Reading log 2 - Brave New World

There are several different conflicts in the novel Brave New World. There are conflicts of both cases, internal conflicts and external conflicts.

Bernard Marx, who I assume is the main character, is struggling within himself. He considers himself not good as the other Alpha-Plus males. He has a slender proportion and is much shorter. Moreover, he has not the “favorite girl type” look. “Bernard hypocritically agreed, wishing, as he spoke the words, that he could have as many girls as Helmholz did, and with as little trouble. He was seized with a sudden urgent need to boast. Im taking Lenina Crone to New Mexico with me, he said in a tone as casual as he could make it, p58-59”. By reading these sentences, I got the sentiment of Bernards attempt of trying to impress another Alpha-Plus male. Who has a good register of being with several women.

Bernard Marx is not psychological right to correspond in a world as Central London hatchery and conditioning center. Due to that he wants to be independent and to fulfill his desires. However, in a world like London hatchery and conditioning center, liberty is the last word you should describe the society. “In a different key, How can I? he repeated meditatively. No, the real problem is: How is it that I can´t, or rather because, after all, I know quite well why I can´t – what would it be like if I could, if I were free – not enslaved by conditioning. But Bernard, you´re saying the most awful things. Don´t you wish you were free, Lenina? I don´t know what you mean. I am free. Free to have the most wonderful time. Everybody´s happy nowadays. He laughed, 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…p78-79” Moreover, sometimes Bernard did not take the happy pill, soma. Which made him sometimes questioned the life at hatchery and conditioning center. His doubt resulted into external conflicts. The Director was not pleased with Bernard´s behavior, that he threatened him with a transfer to Iceland, if he did not behaved better. “And I should like to take this opportunity, Mr. Marx, he went on, of saying that I´m not at all pleased with the reports I receive of your behavior outside working hours […] If ever I hear again of any lapse from a proper standard of infantile decorum, I shall ask for your transference to a Sub-Center – preferably to Iceland, p84-85”

Reading log 2- Brave New World

Bernard Marx is eight centimetres short of the standard Alpha height and is slender in proportion. Consequently, when he meets members of lower casts he is always painfully reminded of his physical inadequacy. The mockery (from people) makes him feel as an outsider, which makes him behave as one. He feels alien and alone. In addition, he suffers from the consciousness of being separate from the others. Did you ever feel, he asked, as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to git it a chance to come out (emotions). Bernard pretends he hears Ford coming (the greater being), although he does not hear anyone coming. ..more isolated by the reason of his unreplenished emptiness, his dead satiety. Furthermore, he is miserable that the others are fused into the greater being, while he is not. Perhaps it is my fault, he sometimes considers?

Not only does he want to look at the sea in peace, due to that he in that case feels more as me, and not so completely a part of something else (not want to be a part of the social body), but he also considers how it would be to be free and not enslaved by “my conditioning”. Moreover, he reflects how it would be to be happy in your own way, not in everybody else´s way. However he still is as the others, since he continues to do as he had done “before” for example to fondle her breast (p.80). At the same time, he both wants to know what passion is and to sense something strong.

Another internal conflict Bernard struggles with is his resentment that he should never have brought Helmholtz and John (the “savage”) together. In all these weeks he had never come so close an intimacy with the savage as Helmholtz immediately achieved ( p.159). For this reason he feels a sharp pang of jealousy. In order to delete this, he takes soma. Due to his envy he acts with vengeance, through for instance interrupting and disturbing his friends conversations. Consequently, creating an external conflict between them and him.

Lenina has an internal conflict as well, that is, feels “brainwashed” when she listens to Bernard´s unconventional explanations of for example not wanting to go directly to bed. Bernard and Lenina have view external conflicts, as a result of their differences.

Bernard for example wishes to only walk and talk alone, while Lenina does not.

You´re not feeling ill, are you?( p. 165) asked Henry Lenina, whereas she did not look so bright. She wants to talk to the savage about her affection towards him, since he is the only one she wants. However, she is afraid, on account of his very queer behaviour. This internal conflict is the cause to her mistakes, while for instance labouring. When she finally takes courage and admits her love, she discovers he shares her feelings. However, when Lenina begins to undress, then the Savages begins to shout Whore! (p.170). In conclusion, he shouts standing over her menacingly, ´get out of my sight or I´ll kill you´(p. 171).

