Gosh, I don’t even know where to begin… I am in complete awe.

Upon reading chapter 14-18 in Brave New World, I did not expect the ending to unravel the way it did. I felt different emotions within each chapter, some ranging from confusion to disappointment to finally unsatisfied.

I initially thought that because Bernard was different from the rest of the citizens in the World State, he was the chosen one to break the caste system. I was hoping for Bernard to be the “independent” one and spread knowledge and freedom upon others. As I read the further chapters, I realized that Bernard was changing unconsciously and to be honest I do not blame him. I mean, how could he prevent himself? He is surrounded by people who believe in the caste system, are supplied with numerous amounts of soma and are conditioned in many aspects. How was Bernard to protect himself from it? He couldn’t. Bernard began to change and follow the caste system and soon his independence started fading away and he became one of “them.”

I also thought that Bernard was the main protagonist in the story but upon reading the remaining chapters, I believe John was the main character all along. Sure we were all introduced to Bernard first but the impact and predicaments that John was exposed to resembled that of an independent person. John did not believe in the caste system nor agreed with the idea of conditioning and to know how the World State’s rules and regulation affected him has made the transitioning to main character possible.

Because John belonged in another place rather than the World State, he was able to gain freedom through reading, exploring etc. With John’s character I was able to visualize and understand how the regulations in the World State can corrupt an individual. When his mother passed, I believed that it was the moment where John had completely lost himself. Of course a piece of him had deteriorated by simply losing his mother but what stood out to me is the reason why she passed on, soma. Everyone in the World State idolizes soma, it may be even an addiction to others but I believe that drug symbolizes the containment of one’s freedom.

In chapter 15 John states, “‘Don’t you even understand what manhood and freedom are?… I’ll teach you; I’ll make you be free whether you want to or not.” And pushing open a window that looked on to the inner court of the Hospital, he began to throw the little pill-boxes of soma tablets in handfuls out into the area” (Huxley 193). Soma is what keeps the civilization going. I may be wrong but I believe soma is what killed Linda, her addiction to this drug has not only separated her from reality but she couldn’t even remember her own son! Soma is what keeps everyone in order no matter what circumstances they are in and I feel the more and more the citizens in the World State consume this drug, they become addicted to it but there are even worse consequences than that; as they consume each bit of tablets of the drug, they are segregating themselves from their own freedom, their own independence and they all don’t even know it! Which is the reason why I was hoping for John to be the spokesperson, to make a change and stop this civilization. However, as the controller states about the citizens in the World State, “They practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there’s soma” (Huxley 199). Soma will always keep things in “check” and controlled at all times. If John was free before and was consumed by soma or even the state’s rules and regulation, then where is the hope for it ever ending? – There isn’t any hope, at least not anymore.

After reading Brave New World, I am surprised, confused and disappointed. The ending was not at all how I expected it to be. In the beginning chapters of the story, I thought Bernard was the protagonist. He was different from everyone and I thought he was going to rebel from the World State and be the “hero” by the end of the book but that was not the case. I then continued reading and from the middle chapters, I saw that Bernard’s character was changing. He was starting to act like everyone else around him, he was following the rules of the World State like acting promiscuously and he started taking soma. All these thoughts I had about Bernard really disappointed me, especially when reading chapter fifteen.

In chapter fifteen, we learn that Linda dies and John turns the hospital into complete chaos. John begins screaming, he punches people in their faces and even throws out the supply of soma out of the window. All the people couldn’t believe what John was doing. Bernard says “he’s mad, they’ll kill him. Ford help him!” (pg 193) John shouted “free, free” “men at last!” “you’re free!” (pg 193) while he was throwing out the soma.  I was happy that John was doing this because I felt like he was giving everyone a reality check, which they didn’t understand. He was trying to show them that soma is not everything in life, he thinks soma is like poison. All these people are so caught up in following what’s “right and wrong” in life, that I think they’re not even really living a life because they are all already “predestined” and everything they’re supposed to do is already laid out for them to do like taking soma, participating in orgies, believing in “Ford” and being promiscuous.

