Table of Contents
Introduction
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a dystopian novel that presents to us a futuristic technological society, called the World State, that is rampant with caste-based psychological conditioning, artificial emotions and sexual affiliations, in order to manipulate its citizens and stabilize the society by meeting its motto of Community, Identity, Stability. As this process abolishes humanity and individuality, an overwhelming majority of the citizens’ minds were numbed and therefore simply complied with the status quo. However, there were also a minority of people, who had remnants of humanity, morality and that their intellectuality far exceeded others, that were able to share a sense of enmity against the Controller’s control and attempted to rebel. John the Savage and Bernard being the main two. Despite having their own sets of morals and values and being bred in distinct environments, they were able to obtain a mutual bonding and connection as both find it difficult to adapt to how the World State functions and felt like an outsider.
This essay aims to bring to light the reasons behind why John and Bernard were able to share a similar perception of the World State by utilizing the novel and various websites in order to conduct an in-depth analysis of their personalities, circumstances, and values and providing a thorough comparison at the end.
This research question is worthy of investigation as it enables an insightful and perceptive view of the portrayal of the characters and their roles in society, hence being able to obtain a deeper understanding of this novel.
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John’s Upbringing and Perception of Brave New World
John’s perception of the World State is generally negative as he feels an aching void of spiritual emptiness as everything that provokes individuality is abolished in the World State and the inhabitants had no regard for romance, monogamy, relations, and religion, which were all vital elements that cemented John’s guidelines and moral values in life that were formed due to the unique environment he was brought up in. Being bred and raised on the Reservation, which is an uncivilized society outside of the World State, John had always lived in isolation as the savages showed intense animosity and distaste against him and his mother as being outsiders and the fact that his mother was infamously known for her reprehensible behavior of willing to sleep with any married men.
Unable to fit in, John fully commits in reading to help himself emerge from the brutal reality, which eventually led him to discover his enthusiasm and passion for Shakespeare’s novels and has a unique perception of the world, this also cemented his morals and his insistence upon platonic love. Yet after being brought to the World State, he was isolated again from the majority, both in appearance and in his abject reliance on morals. He had a sense of justice and a sense of romanticism in him which was alien to the members of the civilized world. Instead of treating him as if he was their peers, he was treated as an exotic creature in the zoo, almost as if his sense of morals and beliefs were some magical horn or an extra wing that had grown from his back. However, when he faced such foreign opposition, instead of seeking embracement and acceptance, he demonstrated an unwavering commitment to his values.
Bernard’s Upbringing and Perception of Brave New World
Despite the fact that Bernard Marx underwent the bottling process in the World State, it is apparent that his conditioning is incomplete as he doesn’t enjoy promiscuity and solidary services and he looks physically different from the remaining Alphas. In fact, his inferior physical appearance was one of his biggest insecurities and the major factor that contributed to his isolation from the rest. As a top-caste Alpha male, he only had physical traits of an average Gamma due to the alcohol in his blood-surrogate, he was shorter, thinner, less masculine and less good looking than a typical Alpha male, which lead to mockery which “the mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him” (Huxley 65), isolation and a phenomenon in which the lower castes sometimes won’t even obey his instructions due to his appearance. Bernard’s criticism of the World State simply stems from his frustration of being alienated and his constant struggle of fitting in rather from a rational point of view.
Compare and Contrast Between John and Bernard’s perception
In the beginning, John and Bernard were able to share a similar perception of the Brave New World as both felt as outcasts of their society, isolated from the majority and discontented while struggling to adapt themselves to the society. However, although they shared a similar perception and were both haunted by their scarce and inability to fit in, it is apparent that their emotions differ in terms of intensity and the nature of their discontent and dissatisfaction.
Bernard’s perception of the World State was based on a vague malaise of his inadequacies as it is portrayed by his reluctance of participating in regular activities such as solidarity services and taking regular portions of soma, and the frustration of his physical appearance. Meanwhile, John’s perception of the World State was based on much deeper reasoning as it stems from his crave for a spiritual betterment and the presence of individuality as the World State’s tenets significantly contradict with his fundamental values as a person. Though both the perceptions were eventually presented as a sense of dissatisfaction and discontentment, Bernard’s reasoning behind is much more superficial and shallower than John’s, as one is based on the unbearable feeling of isolation and the other is based on core values, this is possibly due to the process of conditioning which abolishes one’s individuality.