Although the savage is in love with Lenina, he avoids her and at the same time doesn´t dare to touch her. He looked down at her for a moment, pale, pained, desiring, and ashamed of his desire. He was not worthy, not…Owing to these fact there is a struggle within him. However, he reckons that if he does something, then he might prove himself not absolutely unworthy to be together with Lenina. What is more, he does not want to remember Linda´s love affairs and struggles to forget them. Why wouldn´t she allow him to forget(p.179). After his mother´s death he is broken-hearted. But his mind was elsewhere-with death, with his grief, and his remorse; mechanically, without consciousness of what he was doing, he began to shoulder his way trough the crowd. John moves lastly to a lighthouse, since he wants to escape further contamination by the filth of civilized life; it was to be purified and made good; it was actively to make amends. He had sworn to remember Linda. But it was still the presence of Lenina that haunted. Lenina whom he had promised to forget (p. 222). These quotations obviously indicates that John fights against some memories from his past.

Brave new world - reading log 2, the conflicts

There are several conflicts, which I see while reading the novel. An internal conflict I see while reading is Bernard, the main character, who as an outsider struggles with how he should act to fit in the society. Even though he knows how to act, he feels as if it is not the way people are supposed to act. He follows, in some extent, the way he feels is the right way to live. However he later realizes that he cannot go on and live without sexual relationships, though when he has been on a "date" with Lenina he is not in the mood to perform any sexual act. He is neither out and consuming like they are supposed to. Furthermore, being different is not helping him get women to like him and want to spend time with him.

Being different also leads to an external conflict between him and the Director. Before Bernard goes to New Mexico, the Director had warned him, that if he did not want to be sent to Iceland he had to accept the norms of the society. When the Director had told Bernard about an incident involving him when he went to NM a couple of years earlier, and when Bernard realized what the outcome of that was, he knew he had an upper hand against the Director. The outcome, the Directors travel companion giving birth to a child, of which he was the father, was in no way accepted in the society. Taking the companion and her son back with him back to London, Bernard had the ability to destroy the reputation of the Director. Bernard did do that when the director was about to tell him about he, Bernard, being transferred to Iceland, which did not happen.

Being the guardian of a beast Bernard became noticed. He later felt bad that he used the beast to get the attention of people. This internal conflict of his occurs when he becomes more involved in the society and acts like the other people. He struggles wether he should keep his up his meetings with other people or if he should act like he always has.

Another conflict I find rather interesting is the conflict between the new world and the old. This is very obvious when John is describing his childhood. His mother Linda, the Director's former lover, was raised and brought up in the new world, her ideas of what is acceptable is different from those in the old world. Many times did she sleep with different and married men. As a consequence she was punished by the wives of the men and was whipped. John, who had not done anything, was ignored by his peers and became whipped as he walked in on the women whipping his mother.

Reading Log 2: Brave New World

There are several different conflicts in the novel Brave New World. It seems to me as if the majority of these conflicts are, somehow, connected to one character in particular, namely Bernard Marx. Being an Alpha-Plus struggling with both low self-esteem and the feeling of not fitting in in society causes several internal conflicts within him, some which eventually culminates in external conflicts. 

I believe his self-esteem problem is based on the feeling of being an outsider. This feeling, in its turn, is caused partially by the fact that Bernard is much shorter than the other Alpha-Plus males, something that has resulted in a lack of respect from members of the lower castes. Moreover he usually does not use soma, this allows him to feel other feelings as well, not only the happiness, which is induced when taking soma. Yet another factor that induces the feeling of not fitting in is the fact that he does not enjoy the same activities as the other residents of the World State, this leaves him rather lonely. All these aspects sometimes make Bernard raise the question of whether he should try to adapt to society or not, a question that breeds yet another conflict.

Throughout the novel there is an on-going conflict between the society and Bernard Marx.  He is the exception from the World State being the ideal society. His values are, even though, he too has been conditioned with hypnopaedia different from the other inhabitants. It may be due to the fact that there was a mistake made when he was still a foetus. However, it might also be because he is a hypnopaedia specialist and somehow, by knowing what hypnopaedia really is he might be able to resist what he was taught when he was conditioned. Although this is not very likely, seeing that there must be other hypnopaedia specialists who do not act or think any differently than they are supposed to. Even so, the society does not appreciate his unusual behaviour. The fellow residents do not understand him or his way of thinking. Meanwhile the authorities feel almost as if he was an abomination, since his values and way of acting, his ability to really decide for him self, is a constant reminder of their failure to create the perfect world.          

