I think these chapters are finally where the plot actually starts moving and gets interesting for me. We now see Bernard in a troubling situation where he might potentially be exiled to Iceland because of his actions. I also thought it was really cool to see someone rebel against this society and the director like how Bernard did. As Bernard asks permission to go into the Reservation, the Director recalls a time when he went there and met a moment but lost her. Bernard says you must have had a terrible shock and i think it is here where Bernard takes a jab at him.  I also think this is also a part where we see a hint of the director’s weakness. In page 95 the directors says, “Don’t imagine, that I’d had any indecorous relation wit the girl. Nothing emotional, nothing long drawn, It was all perfectly healthy and normal. Furious with himself for having given away a discreditable secret, he vented his rage on Bernard.” Perhaps the director still has some “emotion” left in him or in other words, his old self before this society came to be. This part also makes me question if Bernard will use this information against the Director is some kind of rebellion. In these chapters, the soma was talked about a lot. During their trip to the Reservation, Lenina keeps urging Bernard to take some soma to calm himself down. It seems that soma is very important to this new society, like a new drug that calms you down. It calms Bernard down to the point where he is comfortable enough to have sex with Lenina. There was also a point in these chapters where Bernard learning a part of the Directors past may have backfired on him. He calls Helmholtz only to find out that the director stayed true to his words of sending him to Iceland. In page 100, you can see how depressed Bernard turns in a instant, from feeling rebellious, to scared. In the middle of the page it says, “What? He’s looking out for some one to take my place? Bernard’s voice was agonized. So it’s actually decided? Did he mention Iceland? You say he did? Ford! Iceland… He hung up on the receiver and turned back to Lenina. His face was pale, his expression utterly dejected.” You can see how slowly his feelings change from being anxious, to being scared.

I thought it got really interesting when Bernard finds the little boy John in the Reservation. He learns that his father is really the Director in the world State. I think this is a crucial moment in the book because it seems like no one else knows about the Director having a son and in this time, is a disgrace. It also seems like Bernard plans to take John back to the World State in order to disgrace the director. To me it seems like this is revenge for Bernard for being exiled to Iceland by the director. It is also introduced again in these chapters where having babies naturally is seen as inhumane. Linda, John’s mother, did not want to go back to the world state because she felt disgraced for having a baby.

In chapters 6-9 of Brave New World, we were exposed to a whole new side to the book.  When Lenina and Bernard travel outside of the Conditioning Centre in London, to a reservation in New Mexico.  When exploring New Mexico, Lenina and Bernard encountered the Indian culture and met a new group of people that were able to expose them to a new world.

I enjoyed chapters 6 through 9 more than the first five chapters of Brave New World.  I feel like the first five chapters of the book are less entertaining than chapters 6 through 9.  The story line of chapters 6 through 9 is on one track instead of here and there like the first five chapters.  I enjoyed the story of John and Linda.  Learning the background of the two new characters and the different life they lived from Lenina and Benard was more interesting than the life in the conditioning centre.

John differs from the other characters of his world while Bernard differs from the characters in his world.  John seeks acceptance in his world, and in this way he can connect to Bernard.  In chapters 6-9 we are also introduced to Bernard’s world.  Although it was a bit confusing to understand, I was able to understand Bernard a little more.  Bernard is the type of person who wants to step outside of the box and not go by the rules of the world he lives in.  He doesn’t want to consume soma all the time, he feels belittled by his superiors, and all he wants to do is be different.  But, while he was trying to be himself, he was threatened by the Director to be transferred to a sub-centre in Iceland.

In chapter 6, you can easily tell the difference between Bernard and Lenina.  Lenina is so used to the condition life style that she has been living in, while Bernard wants to break free of the conditioned lifestyle.  In chapter 6, Bernard states “Yes, ‘Everybody’s happy nowadays.’ We begin giving the children that at five.  But wouldn’t you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina?  In your own way, for example; not in everybody else’s way.”  After this statement Lenina replies with “I don’t know what you mean.”  In these statements, we can clearly see that Bernard thinks differently from the people in his world. He feels differently as well.  Bernard would probably be able to live easier if he had a friend like John in his life that he can connect with.  Bernard does have Helmholtz, but Helmholtz pities Bernard.  When Bernard speaks, Helmholtz either zones off or continues to speak about himself.  But, Bernard may think of John as a savage now being that he caught John running out of his hotel room.  Hopefully, John is able to explain himself, and Bernard still decides to take him to London with him and Lenina.  If John travels back to London with Lenina and Bernard, it may benefit both John and Bernard.  John may be able to explore a new world and hopefully be accepted by society, or Bernard can show that life outside of conditioning is beneficial.