I was really disappointed with Bernard on page 193. John was supposed to be Bernard’s friend, he brought back John and Linda to the World State and brought them to the Director. I knew that Bernard did this for revenge on the Director, but I also thought that Bernard actually somewhat cared for John and Linda? In previous readings we found out that Bernard was only using them both for his own purposes, to gain popularity.

I wanted to think that Bernard would have turned out differently by the end of the story. I truly thought Bernard was going to be a leader, but in reality he is actually just like everyone else, a follower. From pages 193-194 Bernard has an internal conflict where he is watching all this chaos in the hospital go on and how John is acting and he thinks of helping the others and he is “urged by a sudden impulse, ran forward to help them; then thought better of it and halted; then, ashamed, stepped forward again then again thought better of it and was standing in an agony of humiliated indecision” (pg 193) He starts thinking about how John is going crazy and taking all his built up emotions and anger out on the other people. I thought Bernard was going to step in and be a man and help the others and after going back and forth with what to do,  but he just decides to play the victim.

Although, I wanted Bernard to be the hero, I liked how Huxley changed up the story. It would be too predictable for Bernard to be the hero and the ending was definitely unexpected. I think this made the ending of the story more interesting, then how it may have been with Bernard being the hero, like a “happy ever after” I think that would have been boring.

I finished reading with the question.. What happened to Lenina?

Something I learned in sociology class was Karl Marx’s Conflict View of Social Change. This concept was “conflict is progress and progress is conflict” this concept reminded me of Brave New World.  Bernard and John both brought conflict to the World State, Bernard was unlike the others in his caste system, Alpha Plus and at first he didn’t live the way he was supposed to, which caused conflict. Bernard brought John to the World State, which also caused conflict. When there was an attempt at progress, there were more conflicts that followed.

We have finally reached the end of this story and I am left unsatisfied. Questions about the society have been answered yes, but I do not like the ending of the characters. Questions about what happens to the characters now and what fate are they left to. Are these questions left to the reader to figure out?

Bernard the coward. In the last few chapters our protagonist Bernard has shown to be nothing but a coward that will do anything to be accepted by his “Fordship” or to look like a sort of hero as seen in the last couple chapters when he introduced the savages. Analyzing his character throughout the story, Bernard seemed like the character that would eventually rebel against the system and express his own views and ideas. I realized that after his downfall at the party he completely lost his momentum in the story. We see in chapter 16 Bernard says “You can’t send me. I haven’t done anything. It was the others. I swear it was the others.” He pointed accusingly yo Helmholtz and the savage. “Oh, please don’t send me to Iceland. I promise I’ll do what I ought to do. Give me another chance. Please give me another chance. (203). We clearly see Bernard give up and as we say “throws under the bus” his supposed two best friends, the only people he can relate to. Without question puts full blame on them like nothing just to get out of this inevitable and certain relocation. I found this to be the most cowardly act from Bernard, crying and pleading to take the “others” instead of himself. We later see him asking for forgiveness in chapter 18 “And by the way John,” he continued, leaning forward in his chair and laying a hand on the Savage’s knee, “I want to say how sorry I am about everything that happened yesterday.” He blushed. “How ashamed,” he went on, in spite of the unsteadiness of his voice.” (217) We can see how confused and out of place Bernard is, clearly his mental state is unstable and relocation is the best option for him. Until he finds himself, he will remain under the shadow of Helmholtz even on the island.

The calm and accepting Helmhotlz. Completely opposite of Bernard, he accepts his fate of being sent away to an island with pleasure “By the way, Mr. Watson, would you like a tropical climate? The Marquesas, for example; or Samoa? Of something rather more bracing?” Helmholtz rose from his pneumatic chair. “I should like a thoroughly bad climate,” he answered. “I believe one would write better if the climate were bad. If there were a lot of wind and storms, for example. . .” (206) I feel as if Helmholtz remains strong and proud as an Alpha should, accepting his fate and speaking to someone with such power as the worlds controller with no problem or tremor in his voice is definitely admirable. He keeps his composure as well as controls Bernard’s tantrums. I feel he will do well in the islands, I can sense he will find himself and more people to discover what he has been questioning about himself since our introduction to his character.

