Brave New World Chapter 4 Analysis
The first three chapters of Huxley's Brave New World already show the alarming, but all the same mind-blowing differences between our society and the futuristic society that the novel presents. The reader gains knowledge of the orthodox but profoundly strange ways of the fictitious world through a tour given by the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning to new students at the building. In these pages, I especially noticed the peculiar way babies are made, born, nurtured, and raised. There are no mothers nor fathers and there is absolutely no need for them since babies come out of bottles and are all taken care of together by nurses. Babies are conditioned and taught(or brainwashed, as one may say) through sleep-teaching and several other
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Helmholtz Watson, Bernard's friend, is also introduced in this chapter as a handsome and fit man, but with a mental excess just like Bernard and a feeling of being different. In chapter five, Bernard attends his weekly compulsory Solidarity Service, which we learn is an orgy where twelve people sit in a circle and drug themselves, all the while singing and chanting to summon a Greater Being and become one. Afterwards the twelve intoxicated people sing “Orgy-porgy” and have sex. However, it is evident at the end of the chapter that the Solidarity Service does not have much of an effect on Bernard's lonely soul and does nothing to mend his feeling of separateness. I noticed in this chapter how eager Lenina is to advertise and “prove her unfaithfulness to Henry,” (Huxley 55) which is funny because people nowadays dread the mere notion of having someone find out they are being unfaithful to their partner. I wonder if it is a good thing that the people in Brave New World are so open to one another and have no secrets to keep. I also noticed in this chapter how Benito Hoover, a kindhearted man, said the same phrase to Bernard as Benard's two bullies from the previous chapter: “One cubic centimetre cures ten gloomy...” (Huxley 57). Bernard himself recognizes the goodwill of Benito as well and the perfectly acceptable behaviour of Lenina accepting his invitation in public, however he is unable to forgive both of them for making him feel only more miserable. This makes me wonder if Bernard expects everyone to be able to read his mind and act accordingly to his feelings. He certainly sounds self-centered in this section but I can somewhat understand what he is going through. In this section, it describes what Bernard thinks: “And yet the man had meant well enough. Which only made it, in a way, much worse. Those who meant well behaved in the same way as those
Helmholtz Watson, Bernard's friend, is also introduced in this chapter as a handsome and fit man, but with a mental excess just like Bernard and a feeling of being different. In chapter five, Bernard attends his weekly compulsory Solidarity Service, which we learn is an orgy where twelve people sit in a circle and drug themselves, all the while singing and chanting to summon a Greater Being and become one. Afterwards the twelve intoxicated people sing “Orgy-porgy” and have sex. However, it is evident at the end of the chapter that the Solidarity Service does not have much of an effect on Bernard's lonely soul and does nothing to mend his feeling of separateness. I noticed in this chapter how eager Lenina is to advertise and “prove her unfaithfulness to Henry,” (Huxley 55) which is funny because people nowadays dread the mere notion of having someone find out they are being unfaithful to their partner. I wonder if it is a good thing that the people in Brave New World are so open to one another and have no secrets to keep. I also noticed in this chapter how Benito Hoover, a kindhearted man, said the same phrase to Bernard as Benard's two bullies from the previous chapter: “One cubic centimetre cures ten gloomy...” (Huxley 57). Bernard himself recognizes the goodwill of Benito as well and the perfectly acceptable behaviour of Lenina accepting his invitation in public, however he is unable to forgive both of them for making him feel only more miserable. This makes me wonder if Bernard expects everyone to be able to read his mind and act accordingly to his feelings. He certainly sounds self-centered in this section but I can somewhat understand what he is going through. In this section, it describes what Bernard thinks: “And yet the man had meant well enough. Which only made it, in a way, much worse. Those who meant well behaved in the same way as those