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The twelfth chapter of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley mainly deals with the problems of
Lenina with her feelings, Bernard with his self-confidence and the
Savage with understanding the ways of civilized thinking. In addition to
that the strength of the world state is shown once more. At the beginning the Savage locks himself in the
bathroom and does not want to come out, because Bernard thought he was
entitled to decide for him without asking him before and has arranged a
party. Therefore the guests humiliate Bernard, especially the
Arch-Community-Songster who also warns him to change his behaviour
before it is too late. Lenina is a visitor of the party, too. As she has
realized that she likes John more than anyone else before, she hopes to
see him to tell him about her feelings. But as a result of his staying
away she is convinced that he dislikes her. So, as a consequence of the
Savage’s refusal to join the party, Bernard’s new career finds to an
end and Lenina is upset about her feelings. Meanwhile the Savage starts reading Romeo
and Juliet. At the same time Mustapha Mond gives the ban on an impressively well written paper, because it might represent danger as it could decondition some unsettled people. On the following day Bernard is his old self
again, unhappy and depressive, all self-confidence is like blown away.
He asks Helmholtz, who in the meantime, because of some rhymes about
solitude, has come into conflict with Authority too, to start their
friendship again. Helmholtz agrees and so they continue their meetings.
The Savage gets on well with Helmholtz immediately and shares
Shakespeare’s works with him. Helmholtz shows positive excitement and
the two new friends spend a lot of time with reading and discussing
about it. That makes Bernard jealous, which he is ashamed of. So he is
getting into a deep conflict with himself, which he tries to suppress by
taking soma. The Savage, who sees himself as Romeo and Lenina
as Juliet, reads out Shakespeare’s drama of the two lovers to
Helmholtz, passionly in particular. Helmholtz is amused about the
‘old-world-aspects’ like having parents, a corpse not getting
cremated etc., and especially the excitement about a boy having a girl
or not. He laughs about those details which are extremly funny in his
eyes, and the Savage, who takes this story unusually seriously, is
obviously hurt by this.
Function of chapter 12 This chapter has the role to
put in evidence the characteristics and the feelings of the characters.
I think that this chapter is very important for understanding the real
ideals of the savage, ideals very similar to ours , and the true
character of Lenina, Bernard Helmholtz and so we can understand the real
message of the book. I think that the book wants to give the readers
that idea that if we don’t change the society we “ die”, both
morally and intellectually
Characterization
Bernard Marx Bernard’s Marx new power made him selfish, he could not handle it. But after his built an enormous self-confidence during the weeks before, he is pushed back into his old self now by humiliations of his guests. He is unable to take destiny as it goes, and becomes unhappy and depressive again. In addition to that he gets jealous when he sees the deep connection between his 2 friends. He appears a good for nothing, that doesn’t succeed to get what he wants. Bernard is weak person because when the life becomes very difficult he doesn’t react to obstacles that the life present in front of him.
John
Savage
One of john’s striking characteristics
is his absolute believe in love which results of his passion for
and believe in Shakespeare’s works as a whole and Romeo and Juliet
especially.Moreover a deep desire to fulfil the old rules
from Malpais influences his acting .He also has problems to
understand how conditioned people think and can’t suppressed his
emotions. He is an “antique” man that
believes in religion and follows it
Lenina
Crowne
Lenina is a perfectly conditioned
person, and so she is really upset about those strange feelings John
awoke in her. She fields in secure as soon as she loses control.
Because of that she wants to manage the situation by telling him
that she like him. She
persuades herself John disliked her and falls into melancholy and
depressive thoughts . Helmholtz Watson
In Helmhotz we can see the real
intelligence. He is restless and searches for
higher calling that satisfies him. He feel some kind of power inside him,
just does not know how to use it. He wrote those forbidden rhymes and
published theme out of sheer curiosity. Afterwards he is surprised about
the fierce reaction of Authority, but hardly scared. He even laughs and
it seems as if he would not take the whole situation as a serious as he
should. Style of chapterThe literary
style is organic with the principal style of the book, the author uses
some descriptions and dialogues, and tells about the sentiments of the
characters. The
text is divided into sections, so it is easier for the reader to gain an
insight into matter. During the first paragraphs the author mainly
changes perspectives between Bernard and Lenina, not so much John. Later
on the mainly focuses on John, partly on Bernard. Helmholtz is not as
important, I think, he is just a tool for showing more about the Savage.
Mustapha Mond’s part is situated almost in the middle of the chapter
and is like thrown into with out any of obvious connection to the rest
of it - perhaps for remind
the reader of the actual topic is about. If Huxley had not arranged the
chapter like that, one were not always be aware of it, because he
focuses one’s attentions to the feelings appeals to the reader’s
emotions, one feels concerned, perhaps even upset while reading this
chapter.
Chapter 12 in particular
in my view the twelfth chapter is one of the
most interesting ones, because the author reveals a lot about the main
characters in it. Some unexpected events which change a lot, for example
Bernard’s failed party or Helmhotz’s amusement about Romeo and
Juliet, show the strange reaction of the concerned person, and therefore
parts of their characters which the reader could not get to know until
then. In addition to that I think in this chapter not just the strength
but also the corruption , which build the basis for the success of the
World State, are getting obvious.
The whole novel
Like a lot of science fiction authors, Aldous
Huxley put s futuristic and fantastic spin on our current reality. He
kind of has to, or else the readers would not be able to understand the
novel if they could not relate it bake to the own lives somehow.
on the events and trends of today. I think such novels lay the
foundationsfor hypothesis, we get to guess how our world will evolve
based on the events on the events and trends of today. So, thought
BNW is a fictional book, it has also a function as reminder for modern
people nowadays to think about their lifestyle with its unavoidable
consequence for the future. And people have to think about the impact
they have on the Earth’s evolutions
with thinks like technology, genetics, waste, politics, etc…
The only problem: Thoughts cannot change anything. BY FABRIZIO & VALERIE |