John’s sad fate. John’s character has really has hit his highs and lows. He is being taught about the world state’s society throughout his time being there. I personally think it was too much for him to understand and take in. Not being born into this lifestyle made everything harder to picture and believe. I also believe that the combination of the Savage way of life and the World State’s “civil” way, were polar opposites and not easy on John to comprehend. In chapter 17, John and Mustapha have a lengthy conversation on religion and the way things “should” be compared to the way they are. Both sides of the arguments seem to make a lot of sense in their own way, and as readers we now fully understand and can grasp why things are the way they are in the World State. John on the other hand chooses to do things the way he feels is right. Ultimately, we find that John gives into his thoughts of Lenina, which go against what he was trying to prove to himself that he was able to overcome and ends his life.

This ending has me wondering what will happen with Lenina, one of the only characters that had he most interaction with the main characters. She also knows the most about how Bernard truly felt. Will she ignore what she heard? Will her love for John fade away now that he’s dead? Will Mond or anyone find out about what happened between her and John? Will she be exiled if they do find out?

Really liked the story regardless of the ending, just wished Huxley left us with some closure on the characters.

These chapters were really the turning point of the book and probably the most intense part. The big secret is finally revealed and some characters go through some changes. It seems to me that the Director uses fear to get what he wants but the intention of using fear is not actually mentioned. The Director gathers the workers at the factory to make a public announcement of him banishing Bernard to Iceland. We can see him using fear in a way and of him exerting his power in chapter 10 on page 137, he says, “It is better than one should suffer than that many should be corrupted. Murder kills only the individual and after all, what is an individual? We can make a new one with the greatest ease, as many as we like.” To me this shows that he is not hesitant to kill off any of the people to create new ones to more benefit the World State. It’s kind of his way of saying, you mess up and I’ll have you gone.

After the Director is shamed by Bernard, revealing his son to the factory, he finds new fame and kind of a new identity for himself. Although he was of upper class, he was not noticed as much. After he became John’s official guardian, he suddenly becomes popular and this fame gets into his head and the way I see it, makes him lose his ways. At first it seems like Bernard’s only intention with John was to expose the Director but now he is just using him as a tool to make him popular. I also say he is losing his way and that the fame is getting to his head is because he is ignoring what he cherished as a person before, his purity and justice he had.

In page 145 we can see a example of him and Hemholtz talking and Helmholtz hints at Bernard that he is losing his way. It says, “And I had six girls last week, he confided to Helmholtz Watson. One on Monday, two on Tuesday, two more on Friday, and one on Saturday. Helmholtz listened to his boasting in a silence so gloomily disapproving that Bernard was offended. You’re envious Bernard says. Helmholtz shook his head. I’m rather sad, that’s all.” Helmholtz realizes his change of ways and is disappointed of him. Back then in the earlier chapters, the idea of being with more than one women or man was absurd to him and disgusted him.

I also found this part of the book interesting because we kind of see a change in Lenina. She was never really satisfied with one man and always had multiple relationships. With John however, it is completely different. She feels that he is the only one that can distract her and to me it seems that the more he rejects her, the more she wants him, kind of how a player is in real life. On page 157, we see that Lenina is not used to his rejection and is so torn by this, that she has to take soma to relieve herself. It says, “Drying her eyes, Lenina walked across the roof to the lift, On her way down to the twenty seventh floor she pulled out her soma bottle. One gramme, she decided, would not be enough.”

In these few chapters we read this week, it’s been overwhelmingly focused on Bernard and his rapid rise and fall from power, that we may overlook another character’s plight in these chapters. Lenina is extremely insecure and sad and dare I say not the happy go lucky soma can cure everything well conditioned model citizen that she has been portrayed to be in earlier chapters and I find it quite interesting.

After returning from the savage reservation she, along as Bernard becomes a celebrity of sorts. She’s been “had: by a number of important people The Resident world Controller’s second security, the Ford Chief Justice and the Deputy-Governor of the bank of Europe just to name a few. I would suspect that is very good company to be in, being that she is a Beta. A lot of people know who she is and her popularity has increased a great deal. “Lenina was lucky……..lucky in reflecting from her insignificant person the moment’s supremely fashionably glory………. Had she not already appeared in the Freelytone News- visibly, audibly, and tactually appeared to countless millions all over the planet?” ( Huxley page 152).

