Summary and Analysis of Chapters 4-6
Chapter 4 Summary: Part One: At the end of work, Lenina and Bernard Marx share a crowded elevator heading to the roof. In front of everyone, Lenina tells Bernard that she will go on a date with him. Marx is embarrassed by the public display and would prefer to talk it over in private with her. She laughs at his awkwardness and then joins Henry Foster for a round of Obstacle Golf, one of the games played by adults. Bernard watches her leave and is approached by Benito Hoover. Hoover tells him not to look so glum and offers him soma, a narcotic, to make him feel better. Part Two: Bernard gets in his private vehicle and flies over to visit Helmholtz Watson. Both men are described as individual thinkers who have become friends because they cannot fit well into the society. Bernard is different because he is physically smaller than the average Alpha, whereas Watson is more intelligent then other men. Watson is the antithesis of Bernard; he is handsome and sporty and has women fawning over him. However, he prefers intellectual conversations and likes to talk to Bernard Marx. They go to Bernard's apartment and Helmholtz talks about wanting to be able to create something out of words. He indicates that he is good at making slogans, but that he feels his words are not important. While he is talking, Bernard becomes afraid that someone is listening to them at the door. He goes to check, but finds no one there. Having betrayed his nervousness, Bernard breaks down and tells Helmholtz that he is suspicious of everyone anymore, and it is really becoming difficult to put up with people. AnalysisA conflict emerges between the rational thinkers and the majority of the people who merely follow orders. By identifying in Bernard Marx many of the normal feelings and emotions people have today, the reader is led to support him as an underdog. However, Bernard Marx is insecure and emotional, and therefore has difficulty understanding the society he is a part of. Helmholtz can be understood as embodying pure reason, or an intelligence devoid of emotional complications. Thus Helmholtz serves to provide a philosophical understanding of the society. He is able to rationally understand Bernard's emotional conflicts without getting himself involved. Chapter 5 Summary: Part One: Lenina and Henry Foster finish their game and return to Henry's apartment building. On the way home they see a cremation factory. This leads them to discuss the fact that all caste members, from Alpha to Epsilon, are physico-chemically equal. Lenina comments that all members of society are happy, regardless of their caste. Foster indicates that this is because of their conditioning. At Foster's apartment building they eat and then go to the Westminster Abbey Cabaret. After taking the narcotic soma, they dance to synthetic music until the show ends. They then return to Foster's apartment and prepare to sleep together. Part Two: Bernard attends a Solidarity meeting, essentially a community meeting where Ford is worshipped for his ideas and the people are expected to merge themselves into a unified group. He almost shows up late and is immediately embarrassed when a woman asks him which sport he played that afternoon. Bernard normally does not play any games and is forced to admit this fact. There are twelve people in his group, alternating sexes around a circular table. The service is similar to the Eucharist in Christianity, except that soma is drunk and consumed. The goal is to spiritually unify the twelve people present into one person. The people sing until they feel the presence of Ford and then dance around to the hymn Orgy-porgy. Bernard becomes fixated on a woman named Morgana, whose eyebrows form one unified brow. This distracts him so much that he is unable to sense the same ecstasy that the other people feel and must pretend to be as caught up in the ceremony as the others. The service ends and Bernard emerges feeling more self-conscious than ever before. Analysis: Foster and Lenina represent the majority of the people in the society. Their actions are proscribed by society and they do not do anything extradordinary. Their conversation consists of repeating phrases learned during hypnopaedia, and therefore contains no new intellectual ideas. When they go dancing at the Cabaret they are joining 400 other people. This signifies the fact that they are followers and that they adhere to state doctrine. The religious service attended by Bernard is interesting because of the use of Christian icons and concepts. The circle is made of twelve people, which parallels the twelve disciples of Jesus. The drinking and consuming of soma is comparable to the Eucharist, or the Holy Communion where the blood and body of Christ is consumed by Christians. However, the similarity ends at this point, and the sexual dancing which follows is more reminiscent of ancient tribal dances. Bernard's inability to spiritually join the group further emphasizes his distinctness. The goal of the group is to merge