Lots of progression so far between Bernard and Lenina and a lot of interesting traits that I picked up during these 4 chapters. Mostly Bernard’s introversion and his disinterest in taking a soma to calm himself down. I connected a bit more with Bernard’s introversion and the fact that he likes to be alone and more calm rather than be with a lot of people. I understood where he came from but what I didn’t understand was the way he went about things like staying in the helicopter in mid air while Lenina was feeling uncomfortable. I also found out that Lenina may or may not have some type of addiction to somas whenever she gets anxious. For example, the time she was walking in the reservation and saw the old half naked old Indian man climbing down the ladder or when Bernard was talking with the Warden. I think while she might be sweet and sometimes cautious about Bernard, she may have a dark secret about her that’s not known right now.

“”But I do,” he insisted. “It makes me feel as though…” he hesitated, searching for words with which to express himself, “as though I were more me, if you see what I mean. More on my own, no so completely a part of something else. No just a cell in the social body. Doesn’t it make you feel like that, Lenina?” (Huxley 90)

Chapters 6 through 9 had a lot of developments going on and especially a lot of great imagery but what stood out to me the most was Bernard. The part in chapter 6 when Bernard is in the Director’s office and the Director tells Bernard about the girl he went on a reservation with that had gone missing and the Director warning Bernard about transferring him to Iceland. Suddenly, Bernard’s attitude changes coming out his office as if he took great joy in hearing displeasure in others because he constantly over thinks things and likes to isolate himself.

I think Bernard is made to look selfish with the way he handles himself with Lenina. Especially when she tries to calm him and pleasure him with love, he’s just too frustrated with life and makes the worst out of situations. I think he’s taken things for granted, and being introverted will not help live his life.

Lenina, while trying to witty, caring, and loving, she seems to not welcome any type of situation where it’s real and it’s life and she handles her situation by taking somas. It’s not until chapter 7 where she’s with the young Indian man that she starts to calm down and look at things differently while not on somas. Often times Bernard tends to emotionally hurt Lenina by his attitude towards everything unless she calms him down and encourages him to take somas. Lenina and Bernard both have contrasts but both compare with each other in that both have faults and are not as perfect as they were created/or thought to be. Bernard tends to take things seriously while Lenina tries to make light of the situation. It’s an interesting dynamic between the two.

Throughout these few chapters, a lot of events occurred.  We 1st get to see the inner workings of Bernards mind and why he seemed so different than anyone else. He expresses a lot of his views which seem normal to us but radical and very different from the normal in the society under the World State.  Benard states to Lenina that he doesn’t want to be a cell of a social body  (Huxley 90). He also says how he wants to experience what passion is.(Huxley 92).In their society this is very strange under the ideology that everyone belongs to everyone. Bernard wants to know what it feels like to be in love is what I gathered from it. I don’t think he wants the physical end of it because that is so common. The emotional part of a relationship is pretty much forbidden and he yearns for it.

The story continues with Benard trying to convince Lenina to come with him on this retreat. At 1st I assumed that  this was maybe a vacation type thing mentioned earlier in the book when a character went to New Mexico. Turns out they were going to a “savage reservation”. A permit is required to visit these places. Benard owns a permit to visit savage resorts and he needs the DHC to sign off on one. When Bernard approaches him, the director starts telling a story about his past in which he traveled to a savage resort with a girl he knew. As i was reading this i was almost in disbelief in the newly revealed side of the director. Its as if he had feelings for this girl he took. I feel like he was choking up and getting emotional telling the story. Being that these emotions are prohibited i would have never thought the director would have had this side. Then after Bernard asks a question about his story, the director retorts with ” don’t imagine that I’d have and indecorus relation with this girl”  (Huxley 95). I wonder if the director is hiding something. I remember the professor in class saying that the Controller had a collection of poetry and literature from today. I’m thinking maybe the director dabbled into that and started having different ideals.

In the novel, a savage reservation is almost the same as an indian reservation today. the citizens are described being of dark colored skin, wearing animal skins and ragged clothes. A short while after they arrive, a new character is introduced named Linda. Linda used to be a beta – .  Linda tells lenina all of these stories about her transition from one lifestyle of one extreme to the exact opposite. Almost every value system of a society under the World State is the exact opposite in the savage reservation. The author also describes these violent and bloody acts of violence that are committed against Linda. With hearing all of these stories Lenina is shocked and downs 6 grammes of soma as soon as she can. Only reason i could think of that could explain the authors reasoning behind this is to show the drastic differences between the 2 societies. I’m assuming that this sets the ground for future events in further chapters.

