Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Journal #3- Brave New World

Throughout the final third of the novel, we can observe a continued development of John, while also identifying similar motifs. Shakespeare is a recurring theme in the novel, as John continues to immerse himself in his works, now often quoting Shakespeare several times in a conversation. This serves to set John apart from the rest of civilized society in two ways: His language is foreign and confusing to the simple minded alphas, betas, deltas, etc. Also, his morals are drastically different from those of the World State, wanting a loving devotion to just one person forever, and being chaste until married. This fact sets up another motif of John and Lenina's desire for one another. Again, both privately confide to themselves their feelings for each other, but never actually mentioning it to the other until Lenina shows up at John's apartment. When Lenina tries to force herself onto John, the savage descends into a state of rage, throwing her off of him, swearing at her, and angrily pacing the room. This demonstrates another one of the human qualities that he demonstrates that is lost in the new society, anger and rage are done away with according to Mustapha Mond, instead the people are given a weekly injection of adrenaline as substitute.

In the third part of the novel, John travels to several new places before settling at the abandoned lighthouse. While still in society, John visits his mother in the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying, a sixty-four story building which sole purpose was to comfort those dying with beds, T.V.'s, and scented air. In this society, death is natural and inevitable, so there are no courses taken to avoid it, in fact members from all levels of the caste system are desensitized to death at an early age to achieve stability. Although a tough pill for John to swallow, the situation is made worse when a nurse brings up a batch of identical, bug-eyed deltas to be desensitized. Having never seen a person as old, and ugly as Linda, several of them crowd around the foot of her bed whispering quite audibly things like "isn't she awful?" (202), only serving to further enrage the savage. When he smarts the young delta by bopping him on the ears the nurse returns upset with John for disturbing the process prompting John to leave. After John talks with the controller, Mustapha Mond, John decides to defy society by settling in an abandoned warehouse, some distance from London. There he crafts his own bow and arrows, makes a garden, as well as a flogging whip that he often uses on himself to correct his behavior should he think of Lenina. This serves to create a volatile setting for the savage who later finds himself surrounded by hundreds of fans who have seen his movie unbeknownst to him. He threatens them with his whip but in their numbers prove too many for John, as he ends up taking part in an orgy while under the influence of soma, a devastating blow to his psyche that John can never recover from.

The language in the last part of the book starkly differs from that of John, to Mustapha Mond, to the general population of London. While continuing to read Shakespeare, John frequently quotes the bard during his conversations. "Outliving beauty's outward with a mind that doth renew swifter than blood decays" (191). This quote demonstrates the high level language that John uses in comparison to that of the Alphas, Betas and other caste members. Also, it shows the mindset of John who believes in loving things that aren't beautiful, something that starkly conflicts to Alpha conditioning, and is incomprehensible to them, including Lenina. In the same scene Lenina shows the reoccurring simplicity of her people's language, one that revolves around mindless slogans that are ingrained into their minds via hypnopaedia. "Put your arms around me," she commanded. "Hug me till you drug me, honey" (193). Through this we can see another instance of the lifestyle these people choose in regards to a devotion to pleasure. Also, her use of a mindless slogan reflects her values in society, sex and drugs, vastly different from those of John the Savage. Mustahpa Mond, the Controller of the London region, is a very educated man, having read many of the books that can no longer be found anywhere else, simply because they are old. Mond expresses a determination to focus on the new world is not the same as it was during Shakespeare's time, there are no struggles, no passion, no lessons in need of being taught. He also says that people today wouldn't be able to understand the writing anyway, "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 (220). Here we can see Mond's similar language to John's that is higher level, but not Shakespearean in context. He displays a certain understanding of the situation the world is in, although he wouldn't mind having these old ideas like the Bible and Shakespeare incorporated into society, he is well aware of the conflict it would produce, keeping the world from maintaining stability. Mond is able to accept this truth which is a key aspect that sets him apart from people like John and Hemholtz, allowing him to rule over the people with a knowledgeable understanding of what must be done to preserve society.

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