In chapter seven we meet a new character named John who is an attractive blonde boy who lives on the reservation and he is introduced into the book when Lenina and Bernard are at the Indian Ceremony. John explains to Lenina and Bernard that he has parents and that his mother got pregnant because something went wrong with her contraceptives. Linda, John's mother, fell while she was on a visit to the Reservation and when trying to get an abortion, the savages refused to let her abort the child, being forced to have John. We learn that John feels rejected from the village because his mother sleeps with so many men so the people have never truly accepted him as one of them. Bernard believes that John could possibly be the directors son and that he was too ashamed of getting Linda pregnant that he banished her to the Reservation. Bernard agrees to take John back to the World State so that he can expose the directors secret. We also discover that John has a little crush on Lenina and that he has based love off of Shakespeare's, Romeo and Juliet.
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We see Bernard trying to host a party in honor of the savage that is John. Bernard's intent was to show off John to the people of the World State because it is as if he is almost a mythological creature. Bernard is very excited for his party because he feels as if everyone is going to treat him with much respect for being acquaintances with a savage. Instead of the party being a great thing for Bernard, plans go awry and John does not show up to the party. All of Bernard's guests get infuriated with him and begin to call him names because they believe that he was just lying to get attention. We start to see Bernard sink back down to the hole that he was previously in at the beginning of the novel. In this dramatic scene, Linda becomes closer to death as she tries to fight an overdose of Soma. Linda is taking twenty grams daily of Soma, which is entirely too much for a person, so this must be either a death wish or she is crying out for help. As the chapter progresses, Linda becomes more weak and she begins to have a reverie of Popé. John is very disgusted and upset by this daydream he is watching his mother have because she doesn't notice her son, she thinks that John is Popé. As Linda drifts off into an endless sleep, John begins to take all of the Soma in the room and throws all of it out in a broken-hearted rage. Helmholtz comes to assist John of ridding the room of Soma and the authorities rush in to confiscate John and Helmholtz. Surprisingly, the Director resigns from his job in this chapter due to Bernard exposing his secret. After doing this, Bernard becomes exceptionally popular in the World State and quickly becomes a ladies man. All of the fame rushes to Bernard's head almost immediately and he begins to brag to Helmholtz about his sex life. We also see that Bernard is bashing on John because he refuses to take Soma, which is very ironic because Bernard rejects taking Soma in the past. Helmholtz gets frustrated with Bernard's arrogance and refuses to listen to it any longer. Bernard becomes very offended by Helmholtz reaction and decides he doesn't want to talk to Helmholtz ever again. This is a big character transition for Bernard because he is acting very selfish and egotistic toward everyone and his friends especially. This chapter was very confusing for me in many different ways. I was confused on why Bernard finally took the Soma after refusing to take it all this time and then I was also unsure of why he had sex with Lenina if he later told her that he didn't actually want to have sex with her. Also, did Lenina have sex with Bernard because she has feelings for him or is she trying to be normal like the other people in society and sleep around? I feel as if there are more and more people in this society that aren't as normal as we really think. In this chapter, we see Henry and Lenina on their date. Henry decides to take his helicopter as means of transportation. While Lenina and Henry are flying in the helicopter, they fly over a crematorium where dead bodies are being burnt for fertilization. We start to ask, what is the meaning of life in this novel? Through out the night, Lenina and Henry intake a ton of Soma and they become very "happy" and end up having sex, thankfully, Lenina didn't forget her belt for protection. Chapter four started to explain to readers more about the person that Bernard is. We learn about his insecurities and more about his past. Lenina publically accepts Bernand's invitation to accompany him to Mexico and he gets extremely embarrassed by her open answer. I feel as if Lenina might not be as normal as the others, she just does a good job at hiding her feelings and her thoughts. We see that she wants to only be with Henry but Fanny encourages her to sleep around with other men. I believe that Lenina, Bernard and the new character that we met, Helmholtz Watson, are going to revolt in some way against the government. In chapter two, we learn that the scientists are cutting off the oxygen to little Delta babies so they become less intelligent than the Alpha class. The scientists are aiming to make the babies hate flowers and books because by having a love for nature, it makes hobbies less expensive and the consumption of goods are decreased. The "higher up" doesn't want Delta to be educated because that way they can't outsmart the Alpha class. We start chapter one with a tour through the Hatchery with a group of students who are learning about the system the Hatchery has set up for cloning and creating a new society. To be honest, I was completely weirded out and astonished by what the scientists were doing to create different castes. We learn that there are different classes; Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma and Epsilon. Each of these caste systems are created for their individual purpose of work. So far, this book has been very interested to read and I am very excited to keep reading and find out the conflict of the novel. |