Aldous Huxley's "Brave new world", chapter 15, pages 208-209

Essay by lahvHigh School, 11th gradeA+, May 2003

download word file, 2 pages 4.0

Downloaded 22 times

Leaving the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying after his mother dies, John encounters a crowd of Deltas waiting for their daily soma ration. John has been brought to the World State by Bernard from Malpais, a 'savage reservation' where people function in much the same way as they do today. John came willingly because he was an outcast there, mainly owing to his mother Linda's behavior. When he finds himself actually a part of this "brave new world", though, he is an outcast once again. This passage, occurring at the beginning of chapter fifteen immediately before the novel's climax, describes John's reaction to the workers as he makes his way through the crowd. Using disturbing imagery and satire through exaggeration and irony, Huxley illustrates the horrifying lack of individuality and respect for individuals' feelings present in the World State - two leading themes in Brave New World - in hopes of eradicating those aspects of present society before it is too late.

While moving through the crowd, John feels as though he is confronted with "a train of mirrors", seeing only two faces in a "khaki mob". This exaggeration that he only sees two different faces in what could be hundreds of people brings the lack of individuality in the World State to the reader's attention, and makes the reader uncomfortable with that idea. To further impress upon the reader the negativity of that aspect of society, Huxley creates a nightmarish image in the reader's mind, utilizing such words as "horror and disgust", "delirium", "nightmare", "defilingly", and "maggots". The reader finds Huxley's use of the word "maggots" especially disturbing and ironic. Huxley describes the people as insects, a connection one would not expect to be made because maggots are an insect traditionally associated with death and decay. Maggots, or...