Brave New World

4 Pages 875 Words

In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, John the Savage, unlike other major characters, was not brought up in the “brave new world” of modern day London. Explain how his upbringing in what we see as a more traditional human society contributed to his actions and experiences throughout the novel.

The character John, or the Savage, is one of the central figures on Aldous Huxley’s futuristic novel Brave New World. He is used primarily as a way of comparing the values of modern society – Huxley’s “brave new world” – with those of our society on the 20th and 21st centuries. Since he grew up on an “uncivilized” Savage reservation instead of in “civilized” contemporary society, he has no experience with the shallow happiness and expected promiscuity of this society’s citizens, of feelies or soma or alcohol-stunted Epsilons. These aspects of modern society seem sick and wrong to him, as the ancient customs and rituals of the Savages seem alien and insane to Bernard and Lenina. This difference in John’s upbringing allows him to view modern society with more knowledge and understanding than anyone raised in it is able; to them it seems like the only way of life imaginable. Their culture of false happiness and of stifling real emotions literally sickens him; for John, true happiness must be felt from the heart, and true love is far more meaningful than momentary lust. His upbringing has taught him that it is better to feel real pain than fake, shallow happiness, and that one must earn the right to live in this world.
During his time in civilized England, John experiences the best aspects of upper class culture; he goes to the feelies, is entertained with many of Bernard and Lenina’s refined, important friends, rides in helicopters, and is treated as a person of great importance. However, these experiences don’t make him happy and only serve to deepen his sense of contempt for modern day society. He f...