Eventually the internal conflict between the society and Bernard becomes an external conflict between The Director and him. Even though the director is not the society in whole I do believe that he is an authority and that his way of acting reflects the society in full. The Director is not pleased with Bernard’s unconventional ways. He does not think Bernard is a very good role model and he does not like the way Bernard makes the London Centre appear. Basically I think The Director felt as if Bernard was a great disgrace in general, to him, to the centre, to the world. Therefore The Director threatens to transfer Bernard to the Centre in Island, a small centre where no one will pay any attention to him, if he does not change. However, Bernard is not willing to give up to easily. As The Director had a momentary lapse of judgement Bernard finds a weakness to exploit, even though he is not yet aware of it himself. Nevertheless when the opportunity comes along, he takes it. As a result Bernard brings a savage named John and his mother, Linda, back to civilization from a Savage Reservation where The Director had left her, pregnant, years before. When The Director is exposed as a father, the worst thing ever imaginable, he immediately resigns and so Bernard wins.

Reading log 2: Brave New World

The majority of the conflicts in the novel, both internal and external, are somehow connected to the character Bernard Marx. Struggling with feelings as low self-esteem, social anxiety and alienation, Bernard Marx has a plurality of internal conflicts. Firstly, his problem with self-esteem is based on that the lower casts do not show him any respect, as they, according to the society, should do. Furthermore, Bernard feels that he is an outsider, due to his difference in appearance and that he does not enjoy the same activities as all the other inhabitants. Moreover, he stays away from the drug soma, which results in that he experiences other emotions than happiness, emotions the rest of the population never encounter. The struggle with these feelings is also something that makes him different from the others and increases his feeling of alienation.

    Bernard’s life changes rapidly when he brings home a savage and its mother from a Savage Reservation in New Mexico. His position changes from disrespected to reverenced. This because of that everyone want to have a chance to meet the savage, resulting in that Bernard becomes the centre of attention and the ones who belittled him before, now tries to impress him in order to receive the possibility to see the savage with their own eyes. With his new respected position, Bernard begins to live pursuantly to the society’s structure. High consummation of soma, seeing different women every night and lastly being social extroverted are Bernard’s new traits; he has become an ideal person according to the civilization. However, everything is not executed according to Bernard’s plan. When the savage John controverts Bernard and refuses to attend another of Bernard’s gatherings, where John is supposed to be presented and studied as an exotic plant or an exceptional copy of something unusual, his world falls apart. The conclusive effect of the conflict is that Bernard turns into his old self and the world once again views him in a condescending manner. This external conflict has been alive for a while, but this is the first time John takes a stand and says no.

    Another external conflict is between Bernard and the Director at his work. The Director threatens to expel and send Bernard to Island because of his tendency to act against the norms of the world. This would probably have been performed if it were not for the fact that Bernard brought the savage with him to their civilization, which improved his self-confidence and increased his popularity among the others. With the savage Bernard could prove his usefulness and could stand up against the Director, resulting in the defeat and elimination of the Director.

    Additionally, a conflict where Bernard is not the main character in is the decision between letting the savage John’s mother poison herself to death with soma in the long run or taking away the drug among with her happiness to expand her lifespan. This conflict is a clash between the society, which believe it is her own choice and do not see it as a loss if she dies, and John who loves his mother and wants the best for her. Nevertheless, after numerous discussions John gives in and let them prescript immense quantities of soma to his mother in order for her to reach an imaginative paradise and to stay there until her body cannot function anymore and collapses.

    The biggest conflict is between Bernard and the society, his desire to be himself and to be different conflicts with the society’s wishes that everyone should always be happy and be as alike as possible. In one way or another, this dispute is interweaved in all conflicts regarding Bernard, but it can also be seen as a self-standing conflict, which the novel according to me is based on. In conclusion, to go against and break the rules is creating a conflict. Moreover, to have the nerves to create a conflict self-consciously is courage needed, something I believe Bernard has because I consider that he already has executed this, deciding not to dedicate himself to the commonly performed activities, and suffered the consequences, the threats of the Director, only that he himself yet have to discover it and in addition, what he could accomplish with his courage.

Isabel Vinterbladh, NA11A