into one. This is easy for the other members of society who already lack any individuality. But for Bernard spiritual merger is impossible. Huxley indicates that Bernard has achieved a sense of self-awareness not shared by other people, a heightened self-consciousness. Chapter 6 Summary: Part One: Lenina dates Bernard twice before their trip to the Savage Reservations. Each time she finds Bernard to be extremely odd relative to her previous dating experiences. Bernard prefers to walk with her in a park so they can spend time talking. Lenina cannot comprehend the idea of intellectual conversation, and convinces him to instead go to a wrestling match. Bernard refuses to take any soma, and is unhappy to be in the middle of a large crowd. That same night Lenina expects Bernard to stay over and sleep with her. Bernard has to take a lot of soma before he can do so. On the second date Bernard confides that he wished they had waited to have sex. He comments to Lenina that while people are adults intellectually, they are children as far as their emotions are concerned. He is tired of being a cell in the body of society, and would prefer to be an individual. Lenina responds to his heresy by quoting her hypnopaedic learning. Bernard continues trying to force her to contemplate the structure of society, but to no avail. Lenina's final comment is that she likes him but wishes he were not so odd. Part Two: Bernard visits the Director and receives his signature, allowing Bernard to take Lenina to the Savage Reservations. The Director relates a story of how, 25 years prior, he had taken a blonde Beta-Minus to the reservation. They got caught in a storm and she disappeared. The Director realizes at the end of the story that he had revealed emotions he has never forgotten. This makes him upset, and he yells at Bernard for failing to conform to societal standards. The Director finally threatens to send Bernard to Iceland if he does not watch out. Bernard returns home and brags to Helmholtz about his encounter with the Director by embellishing the details. Helmholtz is unimpressed, and hates the way Bernard goes from self-pity to arrogant boasting. Part Three: Bernard and Lenina cross the Atlantic and go to a hotel near the reservation. Bernard warns her that the reservation lacks any sort of games or amusements, and that she might be bored. She insists on coming with him. They both go to the warden of the reservation and get his signature to let them enter. Bernard remembers at the minute that he left a perfume tap running in his home and that it will be quite expensive. He calls Helmholtz to get it turned off and is informed that the Director has decided to transfer him to Iceland as soon as a replacement is found. Bernard and Lenina then proceed into the reservation and are left with a young savage as their guide. Analysis: A large part of this chapter deals with the suppression of emotions. The differences between Bernard and Lenina should be construed as a conflict between individualism and conformity. Bernard is experiencing emotions, while Lenina suppresses all emotions before they can surface. She uses the soma to completely avoid situations which would normally incur anger or boredom. This conflict is interesting because Bernard constantly gets mad at Lenina in spite of his love for her. He appears to treat her very badly, almost condescendingly. Bernard's behavior only makes sense if the reader understands that Bernard is in love with Lenina. However, his love is based on who he perceives her to be, not on who she really is. Bernard therefore is trying to force Lenina to conform to his perception of her. In addition, Bernard is desperate to have his love for her returned. In a society devoid of commitment and monogamy, the only way for Bernard to get her to fall in love with him is to force her to experience her emotions. Thus his anger and behavior is structured around forcing Lenina to overcome her conditioning and become emotional. Each characters' use of soma revolves around inhibiting their emotions. Thus Bernard only takes soma when he is forced into sleeping with Lenina on the first date. It is his way of suppressing his emotional revulsion against having sex so soon. Lenina uses soma much more frequently than Bernard, but for the exact same reason: she wishes to suppress her emotions. Soma therefore acts not only as a narcotic to control the masses, but also as a means for individuals to avoid emotional conflict. The Director's story expresses emotions of fear and love on the part of the Director. Since this is expressly forbidden in the society, the Director realizes that he should not have told Bernard about his experience. Thus, the Director's anger towards Bernard arises from his fear that Bernard could use that information against him. It soon becomes obvious that the Director is arranging to transfer Bernard to Iceland out of fear that Bernard might tell someone else the story.
ClassicNote on Brave New World
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