Brave New World / Aldous Huxley / chapter 18

“He flung himself against them, he embraced, not the smooth body of his desires, but an armful of green spikes,” (Huxley 252).  John has resorted back to the ways of his old life.  His old life rejected him but her still found it more appeasing than a life of no worth.  He tries to run from the modern world but it still finds him.  John said he could take more pain that the puny boy they used to beat on the reservation and he was right although he was now beating himself.  The controller said he wanted the experiment to continue and so john tried to flee.  This did still fulfill the experiment.  It was just observing what a savage would do in the modern world.  A savage would go insane and kill himself.  The people see the video of John beating himself and think it is entertaining.  They don’t seem to recognize what he I s actually trying to do.  I think if the world ever came to be in such a state it would mean the end of the world.

Brave New World / Aldous Huxley / chapter 17

“’But God doesn’t change.’ ‘Men do, though.’” (Huxley 231).  It is interesting how much they have to restrict science to make their culture work.  The controller also claimed that it was science that had made this society possible but also science that could easily bring it all crashing down again.  It is interesting how the controller acknowledges that their may be a god.  He realizes that he may have existed and still might but their society does not head him.  Older civilizations needed a god to make their lives worth living.  The new world does not need god be cause they are already happy.  I find thins very unsettling. They may all be happy but they live lives that are not worth much.  Why don’t the controllers just let the world crumble bake into non existence?  Which out a god what do the controllers live for other that to keep a meaningless society alive.

Brave New World / Aldous Huxley / chapter 16

“And it’s what you never will write,” said the controller. “Because, if it were really like
Othello nobody could understand it, however new it might be. And if it were new, it couldn’t possibly be like Othello.” (Huxley 220).  He people of this society do not know what they are missing.  You cannot introduce them to it either because they are trained to not understand.  Most every person is to dumb to understand what john would try to tell them.  They are also conditioned to not find anything similar to what john would like to be normal or accepted.  Helmholtz even does not fully understand what John was trying to tell him. The islands which Bernard was so afraid of being sent to, are actually places were he would have been happier living that if he would have stated in London.  It is interesting that he brought back John as a way to save himself from leaving but in the end he still is going to and island. It is interesting how much the controller actually understands about what they are doing but also still accepts it.  They are sacrificing full lives for the ability to be happy all the time.  Without ever really knowing what they have done.

Brave New World / Aldous Huxley / chapter 15

“Yes, but let me get on with my distribution, won’t you? There’s a good fellow.” (Huxley 211).   John finally snaps.  He tries to visit his mother in the hospital but is bombarded by twins and loses his control.  He gets really depresses afterwards and when he leaves and runs into a crowed of deltas.  He sees their sameness and finds it revolting.  They are lined up to receive their daily ration of soma.  The distributor treats them like children to get them to behave.  John seems to get and idea that he should try to save these people.  They really don’t understand what he tries to tell them and ends up just making them all mad.  Their decision making skills are at the level of children so they just find it unfair when he steals their soma.  It is interesting that how they quell the riot is to make everyone happy and basically just lull them into sleep. 

Brave New World / Aldous Huxley / chapter 9 and 10

“A public example,” he was saying. “In this room, because it contains more high-caste workers than any other in the centre,” (Huxley 147).  The director is going to publicly shame Bernard.  Bernard however ends up shaming the director instead.  Before leaving Bernard is worried about being sent to Iceland as a punishment for his unorthodox behavior.  I believe this is his motivation for bringing Linda and John back to London.  He portrayed his actions as merely be for a scientific look at his reaction to civilization but it is pretty obvious he has ulterior motives.  John seems very eager to leave his home on the reservation.  John is as eager to leave as Bernard was to come.  It is very much like the idea that the grass is greener on the other side.  Linda seems to have in a way been affected the savages because she seems to care very much for the director.  All the people in the factory have the same reaction to Linda’s ugliness al Lenina had. It is also interesting how much of revulsion they have to the words father and mother.  But they have and stronger reaction to mother that they seem to father.

Brave New World / Aldous Huxley / chapter 8

“The magic was on his side, the magic explained and gave orders,” (Huxley 133).  John has lived his life as an outcast.  Bernard has also lived like and outcast.  Bernard is very interested in learning from John what his society lived like.  He has felt alone is his society so he seems to want to learn about another society to compare his life with theirs. Both Bernard and John seem to share a lot in common even though they live in two different societies. They both are different and have paid for their uniqueness.  John has lived in the shadow of his mothers conditioning.  He is always criticized by the other kids for something that is not his fault. When John learns to read he seems to find a new outlet for his frustration.  He reads Shakespeare which then sends him into a weird state of mind.  He is portrayed to be conditioned by Shakespeare’s works just as much as Bernard and Lenina are by their conditioning.

Brave New World / Aldous Huxley / chapter 7

            “But cleanliness is next to fordliness,” she insisted. “Yes, and civilization is sterilization,” (Huxley 110).  Bernard seems to be more interested in the reservation than Lenina.  She immediately thinks of how dirty the place is and cannot seem to focus on anything else.  Lenina finds everything the savages do to be very offensive.  She cannot seem to rap her mind around what they are doing.  It is interesting to read about the characters repulsiveness to a life style that is somewhat similar to ours only more primitive.  We have had history lessons and parts of the world still are similar to the reservation but Lenina has nothing to compare it too.  Bernard is also repulsed by the conditions but he seems to still be interested in how they think and live.  Linda’s life since she was left in the reservation has gone extremely wrong.  Her ideas completely clash with their society.  She try’s to live like she did but they then reject her and scorn her for it. 

Brave New World / Aldous Huxley / chapter 6

“I know you don’t and why we went to bed together yesterday—like infants—instead of being adults and waiting,” (Huxley 94).  Bernard has seen the flaw in the new world’s ideology.  He realizes how childish their society its.  Bernard is an oddball in their world.  He is too small for his class so he feels like and outcast so he actually becomes and out cast.  His ideas and actions separate him from his fellow range members.  Lenina seems to like Bernard and she thinks he is sweet but she still finds him just as odd as everyone else.  She finds his plans to be alone with her to be very boring and antisocial. Bernard is actually pretty antisocial.  Bernard seems to realize that they are all trained not to grow up.  They are stuck in a child like search for pleasure and never have to wait for gratification.