Chapter 8-9 Overview/Review Leading into Chapter 10 – pay attention, you’ll be doing an assignment linked to this very shortly!

Chapter 8 Summary  It’s a focus on John’s life in the Savage Reservation.  Linda tells him stories of the Other Place (aka: London)  He suffers in the Reservation, due to being rejected. His skin color is a dominant factor, but his mother’s behavior (she has slept with the husbands of the tribe) has been the driving factor to never being accepted (“the son of the she-dog”)  Linda is now an alcoholic (drinks mescal; mescaline) and has a lover named Pope that John hates  Pope is the dealer. Linda is the addict. She cares more for the mescal than she does John.  To John, it’s simple: take out the dealer, she can love him.

Chapter 8 Summary  John chooses to absorb the culture around him. He learns to read and to the tribal rituals by himself, or with the help of his mother/Mitsima.  When he is given The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, he has a third culture. This culture is the voice of all of his repressed memories.  Three cultures: London/The Other Place, the Savage Reservation, Shakespeare  Chapter 8 ends with Bernard asking if he would like to return to London with them.  John will go if Linda can.  Bernard’s motives are secret: he wants to embarrass the DHC by exposing him as John’s father

Chapter 8 Summary  John ends the chapter by quoting The Tempest to express his feelings of joy at finally getting to see the Other World that he had heard about as a child: “O brave new world that has such people in it.”  It’s ironic, not because the title is in the phrase. John thinks this world will be different than his own, better. He’ll love this world. Why won’t he? Why is that so ironic?

John’s Memories  They are balanced between good and bad memories:  Linda singing lullabies to him and reading to him (a guide about Beta Embryo-Store Workers)  She can only answer so much – which is why he turns to the tribe. They give him real answers.  His mother being raped and he was unable to save her  He links sex with violence now.  Linda not fitting in, calling his friends “savages”  He is just like them, so does that make him “savage,” too?  Linda passing out and appearing dead  He hates drugs because his mother could never take care of him – so as a result, any drug or drug dealer to him is evil  The tribe women punishing Linda through flagellation for sleeping with their husbands.  John tried to save her again, and learned that being a hero comes with a price  Linda physically abuses John (he called her “Mother”)  He knows that HE is the reason her life is so bad. He is her greatest failure, and as a result… he knows he will never be loved by the woman he loves the most.

John and Linda  Each is a failure to one another.  He is her greatest failure. She couldn’t prevent him from being born.  He thinks he is a failure because he cannot save his mother from her conditioning.  In both scenario’s – John is the failure. Not Linda.  She was raised to never take blame. This is a problem of instant gratification.

John as the Social Misfit  He is not a “savage” – and despite his attempts and his want to be part of that culture, they will not have him because of who his mother is.  In old times, if you were a traitor – your children after you were labeled as such. Huxley makes the commentary that even we (the current people of the new millennium) hold grudges for things like skin color, culture, religion,etc. Even WE are flawed.  He is not a World State citizen though, either.  And he never can be.  He is predisposed to abhor violence, hate, substance abuse, death, etc.

The Basics To Understand About John  He will never be loved or accepted.  Savage Reservation: His mother and her behavior, his skin tone.  London: His behavior. He’ll act differently, and we already know how they treat those who act different. Worse, in London, he will be (realistically) the only adult in an adult’s body. He will be surrounded by people that look like adult’s, but act like children. Oh, and there’s also: mass amounts of twins, the loss of religion, the world is devoid of love, and soma.

Chapter 9 Crash Course  Lenina leaves the Reservation to come back to the rest house. She’s so disgusted that she takes enough soma for an 18 hour “soma holiday” (essentially: blacking out).  Bernard flies to Sante Fe to call Mustapha Mond. Mond agrees to allow John and Linda to come home (they are of scientific interest).  He can’t call the DHC – there’s no way he would allow this to happen.  Mond is going to run a social experiment of sorts:  Does conditioning last? (LINDA)  Can I condition an adult? (JOHN)… this has more sinister means, because if he is successful, he could completely destroy the Savage Reservations.

Chapter 9 Crash Course  Bernard is so happy to be going home soon. He says that he loves the World State, that he has always done what he had to do to improve the World State, etc.  What type of character is he?

Chapter 9 Crash Course  Meanwhile…  John comes to visit Bernard and Lenina. He is afraid they would leave without him (and why wouldn’t he be? No one really loves him or wants him around.)  He breaks into their house, and rifles through their luggage. He finds Lenina passed out on her bed.  He quotes R&J passages, but decides that he will be “pure” for her.  They are truly “star-crossed lovers”…  Irony.. Take your pick:  She is not good enough for him.  She is certainly not pure.  He loves her, and she loves Henry Foster.  Even if she could have feelings for John, she’ll never marry him or have his children.

Chapter 9 Ends…  Bernard returns home, John leaves the house so no one knows he trespassed…  Think: Romeo in the balcony scene.  Bernard and John talk together:  They reveal that they are both treated poorly and it’s because they are different.  They bond about being alone. PREDICT: Who is more alone?

And now…  Get into pairs.  Complete the Chapter 9 Outline.  You will only have ______ minutes. PAY ATTENTION!  Then, we’ll be starting Chapter 10.