In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, John the Savage’s world is turned upside down when he is brought back to London by Bernard and Lenina. John basically gets thrown into a new life of new customs, new people, new experiences, etc. which he has to adapt to for both the better and the worse. As a whole, John’s experience of moving to London from the Southwest and living there was quite negative for his well-being, and Huxley uses this to develop the theme of the “noble savage” archetype as John is forced to make major decisions that are influenced by his life shift. At the start of his life in London, everything gets off to a reasonably good start. John meets Bernard’s friend Helmholtz, who he becomes very fond of. John and Helmholtz begin to hang out more and more, reading poetry and shakespeare and discovering that they have many similar
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A huge negative for John is the new culture in London, which encompasses attitudes towards sexuality, freedom, marriage, level of interaction, etc.. The first problem that John runs into is the fact that people force him into too much interaction with others, when he is used to being alone. At the start of chapter 12, when Bernard tries to get John out of his room, he angrily replies, “Go to hell!” (Pg. 115). As John comes from a relatively quiet and lonely upbringing, this becomes overwhelming. His next clash with London’s culture is his attitude towards marriage and sexuality. In Indian culture, they are supposed to make magnificent gestures and marry their women and wait to have sexual relations. When lenina undresses for him, he revolts in terror screaming “And as though awakened by her cry he caught her by the shoulders and shook her. ‘Whore!’ he shouted ‘Whore! Impudent strumpet!’” (Pg. 130) because he is not used to this type of
A huge negative for John is the new culture in London, which encompasses attitudes towards sexuality, freedom, marriage, level of interaction, etc.. The first problem that John runs into is the fact that people force him into too much interaction with others, when he is used to being alone. At the start of chapter 12, when Bernard tries to get John out of his room, he angrily replies, “Go to hell!” (Pg. 115). As John comes from a relatively quiet and lonely upbringing, this becomes overwhelming. His next clash with London’s culture is his attitude towards marriage and sexuality. In Indian culture, they are supposed to make magnificent gestures and marry their women and wait to have sexual relations. When lenina undresses for him, he revolts in terror screaming “And as though awakened by her cry he caught her by the shoulders and shook her. ‘Whore!’ he shouted ‘Whore! Impudent strumpet!’” (Pg. 130) because he is not used to this type of