Transcript Analysis Notes

ANALYSIS NOTES
Brave New World
Chapters 5 to 10
BERNARD MARX
He acts as a “pseudo” protagonist, which is a role
that he can never fully be.
 It becomes more and more clear that Bernard is
less a political rebel and more of a social misfit.


His belief is that HE is not the one that needs
changing, but society.
BERNARD MARX

NOT A REAL REBEL
He shakes the feathers of some (DHC and Lenina),
but nothing radical or worth noting
 Boasts about his upcoming vacation with Lenina to
Helmholtz
 Is afraid of being caught criticizing the World State
(during Solidarity Service)


He is a paradoxical character – constantly
wanting the society to change, but also merely
wanting to be accepted by his society
HELMHOLTZ WATSON

A foil to Bernard physically
Bernard is too small and strange for his caste: his
size and reactions are what have caused him to
become a misfit.
 Helmholtz is successful with women, his career and
every other aspect: his success is what has caused
him to think there is more to life than slogans, sports
and sex.


He continues to talk to Bernard as they have one
common dislike: the system. But both dislikes
are rooted out of very different realms.
CONDITIONING

Henry and Lenina, as they fly over the
crematorium almost acknowledge that the caste
system may not be perfect

Remember the discussion of Epsilons, and whether or
not they are happy?
Rather than admit that dangerous truth, Lenina
resorts to her hyponaedic phrases and is content
again.
 Huxley has this scene to show us that the
population is conditioned/programmed to not
ask questions or to make negative assumptions of
the state in which they live in.

CONDITIONING
There are some obvious controls in place with the
World State (ex: the electro-shocks, the sleepteaching, the soma)
 Other methods are more sinister, suggesting the
World State is a totalitarian regime

Outside work hours, the citizens attend strictly
regulated, schedule social activities – they are never
really alone.
 The more time a person is occupied, the more docile
the person is.

BERNARD MEETING JOHN
John is an outcast in the Savage Reservation; he
has always dreamed of living in the World State
 Bernard is an outcast in the World State; he is
always looking for a way to fit in
 Their meeting is monumental to the novel as
their interactions potentially won’t be fully
beneficial for either person.

FLASHBACKS
John tells his story as if it were a collage of
memories
 It’s in the middle of the novel for a reason!


If this was told at the start of the novel, the reader
would have no impact – by it being in the middle, the
reader is able to distinguish the differences between
the World State and the Reservation culture.
LINDA
Linda’s failure to fit in on the Reservation, and
John’s confused upbringing show that
ISOLATION exists everywhere
 We need the World State to be established first to
see a unique form of isolation, then the Savage
Reservation to push home the concept of isolation

SAVAGE RESERVATION VERSUS THE
WORLD STATE

The people who live in the World State are
dependent on “civilization” – one that is fully
structured.


They are also dependent on soma to control their
emotions.
The people who live in the Reservation are
INdependent – making food, cleaning, cooking,
caring for their children.

Some are dependent on mescal to deal with
unpleasantness (ex: Pope and Linda).
JOHN THE SAVAGE
Cultural hybrid (has both mom’s culture and that
of the Indians on the Reservation)
 He is not accepted in his own community, and the
Other Place is a distant land in which he has
only heard stories
 He takes in a third culture for support: William
Shakespeare. His constant quoting of
Shakespearean lines highlights the distance
created in the World State society and in ours
(the “savages” that we are)

JOHN THE SAVAGE
His character is more developed with his
confrontations with the World State culture.
 He has a desire (one that he suppresses) to touch
Lenina – this is a morality issue that he learned
from Shakespeare AND from the “savages”

In the World State – the person would have gone for
instant gratification
 His attraction to Lenina will create conflict with her.
His views on sex are radically different from hers –
ultimately, there will only be problems.


His character has an inner struggle of having an intense
desire for her, but also an intense self-control
JOHN THE SAVAGE
He is in the position Bernard wants: to live in the
World State, but without World State
conditioning
 He’s free to think, to feel, to react… Bernard
would naturally be jealous of this as this is what
he believes he wants.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

The Tempest:



A play where Prospero and his daughter Miranda are
exiled to an island because Prospero's brother
betrayed him in order to gain political power.
The only inhabitant on the Island is a native,
Caliban, to whose deceased mother the island had
belonged. Prospero takes control of the island and
decides to raise Caliban as a slave because he pities
him and intends to civilize him.
Shakespeare deftly portrays Caliban as an angry,
violent figure, who could easily be interpreted as less
than human, ruled by bestial appetites rather than
higher instincts. When a ship arrives on the island,
two of the stewards introduce Caliban to liquor, and
liquor becomes Caliban's “God.”
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Prospero purports to help Caliban by “civilizing” him,
but Caliban resents Prospero for the theft of his
home.
 In The Tempest, Caliban is both “savage” and a
“Noble Savage,” he is utterly displaced in every
community.


This is just like John is on the Reservation, and
will come to be in the World State.
THE TEMPEST AND BNW LINK

Stems from colonization



Like The Tempest, Prospero decides to raise Caliban
and “civilize” him in the same way that European
colonials attempted to “civilize” the African, Asian,
and native American cultures with which they came
into contact (done by replacing native
cultures/languages of the colonizer)
The colonizers effectively separated colonized peoples
from their own history and culture, making it more
difficult to rebel against the new implanted culture
that had become their own.
The entire World State is built on just such a
premise, effacing the past and all its
cultural legacies. The World State, in a
sense, has colonized everyone.
SOUND BITES

Both John and World State citizens habitually
speak in quotes.
John quotes Shakespeare
 The others quote the hypnopaedic messages


JOHN VERSUS LENINA: They often go on and
on about their own conditioning (Shakespeare vs.
the World State).
It makes John more real and likeable to the readers,
because Lenina’s hypnopaedic phrases start to sound
cheap.
 Intellect reigns over mass propaganda.

BERNARD VERSUS THE DHC
Showcases the power of social condemnation.
 Members are focused to conform through peer
pressure and the threat of public shame

The DHC warned Bernard to conform, he didn’t – so
the public shame of being transferred to Iceland is
his punishment
 The DHC denouncing Bernard in front of others is
further proof of this idea of shame
 Bernard using Linda and John show his willingness
to be a person who would do anything to gain social
standing – he successfully manages to save his own
position, but also attacks the DHC in such a way that
will reduce his social standing

THE TEST
Covers character identification and possible
quotes (you should know based on what their
characters are like)
 Reading comprehension
 Analysis notes