This week’s reading was in chapters 6 – 9. The first few chapters was like a roller coaster ride to me first I didn’t like it then I liked it, but now after reading these few chapters I’m still suck in limbo. Lenina and Bernard went to visit a savage reservation and I must admit I believe these people to be savages. Not because of the way Lenina and Bernard may think of them of savages, but because of the way they treat Linda and John. The beginning of chapter eight and all throughout the chapter the natives treat Linda and John so horribly because they are different. “Linda was on the bed. One of the women was holding her wrists. Another was lying across her legs so she couldn’t kick. The third was hitting her with a whip. Once, twice, three times; each time Linda screamed……. He caught hold of the woman’s enormous brown hand between his own and bit with all his might. She cried out wrenched her hand free, and gave him such a push that he fell down. While he was lying on the ground she hit him two or three times with the whip” ( Huxley page 118) That to me is disgusting, savage behavior. Whatever the reason, there is no excuse for three grown women to hold down another and physically assault her like an animal. Then to hit her child who was only defending his mother from their physical assault, is even more appalling. I find them to be savage creatures, I couldn’t even call them human beings. On page 127 they throw rocks at John making him to bleed very bad all because he wanted to participate in the ritual and they wouldn’t let him because he was different. These men criticize him because they think of his mother as whore, but these are the same men who go to his mother night after night. I find their behavior as well as their wives to unacceptable and savage and in the context of this story I’m glad that they live on reservations away from civilized people.

Chapter nine is very short chapter. Bernard has something cooking up his sleeve. He’s making arrangement for John and Linda to come back to London with them, and he’s on the phone with Mustapha Mond and he tells him ” I venture to think that your fordship might find the matter of sufficient scientific interest….” (Huxley page 132). The questions I have is, is Bernard bringing both Linda and John back to be studied like some specimens?  Is he playing a social experiment with them? For example can they assimilate back into civilized culture after bing around savages for so long? The beginning chapters I liked Bernard but the more and more I find out about him, I find him to be a rather sneaky person and I don’t that at all.  Towards the end of the chapter I’m curious to know what exactly was John plans with the sleeping Lenina? Was he planning on sexually assaulting her?

As many of the other students have said chapter 6-9 of brave new world is definitely where most of the conflict begins though it is a bit confusing with the way the wording is. But reading it you see it the chapters mostly talk about Lenina and how society within the World State is portrayed. Then you get the conflicts such as Bernard’s own personal thoughts on individuality.

You can see within this chapter the way she is trying to understand Bernard but gives up also. The way he tries to reject how society runs and more of thinking to him self of what he truly wants in chapter 6. He is seen with the struggle of wanting to be with Lenina for more then just sex. He wants to actually be with her where he can just enjoy which confuses her because she is used to the society idea of having no attachment that is played through out the story because attachment makes them animals. He mentioned with in the chapter “I though we’d be more… more together here-with nothing but the sea and moon. More together than in that crowd, or even in my rooms. Don’t you understand that?” (Page 91). You can see him struggling to explain that he is actually in love with her but she doesn’t understand it so she brushes him off with the lines “why don’t you take soma when you have theses dreadful ideas of yours” (page 91)

Reading it you see how a big part soma plays into the story especially with Lenina when she couldn’t handle reality its her drug to escape like when she she saw the 7 mother feeding her baby on chapter . The natural relationship made her feel indecent and dirty. as she says a lot “Its terrible” and also “its awful” (page 106).

The more I read the book the more captivating it gets with how the twist and turns the story get although it does get confusing with rumpling back and forth between all the characters and new conflict so it does need a lot of rereading to really understand what is truly going on within the story. I really enjoy the character of Bernard because he is willing to think for himself instead of conforming with society like Lenina. Hes willing to jump out of his bounders and not care for judgement even if it meant him getting in trouble. But the character i can say i felt really bad for the most would be Linda. She is constantly abused and made fun of by the people around her and treated as an outcast no matter where she went. She had world state ideas and because of this it made her unable to blend in with the though of the people in the reservation. The taboo relation she had with the Director made it even harder for her to return because it lead to her pregnancy with john. Her lost of soma on the reservation made her abuse Mescal which shows how deep soma effected the people of world state and there dependence on soma as a drug which they use to relive them of pain and all unnecessary deemed though.