Thursday, May 9, 2013
The Conclusion
The conclusion of Brave New World is in many ways more ambiguous than the rest of the novel. For the most part. I thought that Huxley's writing was straightforward and to the point, which mirrored the scientific precision of the society itself. The final chapter centers on John and his struggle with civilization. Disheartened by Linda's death and his conversation with Mond, it seemed to me as if John had lost all hope for returning to the "savage" way of life that he had been used to. He began to use soma as a way of numbing his discontent. From that point on, the book takes a rather dark turn. As Christian mentioned, the majority of the novel features characters who are happy with the society. Most of the plots are relatively light - love triangles, golf outings, etc. At the same time, in a society where free will has been eliminated, there is obviously going to be some heavy undertones throughout the book. The final chapter of the book is a sudden release of all of the negative implications of the society. The climactic scene of John's violent outburst against Lenina followed by the mass orgy seemed to demonstrate the worst elements of Huxley's world. People lose their bodies and their identities to become part of the greater oppressive power. It is so unbearable that John pays the ultimate price by taking his life. The final paragraph of the novel is haunting. Huxley describes John's feet as he hangs. He uses the cardinal directions of a compass to evoke a detachment from the scene. The reader is reminded of the clinical nature of the society itself as if to say that civilization will go on in its dystopian state despite the damage done to John.
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Speaking of the compass imagery, I thought that Huxley was illustrating John's journey throughout the novel. John spends the beginning of his life feeling isolated; his mother spends the majority of her time with her lovers and the other people on the Savage Reserve ostracize him. As a child, John dreams of not being alone and of the paradise his mother continually describes. When Bernard offers to bring him to this supposed utopia, John readily accepts. There, John discovers a world that is the polar opposite of the Reserve. However, the constant company begins to distress him as much as his loneliness used to and he starts to purposefully isolate himself. In the imagery at the end of Brave New World, the needle of the compass (John’s feet) moves from north to south and then slowly back to north. This parallels John’s life and his movement from isolation to overcrowding. When he leaves civilization to live alone in the lighthouse he is beginning to drift back to north (his old lifestyle at the Savage Reserve). Committing suicide brings him to the ultimate state of aloneness and back to true north. I think Huxley used the compass imagery and its implied meaning of direction to comment on his dystopian society. North is considered to represent truth, guidance, hope etc. such as with The Underground Railroad and nautical navigation. Therefore by aligning the old lifestyle of the Savage Reserve with north and the new society with north’s polar opposite, Huxley is warning that his futuristic civilization is the wrong direction for humanity to go in.
ReplyDeleteThe shift from a light storyline to a more haunting end is quite powerful. Because Bernard is relatively accepting of (or at least confused about) his society, his experience has to be somewhat light or unthreatening. Bernard is still a product of his environment, after all. But John isn't. He remains outside of this world, which allows him to question it, but also ultimately leads to his own death.
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