Summary- Lenina starts off her journey in the savage reservations by calling it queer. They had just reached Malpais, the savage town that Bernard and Lenina would be staying at. Lenina feels that the reservation is extremely weird and feels comfort relating things to familiar things in the World State. For example, Lenina compares a flat mesa to the Charing-T Tower. Lenina is left in a state of disgust when she sees the living conditions of the "savages." The entrace of the pueblo that they were staying at was piled with garbage, and swarming with flies. She has been taught that cleanliness is one of the most important aspects of life by her conditioning and if mind boggled by how humans can live in such filthy conditions. The two leave their stuff there and then go out to explore the town. They see an old man in the town square and Lenina is shocked by the appearance of the man. The man was wrinkled and skinny. Bernard explains that humans who get old in the World State are kept at a youthful equilibrium through artificial chemicals that don't allow old people to look or feel like that old man. Bernard and Lenina then come across a sacrificial ritual in the town square where a boy had to walk through snakes and get whipped while going in circles to show strength and please their gods. They face the horrible sights of the day unaided since Lenina forgot her soma back at their pueblo. Bernard and Lenina then meet John, a savage who wanted to be sacrificed but was not allowed to. John was not a normal savage. He had white skin and auburn hair. John is immediately attracted to Lenina, the first girl he has seen with a pale complexion. Thomas was his father and Bernard makes a connection mentally to his Director, the very same one who warned not to come. This was the director who threatened to send Bernard to Iceland. Linda, John's mother was a beta who was lost in the savage reservations and ended up living with the savages. She tells them of her troubles since they are the first people like her. Linda has become deformed to the point of being a savage. Her front two teeth were missing and she was quite overweight. Linda tells of the nights she did not have soma and how everything here was crazy. The next day Bernard speaks to John about the savage reservation as far as he can remember to get a better understanding of the two different worlds. John starts from the time he was a small child. Linda his mother, slept with many different men in the village(a common practice in the World State). This got her beaten up by the wives of those men. They said that those men belonged to them and left John and Linda confused with scars to go along with their pain. Linda would tell John of the World State like a fairytale. John remembers that Linda also taught John how to read. John was left out from everything because of how different he looked and that led him to pursue reading to have something all the other children did not. His only book was "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare." This is the reason his speech is sometimes mixed in with quotes from various Shakespearean plays because that was all he had known and had pride in. John shares the same loneliness as Bernard for being different and Bernard promises to take him and his mother to the World State. He got permission from the Ford, the leaders of the world, to bring John back because he was a special case of a person of civilized heritage living with the savages. Once Bernard returned from his vacation, he was to report to the director. The director fired him from his duties but Bernard countered it by revealing Linda his wife and their son made from birth. The director ran out in shame. Linda is put on a soma vacation to stop her from interfering with the World State. She did not have a job and was ugly so nobody wanted to be with her. Meanwhile John was getting famous. He was the new celebrity, the savage. The society introduced him to everything and it was so new and fascinating to him. Lenina was invited to show him feelies, the movies that you can feel. John did not enjoy the movie. Lenina develops a love for John but John's shyness leads her to believe he does not feel the same way. The chapter ends with a heartbroken Lenina taking several grams of soma to relieve her depression.
Quote- "O brave new world that has such people in it"(Huxley 130).
Reaction- The quote is said by John when he is asked to come back to Bernard to the World State. The quote itself comes from "The Tempest", a play by Shakespeare. This shows his happiness in finally getting out of the reservations where he does not fit. The quote further shows the separation between the savage reservations and the World State. It is expressed as another world. A brave one with new possibilities and wonders. These chapters really amazed me. I found it fascinating that our present world would be considered savage compared to Huxley's future. This book really does make you wonder about the uncertainty of mankind's future.
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