Brave new world 2

The first question that I ran into was why didnt John get together with Lenina when she was advancing on him?

-John comes from a culture where there is a lot of emotion that is attached to sex. He has a sort of romantic idea about the whole thing. This is completely different from Lenina who has grown up in a society where it is perfectly normal for a person to get with as many people they want to, there are no emotional attatchments at all with sex. This creates a cultural conflict that leaves John feeling uncomftorable when Lenina is completely fine with the idea. Thus, John refuses to sleep with Lenina.

The next question I had was how long will the one-state actually last? How durable is it and how long will the people continue to live like this?
    - We haven't had much of an introduction as to how the one-state existed, except the tid bits about ford and the start of this empire and how the people came to accept it. It does seem very durable, and is demonstrated through the government's control into the people's minds. Huxley writes, “’Old men in the past used to renounce, retire, take to religion, spend their time reading, thinking­—thinking! Now-- such is progress—the old men work, the old men copulate, the old men have no time, no leisure from pleasure, not a moment to sit down and think…” (68). This shows that through the use of soma and other government control, the one-state has intruded upon the minds of the citizens and made them, as they believe, happier. The durability, with the continued use of soma, could last for a long while if they keep perfecting and adding to their mental and social control.

The last question during this reading was why was John brought into this book? What is his purpose and what does he represent in Brave New World?
    - We met John on the reservation, and the first glimpse we get of him is that of a savage. Huxley writes when he first sees Lenina, a true woman, that "at once he was breathing Lenina's perfume, filling his lungs with her essential being" (143). John was born in a mix between the reservation's culture who did not accept him and reading about this wonderful civilization, the one-state, and fantasizing about it. He doesn't see how people can cope with all the rules that are set though, and maybe this is what Huxley is using him for. John might show our perspective. Us Americans with so much freedom, unable to stand that much of control. Perhaps Huxley will continue to use John in a way that shocks us from our perspective.