric display as people sing as one and show signs of brotherhood, she is able to enjoy herself. And this is only through relating it back to her good experiences, the times when she knew that what she was doing was right, is how she is able to deal with not having soma.

In a way, soma draws the person back to “civilized” society. The manipulations of a world that conditions it’s residents to not have deep emotional connections with one another; all the celebration, without the needed outcome of connecting with people. In contrast, the reserve community rely on one another both emotionally and in regards to attaining knowledge; and they show their gratitude with one another with tradition and unified celebration.