Even with all her new found celebrity and higher social standing, she is I believed deeply saddened because the Savage, John, rejects her. She’s used to being had by most guys, even Bernard had her, but John wont touch her. She has been in his company several times and been on a number of dates with her, but he won’t have her, he wont touch or at times even look at her. On page 152 she even states that he even goes as far as leaving the room when she walks in. I think his actions towards her are not only confusing but I think it’s really screwing with her psyche. She’s not emotionally equipped to handle the rejection.

Growing up through adolescence and early adulthood we learn through life lessons, the pain and struggles of heart ache and rejection. The sadness of having your crush be with someone else, not having a date for the dance, or even worse having your first love break your heart into a million pieces and thinking you’ll never get over it, but eventually we all do. Lenina never went through these trials and tribulations of romance, and she was conditioned and programmed to believe everyone belongs to everyone. This rejection is new to her and she doesn’t know how to handle it.

In chapter 12 Bernard throws a party and John refuses to attend and Lenina assumes it’s because of her. “‘Perhaps it’s because he doesn’t like me,’ she said to herself. And at once this possibility became an established certainty: John had refused to come because he didn’t like her. He didn’t like her” ( Huxley page 160). That is some deep, misguided, depressive thinking! I think she is so used to popping soma to not feel bad, that she doesn’t know to process her emotions and she is reaching to the most outlandish and far out conclusion about the situation, because as we read early one John not coming to the party has nothing to do with her. As we read later on the chapter she is so distraught she seems out of it, that she unwillingly and almost mechanically leaves the party with the Community- Songster. This is such a big deal, that this very important person wants her, but she is so distraught and so overcome with melancholy that she doesn’t recognize the importance of this invitation. She even in a sense drags her feet and is slow in coming with him to the lift gates. She even stares at the moon, which in earlier chapters  she refused to do and annoyed when Bernard wanted to do the same activity with her when they were alone in the helicopter.

The dynamic in Chapter 13 between John and Lenina is also very, very interesting and it’s the climax I feel between their relationship and I can write a whole blog just on that, so I will end my blog and with only commenting on the earlier chapters. I can’t wait to read the following chapters and see what happens next.

Chapters 10-13 was fascinating stuff to read and visualize the scenes that were unraveling right in front me. The battle between ego, love, disconnect completely collide between Bernard’s new found meaning of life, Lenina’s lovestruck with John, and John’s discovery of how cruel and backstabbing this “perfect” civilization is. The first thing I want to talk about in my blog is the “new” Bernard and how much he’s changed from the beginning of the book. I really enjoyed how Bernard was able to throw the Director’s own history with love right back in his face and made him quit and disappear. That was freaking cool how he had Linda and John waiting behind him at the moments notice when the Director tried to put Bernard on the spot in front of everyone in the lab. I could just visualize the look of horror on the face of the Director when Linda steps in, not to mention John who calls him out to be his father in front of everyone!

Talk about not practicing what you preach. After this whole scene, Bernard goes through a major behavior change in his mood and his overall look on life.

“And I had six girls last week,” he confided to Helmholtz Watson. “One on Monday, two on Tuesday, two more on Friday, and one on Saturday. And if I’d had the time or the inclination, there were at least a dozen more who were only too anxious…”. (Huxley 145)

Bernard becomes someone of importance to everyone and the women are crawling at his feet. While Bernard getting the last laugh against the Director was cool and all, my opinion on Bernard really started to take a turn after it. He starts becoming egotistical and is so enthralled by all this attention he’s getting that his philosophy from earlier chapters is now completely gone. The “I wish were free” Bernard looks to be long gone. During this, he manages to lose a friend in Helmholtz and manages to piss off Mustapha Mond with his letter to him about John. His ignorance during the scene where he’s showing John one of the labs with Miss Keate, but was more interested in getting personal with Miss Keate than spending any time with John. I couldn’t believe how arrogant, and egotistical Bernard had become and how he’s treated John after he essentially saved him from being transferred to Iceland and publicly embarrassed in front of his peers/or brothers. Throughout this whole change of character for Bernard, the book also focuses on how Lenina has been dealing with her love life after Bernard has basically become “the man” to everyone else. This once shy, emotionless guy is no more and Lenina is struggling with her own problems.

