tisdag 22 april 2014

Reading Log 3: Brave New World

The Turning Point

As I see it there are two events in the novel that could be considered to be turning points, one for each of the protagonists, Bernard and John. The common factor between these events is that they are both life changing for the characters.

The first turning point, Bernard’s, is when John refuses to attend one of his parties. After bringing John back from the reservation Bernard has gained respect and he is no longer judged as an outsider. Obviously, this has helped his confidence and for once he feels wanted and powerful. However, the instant John refuses obey Bernard’s all that he has gained is lost and he goes back to being a “nobody”. If this would not have happened I do not believe that the novel would have developed as it did, therefore I think it is a turning point.

The second one, John’s, occurs when his mother Linda dies. At the time of her death he is absolutely devastated. However, as he grief the rest of society and its residents remain indifferent to her death. They act like they do not care at all, some might even have been relieved when she passed, as she was the direct opposite to how the people of the new world were supposed to be. The indifference and the lack of empathy make John blame society for her death. This eventually leads to his own, Bernard’s and Helmholtz’s arrest and consequently affects the continuation of the novel gravely. 

The Ending

In the end, as I mentioned above, John, Bernard and Helmholtz are arrested due to John’s mental breakdown after his mother passes. During which he eagerly share his opinion about society with a room full of people as he throws their soma out through the window. Consequently they are all brought to the office of Mustapha Mond. At the office Mond answers all the questions that John has about society; why it works the way it does etc.  Moreover Bernard and Helmholtz are exiled to an island because of their irrational way of thinking. At the island they will live alongside likeminded people who do not think the way the controllers want them to. This sounds very compelling to John who is sick of the world he is forced to live in and he therefore begs Mond to exile him as well, however Mond won’t let him. As desperation grows within him, John tries to escape society and its scrutinizing eyes but fleeing to the countryside. Even so, there is no escape for him and as a result he commits suicide.

In one way I really like the ending of the novel, Mustapha Mond finally answered a lot of the questions I had when I read. In addition I believe that even though the ending for John might be tragic his dead was the thing that tied everything together in the end, his dead was necessary for the novel. In spite of these facts I feel like there are a lot of characters that does not really have an ending, but simply disappears gradually throughout the end. For instance Lenina is a rather important character in the beginning and the middle of the novel, but after the incident with John she just disappeared. Although I realise that she might not be that important for the continuation of the novel after that I still feel as if it would have been nice to know what happened to her.

The Title

In my first reading log I thought that the title Brave New World might have been chosen because the author Huxley presented a view of the future, which was rather radical and different. This was, in my opinion, a brave act, hence Brave New World. I still believe that this might be the main reason for him to choose it, however I was a bit confused when I realised that the title is, in fact, a quote from a Shakespeare play. The protagonist, John, who is a huge Shakespeare enthusiast, quotes the part containing Brave New World on several occasions in the novel. Even so I believe the title is connected to the society and the world presented in the novel, since it is my belief that John, when he quotes Shakespeare, uses the quote as a way of expressing how he feels about the society and the world that he is forced to live in.

The Message


The novel was written in the 1930s and as I see it, it is possible that Huxley felt as if our society was on its way to develop into the one that is described in the novel. Therefore he could have written it as a warning to us, that this is what is going to happen if we continue living the way we are currently doing, of course he might have exaggerated a bit to make it even more powerful. Nevertheless I believe that the message is clear; we should appreciate all the things the majority of us take for granted today, such as genuine feelings and freedom of though as well as freedom of speech. 

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