In Brave New World, John is exposed to a rift between himself and his home, the New Mexico reservation. As he takes a trip to “civilization” with Bernard, Lenina, and Linda, he encounters a very different physical and ideological environment that has been shielded from him by the stability-driven motives of the Controllers. Once he finally breaks down the boundaries of a dystopian society, propelled by Bernard’s self-interests, he sees the life he never had. As Edward Said writes, the “essential sadness” of John’s rift is expressed in his implicit ostracization, but he also intrinsically figures out who he wants to be, creating his “potent, even enriching” experience.
John faces many challenges when he is exiled from his home on the reservation. …show more content…
This is a very simple example of otherization; in the eyes of the world, he is not on the same level as the artificial, idealistic populations of the “civilized world.” One can see parallels to today’s society. In order for a group in power to suppress another group, they typically use degrading terms to dehumanize them. The discourse creates a caste in the eyes of the population, effectively binding people to certain classes. In America, it has been racist language against racial and ethnic minorities. In Nazi Germany, it was Anti-Semitic language against the Jewish population. In India, it was degrading language against darker-skinned individuals. This universal strategy of subjugation is illuminated in Brave New World. Second, he is alienated from his world of true love, something condemned in the civilized world. In the Reservation, John was able to read Shakespeare and believe in things like monogamy, whereas society as a whole was not allowed to read and believe in those “ridiculous, mad situations like that (page 185).” In fact, he even Helmholtz “laugh till the tears streamed down his face (page 185)” from reading love scenes from Romeo and Juliet. More importantly, he was especially alienated …show more content…
Put simply, John is able to find himself as a person. He realizes the importance of marriage, love, knowledge, and religion, even though he is laughed at by his peers. This is mainly through his indulgence in literature, like Shakespeare and religious text. As John and the Controller talked about the times before the State, he realizes you “cannot make tragedies without social instability (page 220)” because there is nothing unfortunate to write about. He realizes the superficial happiness of the world is only a veil of ignorance that keeps the people naive to the true horrors of the world. Having knowledge, however, opens the door to understanding the dark side of human nature. John realizes the tradeoff between God, danger, and freedom and conditioned happiness. By living a free life, one with autonomy of decisions and learning, the possibility of exposure to unhappiness exists. That is why he retreats to his lighthouse of isolation, where he would live “in the visible presence of God (page 244)” and become “independent of the outside world (page 246).” His devotion to purification consumes him, but it makes him feel like he is fulfilling his duty to life. Ultimately, it leads to his
John faces many challenges when he is exiled from his home on the reservation. …show more content…
This is a very simple example of otherization; in the eyes of the world, he is not on the same level as the artificial, idealistic populations of the “civilized world.” One can see parallels to today’s society. In order for a group in power to suppress another group, they typically use degrading terms to dehumanize them. The discourse creates a caste in the eyes of the population, effectively binding people to certain classes. In America, it has been racist language against racial and ethnic minorities. In Nazi Germany, it was Anti-Semitic language against the Jewish population. In India, it was degrading language against darker-skinned individuals. This universal strategy of subjugation is illuminated in Brave New World. Second, he is alienated from his world of true love, something condemned in the civilized world. In the Reservation, John was able to read Shakespeare and believe in things like monogamy, whereas society as a whole was not allowed to read and believe in those “ridiculous, mad situations like that (page 185).” In fact, he even Helmholtz “laugh till the tears streamed down his face (page 185)” from reading love scenes from Romeo and Juliet. More importantly, he was especially alienated …show more content…
Put simply, John is able to find himself as a person. He realizes the importance of marriage, love, knowledge, and religion, even though he is laughed at by his peers. This is mainly through his indulgence in literature, like Shakespeare and religious text. As John and the Controller talked about the times before the State, he realizes you “cannot make tragedies without social instability (page 220)” because there is nothing unfortunate to write about. He realizes the superficial happiness of the world is only a veil of ignorance that keeps the people naive to the true horrors of the world. Having knowledge, however, opens the door to understanding the dark side of human nature. John realizes the tradeoff between God, danger, and freedom and conditioned happiness. By living a free life, one with autonomy of decisions and learning, the possibility of exposure to unhappiness exists. That is why he retreats to his lighthouse of isolation, where he would live “in the visible presence of God (page 244)” and become “independent of the outside world (page 246).” His devotion to purification consumes him, but it makes him feel like he is fulfilling his duty to life. Ultimately, it leads to his