She becomes incredibly in love with John (the salvage). It’s interesting to read how contrast their personalities are, but yet how curious they both are to experience one another. Lenina, this civilized woman who goes on a date with John the salvage, how exactly can this relationship work? On page 152, Lenina confesses her love for John to Fanny. It’s the first time where I can see how different Bernard and John’s relationships with Lenina are. Bernard with Lenina was mostly bored, soulless, and ready to move on. While John is described to have actually puppy love feelings for Lenina, something he may not have experienced while living as a salvage. Lenina may have something really special with John, but she’s in the mind state that all men are alike because they all want sex on the first night, and when she comes to realize that this “fact” isn’t entirely true, everything completely backfires on her. John isn’t like other guys she’s been with, mostly Bernard, he becomes offended after a date and leaves her hanging on the top of the roof of her apartment building, an awful familiar place for Lenina. Heartbroken, pale faced, and confused, she’s right back where she’s started and Bernard is in a much happier, sexually active place now. The tides have been turned!

While reading chapters 10-13 I noticed a whole new side to Bernard. In the earlier chapters I never questioned his authenticity until now. Before he would not take soma or undergo social activities and would spend time alone “I’d rather be myself, he said. Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly” (Huxley 89) yet now we see him taking soma to detach himself from facing issues and emotions “he thought better of it and took four tablets of soma” (Huxley 161).

Our first interaction with the new Bernard is found in chapter 10 in which the Director tries to humiliate and transfer Bernard to Iceland yet Bernard stands up to him and flips the coin around. He ended up “humiliating” and causing the Director to quit his job due to news of him fathering a child in the Savage Reservoir. At this point we start to see an emotionally stronger, standing up for himself while also having the spotlight on him “Yes, I can. Bernard answered in a very loud voice” (Huxley 139).

I began to notice a whole new Bernard once chapter 11 began, it was a Bernard which was popular and talked about in a good way throughout the place as if he had made a great discovery. At this point he began to live off the hype of bringing John and Linda to the World State and began to live a celebrity life while partaking at the normal/usual male activities done in the society. Before he was rarely sleeping around with various women, yet now he has a women for each night of the week “And I had six girls last week, he confided to Helmholtz Watson” (Huxley 145). By Bernard having John’s custody and presenting him to important people and places in the World State; Bernard has gain huge popularity and is considered important, he no longer seen as an outcast and he himself shows us that his sense of ego has increased “Bernard now found himself, for the first time in his life, treated not merely normally, but as a person of outstanding importance” (Huxley 144). This was the point in which I knew Bernard’s authenticity is questioned and how he always had this need of trying to fit in with society’s standards. Other characters also began to “respect and admire” Bernard, such as Fanny. Early in the story Fanny and other characters felt pity and found him queer yet now he is portrayed as sweet, desired and intelligent. This was Bernard’s king of the hill moment he had everything he could want, all thanks to John and Linda. Bernard became a character who thrived off John’s and Linda’s existence, and this I found very immoral.

The most surprising part from the reading was to find out John not going to the party to be introduced to the important people in society, the elites such as the Arch-Community-Songster. This caused the party to fall apart and the invited people to once again begin to degrade Bernard once again. Bernard was desperate and foresaw all of his popularity, social status and thrives slipping through his fingers “The intoxication of success had evaporated” (Huxley 163). At this point we officially see Bernard’s internal need of being recognized. This internal conflict which he had faced is now superficial and shown to us to place Bernard back to outcast character which was presented in the beginning. This is also observed when he wakes up from taking soma and John is happy to see him back at his humble sense of being “You’re more like what you were at Malpais” (Huxley 163), even Helmholtz is somewhat happy to have his old friend back. Yet Bernard is not happy about looking his luscious life. These couple of chapters are a roller coaster ride for Bernard’s character, and looking forward to what will happen in the following chapters.