However, as time goes by, Bernard starts to reveal his true colors and their perceptions and values start to diverge further and further. After bringing John and Linda back from Savage Reservation, Bernard takes advantage of John’s popularity in London and his close connection with him by engaging in numerous sexual encounters every week with different girls who wanted to meet John while boasting to others about it. This appears to be rather ironic as his actions of engaging in promiscuous sexual behaviors significantly conflicts with his previous objections of adaptation to the society, additionally, this also discloses how shallow and superficial his protests regarding individuality against the World State are, as given a chance he would enjoy everything that he can to the fullest. He wavers and shows no commitment to his perception of the flaws of the World State. Yet as the story flows, John, on the other hand, is able to demonstrate his unwavering commitment to his set of moral values and perceptions of Brave New World.
A typical example is when John and Lenina finish watching the feelies, Lenina enthusiastically invites John to be sexually involved with her, yet his morals seem to render him incapable of replicating the purely physical affection Lenina held for him and eventually rejects her. From John’s behavior of rejecting the only thing he seemed to admire in the World State, which is Lenina, as he cannot accept her impureness and adapt to the State’s tenet of promiscuity, it portrays a sense of chivalrous of John but moreover, it highlights his fortitude, defiance, and capability of strictly sticking to his set of tenets and principles. Moreover, later on in the book, John develops an intense internal conflict with himself as he struggles to resist the temptation of the luxury and comfort of the World State yet he still despises civilization. He utilizes several methods to punish himself, at first, he ate mustard with warm water, causing himself to become ill and vomited, yet he claimed that “I ate civilization. It poisoned me. I was defiled”. This ultimately reveals his distaste and antipathy against the civilization of the World State and his strong will of remaining faithful to his core values. Afterward, John exiles himself from London and instead move to an abandoned lighthouse in the wild, a destination with harsh living conditions, while constantly inflicting pain on himself in order to cleanse himself from the civilized world and constantly remind himself of his wrongdoing. This scene again portrays John’s defiance of adhering to his own values and guidelines in life.
John’s perception of Brave New World remains unchanged throughout the whole plot as a result of his unflinching strong moral values and inner identity. This highlights the significance of the influence of Shakespearean novels and his upbringing on the Savage Reservation that impacts his perspective of the world. Despite facing numerous overwhelming temptations of luxuries, comfort and even his dream girl Lenina, John still manages to come to the realization that he values his morals more than anything else. Bernard, on the other hand, is desperate for attention from others and is willing to do anything to be embraced by the other inhabitants.
Hence, his perception of the world constantly changes according to his social status as he starts to take pleasure in soma and women almost instantly after his popularity had grown. By comparison, John has much deeper feelings for what he believes in and is passionate and keen on his moral values while strictly sticking to it, meanwhile, Bernard’s character is very shallow as he’s only aware of other’s perception of him and therefore constantly wavers, this is likely due to the result of undergoing conditioning as Bernard seems unable to think critically and obtain in-depth understanding of life. Their perception eventually differs as a result of having different pursuits in life and upbringing.
Conclusion
To summarize, the development and evolution of John and Bernard’s perception of the Brave New World are significantly influenced by their fundamental values and standards in life, character, and upbringing.
At the start, John and Bernard were able to share a similar perception only on the surface level as both felt discontented with their status quo, however, their intensity and nature behind such emotion drastically differ. Yet when facing temptation and hardships, it brings light to their true character behind. Bernard’s deepest desire was disclosed as he was always eager to fit in and enjoy what the World State provided when given the chance, his discontents only stemmed from his inadequacies and constant rejections from the local inhabitants.
His perception is likely the result of conditioning as he can only experience very superficial emotions and is unable to obtain insightful perspectives on things. John, on the other hand, reveals his deep-rooted heroic features as being determined to stick to his morals and values it more than anything else. This is resulted by his upbringing on the uncivilized Savage Reservation in which he discovered his morals and guidelines in life from Shakespeare’s works. At this point, their perceptions started to gradually diverge, Bernard starts to constantly drown himself in the soma and adapt to the society in which he once objected, meanwhile John struggles with a constant self-battle regarding temptation and his own values, which eventually lead to his tragic death.
Their glaring differences in both personality and perception is that John put his moral standards above everything while Bernard is a sanctimonious person who wouldn’t mind participating in activities he once objected while craving for acceptance and attention. John does not find the need to fit into the society, yet Bernard secretly longings to fit in deep inside.
