Brave New World Character Analysis Essay

Words: 535
Pages: 3

John, also known as the Savage, was a character created by Aldous Huxley in the book Brave New World who spent his life trying to fit in. John was born and raised on the Savage Reservation after his mother was abandoned there. The majority of his time was consumed by understanding the thoughts of Shakespeare, and attempting to imagine the World State based on the stories he was told by his Mother. John is a lonely misfit who cant seem to find his place.

John was invited to start a new life in the World State as an experiment by Mustapha Mond and Bernard Marx. They were interested to see how the Savage would adapt going from the Reservation to a "civilized" world. However, it ended up that John represented everything opposite from the World State. While the World State worked to promote social stability, happiness, and comfort; John believes that to truly live life, a person should be exposed to everything- good and evil. " 'I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want
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While the people in the World State turn to Soma to avoid their feelings, John would start reading Shakespeare to try and understand them. For example, after Lenina and John attend the "feelies," and John didn't want to sleep with Lenina; John "took out his mouse-nibbled volume, turned with religious care it's stained and crumbled pages, and began to read Othello" (Huxley 171), while Lenina "pulled out her Soma bottle" (Huxley 171). This tells a lot about the completely different societies these contrasting characters were raised in. Lenina grew up listening to sleep teachings and being conditioned, while John was reading and comprehending Shakespeare. That being said, the people of the World State are conditioned to base their morals off of what they have been taught through hypnopaedia, unlike John who thinks for himself based on the ideas and values of