It is clear now that Lenina takes soma to make her feel better when things are going bad at the moment. Almost every time the story talks about soma being taken it is swallowed by Lenina. To prove that there is a part in chapter 7 where her and Bernard was on the mountain in Malpais. She didn’t like the place because it seem so different from things she seen in the World State. In the World State things are perfect and people are old but not as old they are in Malpais. Lenina said this in the text ” We ought not to have come here.” She wanted to leave and probably go back to the World State. I think Lenina was really disgust by how the old indian man was compare to the old people in the World State. After seeing how old the Indian guy was she reached into her pocket for soma but she didn’t have it so I am sure she was even more upset about that. The emphasize on how old the guy Lenina saw was incredibly old. I am sure the poor conditions on this civilization contributed to the way the old guy looked in Lenina eyes because they aren’t as evolved as the World State where they have technology to make people more healthier looking and also a clean environment. Another thing she didn’t like at Malpais was a woman breast feeding her baby. She is not used to seeing that because the World State don’t allow that, humans are produced by machine and it raised without a mother. Lenina don’t know what it is to have a mother or to be one. She probably thinks that seeing this scene is bad for her eyes and is not opened to keep looking so she looks away. Lenina really don’t like this place because she begs Bernard to leave and in the text it says “Lets go away,”she begged. “I don’t like it.” Basically there was a tour guide person showing Bernard and Lenina around the Pueblo of Malpais and as they are being toured around, they see how the people there live compare to the way they normal live in the World State. The true reason Lenina does not like this place Pueblo of Malpais is because it is described as being not civilized, and has dirty conditions. In the text Bernard tells Lenina that the people here at Malpais is not civilized. Bernard said “But these people have never heard of Our Ford, and they aren’t civilized. The proof I have from the text that states that the people at this place Bernard and Lenina visit is dirty says this in the text ” The dirt, to start with, the piles of rubbish, the dust, the dogs, the flies”. The description to me says that the place is dirty like nothing they have seen since they are used to cleanliness in the World State. Right after that quote in the next sentence emphasize how stink it was by the action of Lenina. The text says “Her face wrinkled up into a grimace of disgust. She held her handkerchief to her nose”. This particular part in the story shows you that Lenina did not respond quiet well to the environment condition.

Another part I want to touch on in these chapters i read is that part when Bernard was talking about freedom. He spoke to Lenina about being free. Lenina did not comprehend anything he was saying. Bernand said everyone is happy now adays but would like to be happy in some other way besides what is happiness for him in the World State. He wants to feel a different type of happiness through freedom to do anything he want. Part of Bernand knows that the way he is living in the World State isn’t the way he want to live. He feels happy but not as happy as you think. Here what Bernand said from the story in the book, “what would it be like if i would, if i were free – not enslaved by my conditioning.” That quote from the text to me means that Bernard feels like a slave because he notice that maybe everyone is being controlled by the society he is in and rather be different. Due to the so called accident that fanny which is Lenina friend sat that alcohol got into Bernard blood surrogate so that is the reason for him being different from all the people in the World State that wants to do something not close to the policy they follow. I do srongly believe the accident cause Bernard to explore and act different in the way the Director would not be pleased. Him being free means that he want to try new things besides working in the World State and seeing repetition of activity he is involved in.

I kind of feel like Bernard in this story when it speaks about freedom. I know we have more freedom in our society to do what we want to do but we are still limited to certain things especially because of financial problems or because of the rules and regulation. We still have to do what society wants us to do, for example, we have to go to school or go find a job. There is nothing wrong with both of them but there is certainly more aspect to what society want us to do that I will not talk about. In order for society to be civilized and go on and to grow is that one or more system must be in higher power to control what is right and what is wrong. The government in our world has high power and control things for us to follow and if we don’t follow then their will be consequences. It is not like I want to do bad things so lets get rid of all the rules but there is specific things you have to do in order to receive other things which sometimes are not fair. Just for you to know is that I sometimes feel like Bernard even though my conditioning for where society wants me to act or not do certain things is not bad as him.